Here is one last post of offseason
tidbits before I head to Brasil and the World Cup of the other fútbol (see my
blog here: http://copabound.blogspot.com/ )
Roster
notes:
§
The
biggest news of the slow May news period was the signing of three-star Valor
Christian OT Isaiah Holland, who ran into some complications with his
qualifying for Army. The son of Darius Holland (1990’s) was the long-rumored
in-state recruit and certainly doesn’t hurt, but will be redshirting this
coming season and won’t provide and immediate help.
§
He
and all the other freshman report June 22, including QB Cade Apsay, who
announced that he will be rooming with WR Shay Fields. The veterans on the team (after a three week
break) should already be back in Boulder, starting summer classes and working
out, as well as meeting occasionally with coaches, who are actually able to
have offseason contact for the first time, although not with a ball anywhere in
sight.
§
The
Buffs will have at least five preferred/invited walk-ons joining the team in
August (reporting the 1st), including, no surprise, two QBs: Ty
Gangi and Wil Fischer-Colbrie. Also
walking on will be WR Jurae Dilworth, LB Shawn Berry and LB/DE Lance Cottrell.
§
It
had been previously announced that WR Keenan Canty was transferring to Nicholls
St. and now LB Lowell Williams will be joining him, freeing up one more
scholarship. Both players have graduated
and will play out their fifth year senior season in Louisiana, although they
will have one game in Colorado when their new team travels to play Air Force.
§
However,
with the signing of Holland, as it stands, the team will still be one over on
the scholarship limit when everyone reports in August, meaning someone will
not; this could mean an incoming frosh will end up grey-shirting, or another
player on the current roster will leave; according to reports Samson Kafovalu
and Justin Solis are back on track academically, although one needs to complete
some summer work; DB Jeff Hall seems to have straightened things out and there
haven’t been any other problems reported anywhere.
Preseason lists and rankings:
§
The
first preseason rankings are coming out and the Buffs have been ranked
nationally anywhere from 71st (Athlon) or 77th (Lindy’s),
to 101st (USA Today), but still generally 10th or 11th
in the Pac12, 5th in the South division. Most expect four or five wins, with the sixth
just out of reach. In general, analysts
have been bashing the defense and praising Sefo, but questioning his receiving
corps and listing Tyler McCulloch as a key player, without giving much space to
Bryce Bobo, Devin Ross or any of the other young receivers.
§
The
ESPN Pac12 blog continued to rank CU 11th in the conference ahead of
Cal (thank God for them!) and behind Utah, whose hopes are pinned on QB Travis
Wilson staying healthy. However,
recently, while analyzing the schedules, also wrote that CU would probably beat
Arizona for their fifth win (three non-conference and Cal) making the Utah game
for bowl eligibility.
§
CU
at the Game has summaries and links to all the previews and rankings: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2014/preseason-rankings/
Injuries:
§
It
looks like the Buffs came out relatively injury-free from spring practices,
losing only DB Josh Moten and walk-0n d-lineman John Tuso.
§
However,
the biggest injury concern is that of anticipated LT starter Jeromy Irwin, who
has still not fully recovered from a freak yard work foot injury almost a year
ago.
2015 Recruiting:
§
The
Buffs are still sitting at three recruits for the 2015 cycle (at right).
§
The
Buffs held a camp last week that was supposedly well attended by talented
prospects, both from in Colorado and out of state, but no new commitments came
out of it.
§
Coaches
then flew to Hawaii to “work” (not “host” according to NCAA guidelines) a camp
and scout players from the islands.
Facilities Upgrade
§
The
demolition and renovation of seats in the northeast corner of Folsom Stadium is
coming along nicely, setting the foundation for the expansion. The entire section below the Dal Ward and the
first two lower sections of the bowl on the east side have been completely
ripped out and will be replaced by the time the season starts. The first snafu happened, though, when they
dug right into the Dal Ward seats without thoroughly checking what was there
and tore out a ton of wiring.
§
There
are now additional plans for a 600 space parking garage (~300 have been
eliminated) underneath the practice fields and eventual indoor facility. The university will actually spot the bill
for part of the project (pending full Regent approval), re-paying the tab with
parking fees. However, this will push
the project back a little and everything would not be complete until later in
the Fall of 2015.
§
Here
is a link to Live Construction Cam which has a current photo, plus you can
check the play button in the upper right hand corner for a time lapse video of
the project so far: http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=209458799
§
Going
in the complete opposite direction, the school in fort collins announced that
they were pushing back their stadium to at least 2017 because of “design delays”
and that fundraising efforts were on track.
Uh, okay, sure, they have a ton of cash, but just can’t figure out what
to do? Whatever lambkins! That stadium
is never getting built and even if it does, the only way it ever gets filled is
when Buffs travel to take it over.
Other Buffs Notes:
§
Parker
Orms had been slated to start coaching at a small school but instead is giving it
one more go on the field in the Canadian Football league with the Ottawa
Roughriders.
§
The
Pac12 Networks have to be considered a success as the first numbers came out
for the first fiscal year of the new contracts and the conference doubled its
previous overall intake, out-“earning” all the other conferences (that includes
the mighty SEC) with $333 million+ in total revenue. On top of that, with however the formula
works out, Colorado received the second highest payout in the conference with
$19,875,261, slightly behind Stanford and slightly ahead of Cal and UCLA.
§
USA
Today published a list showing public institutions’ overall revenue and had the
Buffs at number 53 in the country with over $58M. In comparison, Texas was #1 with $165M,
Oregon 9th with $115M (Stanford and USC are private and therefore
not reported but both would likely be in this range), Arizona/ASU/Oregon St.
were in the 40’s with $65M+ and the likes of WSU and Utah at~$45M, and csu down
at 69th with $34M.
§
The Sept.
6th game against UMass in Foxborough will kick off at 3:00 PM local
time (1:00 Mountain) but will not be televised, albeit viewable on ESPN3 online. A couple of other nationally televised game times
were also announced: the opener against csu on August 29 will be on FoxSports1
with a 7:00 kickoff, which is not a surprise for the Friday night game they
have struggled to get fans to attend, but the September 13 game against Arizona
St. won’t start until 8:00 local time to fit into the late ESPNU slot, which
won’t sit well with many in Boulder and even some who attend the game.
§
There
will be some 12:00 noon Mountain time games as the Pac12 is adopting that slot
in order to avoid so many night games that get very late and don’t even get
viewed on the East Coast. Breakfast
tailgates! (But hopefully not too many.)
These games will be televised on the Pac12 networks.
§
Shane
Dillon (short-lived former Buff QB) has transferred to D2 national
semi-finalist Metro St. to play basketball, after starring at Cuyamaca
Community College in California.
Some
Friggin’ Fusker Notes
§
Trying
to get back to the heyday of fusker football with guys like lawrence phillips,
nebraska added another criminal to their roster when they brought in Damore’ea
(yes, that is really how it’s spelled) Stringfellow, who was kicked off the
Washing ton Huskies for assaulting a defenseless man on the street (UW starting
QB Cyler Myles from Mullen was also originally implicated but never charged and
has since been reinstated). Hmmm, sound
familiar? bo pelini must have seen this on
his ESPN ticker and since Damore’ea fits their profile of a fairly talented
player who is a cowardly thug, his staff jumped on him. He’ll fit right in.
§
However,
I must admit I actually like pelini’s idea to eliminate signing day
altogether-when a kid is offered, he can sign whenever he wants, it’s a
four-year guaranteed and kid can back out if there’s a coaching change. However, once signed, the school is committed
so it is unlikely that the trend of offering freshmen would continue. It’s not even a formal proposal and will
never happen, but it is certainly an interesting perspective. I guess sometimes one can do some serious
thinking out there wandering through the corn fields.
