Bring the Buff!: More July Morsels

The news continues to roll in as we draw closer to the start of camp, less than a month away on August 8th.

§ The biggest item was that Paul Richardson was cleared to begin straight running, no cutting yet, but that he hopes to play this fall. His initial tweet led to rampant speculation over how early he could make it back, what type of impact he could have, as well as if he should even come back for half the season or less. While most remain skeptical that it would be possible, most also believe it would be best if he just healed completely and was eligible for the next two full years when the Buffs could be competitive players. However, if P-Rich is already eyeing the NFL after the 2013 season, it might be in his best interest to play a few games this season if physically possible. He says that if he is cleared and he can help the team, especially if they get off to a good start and a bowl game is in sight, he would definitely play.

§ Adam M. of Rivals gave a great interview on the Ralphie Report Radio Podcast and provided some great insight to what’s going on in the Buff program right now:

o He suggest P-Rich should probably be cautious, as even when early recovery goes well and quicker than expected, the last 15-20% takes the longest to recover.

o WR is going to be a committee situation with six guys all playing: senior (former walk-on) Dustin Ebner have developed into a reliable “possession” receiver, R-Fr Nelson Spruce (almost ended up playing last year) is ready to breakout, So. Tyler McCulloch, So. Keenan Canty and both frosh Gerald and Jeffrey Thomas (no relation).

o Right now the coaches have been taking some vacation after hosting some unofficial visits in June. They will be starting their Youth Camps on campus July 21 and on July 28 the staff will help the University of San Diego run their camp so that more California players can meet CU coachers and be evaluated.

o Most of the players is in Boulder, taking some classes, working out with Malcolm Blacken (really has the biggest influence of any staff on the team during the offseason), participating in player organized 7-on-7 drills, keeping busy in a fairly structured schedule, which is especially good for the true freshman to get acclimated and be better able to focus on football in August and September.

o The player leaders of the team, not surprisingly are focused on defense as they are returning more experienced guys like Wil Pericak, Ray Polk, Doug Rippy, Jon Major, as well as Chidera Uzo-Diribe (who all met with Embree and coaches to guide what work would be worked on in the summer). On offense it is of course the QBs, Wood and Hirschman (it will be interesting to see how Webb fits in and asserts himself), and Ebner has supposedly stepped it up (surprising he didn’t mention Bahktiari).

o The new guys who have supposedly shown some talent in summer workouts are TE Vincent Hobbs (who will be my sleeper pick in my Pac-12 Fantasy League) and speedy WR/KR Gerald Thomas. He also mentioned CBs Yuri Wright and John Walker. However, he also reminded us that these are informal workouts without pads.

o He thinks that QB Shane Dillon, coming off shoulder surgery, will likely redshirt. However, if he plays well and is on par with everyone else, he may get the nod, as Embree has said that ties go to the younger guys.

o CU has already met with and offered Valor Christian RB Christian McCafferey (father Ed has said they do like Embree and CU); also Trent Noler from Windsor is likely to gain interest as is Fairview WR Sam Martin (father played at CU) could be 2014 recruits.

2013 Recruiting

§ There have been no new commitments so the Buffs are standing strong at 12, most recently ranked #48 by both Rivals and Scout.

§ They have commits from a QB, RB, TE, 2 WR, 5 OL, 1 s, 1 LB. Even with the huge class they are bringing in this year, they could still use a couple of DL and CBs, and will likely want to sign a couple more LBs and even another OL.

§ Even with 5 offensive line commits, the Buffs will likely sign one more. Jacob Aldasek, a 6’7”, 325 pounder from Torrey Pines, CA, is currently unrated but obviously has some size, has said that CU is among his final five choices along with Arizona, ASU, Kansas St. and Vanderbilt (academically those last two are a strange pair?).

§ There is an ongoing discussion debate in chat rooms about what CU needs to do to get back to national prominence and the obvious answer is recruiting. However, there are some who are quite critical of the staff for not keeping the top Colorado prospects in state and believe that is the only way to get back; meanwhile, others are adamant that the Buffs need to recruit bigger national names, especially in CA and TX.

-They are both correct, in that we need both those things, and getting recruits in the region can have a positive effect on those out of it, and vice versa. However, they are dead wrong in emphasizing one strongly over the other. They go hand in hand and CU certainly cannot ignore one for the other, but the plain facts are that those big names are not even considering CU yet when they start the recruiting process. The in-state players have never seen CU as a power (OT Chris Fox was never going to stay here), and likewise, out-of-state kids don’t have a whole lot of reason to go to CU as a football program (the top 100 recruits rarely list CU as a favorite, even when the they were the first to offer). Unfortunately, they are still not able to compete with USC, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, Michigan or even Washington once those schools do offer, and miss out on a few prospects every week.

§ - Case in point: Adam M. mentioned 4-star OL John Lopez (Orange Lutheran, same as commit Colin Sutton) is planning to visit Boulder, but has admitted he is leaning to UCLA and Washington.

-Unfortunately, they are also often competing head-to-head with San Diego St. for many of the California kids and the Aztecs seem to be winning more of those battles than the Buffs.

-They do have commits from two of the top five in Colorado; they only thought seven in-state prospects were worth offering.

-The Buffs need to just keep recruiting the blue chips in and out of state, while focusing on finding the 2 and 3-star guys who will fit the program. Eventually the bigger prospects will come.

- Fact is they need to win some games, and while doing that with 4 and 5 star prospects is a little easier, a program can’t just decide to get those guys and do so (without cheating anyway).

-Arguing about what comes first, the chicken or the egg, doesn’t get anyone anywhere, but maybe it’s a good way to keep people interested and talking in the offseason.

Roster talk

§ Incoming frosh QB Shane Dillon got a nice write-up in the “Pacific Takes” blog, stating that he has tons of upside with a very quick release, but would probably still be best redshirting: http://www.pacifictakes.com/2012/7/3/3098775/shane-dillon-colorado-buffaloes-football-2012-highlights

§ Nationally, Jordan Webb’s transfer has made a few headlines and there are many who are speculating that his experience will end up netting him the starting job. He is similar in skills to Tyler Hansen, maybe a little less mobile. Former Kansas OC Chuck Long says Webb has everything it takes to be successful and worked very hard the last couple of years to improve. He would really have to pick up the offense, which is different from anything he has played in before, and gel with receivers, to leap frog everyone else. Adam M. said everyone at Kansas had great things to say about him but agrees with me that, if he does win the job, it will more likely be due to what everyone else has not done, rather than what he has. Hopefully, there is a fabulous competition where the winner comes out looking really good and we have a backup with whom the coaches would be comfortable and who is comfortable being number two.

§ While the Buffs are asking a few players to greyshirt, a few have taken medical retirement and a few are being pushed to graduate early, at least they don’t have to take the route that Lane Kiffin took at USC and now Jim Mora has done at UCLA. Kiffin needed to strengthen his roster in light of scholarship restrictions and therefore oversigned more blue chip prospects than he had space for last year; so he then had to release a few students from their scholarships. Now Mora has had to make moves to clear up 7 roster spots, asking two incoming freshmen to greyshirt and delay their enrollment, two have taken medical retirement (translation: “your services are no longer needed but since you have this injury you can keep your scholarship but not play”), two more are suddenly transferring, while one is leaving by “coaches decision”.

§ Jordan Murphy, a 6-foot-1, 225 pound walk-on FB/LB from Lutheran High (Castle Rock) was recently let go from the CSU football team (they are minimizing the FB position) but is transferring to CU where he will be a preferred walk-on, will have to sit out a year, and then will be able to compete for playing time and possibly a scholarship. He was a regular on special teams units (playing only sparingly at FB) and that is where he will likely make his main contribution there. Not sure how I feel taking a Lambie cast-off, although he could provide some insight as to what the Rams are doing on offense since he participated in Spring ball in Fort Collins.

Other Program Notes

§ LT David Bahktiari is the Buff getting the most love in the preseason:

*He was just named to the Outland Trophy Watch List for the best lineman, one of seven from the Pac-12 and 71 overall.

*He was the only one listed in ESPN’s “Blue Ribbon Preview” as a Preseason All-Conference pick.

(If you are an ESPN Insider, here is the CU preview: http://insider.espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/page/BlueRibbon-Colorado/colorado-buffaloes )

*Bahktiari was also the only bright spot mentioned in the Pac-12 Blog Positional preview, as the offensive line was still listed in the lowest “we’ll see” category.

-The Kicker position and Wil Oliver were rated as being in “good shape”. Everything else so far (QB, RB, WR, TE) has been “we’ll see”.

§ P Darragh O’Neill was named to the Ray Guy Preseason Watch List (one of 4 Pac-12 punters) and C Gus Handler has been named to the Rimington Award Watch List (one of 51 centers recognized). S Ray Polk was previously named to the Ronnie Lott Impact Watch List.

§ Former Iowa Hawkeye and Minnesota Viking RB Albert Young is reportedly joining the Buffs staff as an “assistant coach to help with running backs”, probably a “technical intern”. Young played under Bienemy in 2009-10. Former UCLA player Michael Petre (played FB under EB) will also join the staff. The graduate assistants will be TC McCartney, Jeff Smart, Bert Watts, and Chapelle Brown (was promoted from “intern”), who will help Greg Brown with DBs and is supposedly great at looking at recruit’s film.

§ The video boards are installed, although they have not been fully tested. They have added some smaller field level boards and increased the size and quality of the large boards at each end and added a small strip underneath each one, likely more for ads than stats or anything interesting. I can’t wait to see them in person for the Sacramento St. game! Here’s some photos at AllBuffs.com: http://www.allbuffs.com/content.php/1427-Scoreboards

§ New turf has also been installed in the practice fields, ready for camp.

§ Bowd Dowler, Joe Garten, Rashaan Salaam, and Matt Russell were the football players among 12 total that will be inducted into the CU Buff Hall of Fame.

§ It appears that the proposed scheduling collaboration between the Pac-12 and Big 10 has been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts, not surprisingly with Pac-12’s nine game conference schedule. One consequence is that CU’s trip to Michigan with definitely be a one-time deal, without a return trip by Michigan to Boulder.

§ The Buff bashing continues though as Athlon ranked the CU offensive line 11^th in the Pac-12, ahead of only Washington St. However, they did concede that: “Colorado has some solid pieces in place, and this unit could rank much higher on this list at the end of the year.”

§ Phil Steele piles on some more, predicting that eight of the Pac-12 teams, (including Oregon St?!) will make bowls, but that CU will be one of the four to stay home, along with Washington St. and the Arizona schools.

Bleacher Report also ranked the Buffs as the worst defense in the Pac-12, although they did write: “Despite their ranking, the defense is taking steps forward and will be ready to take a major step up in 2013.”