New Commit and Lots of Comments

Congratulations to former Buff head coach Jon Embree who was hired as TE coach for the Cleveland Browns.  He also told Les Shapiro and Tom Nalen, “I’m through with college football.”  Who can really blame him after the way he was treated by his alma mater.  I am glad he got back into the League, as Alfred Williams always says, he is surprised when guys leave the NFL for college because there are only so many pro jobs, which generally pay more, are more secure and have way better benefits!  One poster on twitter did comment that he might have had better talent to work with, even on the 1-11 Buffs, than he will in Cleveland.  Good Luck Jon!

Not sure if it’s congratulations, but Embree’s predecessor, dan hawkins will become the new head coach of the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes.  That’s not Division I football Danny boy so I hope you can motivate them up there, eh. And yes, the first post I saw of this was already wondering if Cody would end up in Canada with his daddy. Take off, to the great white north!

Matt Lubick, who many wanted as a coach here-but I said no way he comes to CU as just a position coach, that he would need something bigger and better to lure him away from Duke-has found that spot as Oregon’s WR coach/some type of special title of  partial Coordinator to make it an upward move.  He will have an excellent corps of blazing fast receivers next year when the Ducks should be much more of a passing team, and he can really make a name for himself before getting his first OC job in the next couple of years.

Former blue chip Buff Nick Kasa is turning some heads with his size, speed and even hands at the Senior Bowl practices, where he is earning some serious playing time in Saturday’s showcase.  He is the only college player from any school in the state of Colorado there.  Could Kasa end up in Cleveland with Embree?

Stuart from CUattheGame posted an interview with CU redshirt freshman QB Shane Dillon, who is full of enthusiasm and positive outlook for the future. He brims with confidence and has the type of attitude you want in a leader.  He has no qualms about saying he plans on winning the starting joband has already developed a rapport with WR Paul Richardson, who joined him on the scout team when he was recovered from his injury.  He is excited to learn the Pistol offense, throw the ball around, but also run with it as well, which he said he did a lot of as the scout team QB last season, surprising his coaches. He just might be the real deal. http://www.cuatthegame.com/2013/qa-with-shani-and-patrick-dillon/

CU Recruiting: MacIntyre picked up verbal #15 when Timothy Coleman flipped his commitment from csu to the Buffs.  While not a huge name from a big school, Coleman is a 6’3” 243 pound DE from Mullen who injured his knee in the second game of the season and therefore may have been overlooked by some programs. Also, he is not even 18 yet so he definitely has room to grow and is a possible grey or redshirt candidate.  This could be a good dark horse in-state snag, or just another two-star roster plug.

MacIntyre has now said that with all of their commitments on the offensive line, CU will not pursue Ohio St. transfer and Windsor product Joey O’Connor, a former four-star national recruit.  I believe this to be a colossal mistake, especially when he will likely end up at csu.  They should find a way to make room for him, even if it means asking one of the current verbals to greyshirt along with John Lisella, especially since most will redshirt anyway.  O’Connor will have three more years to play after he sits out a season.

There were no scheduled visits for this weekend, the second to last of the recruiting cycle, or at least none published.  There is some speculation (or maybe just hope) that there are some prospects that are verbally committed elsewhere that are quietly visiting CU.  Stuart from CUattheGame suggested Victor Egu, a four-star LB from Concord, CA, who had been committed to Cal, but he has since flipped his commitment instead to Yale. 

It can’t really be a good sign that we haven’t heard anything from RB Michael Adkins or CB Chidobe Awuzie, who were both supposedly going to decide this week, but have yet to announce anything.

Read on for a compilation from the “Comments” section from the last post “More January Tidbits” of a dialogue between myself and frequent Commenter “Boulder Devil” who logs on from the Netherlands!  He shares some great insight as well as great optimism for the future-I hope his prognostications are correct!

BD: Thanks for keeping up on the doings of the Buff football program. You remain my "go-to" source of information.
That said... if you think this class is mediocre, you can blame Embree (since most of the recruits were his) and Hawkins (who screwed things up so badly that we only have a very limited number of scholarships available).
   As a CU grad and fan, I am proud that MacIntyre was honorable enough to honor the scholarship offers that my university made. I am also happy that I am not reading about our new coaches being banned from high school campuses for screwing over kids who were offered scholarships prior to a coaching change.
   Looking back at your prior posts, I am not certain that MacIntyre had anything at all to do with Kisima Jagne and his decision to attend ASU. Embree's guys were still recruiting him hard up until the very end, signaling that his commitment was not that strong. And the fact is that Jagne grew up a stone's throw (or a short drive, actually) from Sun Devil Stadium. It is no surprise that he ended up there.
   Recruits change their minds all the time, for a wide variety of reasons. That's why signing day is such a big deal. Until that contract is adorned with a signature, it's just talk.
  Right now, Mac's staff is dealing with promoting a football program that was the laughingstock of big time college football. Embree and Bieniemy may have been able to woo teenage boys into coming to CU, but were unable to develop and mold these young men into a decent division 1 TEAM.
  I believe Mac and his staff will be able to take this CU team and give them direction. They will help them grow as men first, and their ability to play as a TEAM will show that growth. Embree, Brown, and Bieniemy showed absolutely no ability whatsoever as pre-game planners or game day decision makers. Mac and his guys have proven themselves as men of honor and as men who have a PLAN when it comes to both offense and defense.
   I look forward to once again having Folsom Field a rowdy place where other teams dread playing, instead of the place where in the last several years good opposing players knew they were going to put up Sportscenter highlight numbers.
   I do wish our departing tackle David Bakhtiari would stick around and develop himself one more year with some coaches who know how to develop a team. I fear that someone has erroneously convinced him that he will be a high draft pick. It is possible, of course, but he is more likely a low round draft pick or someone who will have to tryout as an undrafted free agent. In any case, I wish him all the good luck in the world.

Looking forward to Spring football again, since fans are now welcome again. Go Buffs indeed!

DS: Thanks for the great insight Devil! As it stands, the class is mediocre, but I believe Embree would have improved upon it down the stretch-he had saved his visits for a reason, not just to host the verbals in January. MacIntyre isn't using anywhere close to all of them. Jagne was still listening intently to Embree and Kanavis (and he had signed last Feb. but was jacked around by our admissions), did not announce anything in the interim between the firing and hiring, then immediately told ASU he was coming there when MacInytre was announced. MacIntyre and staff just don't bring a ton of credibility and absolutely no big time connections (except Eli a long time ago) for recruits. I do agree he will be way better on game day-that is the saddest and most disappointing aspect of the short-lived Embree era for me. MacIntyre is indeed "honorable", but maybe to a fault? I thought the decision to send off fourth year juniors who contribute nothing was justified by Embree and should be more common. Those kids have already been given a free degree and do not need a fifth year of being baggage on a weak team. This is much different than yanking a scholarship at the last moment (Leach and WSU) or revoking after one or two years (USC and the SEC)if the kid hasn't panned out yet. I agree with you about Bahktiari, but I don't think he had his heart in it to try and play for a third coaching staff. Lastly, I think we might still have a while to wait until Folsom is rowdy and dreaded again, but I am super excited for open practices! I will attend as many as I can!

BD: It is tough to get in to CU, so Jagne certainly shares the blame for his lack of admission. His grades and test scores are all on him.
   While Mac has a lot of young guys on his staff, Baer and Bernardi have been around for a long time and have coached and recruited for Pac 12 teams (Arizona, ASU, Cal, Stanford, Washington, UCLA, and USC) and Baer was also DC for Notre Dame. They obviously have experience recruiting top notch talent.
   As for players being labeled "non-contributors" by Embree and staff and "let go," you gotta consider that a lot of guys on the squad are underperforming primarily because they had no quality guidance from a coaching staff that really did not know what the hell it was doing. I think that Mac realizes every kid on the team was good enough to be given a scholarship to a Big 12/Pac 12 team coming out of high school, and that they might not be the only ones responsible for their lack of development.
   Since Mac and staff cannot look at their new charges until spring practice, I think it is wise for them to wait until then to evaluate the attitudes and performance of every player. Why depend upon the judgment of Embree and his folks? If they had done their own jobs well, CU would not be trying to recover from being the worst team in its history. Embree, Bieniemy, and Brown were great position coaches, but none of them were qualified for their positions at CU.
   It's all in the coaching. Who's the baggage on USC? They are ALL four and five star recruits, yet the team barely made it over .500 this year. Good coaches make all of their players better, and bad coaches waste talent. Time will tell how much CU talent was going to waste.      

Wait until signing day to evaluate the recruiting class. If Mac pulls any big surprises, it will probably not be known until right before signing day. As "CU at the Game" points out, the Buffs may very well be hosting some good players the next couple of weeks. Players who right now are verbally committed to other programs. Not announcing who is coming allows the kids to not be pressured into not coming by other schools. Really looking forward to signing day to see who will be the new Buffs.

DS: I hope you are correct on many fronts, but I tend to be more skeptical. Maybe MacIntyre, Lindgren and Walters (who I really like)can find a way to motivate Thorton and Darden, but when I watched both of them in practice hawkins' last season and Embree's first, they were both very lazy and lackadaisical about everything they did, and Darden never even showed a glimpse to get himself in live action and neither has done anything since to change that reputation through two staffs. 

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Go Buffs!