May is generally a pretty slow month in the college football world, spring practices are over, coaches are recruiting but it is by no means the busiest or most important time of the year. However, all of a sudden in Buff world, a few things are moving and shaking. When we last left you we were only pondering the bizarre flake out and defection of nick hirschman...
It appears that Mike MacIntyre and Brian Lindgren are not
entirely comfortable with the QB situation after hisrchman's transfer with the injury then felony charge for Jordan Webb. To help fill the void, Colorado went out and got a commitment
from unrated JC QB Jordan Gehrke, from Scottsdale, AZ (Ventura College via Scottsdale
JC and Notre Dame Prep). He is not rated
anywhere and wasn't recruited anywhere else except Weber St. Gehrke had played one year for
Scottsdale and was set to play for Ventura College, then Weber St. this fall until the
desperate Buffs came calling. He will
have four years to “play” three. Not the most reassuring move the staff could
make for us fans.
Before all that of course, the Alex Lewis situation came out and at least that has been so entertaining (with no disrespect intended for the Air Force cadet involved). First, Lewis announces very publicly that he is
transferring to nebraska, a place he said during recruitment that he would
never consider; on top of that, he does so without even having the decency to
notify Coach MacIntyre, who heard about it from media. Less than 12 hours after his announcement, he
is arrested for beating the crap out of a much smaller guy. Lewis very freely (and proudly?) admitted to having consumed 22 drinks, not “a bunch”, or “more than 10” or
“twenty or so” but “6 glasses of wine, 10 beers and 6 shots”, which is a lot
for anyone, even a 275-pound linemen. Needless
to say, his enrollment is at least being delayed by nebraska until this is
sorted out. I wonder if it was some type
of Fusker initiation. Although it is a
loss on paper of a talented player, he obviously didn't have the heart to stick
with it here (like hirschman), obviously doesn't make very good choices, and the coaching
staff doesn't really “lose” anything since they were operating without him in the
spring. The program will be better off without him. The saddest part is that he will probably get
charges reduced to a misdemeanor with no real consequences, and he will still
get a free college education from Nebraska (so he can be hired by some other
fusker alumnus).
The person who benefits most from Lewis’ story is not an
offensive linemen, but rather former Buff nick hirschman, who didn’t get named the
starter, so he quit and left to pursue his “Ivy League dream” at, uh, Akron, of
Ohio that is (I guess I don’t need to clarify because as far as I know there is
only one Akron), who was also 1-11 last season against inferior competition and
has what I am assuming to be a less prestigious graduate degree than CU or any
school in the Ivy League. The ridicule
was just starting when Lewis and Webb took the spotlight away.
Coaches Caravan:
CU coaches Mike MacIntyre, Tad Boyle and Linda Lappe toured the state this
week, touting their athletic teams and serving crappy fast food to fans from
Denver to Pueblo to Vail and Grand Junction.
It was on this tour that MacIntyre was notified by media of Lewis’
decision to defect to nebraska. They all spewed off the typical cliches throughout
the week, although MacIntyre had a cute story for each stop. MacIntyre’s best quote: “I can’t wait to play csu. . . I
can almost smell the game.” They all smiled for fans and media cameras, including
photo ops at the most publicized stops, the drive thru windows and counters of
McDonald’s across the state.
Does anyone else find it as pathetic as I do that the
bohnhead chose the greasy pits of the world’s largest fast food chain to be the
main host of his coaches and the most publicized and photographed spots each
day? This trip was supposed to be about Colorado community and such, so why did
they go in this direction? They couldn't have worked exclusively with and promoted a few more smaller, local venues and
places that served real food? Way to set
the example of a healthy lifestyle! Is
this who caters the training table? Although they did stop at many other
businesses and spoke at some schools, the stops at the fast food chain
locations were by far the most hyped by CU and the media, shown over and over
again in papers and on newscasts. While it
may be good general PR, if that footage wasn't there, they would have used
something else from one of the other stops. How much did McDonald’s pay? (At
least one donor owns a franchise.) I guess WalMart didn't bid enough. Another baffling move by the bohner, who has
to beg for any scraps he can get.
Chuck Neinas stopped by the Vail visit and said that his son
Toby is enjoying being Special Teams coach. Of MacIntyre, he said (Toby) “tells me he’s never been with a better coach in terms of
leadership and organization.”
At a Safeway in Lone Tree the
coaches and the bohnhead participated in a grocery bagging contest where the AD
was named “Master Bagger”. So proud.
Depressing Previews:
The various websites and publications are starting their 2013 conference and team previews,
and not surprisingly, they are already waxing poetic about how bad the Buffs
will actually be, challenging each other to create the most flamboyant
descriptions and the strangest analogies. I
don’t even bother to read the defensive statistics from 2012 anymore, just
glossing over them and going to the next paragraph, although the offensive stats are almost as offensive. Although most concede that the Buffs will be
improved, mostly because no can or wants to envision it getting worse, so has
almost everyone else in the conference.
Even with another year under the belt of many younger kids and a new
coaching staff led by everyone’s favorite swell guy Mike MacIntyre (national
writers love him to death), I doubt anyone outside of the program is going to
predict more than 3-4 games.
College Football News/Scout posted a pretty comprehensive
preview for all teams. Here’s the CU
one, but be forewarned that it is in no way sugar-coated. There is also a preview of both the offense
and the defense (the depth chart is way out of date and whack): http://cfn.scout.com/2/1291232.html
The piece does contain a few misinterpretations of the
actual facts, such as the statement that QB Sefo Liufau “was handpicked by the
new regime” or that Tony Jones “hits the hole with authority” (unless that
means turns to the outside) or that WR Tyler McCulloch “used his hands well
when catching the ball” (should read “only his hands” since he gets muscled out
by every DB).
USA Today is the latest to join the Buff-bashing party,
ranking CU 115 out of 125 teams this year (actually that’s pretty good compared
to how we finished last season). Paul Myerberg doesn’t hold anything back,
using phrases like “multiple year rebuilding project” and stating boldly that
they will finish in last place in the pac-12 South again.
The article stated that “the tight end will play an enormous
role in this offense” and that we should expect both Kyle Slavin and Vincent
Hobbs and at least two other TEs to “earn significant playing time”, which
seems like a stretch, especially since they didn’t even mention Hobbs’ home
situation, or the fact that no one else stepped up in the spring, nor do they
really have anyone coming in this fall. It doesn’t even mention Brady Daigh at
LB, assumes that Kawai Crabb, who was out all of last year with back problems,
will be the LG, but that is far from a foregone conclusion at this point, and
also gives Gus Handler a lot more credit than most, not even mentioning that
Daniel Munyer will still challenge for the center slot when he is healthy.
Athlon also posted an article on the Buffs that was actually
picked up by the Chicago Tribune as well. http://stats.athlonsports.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=athlonsports&page=cfoot/news/news.aspx?id=4593781
Early preseason honors:
WR Paul Richardson has been officially named to the “Best chance to join
Pac-12 blog's All-Interview team” by Ted Miller of ESPN. Some of P-Rich’s quotes: "I expect nothing less
than for people to sell us short or pick us to finish last. I even joked before
in another interview that if there was a spot below last they'd pick us there
as well. But you never know what will happen in the Pac-12."
"I don't think Coach MacIntyre is in a bad position at all. I think he was given an opportunity to move up to this coaching job at a really good time. We're going to have some key players back and our young guys are going to have experience. To me, he came at a perfect time."
"I was very upset to say the least [at coach Jon Embree's firing]. It was very surprising. I had a really good relationship with Coach Embree. It caught us all off guard. Some of us were pretty bitter."
"I think we'll be .500 or above. The best thing I can say is don't sleep on Colorado football. We're a work in progress, but it is progressing over here."
"I don't think Coach MacIntyre is in a bad position at all. I think he was given an opportunity to move up to this coaching job at a really good time. We're going to have some key players back and our young guys are going to have experience. To me, he came at a perfect time."
"I was very upset to say the least [at coach Jon Embree's firing]. It was very surprising. I had a really good relationship with Coach Embree. It caught us all off guard. Some of us were pretty bitter."
"I think we'll be .500 or above. The best thing I can say is don't sleep on Colorado football. We're a work in progress, but it is progressing over here."
Richardson was also named as one of the Pac-12 players who
are “Ready for their close-up”.
I will repeat, mike "the bohnhead" bohner was named "Master Bagger" at a Lone Tree Safeway.
2014 Recruiting:
CU is still without a commitment for the 2014 class (the only team in the
pac-12 without any). However, according
to Adam M. of Rivals/BuffStampede and the “new” FoxSports/Scout/Buff Playbook
the Buffs have offered 10 or so prospects in Colorado and numerous prospects in
California and Texas, with lots of kids talking about their interest in CU.
BuffPlayBook said one of their scouts has reported hearing “Colorado” mentioned
among California recruits than ever before.
Numerous prospects, including Texas defensive backs
Courtland Sutton (Brenham) and Chance Waz (Pflugerville/Hendrickson), received
38 handwritten letters each from CU players and staff. Neither player is rated with any stars from
ESPN yet, and so far, Sutton’s only offer is from Colorado while Waz has also
attracted the interest of Utah. Needless
to say, this type of news, really the “biggest story” I’ve seen, does not get
the fan that excited for the future.
Lewis or Webb will not get away with the actions that took place that early morning. The cadet was the winner in this so far, because he lived thru the continue beating even after he was unconscious from those two cowards. The cadet will be a Air Force officer and more than likely deployed at some point. The point here is when deployed, his chances of making it back are 50/50. Those two cowards if not for the black SUV telling them to get in would have continued the beating until very possibly killing him. The long term effects from the head injury sustain is to be seen. To think that young man will be serving our country and putting his life on the line with other military men and women for cowards like Lewis and Webb. It's to bad there wasn't some other men around to help. The girl that tried to step got pushed down and called all sorts of stuff and put fear into them. The cadet said run. That's bravery and before the last blow to the head against the parking meter that put him out, when she returned they were still engaging. Wow! In this case the facts will show what happened. Lewis and Webb stories are bull s--- and the attn for Lewis lost is credibility as well as lewis. When found quilty it's mandatory jail time period. No more football for either one. They are fortunate they didn't kill him or it would be life, and will have hurt there family members and the Cadets family members, but if the cadet has issues from this later it will be worse. Head injuries can have all kinds of effects on a person later on in life. I pray this won't be the case. Those two should have just came out and told the truth and ask for forgiveness. The size of them 2 on 1 and the intent was a rage of anger unexplainable. Let's don't pass judgement on any football player or a cadet in this, because not all are like those two. Maybe Lewis and Webb possibly had more in there system than alcohol. Maybe some PEDs and the NCAA should test them both and see if it's a factor.
ReplyDeleteFunny reading this comment about two guy's doing what they did to this young man, makes me believe that CU doesn't have a very good discipline structure for there players. There is no way as a head football coach I would allow Webb to even be on the team as well the school should kick him out. The fact Lewis and Webb bragged about how much alcohol they drank surely broke school and football rules. Plus the facts of the witnesses and the stupid remark from defense attn. about the victim said something about Lewis wearing cornhuskers apparel and then backtracked on his statement shows lies like i don't know where i got that from. That was Lewis trying to make any excuse he can to get out of this. 2 on 1 and the size difference plus the head injury to the victim shows what cowards they are. It was a one sided attack, and anyone with any sense knows the truth. They should be punished to the max.
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