More June action (updated)

A decent amount of note has transpired while I was out of town, including summer workouts going full force, with most of the remaining freshman class reporting very soon.  Coaches are out on the recruiting trail while the team is picking up commitments.  Media outlets are even writing some okay things about the Buffs. Update: An AD search committee has been formed (see below).

Roster Notes: MacIntyre and staff added an intriguing 2013 prospect to the roster when previously unknown (since he focused on baseball and did not play football at all in high school) TE/OT prospect Connor Center (Albany, NY) visited Boulder and committed on the spot.  The 6’8” 250-pound beast finished up high school realizing that he wasn’t going anywhere on his baseball talent, worked out in 7-0n-7s with some friends, sent some film off and suddenly had multiple offers from Syracuse, Miami (Fla.) and CU among others.  He’ll start out at TE, likely red-shirting this season, but moving to tackle if he puts on weight and/or doesn’t show the hands. He’ll report with the rest of the 2013 class this Sunday, June 23.

Incoming recruit OL Sam Kronshrage, who had a racist tweet sent from his phone, will also report with the rest of his class.  I guess MacIntyre has moved on, taken the word of the kid and his family, but probably has a lot shorter leash for Kronshrage than for others. 

QBs Sefo Liufau and Jordan Gehrke reported early and have been working out with the team.  Early reports out of workouts are that Gehrke is very accurate, while Liufau is not, although his size and athleticism seem to be impressive.  Connor Wood still “would be the starter” if they today according to MacIntyre.

*Of note: everyone is cleared and there are no academic problems with any of the 2013 class.

Summer workouts: Players are running very organized, twice weekly sessions this summer, as opposed to very loosely run and attended 7-on-7s in the recent past.  They do individual and group drills as well as some scrimmage situations-all planned and designed with coaches during spring ball.  The last day, post scrimmage was to practice practicing and give focus areas for individuals and groups.  The Strength and conditioning coaches also do some conditioning work at each session. LT Jack Harris said his offensive line group is getting some good experience with the attrition and projected starter Daniel Munyer inured.  Kawai Crabb and Alex Kelley will vie for the last spot when Munyer returns.

Sophomores TE Vincent Hobbs and WR Gerald Thomas are both in summer school classes and attending the workouts.

Captains: I was wondering what the deal was but after multiple team votes, it was finally announced that the Buffs will have a record six captains for the 2013-14 season, four seniors, two juniors, 3 each from offense and defense. A forgone conclusion was LB Derrick Webb, who was also a captain last year and will be only the sixth multi-year captain in Buff history (most recently were RB Bobby Purify and QB Joel Klatt). Also, really no surprise was DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe, LT Jack Harris, and even Jr. WR Paul Richardson. However, Sr. LB Paul Vigo, who is mostly a passing down guy, is also one of the six, as well as now projected starting QB Jr. Connor Wood. 
Only four can represent the team at midfield each pregame so they will rotate (planned?) so that each will be out there eight times. I am not going to bother with the math.

I don’t know if having so many captains is a sign of lots of great, popular leadership, or differing opinions and factions within the squad.  Time will tell, and the answer will be telling before long.

Recruiting 2014: The Buffs got their 4^th verbal commitment with QB Cade Aspay (Canyon Country, CA), a consensus 3-star QB (yes, Devil, I will continue to list “stars” as one parameter-do with it what you like).  Aspay chose CU over Pac-12 rival Arizona, and had been getting interest from a lot of schools.  He was one of the last guys not to make the cut for the Nike Elite 11 camp that gets so much hype (they actually took fewer players this year). Some think getting your QB early is good to help bring in other guys.

He joins Chance Waz (Pflugerville/Hendrickson, TX), a two-star DB/WR prospect, who committed last week.  The Buffs project Waz as a CB but he said he would play “where ever” to help the team. He chose the Buffs over Pac-12 Utah and a bunch of small Texas schools.
Another prospect from Texas, LB Grant Watanabe (San Antonio) also chose the Buffs over Utah.  He is a three-star, undersized LB already drawing comparisons to Jordan Dizon (hey, this is why we follow recruiting right?).
Local boy three-star OT Oliver Miller (Longmont-Silver Creek) was the first to commit and he hopes to convince some of his in-state opponents and friends to help re-build the Colorado tradition.
At least three of the recent commits took unofficial visits and were impressed enough with what they saw to commit soon thereafter.  Each of the four 2014 verbals spoke about how comfortable they felt with the coaching staff.

CU coaches have made the state of Colorado a priority, as have all the other schools in the state, but this staff is definitely walking the walk, having visited every 5A and 4A school, ~95 percent of the 3A schools, plus a good number of 2A, 1A, and even A-8 man and A-6 man schools, reminding those in attendance at the College Kickoff luncheon (head coaches from all schools in state), one of the best running backs in Colorado history came from an 8-man program in California, Rashaan Salaam.  They started this trek on a snowy April Monday when many people stayed home and have not let up.

Buff coaches are now volunteering at camps across Texas, after working some in California, and have been offering prospects left and right, including S David Williams and LB Zach Brown.  Look for more commits soon.

When the staff receives a verbal commitment, it has joined many other programs by sending out a quick tweet: “#CUin14” from one of the coaches’ twitter accounts notifies fans that the Buffs have received a new one, without officially commenting in any way.  My favorite one from another school is the Washington Huskies and Steve Sarkisian, who tweet “woof woof” when they get a new verbal.

Previews and preseason honors: Athlon (who puts out a lot of material and lists) said CU is one of the ten teams most likely to improve, going out on a limb and saying that the Buffs will triple their win total to three!  They continue with the “well, it certainly can’t get worse” theme plus “they get P-Rich back”, adding that the Buffs must win the first two vs. csu and Central ArKansas and could sneak one at home from Cal or Utah.

Last season’s team MVP P Darragh O’Neill continues to get the most recognition of any Buff as he is seemingly the consensus Pac-12 first team punter, being tabbed by Athlon now.  The only other Colorado mentions were third teamers WR Paul Richardson and OG Daniel Munyer (who could actually still end up at center).

Jack Follman from PacificTakes.com is ranking Pac-12 position groupings and gave Colorado their due with a solid number six ranking for receiving corps (WR and TE) ahead of Utah, ASU, Cal, UCLA, Arizona and Stanford, and just behind Washington State.  “It might be surprising to see Colorado this high at any position, but the truth is that the Buffs have a decent group of receivers with Richardson coming back from injury. If healthy, Richardson is an All-Pac-12 guy and Spruce and McCulloch are reliable targets that put up good numbers last season.” He lists Richardson as the seventh best receiver in the conference overall.
He ranks the top TEs and lists only seven, none from CU.  However, if Vincent Hobbs gets it together and does what he has shown sparks of at times, he could surprise and up the value of the entire receiving group.
Follman also ranks the conference “Backfields”, including RBs and QBs because so many offenses count on the quarterback to carry the ball as well, with CU landing at ninth: “Wood and Dillon aren't standouts, but Powell and Jones team together to form an underrated and sneakily dynamic duo at running back. Powell can run over guys and get the tough yards at 240 pounds while Jones is more of a shifty guy with speed.”

Other Notes: Fall camp opens August fifth!

AD Search: UPDATE: Originally, I had written what is crossed out below, but less than a half hour after posting it, the news came out that CU has formed a seven member committee to search for and hire a new Athletic Director (Fundraiser), preferably before the football season starts (which is pretty standard timeline for an AD).  Ceal Barry will not be a candidate to take over on a full-time basis as she will chair the group, which also includes perennial CU Faculty rep David Clough, faculty rep Joe Jupille, vice-chancellor/chief financial officer CU-Boulder Kelly Fox, Kurt Gulbrand of the CU Foundation, writer/alumni rep Doug Looney, and track athlete/student rep Brittany Lewis.  Most importantly, Phil DiStephano does not appear to be involved any further.  The committee will decide whether or not to employ a "search firm" to aid the process. However, really the most intriguing factor will be about how much money can they offer any reputable candidate, or if they will just go cheap and take the wrath of many fans?
It will likely be a lot longer than that before we see a new AD, as they haven’t even formed a search committee yet.  Is this just another way to save some money by letting Ceal cheaply run the show for as long as possible, before anteing up for someone who can make a splash?  At least she’s honest and admits there is no way they will meet the Dec. 1 deadline of $50 million to kickstart the facilities upgrade, which will technically allow MacIntyre to leave without penalty.

Former WR/TE DaVaughn Thorton, who could never seem to get it all together here, has joined CSU-Pueblo (the home of Buffs castaways like Bernard Jackson, Bryce Givens, Seth Lobato, Wil Jefferson and others) and coach John Wristen for his last year of eligibility.  This is probably a good fit for him as his size and speed will stand out a lot more at this level.