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'14 CO ATH Kalen Ballage (Signed to Arizona State)

He ran a 10.6 to Qualify and then the final he pulled up with tightness in his hamstring that's the reason he took the place he did. CU just needs to keep recruiting him hard & try & win a couple more games then the 1 last year or even just show that the program is improving & they'll have as good a shot as any school.
 
I read recently that Isaac Miller plans to contact Ballage and pitch him on CU. It's nice to see the new recruit attempting to bring in other in-state talent.
 
An article from scout.com said he chose a top four and another one said that he was scheduling visits. I don't have a scout subscription so I was just wondering if we made the cut. Also on an unrelated note, how in the hell is he still a 3 star prospect on scout?
 
HUFset said:
Sounds like Rivals is just looking for a reason to bump him to a 5*

http://colorado.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1512247


Please God!
Ballege is the type of in-state commit that could turn this program around.
Click to expand...

I would think, if I were a highly sought after prospect... I might prefer to go to a rebuilding program. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment but, the idea that your name could be synonymous with CU's turnaround seems extremely tempting. 4-5 years is a long, long time. Programs can go from 1 win to major bowls in that time. Consider that Ballage's commitment could put the spotlight on Colorado, especially for in state recruits.

We might have to turn the program around before we attract his kind of talent, but it'll come. It's about time that CU becomes the first choice for most in staters.
 
skinsfan55 said:
I would think, if I were a highly sought after prospect... I might prefer to go to a rebuilding program. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment but, the idea that your name could be synonymous with CU's turnaround seems extremely tempting. 4-5 years is a long, long time. Programs can go from 1 win to major bowls in that time. Consider that Ballage's commitment could put the spotlight on Colorado, especially for in state recruits.

We might have to turn the program around before we attract his kind of talent, but it'll come. It's about time that CU becomes the first choice for most in staters.
Click to expand...
Your point is certainly valid for some kids with lots of confidence and a desire to have a legacy. The hard thing for super talented kids is to know if CU and HCMM is really going to turn it around. B/c I think Embree was pitching the same thing-come to CU and be part of rebuilding CU back to prominence. I believe HCMM is going to do it sooner or later but they have to believe it too.
 
Ballage is a longshot. I'm hoping he takes his time and gives CU an opportunity to show something on the field.
 
Bigbuffs said:
An article from scout.com said he chose a top four and another one said that he was scheduling visits. I don't have a scout subscription so I was just wondering if we made the cut. Also on an unrelated note, how in the hell is he still a 3 star prospect on scout?
Click to expand...

It's been long enough since the article that I think it is fair game to talk about what was in that article. I seem to recall that this board observes a time limit on paywalled content that states after a certain length of time it can be shared. Please let me know if this understanding is inaccurate.

Kalen Ballage: “Like I told you last time… I won’t leave you hanging. My top five, not in order, I would have to say, Boise State, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona State, and…man, that last one is tough."

More recently he said this.

"I am going to Michigan tomorrow morning. I will go to Michigan State and Nebraska after that. I will be in Lincoln for Big Red Weekend. After that I am pretty sure I will visit Ohio State, Boise State and Iowa."

With regards to his being a 3*, Scout has answered a few questions about their rating policy in the past. Apparently they do three ratings periods (if I remember right...they definitely do multiple rating periods but not sure on the exact quantity). Each new one both rates additional players that were not rated during the previous rating period and revisits the ratings of players that were done previously. Brandon Huffman has said that they are in the process of updating ratings for their second rating period. I would expect him to be rerated up to a 4* before too much longer.
 
Of all those names, I don't know why he listed Boise... Obviously big 10 schools love big backs and if he wants to be a RB, that's a good fit for him. Looked like his team went to a camp at boise from film I watched of him, so maybe that helped.

CU should do team camps as well as individual. It offers a way for kids without the money to travel all over to come to CO with their school. Maybe that's impossible but BSU figured it out.

Credit to Boise for getting his attention. Hopefully Mike Mac can make a huge splash this season and get him to look at his state school.
 
Probably for the same reason Squally Canada (now a 4* on ESPN) gave Boise major interest.

http://hscolorado.scout.com/2/1225586.html

Boise State was Ballage's first D1 offer way back in September. The first offer is a pretty big deal for a lot of kids. Add onto that being a top-25 football program every year, a city consistently listed as one of the nicest to live in the country, a top-notch coaching staff, a program that has sent a lot of kids to the NFL in recent years, and reasonably close to home location and there's a decently compelling case why it would be an attractive destination for an aspiring college football player.

I doubt he ends up here. He may be just keeping us in the running out of gratitude for being his first offer since our program is known to be good talent scouts and therefore an early offer from us typically brings in offers from other programs, but you never know I guess.
 
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nocoolnamejim said:
Probably for the same reason Squally Canada (now a 4* on ESPN) gave Boise major interest.

http://hscolorado.scout.com/2/1225586.html

Boise State was Ballage's first D1 offer way back in September. The first offer is a pretty big deal for a lot of kids. Add onto that being a top-25 football program every year, a city consistently listed as one of the nicest to live in the country, a top-notch coaching staff, a program that has sent a lot of kids to the NFL in recent years, and reasonably close to home location and there's a decently compelling case why it would be an attractive destination for an aspiring college football player.

I doubt he ends up here. He may be just keeping us in the running out of gratitude for being his first offer since our program is known to be good talent scouts and therefore an early offer from us typically brings in offers from other programs, but you never know I guess.
Click to expand...

No doubt that Boise is good. I wish we got to have your schedule for a couple of years. But I've been to Boise and it blows goats. Literally, I saw this guy doing it. On a serious note though, I went to the downtown area clubs. It shouldn't even be called downtown. It should be referred to as "The few kinda medium sized buildings that people go to until 12 on a Friday night". They were super sad... And most locals were blowing goats which really threw us off our game.

You guys did beat us out for a 2 star guy from Canada. I know ESPN rated him 4 stars, which means some canadian intern put the fix on that deal cuz they don't actually watch film of anyone west of Maine. Let's stick to the facts here.

If I were a highly recruited player like Ballage, I would do two chicks at the same time and stay the hell out of Boise. Cuz it blows goats.
 
Jaximus said:
No doubt that Boise is good. I wish we got to have your schedule for a couple of years. But I've been to Boise and it blows goats. Literally, I saw this guy doing it. On a serious note though, I went to the downtown area clubs. It shouldn't even be called downtown. It should be referred to as "The few kinda medium sized buildings that people go to until 12 on a Friday night". They were super sad... And most locals were blowing goats which really threw us off our game.

You guys did beat us out for a 2 star guy from Canada. I know ESPN rated him 4 stars, which means some canadian intern put the fix on that deal cuz they don't actually watch film of anyone west of Maine. Let's stick to the facts here.

If I were a highly recruited player like Ballage, I would do two chicks at the same time and stay the hell out of Boise. Cuz it blows goats.
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Happy to switch you conferences and schedules whenever you want. Other than that, rest of your post is your subjective opinion and you're welcome to it. You asked what the pitch would be to a recruit like Ballage for Boise State and I listed a few decent pitches (and did not in any way say anything negative about Colorado in the process) that Boise has.

Every school out there has different strengths and weaknesses. Few teams can offer a recruit absolutely everything ranging from the best weather to the best academics to top-notch football success. But nearly every school has SOMETHING to offer and different kids weight different factors higher or lower.
 
nocoolnamejim said:
Happy to switch you conferences and schedules whenever you want. Other than that, rest of your post is your subjective opinion and you're welcome to it. You asked what the pitch would be to a recruit like Ballage for Boise State and I listed a few decent pitches (and did not in any way say anything negative about Colorado in the process) that Boise has.

Every school out there has different strengths and weaknesses. Few teams can offer a recruit absolutely everything ranging from the best weather to the best academics to top-notch football success. But nearly every school has SOMETHING to offer and different kids weight different factors higher or lower.
Click to expand...

You were fair.

And from what I can tell, Coach MacIntyre does not engage in negative recruiting so we Buffs fans should be chilling out on that too imho.

For those prospects who want to play just about every week against the top competition, you'll see them gravitate toward the major conference programs. Within the Pac-12 footprint, that gives CU significant advantages over Boise State and others. For those prospects who don't put premium value on that (i.e., getting to play at the Rose Bowl or LA Coliseum, etc.), then Boise State is tough to beat based on its run of success. They've been getting good talent for a reason.
 
nocoolnamejim said:
Happy to switch you conferences and schedules whenever you want. Other than that, rest of your post is your subjective opinion and you're welcome to it. You asked what the pitch would be to a recruit like Ballage for Boise State and I listed a few decent pitches (and did not in any way say anything negative about Colorado in the process) that Boise has.

Every school out there has different strengths and weaknesses. Few teams can offer a recruit absolutely everything ranging from the best weather to the best academics to top-notch football success. But nearly every school has SOMETHING to offer and different kids weight different factors higher or lower.
Click to expand...

He-Blows-Goats.gif



Serious = Boring.
 
Buffnik said:
You were fair.

And from what I can tell, Coach MacIntyre does not engage in negative recruiting so we Buffs fans should be chilling out on that too imho.

For those prospects who want to play just about every week against the top competition, you'll see them gravitate toward the major conference programs. Within the Pac-12 footprint, that gives CU significant advantages over Boise State and others. For those prospects who don't put premium value on that (i.e., getting to play at the Rose Bowl or LA Coliseum, etc.), then Boise State is tough to beat based on its run of success. They've been getting good talent for a reason.
Click to expand...

Being Pac-12 is ABSOLUTELY a huge recruiting advantage. Major conference, better bowl games, and of course academic prestige (though BSU does a good job pointing out stellar APR ratings even if it isn't a major research institution and scores absolutely s*** in places like U.S. News and World Report rankings of colleges) are all big Buff advantages. Plus, hell, Boulder is a gorgeous area. Absolutely beautiful city you guys have. I've got a coworker who lives in Boulder who raves on conference calls until he gets absolutely annoying about it.

Brandon Huffman from Scout actually said something about the old Colorado coaching staff vs. the new on a paywalled BSU board recently. (You guys come up sometimes. One of the things that got me interested in checking this board out. There's a perception at least on the Scout site that Colorado follows Boise State around "copying our homework" and offering the recruits we offer first. I was curious about the other side perspective.)

But Brandon kind of indirectly countered that belief. He said that the old coaching staff had a strategy of basically carpet bombing offers and often got in as either the first offer or shortly after the first offer with a number of individuals for that reason, whereas the new staff is being more meticulous about researching guys that they want. Implication was that the Colorado offer is a touch more meaningful under Mac than previously. It'll be interesting to watch going forward.
 
Jaximus said:
He-Blows-Goats.gif



Serious = Boring.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry. :( Infrequent visitor and wasn't absolutely sure you were just bantering, talking trash vs. serious. Don't want to make assumptions as a guest on someone else's board. I'll remember you're the banter type going forward and respond in kind Jax.
 
Buffnik said:
You were fair.
And from what I can tell, Coach MacIntyre does not engage in negative recruiting so we Buffs fans should be chilling out on that too imho.
Click to expand...

I love this. MacIntyre seems like the Governor Hickenlooper of college coaches. No negativity, just sell the agenda. You might not agree with what the agenda is, but don't bash the other guy to make your point.
 
skinsfan55 said:
I love this. MacIntyre seems like the Governor Hickenlooper of college coaches. No negativity, just sell the agenda. You might not agree with what the agenda is, but don't bash the other guy to make your point.
Click to expand...
oh snap. careful, you might step on some toes round here throwing out politician names :lol:
 
nocoolnamejim said:
Being Pac-12 is ABSOLUTELY a huge recruiting advantage. Major conference, better bowl games, and of course academic prestige (though BSU does a good job pointing out stellar APR ratings even if it isn't a major research institution and scores absolutely s*** in places like U.S. News and World Report rankings of colleges) are all big Buff advantages. Plus, hell, Boulder is a gorgeous area. Absolutely beautiful city you guys have. I've got a coworker who lives in Boulder who raves on conference calls until he gets absolutely annoying about it.

Brandon Huffman from Scout actually said something about the old Colorado coaching staff vs. the new on a paywalled BSU board recently. (You guys come up sometimes. One of the things that got me interested in checking this board out. There's a perception at least on the Scout site that Colorado follows Boise State around "copying our homework" and offering the recruits we offer first. I was curious about the other side perspective.)

But Brandon kind of indirectly countered that belief. He said that the old coaching staff had a strategy of basically carpet bombing offers and often got in as either the first offer or shortly after the first offer with a number of individuals for that reason, whereas the new staff is being more meticulous about researching guys that they want. Implication was that the Colorado offer is a touch more meaningful under Mac than previously. It'll be interesting to watch going forward.
Click to expand...

Not sure what he meant by this. At any rate, recruiting wasn't stellar under the last staff, but it wasn't the problem. I also don't expect recruiting to improve much under the new staff (at least not initially), but the coaching could be signficantly better. If not, we're screwed like we have been for the last decade.

As for Ballage, needless to say, it would be HUGE to get him.
 
Re: '14 CO ATH Kalen Ballage

skinsfan55 said:
I would think, if I were a highly sought after prospect... I might prefer to go to a rebuilding program. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment but, the idea that your name could be synonymous with CU's turnaround seems extremely tempting. 4-5 years is a long, long time. Programs can go from 1 win to major bowls in that time. Consider that Ballage's commitment could put the spotlight on Colorado, especially for in state recruits.

We might have to turn the program around before we attract his kind of talent, but it'll come. It's about time that CU becomes the first choice for most in staters.
Click to expand...

You know I was trying to think of names and didn't come up with any (when did luck start playing). All I have is great players on amazing teams and great coaches.
 
Re: '14 CO ATH Kalen Ballage

Buffnik said:
You were fair.

And from what I can tell, Coach MacIntyre does not engage in negative recruiting so we Buffs fans should be chilling out on that too imho.

For those prospects who want to play just about every week against the top competition, you'll see them gravitate toward the major conference programs. Within the Pac-12 footprint, that gives CU significant advantages over Boise State and others. For those prospects who don't put premium value on that (i.e., getting to play at the Rose Bowl or LA Coliseum, etc.), then Boise State is tough to beat based on its run of success. They've been getting good talent for a
reason.
Click to expand...

You took Jaximous as saying something negative. But perhaps he likes blowing goats, and was listing it as a positive. :D

Lets face it. Boise could come in to the Big Can't Count, or PAC 12, and make a bowl game every year. They have talent and good coaches. In the big leagues, they would be able to build depth over a few years. Kids want to win, be featured, go to bowl games, and have a chance at the NFL. At this point they can have the shot at CU, but until we start winning, two of those three things are not going tobput us on kids radars. HCMM gets us 6 wins and a bowl game win, and his rrcruiting will take a serious jump up IMO. Until then, the past still haunts the program.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
 
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Top four of Boise State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Nebraska... as of right now. Also, he is ripped

130608_RIVALS_1194_9017742325_O200.JPG
 
Jaximus said:
Only way we have a shot at Ballage would be a bowl game appearance. So very doubtful...
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A surprise season would allow us to close recruiting strong and also kick 2015 recruiting into high gear.

Stranger things have happened. In fact, teams significantly outperform preseason expectations all the time. It just hasn't happened here in a while due to organizational issues. Organizational items are where the current staff seem to be thriving, so I wouldn't write this team year's team off in the least.
 
Do not understand interest in Boise. KB could probably go to just about any BCS school, why would you waste 4 years in Boise?
 
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