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Early look at 2017 in key states

Duff Man

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With lots of new offers having gone out recently with Chiaverini's arrival as recruiting coordinator, time to go ahead and get this thread started.

Some quick notes about the class in general:
1. It will be a big class. Currently, the junior class has 24 scholarship players on the roster. While it is expected that this number will decrease after spring practices, it should still number at least 20 when the season starts. A good early number for this class is an even 25, but that may go higher if you include gray shirts from this class like Hunter Vaughn and Colby Pursell. A full roster breakdown is available here: http://www.allbuffs.com/threads/2015-colorado-football-roster-with-16-commits.104835/

2. Expect the class to be mostly be balanced by position, although more linemen heavy than the 2016 class.

3. The Colorado prep class is likely to be the deepest class in a long time. The Buffs have offered nine juniors to date and several of those players have multiple P5 offers. Additionally, there are a handful of other juniors on CU's radar.

4. Expect an increased presence in So Cal and the DFW metroplex with the arrival of Chiaverini. Additionally, expect the Buffs to continue to recruit Georgia/Florida/Louisiana with the Jim Leavitt/Joe Thumpkin/Charles Clark trio.

Overall, some of the major questions to be answered with this class:

Can the Buffs parlay a winning season into in-state recruiting success?
A lot of recruiting success will come down to how well the Buffs perform on the field, but the Buffs could put themselves in good early position with a number of in-state prospects with the coaching staff shakeups that have occurred over the last couple years. With such a deep in-state class in 2017, the Buffs do not necessarily have to land the blue chips to be successful with in-state recruiting.

Will the Buffs be able to effectively recruit in the trenches?
With both Gary Bernardi and Jim Jeffcoat likely to be back in 2017, both coaches will be under the microscope as fans hope they can improve upon their recruiting results to date. By and large, most of the OL/DL recruits under this staff have either been lightly recruited or well off the radar. With plenty of scholarships to give in 2017, it will be vital for Bernardi and Jeffcoat to help land some quality players at their respective position groups.

Can the Buffs gain some traction in southern California and Dallas/Fort Worth?
As mentioned above, Darrin Chiaverini is expected to recruit both of these areas heavily for the Buffs. Additionally, the possible addition of Darian Hagan to the staff would likely give the Buffs a boost in Los Angeles. To date, the Buffs have struggled to gain the attention of even average P5 recruits in both areas, although they seem to be getting some attention late in the 2016 class.

Will the southern trio continue their success?
Without a doubt, the top players of the 2016 class currently all hail from the South. With a full recruiting cycle under their belts, the Buffs should be able to snag more players from the region in 2017. The state to watch may well be Louisiana. The Buffs were able to leverage the connection to Kordell Stewart's high school with getting a handful of teammates to visit last weekend. Can they expand that reach to other high schools in the New Orleans area?

Can the Buffs improve in the recruitment of Polynesian players?
Despite having a visible Poly player starting at QB in Sefo Liufau, the Buffs have largely struggled with Poly recruiting under Mike MacIntyre.
 
A closer look at some of the states and individual players who figure to be a major part of the recruiting efforts for the coaching staff in 2017:

COLORADO
As mentioned in the OP, the Buffs have offered eight juniors to date. Dylan McCaffrey, Jake Moretti, and Santino Marchiol are the three early blue chippers in the class and all are heavy leans out of state with Moretti having already committed to Ohio State.

The one player that may join the above group as being a national recruit sooner rather than later is Noah Elliss. Ellis is the son of former Utah great Luther Elliss, now the team chaplain for the Denver Broncos. Elliss mostly has regional offers at the moment, but expect plenty of schools to stop by in the spring to see Elliss. Hard to tell where Elliss' recruitment is heading at the moment, but he figures to have plenty of options.

The in-state player that seems to be highest on the Buffs early on is Cherry Creek star Jonathan Van Diest. He has visited Boulder unofficially many times and has a good relationship with the coaching staff. While his only offers to date are the Buffs and CSU, expect his recruitment to pick up in the spring as coaches visit Cherry Creek.

The Buffs have also been aggressive at Mullen High School with three early offers. The Buffs were the first school to offer Isiahia Banks, Christian Cumber, and Marcus McElroy. All three have at least a mid-3* composite rating early on and in the case of Cumber, he was a standout at UCLA's camp last season and he has been in quite of a bit contact with Cal early on. All three have visited Boulder and expect them to visit Boulder again this spring.

The last offer extended thus far by the Buffs is Dante Sparaco, who to this point has been a bit of an enigma. He transferred to Cherry Creek from the West Slope and was seemingly intent on playing QB. However, he was offered by CU as a DE after performing well at a camp last summer. There are conflicting reports as to how he has actually looked on the field.

Additionally, other recruits getting early buzz include: Brock Domann, Dalton Keene, and Corte Tapia.
 
I could tell @Duff Man was frustrated by how late he was compared to previous years on jumping in with "Futures" recruiting. Usually Xmas break sees him posting a bunch of profiles, many of whom are studs from within the footprint who don't have CU offers but eventually end up with one (or should). That didn't happen this year. Glad to see him jumping in strong today. I look forward to that peek ahead every year as everyone is more focused on the signing day immediately in front of us.

On that note, if any of you guys haven't been giving @WasianCU and @AztecBuff for the work they've been doing on Futures recruiting... you might want to get on that. They've been posting great stuff.
 
CALIFORNIA
At first glance, it appears to be an average class in California this season, with wide receivers and defensive backs dominating the early rankings.

The Buffs figure to be in the conversation for Josh Falo. The Buffs were the first to offer him after he had completed his sophomore year. Both of his older brothers have played for MacIntyre (one at San Jose State and NJ Falo at CU currently). He will be one of the most sought after tight ends on the west coast with close to double digit P5 offers already.

Another player to keep an eye is 4* QB Braxton Burmeister. The longtime Arizona commit may be having second thoughts after Rich Rodriguez recently took a second QB commitment in the 2017 class from his son. Several schools, including the Buffs, have offered Burmeister in the last couple months.

As far as individual schools, the main early target for the Buffs appears to be La Mirada High School, coached by Buff alum Mike Moschetti. Chiaverini stopped but the school last week and offered three juniors: Sire Woods, Eljah Hicks, and Chase Newman. Chiaverini was also able to secure an official visit for 2016 recruit Keanu Saleapaga, which could potentially give the Buffs an "in" to the 2017 recruits.

A couple other schools to watch are Buena Park High School in the Los Angeles area and Inderkum High School in Sacramento. Buena Park is where Josh Tupou attended high school and the school has at least five legitimate P5 prospects in this class, including recent CU offer recipient Tarriq Johnson. Inderkum is where the Falo brothers have attended school and also a place where the Buffs held a satellite camp in 2015. The Buffs have offered Trajon Cotton in addition to Falo early on and at least one other player at the school already has a P5 offer.
 
ARIZONA
It appears to be a relatively strong year in Arizona for the 2017 class with 12 players ranked early on at their respective positions nationally. By contrast, the 2016 class only has 8 players ranked at their positions nationally.

For Buffs fans, the player to watch early on is Chase Cord. The quarterback received an offer in October and is one of only five QBs in the 2017 class to garner an offer to date. He picked up an Indiana offer this week and before dismissing that Indiana offer simply because it is Indiana, keep in mind the Hoosiers have had a top four scoring offense in the Big Ten 3 out of the last 4 seasons, as well as having the #1 passing offense in the Big Ten 3 out of the last 4 seasons. In addition to the two early offers, he showed well at an Arizona State camp last summer. The major question mark surrounding Cord seems to be competition, as his school plays in a small classification in Arizona.

The other early Buffs offer in the Grand Canyon State is safety K.J. Jarrell out of Scottsdale, AZ. Jarrell is already a national recruit out of traditional power Scottsdale Saguaro. Additionally, players from other traditional powers like Brophy Prep, Chandler, and Peoria Centennial are receiving early interest from several P5 schools. The Buffs signed a player from each of those three schools in the 2015 class.

HAWAII
It looks to be an average year in Hawaii for the 2017 class with two early blue chip recruits, but that could very well change in the spring. As always, it will take a while for recruiting to be sorted out on the islands. Its location makes it difficult for players to visit schools unofficially on the mainland and for assistant coaches to visit the islands. Recruiting for most Hawaiian players does not really begin until the Spring Evaluation Period and then the camp season in June.

Early on, the Buffs have extended four offers in Hawaii. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is only the second top 50 national recruit from Hawaii since Manti Teo in 2009. He was thought to be a heavy lean to USC for most of the past year, but assistant coaching changes at USC have spurred him to be more open. Additionally, the Buffs have offered Aliki Vimahi, Kekaula Kaniho, and Charles Moku Watson. Klayton Adams visited the state in December and had a follow-up visit with Jim Leavitt last week. As usual, expect traditional powers St. Louis High School and Punahou to have several players garner serious P5 interest.
 
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TEXAS
It appears to be a deep year for talent in Texas. The top of the class may not be as strong as some years, but it appears to be particularly strong with players ranked 75 and below in early top 100 lists. Position-wise, it appears to be a bumper crop of wide receivers in the 2017 class with 18 WRs ranked in the Rivals initial top 100 list (including 16 in the top 50) and 24 ranked in the 247 Sports initial top 125. It also seems to be a good year for offensive linemen and linebackers.

For the Buffs in 2017, there is hope that Darrin Chiaverini can provide significant help in Texas, particularly in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. The Buffs have not signed, nor hosted any official visitors from the talent-rich area since Mike MacIntyre took over as head coach. Chiaverini recruited the area as an assistant for Texas Tech the last two years. There is also some question of how the Buffs will approach recruiting other areas of Texas as well. Troy Walters and Toby Neinas are both gone after recruiting in Houston and central Texas (San Antonio, Austin, etc.) respectively the last three years.

Early on, the Buffs have offered 11 wide receivers from the state, including nine in the DFW metroplex. Eight of the offers were extended last week, which coincided with Chiaverini posting on Twitter he was recruiting in Texas (and Tumpkin posting he was specificially recruiting in Houston). Several of the early offers are national recruits, but there are other players to keep an eye on: Jaelen Reagor, Tyrell Shavers, and Cartrell Thomas. Reagor is a commit to Texas Tech, but it seems likely he has a prior recruiting relationship with Chiaverini. Shavers and Thomas seem to just be getting started with recruiting.

Additionally, the Buffs have made several early offensive line offers in Texas. Dawson Deaton, William Sherman, Hyrin White, and Edward Ingram were other DFW recruits offered last week. Additionally, the Buffs have offered Houston area prospects Will Farrar and Grayson Reed within the last two weeks.

Other offers made last week include Brian Polendey, Sam Miller, Deiontae Watts, Isaiah Stewart, Thabo Mwaniki, and Saiid Adebo. It remains to be seen where these players ultimately land on the recruiting board for the staff, but by hitting the obvious powerhouses like Desoto, Allen, and Denton Guyer, it hopefully signals a renewed effort in Texas.
 
Garbers now has offers from Boise State, Boston College, and Wazzu. Sears has ASU, Boston College, Hawaii, Oregon State, Tennessee, and Utah. The 2018 QB in class in California is supposed to be strong as well.
 
So far:
8 CA
7 TX
3 FL
2 CO
0 Poly

Looks like all your questions except the Poly recruiting are being answered affirmatively. South probably N/A with the strong Texas class.

If CU could somehow get back in the Poly scene, watch out. That still has to be a priority, right?
 
So far:
8 CA
7 TX
2 FL
3 CO
0 Poly

Looks like all your questions except the Poly recruiting are being answered affirmatively. South probably N/A with the strong Texas class.

If CU could somehow get back in the Poly scene, watch out. That still has to be a priority, right?
FIFY
 
Coach Chev told me yesterday when we were talking about the Dallas area “Great city and great players. Very developed coming out of high school.” he couldn't comment on any recruits until after signing day, but i interviewed Jaylon Jackson (cedar hill) Laviska Shenault and Xavier Newman (desoto) for the article "Coach Chev revs up Buffs"

https://footballgazette.com/2016/11/24/coach-chev-revs-up-buffs/

BTW...DeSoto is playing Cedar Hill on 12/3 in the playoffs and KD Nixon, Jaylon Jackson, Laviska Shenault and Xavier Newman are all CU commits so thats a big game for Buffs fans to follow....I love coach chev and i think he's going to be playing a vital role in this football revival in boulder...
 
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