How big a blow is this week?

[bigbang]

Folks it is still too early. There are still a ton of good players both in HS and in the JUco ranks. Getting Colorado Kids is important but getting the best players and developing players is the most important aspect of recruitinng regardless of what state they come from.
'


RB- Wes Brown, Davien Payne, Chris Brown

WR- Treggs, Javon Williams, Powe, Jammar Graves, Stephon Diggs, Peyton Williams, Gabriel Marks, Julian Brooks

TE- Sean Irwin, Caleb Smith, Zach Jones, Transfer-Pressely

DL- Javontee Magee, Solis, Hamilton, Buckner

LB- Rippy,

DB- Shumate, Yuri Wright

0L- Joey O Oconnor, Arthur Flores, Alex Kozan, Walker Wiliams, Jordan Simmons, Lacey Wetbrook, Travis Averill, Jordan Roos, Austin Maass, Stephon Mccray, Cochran

 

[Quattro]

Shumate is a long shot but Yuri is ours to lose. O'Connor is a PSU lock and haven't heard much from the others on the o line. Even if there's still un-committed talent, how many of those are interested in CU?

 

[bigbang]

Shumate is a long shot but Yuri is ours to lose. O'Connor is a PSU lock and haven't heard much from the others on the o line. Even if there's still un-committed talent, how many of those are interested in CU?

CU will be fine, the 5 players that we have commited right now can play, and there is still plenty of time.

 

[somebody]

I don't understand why anyone thinks we'll have an average record (or worse) but an above average recruiting year. You have to get high school seniors-to-be to drink the KoolAid, which is evidently a harder task than some believe.

 

[Buffnik]

I don't understand why anyone thinks we'll have an average record (or worse) but an above average recruiting year. You have to get high school seniors-to-be to drink the KoolAid, which is evidently a harder task than some believe.

Historically, record has a much bigger impact on the following year's class than the class that is signed immediately after the season. A staff's first full class usually gets a good bump from the new vision. After that, it's about on-field results. We better damn well be able to sell the vision to the 2012 class, especially with the added excitement surrounding the Pac-12 move. After the season, that excitement will have worn off and the 2013 prospects will judge almost entirely based on the gameday evidence of whether CU is a program on the rise or not.

 

[JRK1212]

I’m sick of reading about how “we have to show something on the field and the recruits just have to get a better feel for our coaching staff and program.” Vanderbilt currently has several 4-star players committed to them. If a school that also has a new coaching staff, is a perennial bottom feeder, and doesn’t even have an athletic department can do that I don’t see why we can’t. It’s not like players are going too suddenly start committing to us just because we begin playing games, especially if were not winning. Given our schedule there’s a good chance we won’t even be in a bowl game this year which would hurt recruting then next year we lose Hansen, Speedy, Deehan, Clemons, Miller, Obi, Perkins, and Cunningham, who knows how good we’ll be then. As the previous régime demonstrated once you have a couple bad years in a row recruiting pretty much goes in the ****ter. Maybe we’ll end up being pretty good these next couple of years I don’t know, but the fact is that unless Embree wants to be getting Hawk his coffee at ESPNU he has to land some players eventually and I see no time better then right now. I know it’s still very early and I’ll reserve judgment until signing day but I’m not going to be making excuses for the Embree either, especially when his stated priority was to keep the top in state players home and when as a TE guru he goes 0/4 on 4-star TE’s despite being able to offer them a (likely) starting job as a true freshman in an offense that will prominently feature the position.

 

[Highlander27]

This week doesn't mean ****. It's June, not February and there's still a season of football to be played.

The staff at Nebraska has been building a relationship with Thurston for years, CU, for months, none of what's happening is a surprise. It's going to take time for the staff to build relationships and get wins. Right now they have few relationships and zero wins.

How long has Callahan been talking to Grimes (The O-Line coach at Auburn)? Years.

Miles lost his shot while he played tiddly winks and Dillon took his spot.

And as much as I love Colorado, right now I'd pick Oregon over CU too if I was a relatively unbiassed kid like Baylis.

People are losing sight of the fact that this staff has 5 solid recruits on board right now, which is more this early than ever before. Two of whom are from Texas... why Texas? Because it's one of the few areas the staff has long term recruiting relationships built up. CU is also seeing more interest from east coast recruits than ever before... why? Where did Embree and Blacken just come from? Where are the majority of their current relationships? No one on this staff has spent significant time recruiting Colorado prior to their hiring. The staff can do it, it's just gonna take time.

No one likes seeing recruits chose other schools, but right now, RIGHT NOW, in June, with a new staff, other schools are going to come out on top in probably 9 out of 10 recruiting battles.

Pull a solid season and I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these instate kids come back into the fold.

Great post.

 

[White_Rabbit]

As long as Embree pulls in a great class in 2015, it is all good.

I just hope we can land a top 75 class. That would be an incredible job by this staff.

Agreed. How can we expect Embree to sign anyone worthwhile, even in state kids, with them not being sure if Embree is actually going to field an American football team vs Hawaii. I mean, there's just so much unknown about this entire thing. Do we execute the forward pass? I figure we should wait until all 4*s are committed elsewhere, then start recruiting the under the radar types.

Even a top 75 class seems like you're pushing it, though. We had Hawk, he burned this thing to the ground. It'll be 10 years before the talent level is where Embree wants it to be.

 

[Highlander27]

I'm about as disappointed as the kid heading off to college, watching the guy who dropped out of HS to work at the local garage drive a camaro around. I wish we be driving that camaro right now, but recruiting is a marathon, not a sprint. Our time will come. CU coaches needs to say what they mean, mean what they say, and back it up on the field. If they do that, those that have them riding shotgun, 3rd, or 4th, are going to start buying it. If they can get some signature wins on TV and make some noise in the Pac 12, the buzz for the program is going to get greater.

We're in the information era. What have potential CU recruits been exposed to? The Denver Post writes more critical articles about the Buffs, than good. Also, comparisons and predictions that CU is going to be in the basement next to WSU. We're the South's WSU. It's written on ESPN, it's written on the message boards, it's even in the preseason magazines. Recruits are positive about the program, but dragging their feet. I haven't heard any recruits say anything terrible about CU. They say, "I definitely think those coaches are going to get the program turned around......", but it probably isn't their cup of tea to be the one's doing the work just yet. To be honest, when you have SC, Stanford, Notre Dame, Michigan recruiting against us, it's hard to buy into that rebuilding process with ready made options at your disposal.

CU needs to do work on the field and if Embree and company can thrive or at least compete against a schedule that has multiple nationally televised games, Ohio State, all four Cali schools, and Oregon among others, we are going to make major headway. It's a difficult road but if CU can win some games, recruits will buy in.

 

[White_Rabbit]

I just don't agree that we have to show it on the field before we can expect good commits in the recruiting game. Good recruiters can lure kids anywhere. Look at Wes Brown, his offer list in hand allowing him to go anywhere, and he's considering an OV to New Mexico? Why? Mike Locksley is an incredible recruiter. I think everyone around here got used to Hawk's ****** staff dropping the ball in recruiting then us having to chalk it up to recruiting to a loser program. That's just not so. Ed Orgeron recruited like a machine to Ole Miss. Not exactly the first team I think of when thinking about the SEC. And these examples I'm coming up with are after years of failure for those guys. First year coaches can sell vision. Hawk even did it. Hawk! Embree can sell promise and hope.

 

[Highlander27]

I just don't agree that we have to show it on the field before we can expect good commits in the recruiting game. Good recruiters can lure kids anywhere. Look at Wes Brown, his offer list in hand allowing him to go anywhere, and he's considering an OV to New Mexico? Why? Mike Locksley is an incredible recruiter. I think everyone around here got used to Hawk's ****** staff dropping the ball in recruiting then us having to chalk it up to recruiting to a loser program. That's just not so. Ed Orgeron recruited like a machine to Ole Miss. Not exactly the first team I think of when thinking about the SEC. And these examples I'm coming up with are after years of failure for those guys. First year coaches can sell vision. Hawk even did it. Hawk! Embree can sell promise and hope.

Well several people have brought this up and I think it's BS. On field success apparently doesn't matter here, so what is your thoughts on why we're failing?

Kennedy could sell Texas, Embree/EB could sell the hell out of UCLA and CU before. Cabral and Brown have had some successes over the years. Did these guys all of sudden just forget how to recruit or is the product they are trying to pedal just look like **** and will continue to do so until we win?

And people need to stop bringing up Ryan Miller and the selling job Hawkins did to get him at CU. If anybody follows Ryan Miller's comments on Twitter, he has an INSANE sense of loyalty & passion towards the state of Colorado vs. most of these transient types living in the state now. The guy is Colorado to the bone which is why he signed up for the 2 & whatever Dan Hawkins led buffs, not because Tawkins was a great salesperson.

 

[White_Rabbit]

Kennedy sold Texas to Texans. I'm pretty sure they aren't struggling without him in the recruiting game.

I suppose you have just accepted defeat in the recruiting game already. We can't expect a new staff full of experience to sell recruits on change and promise? They just aren't buying it from this staff, but tons of other staffs have sold exactly that over the years. Maybe you're right that CU has fallen so far that we can't out-recruit most BCS programs, maybe I'm just refusing to believe that.

Why are they failing? I don't really see it like they're all failing. I see it as having a pretty rough go of it in two areas: OL and TE. OL is Marshall's area. I think he's a ****** recruiter that is a transient himself. Am I mad we hired him? No, he's a good coach, he just likes to wander off after a couple of years. I do think we should try and get other recruiters to help him on some recruits. The TE recruiting failure baffles me. I suppose you could be right, the top 4 there seem to have gone to winning programs. What can we change about this? I don't really know. Hopefully we can flip McNamara or Baylis and get a commitment from the Irwin twins, that would be a pretty decent turn of events.

 

[JRK1212]

If there's a silver lining in the Cope-Fitzpatrick situation, it's that USC is pretty much full now and Cyburt didn't pick up an offer at their camp.

Two good pieces of news.....if this was a Stanford forum.

 

[Buffnik]

Two good pieces of news.....if this was a Stanford forum.

Did you see somewhere that Cyburt is leaning Stanford? I knew Kyle Murphy was looking there, but I hadn't seen anything on Cyburt other than him getting an offer from the Cardinal a couple months ago.

 

[JRK1212]

Did you see somewhere that Cyburt is leaning Stanford?

No but his (reported) top-3 as of last month were USC, Stanford, and CU and I just don't see us beating out Stanford for any players at this time, especially ones from Cali.

 

[Swish]

I think this week was a big blow to this years recruiting. I was disappointed, especially losing one to the hucksters. Godawful situation there. It seems to me the Buffs are just going to have to take some lumps until the staff can show they are making meaningful progress in turning the program around. The most elite recruits instate seem to have little interest in coming here at this point, and when the bigs really show some determination towards a top prospect, the kid can't commit to them fast enough.

Unless the Buffs really impress this fall I see a bunch of three's, several two's, probably a couple of unrated and hopefully, hopefully a four star or two in next springs recruiting class. The program just isn't respected right now and it could take a couple of years before it really is.

The more I see the more I believe we made one of the bigger hiring mistakes ever made when we hired the last coach and we are going to pay for it for a while yet.

BTW: I would love to be wrong about this

 

[Mick Ronson]

how quickly it's turned. i got lit up a few months ago suggesting that getting 9 or 10 of the ESPN top 250 was a reach at this point.

i agree with Nik, more or less, that if this class is 40+ when it wraps up there's some legit concern on my part. outside Mac, the sell with this staff was experience at the assistant level and recruiting, recruiting, recruiting off NFL and Pac experience to offset the utter lack of HC and OC/DC experience.

sure, we got to win some games but that may be 2 years down the road with this schedule.

that said, i'm not panicking yet. we filled a big need at QB and a "wait and see" approach re: next season from recruits makes sense

 

[LongHaulBuff]

I just went and looked at a team that sucks (sucked?)that just had a coaching change UVA. 4-8 again last year but pulled in a top 25 class. the breakdown is 17 3* 5 4* and 4 2*. I think CU can pull off a similar class. But UVA had 12 commitments on this date last year. 2 of the 4* players were from out of state. I think UVA has been down longer than CU. They're off and running this year in recruiting again and I don't see this being a good year on the field for them. Don't give up yet guys I believe in this staff. I hope I'm right.opcorn:

 

[somebody]

Historically, record has a much bigger impact on the following year's class than the class that is signed immediately after the season. A staff's first full class usually gets a good bump from the new vision. After that, it's about on-field results. We better damn well be able to sell the vision to the 2012 class, especially with the added excitement surrounding the Pac-12 move. After the season, that excitement will have worn off and the 2013 prospects will judge almost entirely based on the gameday evidence of whether CU is a program on the rise or not.

But historically you hire a guy with head coaching experience. No buzz, no bump. Even the HS seniors can see that Embree's a great guy, but can he coach? He has to prove that, and we have to become significant, or IMHO the best players will continue to give us compliments w/o commitments.

 

[Buffnik]

But historically you hire a guy with head coaching experience. No buzz, no bump. Even the HS seniors can see that Embree's a great guy, but can he coach? He has to prove that, and we have to become significant, or IMHO the best players will continue to give us compliments w/o commitments.

Absolutely. But the impact of this will be shown to a greater degree in the 2013 class. Kids commit early these days and under 10% of the Rivals 250 change from their initial verbal by signing day when there's not a coaching change involved. Even when there is a coaching change, the total that switch is under 15%. (Some research done by rward on the Rivals database.)

For example, there are 12 Tight Ends rated 4* in the Rivals database. While it's only June 25th, 9 of them are committed.

 

[Duff Man]

Folks it is still too early. There are still a ton of good players both in HS and in the JUco ranks. Getting Colorado Kids is important but getting the best players and developing players is the most important aspect of recruitinng regardless of what state they come from.
'


RB- Wes Brown, Davien Payne, Chris Brown

WR- Treggs, Javon Williams, Powe, Jammar Graves, Stephon Diggs, Peyton Williams, Gabriel Marks, Julian Brooks

TE- Sean Irwin, Caleb Smith, Zach Jones, Transfer-Pressely

DL- Javontee Magee, Solis, Hamilton, Buckner

LB- Rippy,

DB- Shumate, Yuri Wright

0L- Joey O Oconnor, Arthur Flores, Alex Kozan, Walker Wiliams, Jordan Simmons, Lacey Wetbrook, Travis Averill, Jordan Roos, Austin Maass, Stephon Mccray, Cochran

Is this a serious post? Come on.

More than half the guys you listed have little to no interest in us. I am now convinced you think recruiting is simply a numbers game and talent is not the overriding factor. As long as we sign 28-30 players in February 2012, everything is all good!

As far as where this week leaves us, no other way to spin it-we had a brutal week. That said, there are some key players that will be deciding before the season starts that would dramatically change the outlook of the class. Yuri Wright (possibly), Kyle Kelley, Colby Cyburt (possibly), Travis Averill, Davien Payne, and others are in that group. If we strike out on that group or land one of them, then we might have some issues. If we hit on most in that group, we are right back in the game.

We also will have to flip some kids if we want this class to end up a success. At the top of the list are Shane Callahan and Taylor McNamara IMO. Both are really good players at positions of need and there is the bonus of Callahan being an early enrollee.

 

[Unleash Hell]

Only way to get big time recruits is to win games.

Nobody wants to play for a loser program, end of story.

Kind of like how Oklahoma got national title talent when they sucked in the late 90's or how Colorado got a top 15 class in 2007 after 2 years of being losers. While I agree with this somewhat, it shouldn't be that much of an excuse. You should still be able to recruit, especially with the history and tradition of CU football and beauty of Boulder.

It's still early, we have some solid players on board and not all our top targets have picked a school. Anybody who says this class is a disapoinment now is making a truly moronic statement. There are still almost 8 months of recruiting left and a lot of talent still out there.

 

[bigbang]

Is this a serious post? Come on.

More than half the guys you listed have little to no interest in us. I am now convinced you think recruiting is simply a numbers game and talent is not the overriding factor. As long as we sign 28-30 players in February 2012, everything is all good!

As far as where this week leaves us, no other way to spin it-we had a brutal week. That said, there are some key players that will be deciding before the season starts that would dramatically change the outlook of the class. Yuri Wright (possibly), Kyle Kelley, Colby Cyburt (possibly), Travis Averill, Davien Payne, and others are in that group. If we strike out on that group or land one of them, then we might have some issues. If we hit on most in that group, we are right back in the game.

We also will have to flip some kids if we want this class to end up a success. At the top of the list are Shane Callahan and Taylor McNamara IMO. Both are really good players at positions of need and there is the bonus of Callahan being an early enrollee.

Interest level can change, all the players i listed have a CU offer, they are there to be recruited. Recruiting is about getting the best players for your program regardless of star rating. The problem with many folks on here is that they believe star rating and offer list determines a good player, and it is doomsday if we don't sign Colorado kids. But at the end of the day you find 2 star players like Brian Urlacher, Jimmy Smith, Speed Stewart and etc prove there doubters wrong. Thurston is a good player, but there are other good players available, recruiting is far from over. AT this stage every kid is a developmental player, we need to recruit guys with high work ethic, high characters guys, combine that with good coaches, and you can mold a masterful work of art.

 

[NW Buff]

I'm going to go back to one of my favorite saying from Mac (which I will promptly **** up)... Don't worry about the guys who got away, it's the ones you get who don't perform that hurt you. The last decade of the Buffs is full of examples of this.

 

[Buffnik]

And at the end of the day, recruiting class ratings correlate to wins 3, 4 and 5 years later. Exceptions to the rule don't disprove the rule. Sure, we're going to need guys that end up being much better than we expected and the core of the team will be 3* types who fit the system. But you have to win recruiting battles, too.

 

[LongHaulBuff]

Kind of like how Oklahoma got national title talent when they sucked in the late 90's or how Colorado got a top 15 class in 2007 after 2 years of being losers. While I agree with this somewhat, it shouldn't be that much of an excuse. You should still be able to recruit, especially with the history and tradition of CU football and beauty of Boulder.

It's still early, we have some solid players on board and not all our top targets have picked a school. Anybody who says this class is a disapoinment now is making a truly moronic statement. There are still almost 8 months of recruiting left and a lot of talent still out there.

I agree with you to some extent, but the two years is now five. It may be a little harder to overcome the torch job that dickwad danny did here. Like I posted earlier I still have faith in this staff to get it done.

 

[BinaryBuff]

It's very early in the recruiting year, and very early in Embree's tenure without even playing a game yet. Even with that in mind, I think it's very disappointing to see some of these guys getting away (barring a flip later in the year) and if nothing else is a big blow to my fragile Buff state of mind after dealing with 5 years of fairly constant disappointment under Hawkins.

 

[Duff Man]

Interest level can change, all the players i listed have a CU offer, they are there to be recruited. Recruiting is about getting the best players for your program regardless of star rating. The problem with many folks on here is that they believe star rating and offer list determines a good player, and it is doomsday if we don't sign Colorado kids. But at the end of the day you find 2 star players like Brian Urlacher, Jimmy Smith, Speed Stewart and etc prove there doubters wrong. Thurston is a good player, but there are other good players available, recruiting is far from over. AT this stage every kid is a developmental player, we need to recruit guys with high work ethic, high characters guys, combine that with good coaches, and you can mold a masterful work of art.

I am telling you right now, more than half the players you listed will not come to Boulder for even an official visit. I am really wondering if you understand recruiting at all.

The whole "star ratings do not matter" argument is mostly crap. It is amazing that you conveniently pick out players to fit your argument and ignore all the 2* players we currently have on the roster that have led to our current situation. Dan Hawkins approves of your recruiting strategy.

 

[NW Buff]

And at the end of the day, recruiting class ratings correlate to wins 3, 4 and 5 years later. Exceptions to the rule don't disprove the rule. Sure, we're going to need guys that end up being much better than we expected and the core of the team will be 3* types who fit the system. But you have to win recruiting battles, too.

I agree that recruiting battles matter and that stars matter but how many 3 or 4 (or even a notable 5) star guys have we managed to land only to have them flame out spectacularly or fade out with a whisper?

I think Mac's quote is important because a guy who ends up somewhere else may not help you but doesn't really hurt you either. The guy who takes a scholarship but then flames out takes away a spot from somebody who could contribute. That's much worse, IMHO.

 

[bigbang]

Rome was not built in one day. We are actually doing better than i had expected.

We already have a blue chip QB commit, rivals have him rated as the 7th QB in the nation, rated 4 star.

We have a stud DT 3 star rating

We have a stud ILB 3 star rating

We have a talented WR recruit 3 star rating


Apart from 2007, this is the best start to recruiting since 2000. Don't know why people are calling it doomsday.