When Mac pulled RS out of a lower level non-football power in SD, a whole bunch of the hardcore were freaking out. we didn't have recruiting sites or stars or all the review that happens now, but we did have a handful of magazines and personal networks and depending on where we were living, some understanding of recruiting in the region. and who offered who...
RS was not on the radar in the analog days. but, he must have been really ****ing good to get on Mac's radar. back then, i knew a lot of coaches directly involved in socal hight school football. and i had a pretty good idea of who was being chased by the powers (including us at the time) and who was not. RS was not on the tier 1 list.
RS was special. it was far more than his athletic ability. he was a kind and gentle soul. and he probably was far too tuned into the real world to be a great football player. and, his mom is/was a bad ass. she called things accurately and really quite presciently long before small town white boys like me could have ever thought along those lines.
he had offers, dont get me wrong on that. but he wasn't THE GUY on the list of the programs that mattered at the time.
yet, he came here. and damn he was good. we had this o line built for him. and an offense that could take the heat off of him when it needed to, and he became the superstar HEISMAN player we all wanted.
he was a super hero.
succeeding in the nfl was something that was "expected" i guess. hagan didn't and jj didn't and a whole bunch of other Buffs who blessed us with their careers here also didn't. but, carrying that Heisman label clearly weighed on him.
i wish things turned out differently. i wonder if things had turned out differently.
so, when some of you folks bang on hagan and talk about how he needs to not be a coach, please do remember this... some of these guys gave everything for us, for CU, and they were truly great at it.
that means a whole lot to me.
RS was not on the radar in the analog days. but, he must have been really ****ing good to get on Mac's radar. back then, i knew a lot of coaches directly involved in socal hight school football. and i had a pretty good idea of who was being chased by the powers (including us at the time) and who was not. RS was not on the tier 1 list.
RS was special. it was far more than his athletic ability. he was a kind and gentle soul. and he probably was far too tuned into the real world to be a great football player. and, his mom is/was a bad ass. she called things accurately and really quite presciently long before small town white boys like me could have ever thought along those lines.
he had offers, dont get me wrong on that. but he wasn't THE GUY on the list of the programs that mattered at the time.
yet, he came here. and damn he was good. we had this o line built for him. and an offense that could take the heat off of him when it needed to, and he became the superstar HEISMAN player we all wanted.
he was a super hero.
succeeding in the nfl was something that was "expected" i guess. hagan didn't and jj didn't and a whole bunch of other Buffs who blessed us with their careers here also didn't. but, carrying that Heisman label clearly weighed on him.
i wish things turned out differently. i wonder if things had turned out differently.
so, when some of you folks bang on hagan and talk about how he needs to not be a coach, please do remember this... some of these guys gave everything for us, for CU, and they were truly great at it.
that means a whole lot to me.