Buff Recruiting News

Scout.com released their Top 100 recruiting list for 2008, and CU is in the top 5 for several players on the list, and we have a commitment from a 5 star Juco receiver. Seriously. It speaks volumes for Coach Hawkins recruiting abilities that these guys would even consider a team that finished 2-10 last season. Here is a look at who we are after: - Jon Major - He's a local kid from Ponderosa HS and probably the top LB prospect in the nation. Right now he has CU first on his list of schools, and you've gotta love that he's wearing a Buff jersey in his picture. He's also got a great linebacker name. But a lot of the national powers (FLA, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio St) are after him also. It's tough to say no to them. Here's an analogy that works, Major is from Colorado so part of him wants to stay in Colorado, but now he's got all these big names courting him. So, if we make a comparison with women, this is like having a chance to stay with your HS sweetheart, but you've got Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, and Jessica Biel all coming after you. Part of you wants to stay loyal.... but damn they are hot! Plus, if you are a LB it's tough to say no to The Ohio St. I doubt I'd be able to say no. - Darrell Scott - Scott is one of the top 3 RB recruits in the country, and he ran for over 3,000 yards his JR year. That is insane. And word is that CU is his top choice right now. But with USC, Florida, and Texas all in the mix, it's a little too early to get excited about him being a Buff. The good news though is that we signed his uncle and teammate from last year Josh Smith for the Fall. So we got our hooks in his family, no matter how strange you might think it is that he has an uncle that is one grade ahead of him. - Corey Surrency - The 5 Star Juco player has already made a verbal commitment to CU. He is big (6'4"), fast, and should be a big time contributor as soon as he gets to CU. Lord knows we don't have much so-called talent at WR right now. Our WR core the last couple of years has been made up of homeless man's Steve Watsons. - Lynn Katoa - Katoa is a raw LB prospect from Utah. He's only been playing football for one year but his talent has all the big dogs after him already. Hopefully with CU getting after him first we have a good shot at him. Plus he sounds like he might be Samoan, and CU has always been a friend to the Samoan man. - Sausan Shakerin - Another kid from Utah. RB Shakerin was the state player of the year in Utah. He ran for over 2,000 yards and over 9 yards per carry. Plus his last name will be easy for announcers to blend into some sort of witty nickname or phrase to cut to commercial. I can hear it now.... "Colorado fans are Shakerin their asses as CU takes the lead on a Shakerin TD run!" - Dion Jordan - A big, fast TE prospect from Chandler, AZ. Judging solely from the picture of him, I'd say he's a player. He just looks like one. Yep, this is the kind of hard-hitting analysis you can only get from a Homer. - Ethan Johnson - A big DT from Oregon who's rumored to be the best prospect to come out of that state in several years. Notre Dame, USC, Oregon, and Auburn are all in the mix too. As another Homer Wade always says, you can't have enough good defensive lineman. And we aren't exactly overflowing with them right now, so Johnson would be a huge land. So there it is. Hawkins is getting after it. We may not end up landing any of these guys, but the thing you have to remember is that Coach Hawk is out there going after them. And they are considering it, even though we were the worst D1 team in the nation last year (and not even the best 1-AA team either, let's not forget Montana St.). Hawkins must be doing something right. Imagine what type of players we could get if we actually won some games, or won a Bowl Game, or ........ I can't go any further. I'm getting ahead of myself. But I like where we are going. They looked a lot better in the spring game and now we find out that we are in the running for some big dogs for next years recruiting class. How can a 2-10 coach keep people optimistic like this? I hope it turns around soon. Here's the other side of the coin though. Reading through this list actually depressed me also. You see, when I was a kid we would have been on probably half of these teams top 5's. CU used to be linebacker U. We used to be WR U also. And RB U..... and DB U. In the late 80's through the late 90's we pumped out more NFL players than any other school. Our 1994 team had 20 out of 22 starters in the NFL. We had Heisman Trophy winners, Butkus Award winners, Thorpe Award winners, and All-Americans out the ass. And now we are getting fired up because a handful of Top 100 recruits are considering us.... how could we have fallen so far? DAMN YOU BARNETT!!!!!!!! But, I have to believe that last year was rock bottom. And now we are climbing our way back up. If we can land a few of these fellas and start building some success, I think we can be back to where we we're in the 90's. If not, then every Saturday I'm just going to pop in an old game film and watch Kordell, Westbrook, Salaam, and Matt Russell play over and over and pretend like it's still the early 90's. I'll grow back my flattop haircut, listen to Nirvana, Dre's The Chronic, Cypress Hill, and watch Forest Gump and Shawshank Redemption. I might even check out that new "Friends" show. It will be glorious.