A Great Day for the Buffs

Today is national signing day for high school recruits and it has been one f-ing outstanding day to be a Buff. Not only did we sign everyone on our commitment list, but we also landed RB Rodney Stewart from Columbus, Ohio and Paul Vigo from New Brunswick, NJ. Stewart is small but runs a 4.4, so he will most likely be used as a return specialist. Vigo is listed as an athlete, I think he'll probably end up a safety though. Oh, and we shored up the punter situation too. We signed one of the top punters out of California, a guy who averaged nearly 48 yards per punt this past season. And he also happens to be the top RB in the nation. That's right, we got Darrell Scott!! Just a huge signing for the Buffs! Not only will he be an impact player on the field, but the publicity of him signing, and the fact that the #1 RB recruit in the nation chose CU, will only help with future recruiting. Scott is 6'1" 210lbs and runs a legit 4.32 forty. Recruiting experts have said that he is the most talented RB to come out of California since Reggie Bush. With Darrell Scott signing today, along with Major, Katoa, Givens, Mohler, Deehan, Polk, Tuioti-Mariner, and the rest of the boys, CU very well could end up with a Top 15 ranked class. Not bad for a team that was 2-10 two seasons ago and 6-7 last year. Congrats to Darrell and all of our other commitments for making the wise decision to join the Buff family. Congrats to the coaching staff for an outstanding job this recruiting cycle. The future is bright Buff fans! Here's a little something I doctored up to celebrate Scott's decision. Here is a look at everyone who signed their letter of intent today: Name                Position       Stars*     Height      Weight       40          Hometown Darrell Scott         RB              5            6-0             204          4.4          Ventura, CA Lynn Katoa            LB              4            6-2             220          4.6          Salt Lake City, UT Bryce Given           OL             4            6-6             257            5.1          Denver, CO Jon Major              LB              4           6-4             230           4.5          Parker, CO Shaun Mohler       LB              4           6-3              225           4.6          Costa Mesa, CA Max Tuioti- Mariner                 OL              4           6-4             300             5            Corona, CA Ryan Deehan        TE               4           6-4             228           4.78        Poway, CA Ray Polk                RB              4           6-0             195            4.47        Phoenix, AZ Curtis Cunningham          DT              3           6-2             262           4.87        Littleton, CO Ryan Dannewitz    OL              3           6-6             276            5.2          San Jacinto, CA Chance Blackmon WR             3           6-3             185            4.54        Tatum, TX Stephen Hicks       DB              3          5-10            175            4.43        Whitehouse, TX Will Pericak           LB              3           6-4             247           4.88        Boulder, CO Doug Rippy            LB              3           6-2             218            -              Trotwood, OH Tyler Hansen         QB             3           6-1              185           4.69         Temecula, CA Patrick Mahnke    DB              3          6-2              183           4.62        Highlands Ranch, CO Ryan Wallace        TE              3           6-4              217           4.8          Bowling Green, KY Paul Vigo              ATH            2          6-1               172           4.5          New Brunswick, NJ Vince Ewing          DB              2          6-0              190           4.68        Carlsbad, CA Rodney Stewart    RB              2          5-7               170           4.4          Columbus, OH * Stars based off of Rivals.com ratings. Go Buffs!

My 2 Cents on Darrell Scott

Today's the big day in our pursuit of Darrell Scott. Today's the day we send all of the troops into the Scott household (seven coaches in all is what I've heard) and do our best to persuade him to don the Black and Gold, and lead our Buffs to at least three consecutive National Championships. Today could be remembered as one of the greatest days in Colorado Buffalo history when it's all said and done. And how do I feel about it all? Enough already. I'm tired of it. For those of you who follow CU football and recruiting closely, by now you are very familiar with Darrell Scott. For those of you who don't, Darrell Scott is the top running back recruit for the 2008 cycle who has narrowed his list of schools down to basically CU and Texas, and in the process he has turned both fan-bases into the equivalent of the mass of paparazzi following the Britney Spears train-wreck on a daily basis. "My friend's barber knows Darrell Scott's HS coaches brother.... and he says that Darrell's favorite fruit is an orange! Not good for us." "I hear Darrell Scott talked to a UT fan, and after being asked to do it, he took a picture holding the hook 'em horns hand signal! We are F@*@*D!!" "My inside source said that Darrell talks to his uncle (and best friend) Josh Smith every day! He's a CU lock." I can't take this shit anymore!! Don't get me wrong, I would be ecstatic if Darrell chose to come to CU. I'd fall on my knees and thank the football Gods for hours on end for bestowing their grace upon my beloved Buffs. (Then I would spend the next several days praying that he won't blow out a knee before he reaches his potential. See; Houston, Marcus.) I would be more excited than ever at the potential of our rebuilding program. And how would I feel if he signs with Texas? Pretty much the same. And it's not out of the question. If we realistically look at CU through the eyes of a 17/18 year old recruit what do we see? A team that hasn't won a conference title since they were 10/11 years old? A team that hasn't won a National Championship since before they were born... or maybe they were 1 year old? Not really impressive to a high school kid. But it doesn't really matter. See, with or without Scott we will still have a Top 25 recruiting class this season. One of the best in recent memory. Probably the best since Marcus Houston and Craig Ochs were part of the 2000 recruiting class. We still have arguably the top LB class in the nation with 4*'s Lynn Katoa, Jon Major, Shaun Mohler and 3*'s Doug Rippy and Will Pericek. We are building on the strength of last season's offensive line recruiting class with the addition of 4* players Bryce Givens and Max Tuioti- Mariner, and 3* tackle Ryan Dannewitz. We are adding some very talented TE's in 4* Ryan Deehan and potentially 4* Jake Murphy (son of Dale Murphy) and 3* Ryan Wallace, a former Louisville commit. We have stud 3* DT Curtis Cunningham from Columbine HS, who impressed at the Under Armour All-American game, 3* DB's Patrick Mahnke and Stephen Hicks, 3* WR Chance Blackmon, and the impressive 3* QB from Southern California, Tyler Hansen. Oh yeah, and even if we don't end up with Darrell Scott, we still have the #11 ranked RB in the country Ray Polk already signed. What I'm saying is we will be fine with or without him. Although.... with all that said, I still am praying that Darien Hagan, Brian Cabral and the fellas win over Darrell Scott with every once of charm and conviction in their bodies. That by the end of today we start hearing the rumors that Darrell gave us his commitment during the visit... and he's calling all of the unsigned Top 100 players left in the country to convince them to join him at CU.... and he has guaranteed at least 3 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, Big 12 titles, and National Championships before he leaves Boulder..... But it probably won't happen. We most likely won't have any clue about his intentions until National Signing Day on February 6th. So until then let's all just relax, and let's all remember what we already have. We have an up and coming program with a coaching staff dedicated to returning us to national prominence. We have the best recruiting class in 8 years ALREADY committed to the program, and anything else is just gravy. So let's all talk about something else for a while.... Like the movie Cloverfield, the #1 movie in America which happens to be written by CU Alum (and friend to myself and Forty Duece) Drew Goddard. That movie was AWESOME!! GO BUFFS!!

State of the Buffs.... Settle Down Everyone.

That was one of the most depressing sports weekends I can remember in a long time. A couple of embarrassing losses by our football teams, now the Nuggs are on a 3 game skid..... But take it easy there Buff fans. As bad as the Missouri loss was for CU, we have to look at the big picture here. We are 5-5 right now. We have two winnable games left on the schedule, and only need to win one of those two to be bowl eligible. Now, after the disaster that was last season, if I had told you that the Buffs had to win one of their last two games against Iowa St. (2-8 record) and Nebraska (4-6 record, lost 5 straight) to go to a bowl game, you would have been ecstatic. I fully remember everyone saying that they would be very happy if the Buffs got to a bowl game at all this season. So let's all just settle down about the 55-10 loss. Yeah, it sucked. It was embarrassing and brutal to watch. But remember where we were at this time last season. Remember 2-10? Remember being mocked by CSU, Nebraska, and even Montana St. fans? Sure, watching Chase Daniels launch deep ball after deep ball on Saturday was surprisingly reminiscent of watching me play NCAA Football '07. In that game I have the QB mentality of the Sex Cannon, Rex Grossman. "I know that dudes are open in the flat, but fuck that shit I'm going long!" It was eery the way he repeatedly completed passes over 30 yards with ease, it was like watching my own thumbs. Sure, watching our boys try to tackle Mizzou TE Chase Coffman was like watching several chihuahuas trying to take down a charging rhino (Missouri has to lead the nation in the "players named Chase" category by the way. They have three). But let's take a deep breath. I know that the OU win raised the expectation bar, but remember this team is young. They are going to be up and down. CU is set to shatter the record for freshman starts in a season of 42. They are currently at 41 freshman starts. There have only been 3 other times in CU history that freshman have started 40 or more games, 1987, 1991, and 1998. Do the math. Three years after 1987.... 1990, National Championship, 3 first team All-Americans (Eric Bienemy, Joe Garten, Alfred Williams). Three years after 1991.... 1994, finished 11-1 and #3 in the polls. 20 out of 22 starters ended up in the NFL. Rashaan Salaam wins the Heisman. Three first team All-Americans (Michael Westbrook, Chris Hudson, Salaam). Three years after 1998.... 2001, Big 12 Champions. Three first team All-Americans (Daniel Graham, Andre Gurode, Roman Hollowell KR). I bet that just gave you a little tingle of excitement in your underbits, didn't it. Here are some facts to marinate on while your claiming that Cody Hawkins is no good: - Cody has already set or tied 9 CU records (5 Freshman and 4 School records). - Cody is on pace to throw for over 2,600 yards. Only four QB's in CU history have thrown for more than 2,500 yards in a season. - Cody's 15 TD passes this year are tied for the 5th most in CU history. with two games and a possible Bowl left to play. - Cody's 15 INT's are tied for 2nd most in school history. He's a freshman. As for the rest of the youngsters, CU has 5 players with a legitimate shot at the Freshman All-American Team. Cody, Kai Maiva, Ryan Miller, Josh Smith and Scotty McKnight. So let's give the fellas on the field a little time to develop. If history is any judge, we'll be pretty damn good for the next few years. Some other thoughts to give you hope for the next two games: - The next two games are both morning start times. This season, CU is 5-0 in day games and 0-5 at night. That's what you get for scheduling games after the Freshman curfew. - Iowa State is 2-8. I know they have played well lately.... but they are 2-8. They aren't that good. - Nebraska has lost 5 straight games, and has arguably the worst defense in the nation. - We only have to win one of those two games to be bowl eligible. - Recruiting is going very well, and rumors are running wild that Darrell Scott gave a silent commit to the Buffs after the Missouri game. For those of you who don't know, Darrell Scott is the #1 rated high school RB in the nation, and #4 overall recruit and he was in town to watch that disaster of a game on Saturday. Personally, I'm going to wait until I see a direct quote from him before I celebrate. But if he does actually end up at CU, you can be sure that Brainz and I will do one of those jumping hip bump things that are all the rage in football nowadays. - Another recruiting tidbit... the Buffs received a commitment from Texas HS safety Stephen Hicks (ranked #43 at his position in the nation by Rivals.com) this week. He was in town for the Missouri game too. Although, he has said he still may visit other schools so I guess he's not completely committed. At this point, consider him as committed to the Buffs as Bill is to Hillary. That said, if the 55-10 loss to Missouri ends up getting us Darrell Scott and Stephen Hicks as a result, than I'd say the anal raping was well worth it in this case. I guess what I'm saying is that we all need to calm down and remember that we are in the process of building this program back up. It may take a couple of seasons, but if it's done the right way, when we get back on top we should stay there for a long time. Oh yeah, and if we lose the next two games forget everything I just wrote. We'll start up a www.firedanhawkins.com site or something. One last thing; Congrats to Jordan Dizon on being named a Finalist for the Butkus award this season. He joins Matt Russell, Alfred WIlliams, and Ted Johnson as the only Buffs to be named finalists for the award. Williams and Russell went on to win it. By the way, I swiped this picture from someone at rivals.com. If you read this I hope you don't mind. It was too awesome not to steal.

Some breaking Buff news

The Buffs have landed Jon Major! Major had said he would announce his decision on Saturday, and at 1:09am in the morning he sent an email to rivals.com indicating that he is now a Colorado Buffalo. This Buff recruiting class is quickly developing into something exciting, and with Coach Hawkins getting the top in-state player the last two years over the national powerhouses, it's a sign that things are heading in the right direction. Congrats to Coach Hawkins and the Buffs on a great signing, and to Jon Major for his wise decision to join the Black and Gold! Go Buffs!

Buff Notes....

I don't really know what to expect out of tomorrow's game against Texas Tech. This year's team has been fairly inconsistent and tough to get a good read on. I guess that's to be expected out of a team that plays with more freshman than your average Girls Gone Wild DVD. On one hand, we haven't exactly been successful with pass oriented teams this season. Even Baylor was able to rack up huge yards against us in defeat. But on the other hand, one dimensional teams like Texas Tech are easier to shut down. Look at the game we played against them last season. We completely shut down the run, held them to a sub-par passing day, forced a few turnovers, and breezed to a 30-6 win for our first victory of the season. If we can play a similar game where we control the tempo, take care of the ball, and force some turnovers than we have a good shot at the win. But that's a pretty big if. Maybe it's a good thing that I don't have a great feeling about the game. After-all, every game I've felt good about we've ended up losing. I really hope we can pull it together tomorrow though. A win on the road in Lubbock would go a long way towards a bowl appearance this season. And that would be a pretty huge step considering where the program was last year. - I watched #1 ranked Columbine put a serious beat down on #4 Bear Creek tonight. CU commit Curtis Cunningham looked pretty dominant in the win for the Rebels. He was consistently in the Bears backfield, had a sack for a safety, punished defenders on the offensive side of the ball, and even looked decent as the Rebels kick-off specialist. It's always good to know that if a catastrophe hits your kickers, your defensive tackle can step in and handle some kick-offs. A couple of other Columbine players stood out. Wyoming commit Matt Birkeness was all over the field on defense. He'll play tight-end in college, but his size and speed really showed at LB for the Rebels. Might have been a nice recruit for CU at 6'4" 220 lbs with 4.6 speed. Another player who has stood out for Columbine all season is RB Orenzo Davis. I think he was listed at 5'10", but looked like he couldn't be more than 5'6". But he is a solid 180 lbs, and reminds me a lot of former Buff standout Roman Hollowell. I have heard he's mostly being recruited by 1-AA schools (or whatever the hell they're called now) but I'd like to see the Buffs at least offer him a spot as a walk-on. He looks like the kind of kid who could be a dangerous kick returner, and possibly see the field as a 3rd down type of back. Kind of like our own Glyn Milburn. - Bear Creek O-Tackle Jeremiah Sirles is an absolute beast. He's a 6'8" 290 lbs. Junior who will most likely be one of the nations top o-line recruits next season. It sure would be nice seeing him and Ryan Miller bookend the offensive line in the future for the Buffs. Unfortunately for Jeremiah, it looked like he injured his knee pretty bad in the first half of the game. I really don't know what to expect from tomorrows game. Every-time I feel like I have a read on this team and where they're headed, something new comes up. So I think my game-plan will be to get up in the morning, put a little Irish in my coffee, and watch the Buffs get a big W in Lubbock. Oh yeah, and hopefully we'll see a dude do this on national TV:

Recruiting Update from Boulder

Colorado received a commitment yesterday from 4* Running Back Ray Polk from Phoenix, Arizona. Polk is 6'0", about 200 lbs, runs a 4.47 x 40 and is the 11th ranked RB in the country according to Rivals.com. This is a huge signing for us. With Polk, Sumler, Lockridge, and PT Gates (the top Juco RB in the nation last year) enrolling in January, we are loaded with young talent at the RB position. And don't forget we are still heavily in the mix for the top RB recruit (and according to some the top overall recruit) in the nation Darrell Scott. Scott will be visiting for the Nebraska game November 23rd, and many believe that he is currently ours to lose. We've got some pretty big recruits in town this weekend for the KU game. The biggest name being LB prospect Lynn Kotoa from Salt Lake City, UT. Katoa is ranked as the #2 Inside LB prospect in the nation and #59 overall. According to this report from the Salt Lake Tribune, CU may have a shot at a commitment from Katoa this weekend: Colorado Covets Cottonwood's Katoa When it comes to pursuing the most highly recruited prep football player in Utah this season, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins apparently isn't going to take a backseat to the big dogs of the Big 12, Oklahoma and Texas. Hawkins recently made a trip to Utah to visit with Cottonwood linebacker Lynn Katoa and watch him play against East, several sources have told The Recruiting Trail. A month ago, Katoa said he had narrowed his choices to Oklahoma and Texas, after having visited both campuses. But last week he said Colorado is in the picture as well now, along with LSU and, possibly, USC, Miami, Wisconsin and Texas A&M. Katoa is scheduled to visit Boulder on Saturday to watch the Buffaloes play host to Kansas. From the way he has talked about Hawkins the past few weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a commitment while he's there. The recruit mentions the desire to play right away in college every time he talks about recruiting, and Colorado supposedly is using at least one walk-on at linebacker, sometimes two. "Coach Hawkins is a great coach and I believe he is a coach that will win a championship," Katoa told the Salt Lake Tribune earlier this week for a story that will be published Friday. Cottonwood plays Olympus on Thursday, and Katoa will leave for Colorado on Friday. He has a trip scheduled to LSU on Thanksgiving morning, and has also talked recently about wanting to visit Miami. Katoa would be an enormous signing for the Buffs if we can land him. Especially if we can get Jon Major as well. With our complete lack of depth at LB right now, and with Jordan Dizon headed to the bigs next season, we need people to play right away next year. And two of the top LB's in the nation would sure help. In addition to Katoa, 3* WR prospect Chance Blackmon from Tatum, TX will be visiting this weekend also. Blackmon has already committed to CU once this year only to de-commit later when other schools began to show some interest. Now Blackmon has said his final 3 choices are CU, Mizzou, and Florida (although Florida has yet to offer a scholarship to Blackmon). At 6'3" Blackmon definitely has the size that you want at WR, but I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't end up at Missouri. We also have 3* Athlete DeVonte Christopher in town this weekend. Christopher has played QB in HS, but the Buffs will most likely want him to be a defensive back. Christopher has said he'd like to play QB in college, but most of the big schools looking at him want him to play other positions. With all these prospects that have been visiting lately, it's time for us to get some commitments. We currently have 8 commitments for our 2008 class, with one likely to de-commit any day now (WR Corey Surrency). By comparison, Nebraska currently has 24 commitments for their 2008 class. Getting players like Polk (and hopefully Katoa this weekend) to sign with us will hopefully open up the flood-gates to get some of these other fellas to sign. Speaking of Nebraska, Mullen OT Bryce Givens has been starting to look around at other schools since committing to Nebraska back in April. With all of the turmoil surrounding the football staff at NU, Givens has said he'll most likely take a couple more visits including one to Boulder. It would be pretty sweet to swipe a 4* recruit away from Nebraska, especially a local kid like Givens.