Menu
What's new
By:
Filters
AllBuffs | Unofficial fan site for the University of Colorado at Boulder Athletics programs

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Prime Time. Prime Time. Its a new era for Colorado football. Consider signing up for a club membership! For $20/year, you can get access to all the special features at Allbuffs, including club member only forums, dark mode, avatars and best of all no ads ! But seriously, please sign up so that we can pay the bills. No one earns money here, and we can use your $20 to keep this hellhole running. You can sign up for a club membership by navigating to your account in the upper right and clicking on "Account Upgrades". Make it happen!

Status of Recruiting in the Embree Era

boydbuff

Club Member
I think most of us wished we were getting more blue chip prospects. However I am actually pretty happy with what JE and the crew are doing. They appear, as we have said many times, to be good evaluators of talent as they are often first to offer and sometimes (not always) we are followed by more top tier programs.

Also, JE inherited a team that was completely out of alignment as far as depth at a range of positions. Luckily he had space for a huge class in 2012 which allowed him to address a major weakness in DE/DL and DB. He also is showing his commitment to the run game and a physical offense with FB, RB and TE recruiting.

We have never had a better QB depth chart (IMHO) since I have been a fan (20+years). Starting to get some good potential WR, many of them tall too. We did have major problems in OL recruiting but we are getting some solid recruits this round. Also overall team speed and size is improving.

One thing that none of us can know is the mentality of the kids we are getting. Embree has been very vocal about the type of kid he wants, physical, loves the game, and high character. We have to assume he is doing this.

So while we do not have tons of 4/5 star commits the past few years, what we have done is build depth at all the positions on the field. We have eradicated most of the losing mentality from the lost years. I am assuming the 2012 and 2013 classes-what will make or break JE's tenure at CU-have that winning, physical mentality he wants.

Let's see all this translate to wins on the field and I think all of the above will only get better in the next few years.
 
Last edited:
I agree with almost everything you just said... I like that the staff is in on guys that are 6'+ most in the 6'2"+ area and the speed also. this staff has a good eye for talent... not all of them will work out (they are 18 year old kids) but after evaluating and being around NFL talent and seeing what it takes to play at that level - they know what to look for
 
boydbuff said:
It's arguable and we really won't be sure until some of these guys hit the field. But on paper, we have several 4* caliber QBs from one class after another with Wood, Dillon and Sefo.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it is arguable until we see the new guys play. Both Kordell and Detmer played in the league. I'm not sure if two of these guys will.
 
boydbuff said:
I think most of us wished we were getting more blue chip prospects. However I am actually pretty happy with what JE and the crew are doing. They appear, as we have said many times, to be good evaluators of talent as they are often first to offer and sometimes (not always) we are followed by more top tier programs.

Also, JE inherited a team that was completely out of alignment as far as depth at a range of positions. Luckily he had space for a huge class in 2012 which allowed him to address a major weakness in DE/DL and DB. He also is showing his commitment to the run game and a physical offense with FB, RB and TE recruiting.

We have never had a better QB depth chart (IMHO) since I have been a fan (20+years). Starting to get some good potential WR, many of them tall too. We did have major problems in OL recruiting but we are getting some solid recruits this round.

One thing that none of us can know is the mentality of the kids we are getting. Embree has been very vocal about the type of kid he wants, physical, loves the game, and high character. We have to assume he is doing this.

So while we do not have tons of 4/5 star commits the past few years, what we have done is build depth at all the positions on the field. We have eradicated most of the losing mentality from the lost years. I am assuming the 2012 and 2013 classes-what will make or break JE's tenure at CU-have that winning, physical mentality he wants.

Let's see all this translate to wins on the field and I think all of the above will only get better in the next few years.
Click to expand...

^^This^^

All of us love to talke and speculate on recruiting like we actually know what is going on. Even the services that get paid to do it are simply relying on a combination of recruiting films, various second and third hand reports, offer reputations, and in some cases info fed by the recruit and/or his friends/handlers.

In general there is some validity to the information we get and bounce back and forth. All things being equal teams that consistently get a higher number of higher rated recruits do better on the field. We also know that that is not absolute. Wisconsin is a good example, closer to home while he got good clases when Gary Barnetts teams were winning the division and conference titles there were other teams in the Big XII north with higher rated classes making up their teams.

Nobody here, myself included, can honestly say we know how these recruits are going to do. We can speculate but until they play we don't know.

It may be that I am naturally optimistic when it comes to my Buffs but I like most of what Embree and staff are doing. Lets see how it translates on the field. If it works we will start to win some more games. Get a couple of bowl games in a row and some respect then it is easier to get kids who have more name recognition and you keep going up.

At worst if it doesn't work Embree and staff are fired. Even in that case the new coach won't be coming in to a roster of guys who are smaller and slower than our opponents at virtually every position like JE found when he got here.
 
MtnBuff said:
At worst if it doesn't work Embree and staff are fired. Even in that case the new coach won't be coming in to a roster of guys who are smaller and slower than our opponents at virtually every position like JE found when he got here.
Click to expand...

Totally agree-not only are we guaranteed to have a deeper roster that is bigger and faster than it was (kind of hard to go the other direction) but we are going to have kids with character and a desire to win. I hope this translates to success for JE, EB, etc. but as you say worse case scenario, if all this doesn't translate to wins on the field, than at least the next guy is not starting with a bare cupboard.
 
boydbuff said:
It's arguable and we really won't be sure until some of these guys hit the field. But on paper, we have several 4* caliber QBs from one class after another with Wood, Dillon and Sefo.
Click to expand...

I don't think there is much of an argument. We have a few kids who have potential (Dillon and Sefo), but that's it at this point. Potential is better than nothing, but not better than Kordell and Koy.
 
At the college level, Koy and Kordell were awesome. But Koy was selected in the 7th round and started I think less than 10 games in his whole NFL career. Kordell was electric and had a few good seasons but was not a full-time starter in the NFL for many years. I loved watching him play and am proud he was a Buff. But we have not had many pro-style QBs become mainstays in the NFL.

Time will tell if any of the guys we have on our depth chart can get there but CU is stacked with pro style QBs with potential. Whether they live up to that potential depends on many factors including their drive, dedication, coaching, supporting casts, getting some play-makers, etc. If I were a betting man, I would say that at least one of the guys on our roster now will be starting in the NFL.
 
boydbuff said:
At the college level, Koy and Kordell were awesome. But Koy was selected in the 7th round and started I think less than 10 games in his whole NFL career. Kordell was electric and had a few good seasons but was not a full-time starter in the NFL for many years. I loved watching him play and am proud he was a Buff. But we have not had many pro-style QBs become mainstays in the NFL.

Time will tell if any of the guys we have on our depth chart can get there but CU is stacked with pro style QBs with potential. Whether they live up to that potential depends on many factors including their drive, dedication, coaching, supporting casts, getting some play-makers, etc. If I were a betting man, I would say that at least one of the guys on our roster now will be starting in the NFL.
Click to expand...

Tap the brakes! None of the QBs you tout (Wood, Dillon, Sefo) have even started a college game, and you can project them to start in the NFL?

Our QB situation is nowhere near as good as it was in the mid '90s, nor even what it was in '01 when we had a highly touted kid in Ochs and Pesavento as a backup who could come in and lead us to the Big XII title. Yes, it's better than it has been under the last coach, but let's not get carried away.
 
fwbuff said:
Tap the brakes! None of the QBs you tout (Wood, Dillon, Sefo) have even started a college game, and you can project them to start in the NFL?

Our QB situation is nowhere near as good as it was in the mid '90s, nor even what it was in '01 when we had a highly touted kid in Ochs and Pesavento as a backup who could come in and lead us to the Big XII title. Yes, it's better than it has been under the last coach, but let's not get carried away.
Click to expand...

You are right on this.

We may have the most raw talent at QB that we have had since Kordell but we had what looked like the most raw talent at RB since Rashaan when Darrel Scott and Ray Polk came in and we all know where that went.

I am very enthusiastic about the talent we have at QB but also very worried. Until we actually see them do it on the field it is only potential.
 
From an outsider's perspective, I think a lot of how Buff fans are going to view their recruiting (at least this year) depends on their views on star rankings and how much weight to apply to them. Right now (subject to change) there's a fair number of "under the radar" type recruits that Colorado has pulled in and I think it makes some of your fans nervous as a result because a previous coach (who shall not be named here) also relied heavily on that type of recruit and had poor success.

For other fans who view the current coaching staff as good judges of talent/better judges of talent than the previous coach, they are excited about what they feel are a number of prospects that Colorado has snatched up before other programs could get wind of them.
 
I am absolutely being optimistic about our QB roster and I agree it is raw talent, rather than proven talent I am referring to.

I am not quite sure why it seems we are drinking the Kool-Aid. Would anyone really disagree that Embree is improving our depth as far as distribution of positions and physical attributes (speed/size)? Would anyone really disagree that it has been more than a decade at least since we have had the kind of QB depth chart we have now (w/ three 4* quality commits spaced out by a year each)?

Buffup, MtnBuff and I have all suggested that the proof is in the pudding on the field and MtnBuff and I both addressed the possibility that JE would be fired if that doesn't happen. I think you'd have to be blind, a pure pessimist, or a troll to claim that JE is not doing a better job at all of the above, plus working to eradicate the loser mentality we had during the recent "leadership".

Unfortunately I have low expectations for the 2012 season given we will have one of the youngest teams in the nation. And since many of our recruits are high potential but not blue chippers, they may need more time to adapt to BCS play.

I think it is a very real possibility that JE works his butt off to get CU in a better position but that he ends up getting fired before he completes the job because the fan base is focused too much on winning now and not realistic about what it takes to turn things around from such a low point as far as no depth and a losing culture that we had.
 
You're putting guys in the NFL that have yet to step on the field for us. KoolAid must be spiked.
 
zbuff said:
You're putting guys in the NFL that have yet to step on the field for us. KoolAid must be spiked.
Click to expand...


images
 
Creatini said:
Did you think Hansen had a shot in hell at the NFL under Halk?
Click to expand...
I was going to go there too. No offense to Hansen because he was a gamer who put up with so much ****. But his raw tools IMHO do not come close to most of the high profile QBs we have on our roster.

Not sure Hansen will ever see the field in an NFL game, but that he has gotten that far with 1 year of coaching from JE's team says a lot. Give a 4* pro-style QB 4-5 years with Embree's staff and way better supporting cast and we have to see at least one of these guys drafted, and I am prepared to go on a limb, playing in the NFL. If say, by 2020, none of the top QBs on our roster have started in the NFL, I'll buy Zbuff a beer.
 
boydbuff said:
I was going to go there too. No offense to Hansen because he was a gamer who put up with so much ****. But his raw tools IMHO do not come close to most of the high profile QBs we have on our roster.

Not sure Hansen will ever see the field in an NFL game, but that he has gotten that far with 1 year of coaching from JE's team says a lot. Give a 4* pro-style QB 4-5 years with Embree's staff and way better supporting cast and we have to see at least one of these guys drafted, and I am prepared to go on a limb, playing in the NFL. If say, by 2020, none of the top QBs on our roster have started in the NFL, I'll buy Zbuff a beer.
Click to expand...

Huh? Who am I missing that is a 4* qb other than Wood who by all accounts has not been particularly impressive in practice?
 
The optimist in me wants to say that Embree is an architect and he's building a mansion to house our program in. He is still knocking down and clearing out the lot that housed the double wide that was featured on an episode of Hoarders. The last two classes and this class are laying the FOUNDATION. These players are PAC12 able and solid enough to build on. They are role players that fit CU's scheme and will bring a lot of heart. In the next year or two, we will be adding the FRAME (high 3* and 4* players) who will raise the talent level supported by the foundation. Then in the next couple years will come the DECORATIONS (4* and 5* players). The place will be complete and we'll be decorating our mansion. As well as adding quite a few trophies in the trophy room.

The pessimist in me says that Embree is just a contractor we hired to lay the concrete of the foundation and we'll have to hire another contractor capable of building the rest.
 
Daaah said:
Huh? Who am I missing that is a 4* qb other than Wood who by all accounts has not been particularly impressive in practice?
Click to expand...

Last I knew Sefo was rated 4* by ESPN and if I am not mistaken Dillon was rated 4* at one point. Point is we have 3 very high quality pro-style QBs with the raw physical tools to excel at this level and maybe make the next. When was the last time you could say that about our QB depth chart?
 
boydbuff said:
Last I knew Sefo was rated 4* by ESPN and if I am not mistaken Dillon was rated 4* at one point. Point is we have 3 very high quality pro-style QBs with the raw physical tools to excel at this level and maybe make the next. When was the last time you could say that about our QB depth chart?
Click to expand...

not one of these guys could hold Koy Detmer's jock.
 
Jaximus said:
The optimist in me wants to say that Embree is an architect and he's building a mansion to house our program in. He is still knocking down and clearing out the lot that housed the double wide that was featured on an episode of Hoarders. The last two classes and this class are laying the FOUNDATION. These players are PAC12 able and solid enough to build on. They are role players that fit CU's scheme and will bring a lot of heart. In the next year or two, we will be adding the FRAME (high 3* and 4* players) who will raise the talent level supported by the foundation. Then in the next couple years will come the DECORATIONS (4* and 5* players). The place will be complete and we'll be decorating our mansion. As well as adding quite a few trophies in the trophy room.

The pessimist in me says that Embree is just a contractor we hired to lay the concrete of the foundation and we'll have to hire another contractor capable of building the rest.
Click to expand...

Very good post and it's what I'm expecting and hoping except I think embee is here for the long haul.. These players will be good enough to get us to a bowl game, which will allow us to take recruiting to the next level. What I've been impressed with the most is the size and speed of the players they've brought in. Not elite, but so much better than Hack. They know what they're looking for and I'm expecting it to translate on the field. I think everyone has some questions on whether this staff can out coach the opposition, and until we see it on the field, the questions will remain and be legit. I just wish fans would have a little patience and give them time to grow. It is going to be a building process and some can't handle it.
 
I think the speed at the skill positions is still suspect.

:lol: @ the QB hype in this thread.
 
Duff Man said:
I think the speed at the skill positions is still suspect.

:lol: @ the QB hype in this thread.
Click to expand...

I say let people be excited. :smile2:

Frankly, we've seen about no one on this team perform yet so it's all speculation whether positive or negative.
 
Well I am relieved that Embree "looks" to be better than halkins.

Of course he will have to win more than 6 games in one season eventually.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top