Snowbuff - nice post.
The ticking time bomb has gone off in Boulder. CU was winning BTN titles with mediocre players in 2004/2005, but we couldn't compete vs. the Tier 1's. Luckily, the BTN was horrible then and we were the Queen of the Pigs.
But the real ticking time bomb that went off was the "recruiting scandal". There was no recruiting to Boulder after this mess. I call it the H-Bomb (named after the Hnida disclosure which GB promptly answered to with "she was an awful kicker" that got played countless times on National TV) and it blew up CU Football. We all knew it at the time and we knew it could only be turned with a tremendous new hire. The only chance we had of keeping it from heading completely south was to bring in someone who could recruit in any situation. Welcome Dan Hawkins.
So we went and hired a new coaching staff. And people want to say, "they inherited a team that won the BTN". Very astute fans. The better-informed knew that the bomb had gone off and that the core talent of this team was decimated and that it would take quite some time to rebuild it, IF it was possible.
What the new staff inherited was a team that had virtually no recruiting classes for 2004 and 2005 (what most teams call their Senior and Junior classes). Even in-state 2-star recruits passed on CU (see Zac Robinson, OSU). Many of the players who did sign those years, didn't stick either because they flat out couldn't play or they changed their mind when Gary was fired.
Look at the O-Line. We have one Senior (Girthy). We have one Junior (Head), who by the way, was beaten out by a true-freshmen last year and again this year (until MTM went down with ACL), and one Sophomore (Solder) who just converted this year to the OLine. And don't get me wrong on Head, God love this guys' grit and hard work. But the reality is that he's a guy who's NOT starting anywhere else in the B12. We have NOT a single QB from '04, 05. Nor do we have a single RB from the Barnett years. We have 1 single WR from then (Williams). We can go on and on. Go look at those classes we signed in '04 and '05 and see how many have contributed... A few from '04 never redshirted because we needed them right away (Dizon for example). But in general, the kids from those classes just never got here or never helped us. The few who did pan out, are mostly starting on defense.
Anyone who is paying attention can figure out that this thing has been barely glued together the last several years. One injury to an OLineman last year would have been equally as devastating. We got away with it and it's caught up to us. No depth and no upper classmen on the O-Line has killed us.
Depth is building. The starters on O-Line in week 12 will all have to fight for a spot next year. Miller is back. MTM is back. Givens will hopefully have gained his weight back. The Center who transferred from U-Maryland is available. Iltis is back. Not only do we get everyone who is starting now back, but they may not be good enough next year to start. Behrens, Bahr, Head and Solder will all have tough competition and I'll say it here, at least 2 of them will be backups and maybe 3. And nearly all of the depth will be Sophomores or younger NEXT year. We will have real competition and real depth. We will have experience that goes 2 deep at most positions.
This team needs to add some playmakers on the edge (WR) and we will be very good.
If your call-letters on this board have two digits in it and you can't see the good things happening in a time period where the upper-classes are all but empty, I'm going to have to assume the 04 is not your grad year, but your IQ! Good things are happening and the talent level is improving rapidly. I'm all in!
