As of Early Signing Period - 2018 Class Grade

[somebody]

No I’m saying that I think our class is better than 6th in the pac 12. Our star ratings aren’t as high as some because of an emphasis on JUCO players but I think this is a really good class.
It seems every player in this group has speed, toughness and character. Those are attributes that win a lot of football games.

Player ratings are like statistics, less meaning on individuals in the group, much more on the group as a whole. I'm sure other teams' fans have similar arguments. In the end, we all believe what we want to believe.

 

[DBT]

We finished in the 35 to 45 range if you believe the recruiting sites. Prior to last year, we fell into the 70ish range. We need to be, MUST be consistently in the 20 or better range. That means a minimum of four 4 star type guys per year. This staff needs to raise the bar. Being in the 35 to 45 range will no longer cut it.

 

[DBT]

And FWIW, Rivals still does not list Hypolite. I guess after Wednesday they took off for Christmas.

 

[vinniew_11]

We finished in the 35 to 45 range if you believe the recruiting sites. Prior to last year, we fell into the 70ish range. We need to be, MUST be consistently in the 20 or better range. That means a minimum of four 4 star type guys per year. This staff needs to raise the bar. Being in the 35 to 45 range will no longer cut it.

This is the unrealistic viewpoint that CU fans have. In the landscape of college football, CU is NOT a top 20 school in kids eyes. We just are not. And we will not consistently pull in top 20 classes. Possibly top 35 classes but top 20? Seriously?? I drink blank and gold koolaide but be realistic.

 

[Highlander]

This is the unrealistic viewpoint that CU fans have. In the landscape of college football, CU is NOT a top 20 school in kids eyes. We just are not. And we will not consistently pull in top 20 classes. Possibly top 35 classes but top 20? Seriously?? I drink blank and gold koolaide but be realistic.

If it was black and gold koolaid, you would be a believer!

 

[Trufflesauce]

This is the unrealistic viewpoint that CU fans have. In the landscape of college football, CU is NOT a top 20 school in kids eyes. We just are not. And we will not consistently pull in top 20 classes. Possibly top 35 classes but top 20? Seriously?? I drink blank and gold koolaide but be realistic.

Wouldn’t it be realistic to expect top 25 with the occasional top 20 team? After checking 247, our program was #15 in recruiting rankings as recently as 2008. As far as consistency, we were fairly consistent in recruiting top 25 teams in the early 2000s. I think it’s reasonable to set our expectations back to those standards. Cut the dead weight on the recruiting staff and start making bowl games consistently again and I think we can get there. Whether that will happen is a different story than setting our expectations that high.

 

[DBT]

This is the unrealistic viewpoint that CU fans have. In the landscape of college football, CU is NOT a top 20 school in kids eyes. We just are not. And we will not consistently pull in top 20 classes. Possibly top 35 classes but top 20? Seriously?? I drink blank and gold koolaide but be realistic.

I disagree. All we would have had to have in this class would have been for four or five of the 3 star guys to have been 4’s. As a school, CU compares right there with, say, Washington and Oregon. If CU gets into an 8 to 10 win per season roll, we can definitely go from twenty five 3 star class to twenty 3’s and five 4’s. I will guarantee you that the coaching staff believes Colorado can be an elite program.

 

[FLounda]

I disagree. All we would have had to have in this class would have been for four or five of the 3 star guys to have been 4’s. As a school, CU compares right there with, say, Washington and Oregon. If CU gets into an 8 to 10 win per season roll, we can definitely go from twenty five 3 star class to twenty 3’s and five 4’s. I will guarantee you that the coaching staff believes Colorado can be an elite program.

Bro we have 5 4 stars. Wtf.

 

[Duff Man]

This is the unrealistic viewpoint that CU fans have. In the landscape of college football, CU is NOT a top 20 school in kids eyes. We just are not. And we will not consistently pull in top 20 classes. Possibly top 35 classes but top 20? Seriously?? I drink blank and gold koolaide but be realistic.

What are realistic expectations? Can CU do better?

 

[DBT]

Bro we have 5 4 stars. Wtf.

I’m talking about Rivals. According to them we have twenty 3’s. But those ratings are semantics anyway. I’m more pissed that someone would think that CU can never be more than a mid level program.

 

[BuffLuke80]

I don't think CU getting back to where it was is unrealistic at all, that's on the field, recruiting, etc. My question would be, is this the staff that can make that happen? We shall see.

 

[DBT]

One thing we all agree on is that 5 win seasons won’t improve recruiting. We have to parlay our 40th ranked talent into 7 or 8 wins consistently.

 

[DBT]

One last thing. Every kid that visits CU, whether they sign or don’t, rave about their visit.

 

[SINKRATZ]

This is the unrealistic viewpoint that CU fans have. In the landscape of college football, CU is NOT a top 20 school in kids eyes. We just are not. And we will not consistently pull in top 20 classes. Possibly top 35 classes but top 20? Seriously?? I drink blank and gold koolaide but be realistic.

What a pathetically sad view of this program. Pulling top 25 classes is only unrealistic because of the current makeup of this coaching staff. If top 35 is all we should expect then you must be satisfied flirting with a 6-6 record every year.

We're currently recruiting behind the following juggernauts:

-Maryland who hasn't had a winning season since 2014 or won more than 7 games since 2010.
-Baylor the former P5 laughingstock who is coming off a rape scandal and a 1-11 season.
-Kentucky - a basketball school who has never won more than 7 games in the history of their program as far as I can tell.
-Tennessee a program that embarrassed themselves very publicly and couldn't get anyone to take their multi-million dollar job.
-Minnesota coming off a 2-7 BIG10 campaign.
-Vanderbilt whose head coach is 18-31 and also serves as their defensive coordinator.
- Ole Miss - sanctions
- Cal - good young coach but it's been a while since they were competing for anything meaningful.
- Nebraska a team who finished their losing season giving up 50 or more points in each of their last 3 games and fired their HC and only announced the hiring of Frost 3 weeks ago.
-Indiana - see Kentucky. The last head coach at Indiana to leave the school with a winning record was Bo McMillan who coached from 1934-1947.
- Rutgers who lost their last 3 games by a combined score of 116-13 including a 41-0 shutout at the hands of mighty Indiana.

I refuse to believe that's where CU realistically belongs. We're coming off a division championship and have the national coach of the year for f**ks sake - that should be worth something.

 

[Hunchback Quaker]

What a pathetically sad view of this program. Pulling top 25 classes is only unrealistic because of the current makeup of this coaching staff. If top 35 is all we should expect then you must be satisfied flirting with a 6-6 record every year.

We're currently recruiting behind the following juggernauts:

-Maryland who hasn't had a winning season since 2014 or won more than 7 games since 2010.
-Baylor the former P5 laughingstock who is coming off a rape scandal and a 1-11 season.
-Kentucky - a basketball school who has never won more than 7 games in the history of their program as far as I can tell.
-Tennessee a program that embarrassed themselves very publicly and couldn't get anyone to take their multi-million dollar job.
-Minnesota coming off a 2-7 BIG10 campaign.
-Vanderbilt whose head coach is 18-31 and also serves as their defensive coordinator.
- Ole Miss - sanctions
- Cal - good young coach but it's been a while since they were competing for anything meaningful.
- Nebraska a team who finished their losing season giving up 50 or more points in each of their last 3 games and fired their HC and only announced the hiring of Frost 3 weeks ago.
-Indiana - see Kentucky. The last head coach at Indiana to leave the school with a winning record was Bo McMillan who coached from 1934-1947.
- Rutgers who lost their last 3 games by a combined score of 116-13 including a 41-0 shutout at the hands of mighty Indiana.

I refuse to believe that's where CU realistically belongs. We're coming off a division championship and have the national coach of the year for f**ks sake - that should be worth something.

I agree with your overall point, and this class is definitely below what I consider CU's expectations to be. But if you sort by average rating of recruit, the picture gets a little clearer. For instance, Mizzouri, Indiana and Rutgers drop below CU, and Utah jumps ahead. Makes more sense to me. WSU also drops below the Buffs. So while top 35-40 is not on par with my expectations, the teams above and below CU make more sense if you sort by the average quality of recruit rather than total ranking (which benefits greatly from full numbers).

 

[MtnBuff]

This is the unrealistic viewpoint that CU fans have. In the landscape of college football, CU is NOT a top 20 school in kids eyes. We just are not. And we will not consistently pull in top 20 classes. Possibly top 35 classes but top 20? Seriously?? I drink blank and gold koolaide but be realistic.

A year ago we won 10 games, this year we fell off.

If for the next 2-3 years we are winning 9+ games and going to decent bowls kids will see us as a top 20-25 school and a place they want to be.

As fans we have a long memory. The kids who will be in the recruiting class of 2021 are sitting home right now playing Madden or Call of Duty, they have no clue who was good or bad in 2015 or earlier.

If as a fan you don't believe we can or should be at least a yearly bowl team and be looking to win our conference in good years then why bother being a fan.

As far as rating this class I look at it from a standpoint of did the class make us better. Are the guys coming in mostly a step up from the guys they are replacing? Does this class get us closer to being able to win like we should be winning?

No, it isn't a top 10 or 20 class but I also don't see many players who it is easy to argue don't belong in a P5 recruiting class. The top end of the class still isn't where I want it to be but the bottom of the class is way better than what we have had in recent years, or the past decade for that matter.

 

[lawdogg]

You guys are arguing past each other. @vinniew_11 is right, that if you asked kids, or college football fans in general, to name the top 20 football programs in America right now, CU ain't on the list. In fact, if you asked those folks to name the top 20 football programs historically, most of them would not include CU. That is the reality of things.

However, what I think @SINKRATZ is saying is that CU should still be able to pull in top 20-25 recruiting classes, even though Colorado is not viewed as a top 20 program and that the correct combination of coaches and effort, make that realistic.

I disagree somewhat with the notion that top 35 recruiting classes relegate you to a perennial 6-6 program, but I'm guessing that was a dose of the usual AllBuffs rhetorical hyperbole.

 

[BuffsNYC]

I disagree somewhat with the notion that top 35 recruiting classes relegate you to a perennial 6-6 program, but I'm guessing that was a dose of the usual AllBuffs rhetorical hyperbole.

I just hope we get into the Hyper Bowl sponsored by Rhetorical next year!

 

[BuffLuke80]

One last thing. Every kid that visits CU, whether they sign or don’t, rave about their visit.

That's all well and good but you need to sign those guys instead of just showing them a great visit.

 

[Duff Man]

You guys are arguing past each other. @vinniew_11 is right, that if you asked kids, or college football fans in general, to name the top 20 football programs in America right now, CU ain't on the list. In fact, if you asked those folks to name the top 20 football programs historically, most of them would not include CU. That is the reality of things.

However, what I think @SINKRATZ is saying is that CU should still be able to pull in top 20-25 recruiting classes, even though Colorado is not viewed as a top 20 program and that the correct combination of coaches and effort, make that realistic.

I disagree somewhat with the notion that top 35 recruiting classes relegate you to a perennial 6-6 program, but I'm guessing that was a dose of the usual AllBuffs rhetorical hyperbole.

I think that 35-40 range means consistency will be hard to attain.

 

[SINKRATZ]

I agree with your overall point, and this class is definitely below what I consider CU's expectations to be. But if you sort by average rating of recruit, the picture gets a little clearer. For instance, Mizzouri, Indiana and Rutgers drop below CU, and Utah jumps ahead. Makes more sense to me. WSU also drops below the Buffs. So while top 35-40 is not on par with my expectations, the teams above and below CU make more sense if you sort by the average quality of recruit rather than total ranking (which benefits greatly from full numbers).

Fair enough, but I'm also expecting CU's class to slip a bit in the rankings come February since we're basically full. There are plenty of schools behind us currently that I would expect to jump ahead when they fill up (Stanford, Pitt, Arkansas, Utah, etc.)

 

[buffaholic]

I will absolutely say that CU can do better than we are doing. We need an ace recruiter to replace one of the deadwoods.

Our Head Coach puts a huge emphasis on character and that will always keep him from signing some classes that Butch Jones (for instance) signed at Tennessee, or Stoops at Kentucky. I will never expect us to sign above our "peer group". Chris Petersen is much more in the mold of MM.

We will do better with more sustainable winning. But we also could be doing better than we are.

With that said, this is a good class. We had to fill holes in order to be more competitive in 2018. We did that with not just JAGs but with really talented Jucos. We needed another on DL and OL though, and a Juco RB. TE may be a huge add to this class. No Sully Weifels or Jordan Gehrke's in this group.

(I consider Maddox less a quick-fix than a guy who was missed by P5 out of HS, and he's just too good with 4 to play 3). He could redshirt this year potentially. Quick Fix grade is a solid B+.

High School talent: No reaches. Some really good players. Our WR, QB, DB groups are in great shape. RB took a big step forward.
Both lines could use more help. Grade: B-

Biggest criticism is that we are having to take Jucos now to fill spots we should have filled a few years back. Nobody is 100% in recruiting, and 5-stars sometimes are garbage as well, but the limitations of our OLB group and both lines were known awhile ago. That's on MM.

Lastly, I put the biggest premium on powerful/explosive DL, and freaky athletic corners and WR. We are now setup better than in many years at 2 of the 3. Fix the ****ing DL.

 

[BuffsNYC]

In the Pac 12, only USC, UCLA, and Stanford have built-in recruiting advantages over CU. There's no reason we can't recruit better than UW, OU, and the Arizona schools.

 

[buffaholic]

In the Pac 12, only USC, UCLA, and Stanford have built-in recruiting advantages over CU. There's no reason we can't recruit better than UW, OU, and the Arizona schools.

That's not completely true.

Arizona schools are a 5 hour drive from So.Calif communities, and parents often take the party bus to games every weekend. That's a big deal for those parents with several siblings and/or financially pressured. Big deal. It saves them a hotel stay as well.

 

[SINKRATZ]

And I'll say again, RG didn't raise over $100M for incredible new football facilities to miss bowl games and recruit in the 40's.

 

[DBT]

There are a lot of elite teams today that were stuck in eternal crapitudenesd yesterday.

 

[DrunkRalphie]

And I'll say again, RG didn't raise over $100M for incredible new football facilities to miss bowl games and recruit in the 40's.

Really?

 

[Duff Man]

I will absolutely say that CU can do better than we are doing. We need an ace recruiter to replace one of the deadwoods.

Our Head Coach puts a huge emphasis on character and that will always keep him from signing some classes that Butch Jones (for instance) signed at Tennessee, or Stoops at Kentucky. I will never expect us to sign above our "peer group". Chris Petersen is much more in the mold of MM.

We will do better with more sustainable winning. But we also could be doing better than we are.

With that said, this is a good class. We had to fill holes in order to be more competitive in 2018. We did that with not just JAGs but with really talented Jucos. We needed another on DL and OL though, and a Juco RB. TE may be a huge add to this class. No Sully Weifels or Jordan Gehrke's in this group.

(I consider Maddox less a quick-fix than a guy who was missed by P5 out of HS, and he's just too good with 4 to play 3). He could redshirt this year potentially. Quick Fix grade is a solid B+.

High School talent: No reaches. Some really good players. Our WR, QB, DB groups are in great shape. RB took a big step forward.
Both lines could use more help. Grade: B-

Biggest criticism is that we are having to take Jucos now to fill spots we should have filled a few years back. Nobody is 100% in recruiting, and 5-stars sometimes are garbage as well, but the limitations of our OLB group and both lines were known awhile ago. That's on MM.

Lastly, I put the biggest premium on powerful/explosive DL, and freaky athletic corners and WR. We are now setup better than in many years at 2 of the 3. Fix the ****ing DL.

Will not even have the excuse of tight numbers in 2019. A lot of seniors next year (seven at the moment). Has to be the primary focus of the class with OT.

 

[CULifer]

What a pathetically sad view of this program. Pulling top 25 classes is only unrealistic because of the current makeup of this coaching staff. If top 35 is all we should expect then you must be satisfied flirting with a 6-6 record every year.

We're currently recruiting behind the following juggernauts:

-Maryland who hasn't had a winning season since 2014 or won more than 7 games since 2010.
-Baylor the former P5 laughingstock who is coming off a rape scandal and a 1-11 season.
-Kentucky - a basketball school who has never won more than 7 games in the history of their program as far as I can tell.
-Tennessee a program that embarrassed themselves very publicly and couldn't get anyone to take their multi-million dollar job.
-Minnesota coming off a 2-7 BIG10 campaign.
-Vanderbilt whose head coach is 18-31 and also serves as their defensive coordinator.
- Ole Miss - sanctions
- Cal - good young coach but it's been a while since they were competing for anything meaningful.
- Nebraska a team who finished their losing season giving up 50 or more points in each of their last 3 games and fired their HC and only announced the hiring of Frost 3 weeks ago.
-Indiana - see Kentucky. The last head coach at Indiana to leave the school with a winning record was Bo McMillan who coached from 1934-1947.
- Rutgers who lost their last 3 games by a combined score of 116-13 including a 41-0 shutout at the hands of mighty Indiana.

I refuse to believe that's where CU realistically belongs. We're coming off a division championship and have the national coach of the year for f**ks sake - that should be worth something.

Amen on ****Baylor on that list. When I saw Baylor ahead of us, I was like wt heck is this ****??!!!

 

[jkppkjjkp]

Am I correct in expecting the ranking of this class will decline over time? We're pretty much full up with early signees, a couple of teams that rack up late signees will pass us, right?