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Bronco Mendenhall - Former HC at UVA & BYU
- Thread starter Buffnik
- Start date
Also important to keep in mind the poor results CU has gotten with 4*/5* recruits we have landed the past 15ish years. Sometimes there are reasons that the guys who are attainable for a CU are available at all and we'd be better served by staying away ourselves.
Recruiting is a numbers game. Strategizing based upon marginal cases is why Colorado has been a failure. The answer to “we have not had enough success with 4/5* players” is not “recruit fewer 4/5* players.” The answer is that we have to upgrade our recruiting apparatus and coaching skill to get more 4/5* players and better develop them. We’ve already tried the “find the 2/3* diamonds in the rough” approach. It is just another marginal approach that does not work.
Or the approach is having an evaluation criteria for recruits that applies to everyone regardless of raw talent level. So you go after the blue chips hard who fit your profile but don't recruit the ones who don't.
That may be in some cases, but I just don't think having that as your philosophy is going to lead to a winning strategy at a program like Colorado. The 3* talent in the Mountain region is far worse than the 3* talent in the SE region.
I like a lot of what he says, but if we aren't going to be a program that tries to out recruit our conference peers, what are we even doing?
BuffaloChase
Club Member
It's important to note that on the podcast he said multiple times that was what he had to do for the players he was looking for at Virginia. The way I understood it, he knew that if he was at a bigger program he would have to change his approach. Also, UVA landed 3 composite four-stars in the 2021 class, it wasn't like he was purposely avoiding them.
I would add you stop gambling on the guys with behavioral issues and injuries. It seems about 2/3 times a 4/5* ends up at CU, one of those two issues exists, which, as you point out, is the reason they are being passed on by others and in a position to consider CU.
Great points. Another thing with 3 star players at CU is that you have to have a coaching staff that can really coach them up. Don’t think we’ve seen a lot of that?
I still think Bronco would be a great hire for us. So would Grimes.
Yeah, a high 3 star is typically getting offers from most of your conference and where CU needs to feed
BuffTuff
Well-Known Member
I still have Bronco as my #2 behind Herman based on fit and high floor.
But questions for me based on his recruiting strategy are, does Bronco bring in the needed P5 transfers immediately? Does the LDS poly angle help us land OL/DL P5 transfers? Has anyone in his Coach tree for OC/QB had a QB drafted within the last 4-5 years?
But questions for me based on his recruiting strategy are, does Bronco bring in the needed P5 transfers immediately? Does the LDS poly angle help us land OL/DL P5 transfers? Has anyone in his Coach tree for OC/QB had a QB drafted within the last 4-5 years?
BuffaloChase
Club Member
Brennan Armstrong was absolutely on the fast track to getting drafted before Anae and Mendenhall left. He's had a bit of a down year this year so might end up as UDFA.
And something Hawkins did here which was key to the Boise State approach and we never should have stopped...
CU should be holding a lot of spots open for late in the cycle and the February signing day. If we have room, we can load up on the guys who blew up their senior season but were lightly recruited based on Soph/Junior film & camps, the guys who get dropped at the last minute because Michigan poached a guy late & dropped a good player to make room, the guys who are re-opening because the coach (HC, Coordinator, Position Coach) they committed to got fired, the guys Stanford admissions denies after reviewing academic records in December, the guys who recovered from an injury which limited their Junior year & the camps afterward, etc.
CU should be making a living on those guys. Too often, we're going the other way and accepting early commitments from marginal guys.
This statement is a repackaging of the failed approach Colorado has tried in the past — the Bob Lopez style. Colorado has to recruit more talented players, let those players compete for spots, and coach them with experts. The evaluation criteria must be: who can play the best and make the manifested on field performance better?
So you'd be signing those 4* guys the top programs back off from due to the book on them from their coaches, teammates, school officials, etc are saying are lazy, bad teammates, don't accept coaching, won't go to class or do the work, and/or are criminals? Those are the guys I'm saying you don't recruit regardless of talent.
I don't believe in blackballing a recruit because you're focused on 2-parent households (Hawkins) or the opposite of only taking guys who have a desperate situation so you'll own their ass (Briles). I don't agree with those approaches of recruiting to culture.
Imagine 85 Antonio Alfanos on the roster....
This post from you is a straw man.
Your original contention was that Colorado has not been successful with 4/5* players, so that’s not where our focus should be in recruiting. My point is that every highly competitive program has misses -- either due to misevaluation or poor self-motivation. That doesn’t negate the value of creating a team compiled with the most talented players who compete for spots on a roster coached by experts. My other point is: the concept that you can routinely compile rosters with numerous marginal players who far exceed their prep rating is a fantasy. Hoping to lucky vis-a-vis exception is not a recipe for success in the current college football landscape.
Nik's original point is CU has been terrible in evaluating the 4/5* players who have been signed.
You misunderstood me.
I'm saying you start with your standards for football character. From that pool, you are aggressive about going after and staying on the guys who you rated at the top of your talent board. That board may not exactly follow the 247 Composite due to system fit (maybe you play press coverage & prefer big corners, for example), but it would be close to what we see from the star ranks.
What are your standards for “football character”?
We’ve been terrible at evaluating most players. My point is that doesn’t mean you go after fewer 4/5* players.
Of course. But I can promise you Nik knows the importance of talent as much as anyone.
This is why I am surprised that he seemed to minimize it.
NIL has effectively put CU out of the running for most 4/5* players anyway. If you think you have a decent chance to land one, you do it, but I agree with the strategy of targeting guys who may be lower ranked out of high school and filling in gaps with transfers.
Work ethic, competitiveness, leadership (or at least a great teammate), coachable, takes care of business off the field so those things don't become a liability or distraction.
Edit: I say "football character" rather than "character" because I'm not talking about the guy having to be someone I'd want my daughter to date, or who is active in community service, or who would turn the other cheek instead of fighting you, or who has strong faith, or who is an honor roll student, etc. That's irrelevant to football character. Your locker room is stronger if you don't have a bunch of choir boys - you need a mix of people who all have football character.
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This entire discussion almost sounds like a defense of Mike MacIntyre’s recruiting, tbh.
All this talk of getting 4*/5* talent, or maximizing the talent of 3*…… I agree with everything you all are saying.
BUT I just feel like we’re so far from where a quality 3* would even come here. We are the joke of NCAA football (along with CSU!). I’m excited we made a coaching change and I think our next coach will lead us out of this mess. But right now, I feel like CU has so damaged its status as a serious program that we will be lucky to get mid 2* recruits at this point.
let’s go get a coach that can come in and take our 2* talent, make it better and get a few wins. We’ve got the best mascot in Ralphie. Let’s get a coach who can put the right product on the field. And let’s get the admin who will finally help make him a success instead of tying a hand behind his back on academics, etc.
whatever Bronco’s system, I think he could do it. So could Grimes and a few other name. Really there are a lot of quality people on the lists we see. Personally, I hope it’s Bronco.
BUT I just feel like we’re so far from where a quality 3* would even come here. We are the joke of NCAA football (along with CSU!). I’m excited we made a coaching change and I think our next coach will lead us out of this mess. But right now, I feel like CU has so damaged its status as a serious program that we will be lucky to get mid 2* recruits at this point.
let’s go get a coach that can come in and take our 2* talent, make it better and get a few wins. We’ve got the best mascot in Ralphie. Let’s get a coach who can put the right product on the field. And let’s get the admin who will finally help make him a success instead of tying a hand behind his back on academics, etc.
whatever Bronco’s system, I think he could do it. So could Grimes and a few other name. Really there are a lot of quality people on the lists we see. Personally, I hope it’s Bronco.
BuffTuff
Well-Known Member
Good call on Armstrong. The thing is the blue print back to relevance isn’t that complicated to me, in fact I think it’s way more simple than before the portal.
bring in double digit P5 transfers every year. Don’t lose more than 3 ish transfers
Bring in top 35 HS class
this with even base level competence in coaching puts CU in a bowl by year 2 or 3 and stabilizes 7-9 wins per seasons go forward.
simple but I did not say easy. It’s hard at CU but that’s why we are paying the HC $4m per. Get it done.