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Colorado Recruiting Class of 2017 – Hits and Misses
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History will record that the Colorado Recruiting Class of 2017 had 27 members. The total is the highest for any Buff Class since 29 joined the team in 2012, with the five junior college transfers and the nine total early enrollees setting school records.
How will the Class of 2017 play out? Will this be the Class which builds upon CU’s 2016 ten-win season, sustaining excellence for the balance of the decade? Or will this Class go down in history as a disappointment, a missed opportunity to build on CU’s surprising turnaround last year?
Ask again in four or five years.
Until then, it’s all speculation … but speculation is part of the fun of the off-season. Every team is undefeated; every team has designs on a successful 2017 campaign.
How to judge the CU Recruiting Class of 2017?
—
By the Numbers
When the dust settled after a tumultuous Signing Day, the CU Recruiting Class was ranked No. 32 in the nation by Rivals … No. 30 at Scout … No. 36 at 247 Sports … and No. 25 according to ESPN.
Compared to the rest of the Pac-12, Colorado was seventh in the conference according to Rivals; sixth according to Scout.
Glass half-full, or half-empty?
Half-full … Compare the 2017 Class with previous Classes signed by Mike MacIntyre since he came to Colorado (you know, the ones with which Mike MacIntyre and Co. went 8-1 against in Pac-12 play in 2016):
2016: 66th overall (Rivals); 65th overall (Scout) … last in the Pac-12 according to both;
2015: 72nd overall (Rivals); 75th overall (Scout) … last in the Pac-12 according to both;
2014: 64th overall (Rivals); 72nd overall (Scout) … 10th in the Pac-12 (Rivals); last in the Pac-12 (Scout);
2013: 66th overall (Rivals); 69th overall (Scout) … last in the Pac-12 according to both.
Half-empty … The CU Recruiting Class was ranked in the Top 20 for much of the fall, but lost momentum over the last two months leading up to Signing Day. Lopsided losses to Washington in the Pac-12 championship game and to Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl were followed by the loss of three defensive coaches. Delays in finding replacement coaches cost the Buffs when it came to last minute recruiting battles.
Plus, the argument goes, the Class is not even as good as the Top 30 ranking would suggest. It is a larger than normal Class (27, compared to 16 last year and 17 the year before), so the higher ranking is artificially inflated. If you look at the average number of stars per recruit, CU’s Class is even worse. The Buffs are 10th in the Pac-12 according to Rivals (2.93 stars per player); 8th in the Pac-12 according to Scout (3.07 stars per player).
Colorado played in the Pac-12 title game in 2016. The Buffs were arguably the second-best team in the conference (or, at least the third, if you want to give USC its due), yet the coaches did not capitalize. A middle-of-the-road Class after a ten-win season is a lost opportunity … one which Buff fans will rue in future seasons.
My take?
Squarely in the “half-full” camp.
Sure, it would have been nice to have a consensus Top 25 Class, but when your program has been mired in the 60’s and 70’s in national recruiting rankings for what seems like an eternity, coming in at No. 30 or No. 32 ain’t that bad.
Now, two or three years from now, if the Buffs are coming off of consecutive 5-7 seasons, and Mike MacIntyre is back on the coaching hot seat, then the naysayers of today can have their “I told you so” moment.
In the meantime, I will leave you with a link to an article posted this week by Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News, one of the top Pac-12 reporters. In his article, “Pac-12 football 2017 National Signing Day anti-anxiety post“, Wilner starts with a qualifier:
” ... as always, let’s be clear: The point here is not that the star system and class rankings are meaningless. It’s that they don’t mean everything … that developments good or bad over the next 48 hours won’t seal a program’s fate three or four years from now.
This is a small dose of perspective during a chaotic stretch.”
Before going on to compare the recruiting success in recent years by two teams … UCLA and Colorado.
We’ll start the discussion with a certain team from Los Angeles that always seems to sign highly-ranked recruiting classes but can’t quite produce an on-field product to match.
Of course, I’m referring to UCLA.
Here’s how the Bruins’ 2008-16 recruiting classes have been ranked (by Rivals) within the Pac-12: 2, 2, 2, 7, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1.
Pretty darn good, right? Can’t do much better, right?
But in that span the Bruins have zero conference titles, one division title and no season in which they were better than 6-3 in league play.
Compared to Colorado …
Now, let’s continue the discussion with the team at the other end of the spectrum: Colorado.
The Buffaloes won the South last season with a roster of five recruiting classes that ranked, ahem, 8th, 12th, 10th, 12th and 12th in the conference.
The ’13 class warrants more than a passing mention. It was the first group signed by Mike MacIntyre, who was hired two months prior, and deemed not only the worst in the conference but also No. 66th nationally.
Yet it produced eight all-conference/honorable mention selection: Tedric Thompson Chidobe Awuzie, Kenneth Olugbode, Jimmie Gilbert, Bryce Bobo, Sefo Liufau, Devin Ross and Phillip Lindsay.
If Mike MacIntyre and Co. can produce a Pac-12 South champion with Classes ranked nationally in the 60’s and 70’s, imagine what they will be able to do with Classes which are “only” ranked in the Top 30.
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Other thoughts …
— Can we pass the hat and help raise Darrin Chiaverini’s salary? We already knew from last January that Chiaverini was a great recruiter. Coming in last January 1st, the former Texas Tech coach helped to bring some shine to an otherwise lackluster recruiting year. Wide receiver Juwann Winfree, running back Beau Bisharat, and linebacker Drew Lewis were all last minute additions to the Recruiting Class of 2016, and Chiaverini had a great deal to do with the upswing in recruiting enthusiasm.
This January, though, Chiaverini out-did himself. With the CU coaching staff down three members, the burden was even greater on CU’s prime recruiter.
Chiaverini came through in spades with this Class … and did so with his mother in the hospital. Shuttling back and forth between his mother in intensive care and in-home visits with recruits, Chiaverini did the Buff Nation proud (and this piece of good news. Chiaverini sent out this tweet on Thursday night: “Update on my mom. She is off the ventilator and the doctors are saying her pneumonia is gone! Continue to pray. Was able to talk to her!!” … Welcome news, indeed!).
— The defections never really came. When defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt and cornerbacks coach Charles Clark left Colorado for Oregon, there was significant consternation in the Buff Nation. Not only was there now a void on the coaching staff, but there was real fear that Leavitt and Clark, given much of the credit for #TheRise in 2016, would take some of CU’s top recruits with them to Eugene.
Leavitt and Clark did give scholarship offers to a number of CU verbal commits. In the end, though, you know how many CU commits flipped to Oregon this year?
None. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
In fact, CU only suffered two de-commitments since their 10-2 regular season turned into a 10-4 final record:
Cornerback Morrell Osling, a three-star prospect who committed to CU last July, opted for UCLA when his “dream school” finally offered (Osling was unrated, with no other Power-Five offers, when CU offered him a scholarship last summer);
Offensive lineman Xavier Newman, a three-star prospect who committed to CU in October, but signed with Baylor in the end. Newman’s teammates from DeSoto, Texas, wide receivers K.D. Nixon and Laviska Shenault, kept their commitments to the Buffs. Considering that both Baylor and Texas brought in new coaches this year (and with them, new reasons for optimism in Austin and Baylor), the fact that CU signed seven players from Texas, tied for third-most in school history, is remarkable).
— Were there other misses? Sure. There are always players that you don’t get on Signing Day. Four-star tight end prospect Josh Falo has been a favorite of the message boards for a year, with hopes that Josh would want to play with his brother, CU linebacker N. J. Falo. Watching Josh play for USC will be tough over the next few years.
There were also a number of defensive linemen which would have been nice to sign, like Damion Daniels (signed with Nebraska), Nick Ford (Utah), and Terrance Lang (USC).
Still, it was impressive that Colorado did not suffer a single defection on Signing Day, with all of its known commitments signing with the Buffs. Colorado even picked up two flips of their own, getting late commitments from three-star tight end Jared Poplawski (an Arizona State commit) and three-star offensive lineman Casey Roddick (a Cal commit).
—
I’ll let Jon Wilner have the final word. In discussing CU’s 66th-ranked 2013 Recruiting Class, Wilner noted:
That’s right: A 21-player class that produced eight honors winners –that’s 38 percent of the signees — was ranked dead last in the conference.
Imprecise rankings?
Shrewd evaluating?
Effective coaching?
Good fortune?
How about all four.
The recruiting game is an imprecise science. History does tell us that top ten recruiting Classes tend to beget top ten national rankings. Sustained success in recruiting will, in all likelihood, result in sustained success in the win column.
In the mid-1980’s, when Bill McCartney started winning at Colorado, the recruiting Classes started to improve in the eyes of the national rankings. The turnaround season in 1985, coupled with the epic 20-10 win over Nebraska in 1986, helped to bring in recruiting Classes which played for the national championship at the end of the 1989 and 1990 seasons.
Will the Recruiting Class of 2017 help to bring about similar success at the end of this decade?
Time will tell …
—–
Stuart
Continue reading...
—
Colorado Recruiting Class of 2017 – Hits and Misses
—
History will record that the Colorado Recruiting Class of 2017 had 27 members. The total is the highest for any Buff Class since 29 joined the team in 2012, with the five junior college transfers and the nine total early enrollees setting school records.
How will the Class of 2017 play out? Will this be the Class which builds upon CU’s 2016 ten-win season, sustaining excellence for the balance of the decade? Or will this Class go down in history as a disappointment, a missed opportunity to build on CU’s surprising turnaround last year?
Ask again in four or five years.
Until then, it’s all speculation … but speculation is part of the fun of the off-season. Every team is undefeated; every team has designs on a successful 2017 campaign.
How to judge the CU Recruiting Class of 2017?
—
By the Numbers
When the dust settled after a tumultuous Signing Day, the CU Recruiting Class was ranked No. 32 in the nation by Rivals … No. 30 at Scout … No. 36 at 247 Sports … and No. 25 according to ESPN.
Compared to the rest of the Pac-12, Colorado was seventh in the conference according to Rivals; sixth according to Scout.
Glass half-full, or half-empty?
Half-full … Compare the 2017 Class with previous Classes signed by Mike MacIntyre since he came to Colorado (you know, the ones with which Mike MacIntyre and Co. went 8-1 against in Pac-12 play in 2016):
2016: 66th overall (Rivals); 65th overall (Scout) … last in the Pac-12 according to both;
2015: 72nd overall (Rivals); 75th overall (Scout) … last in the Pac-12 according to both;
2014: 64th overall (Rivals); 72nd overall (Scout) … 10th in the Pac-12 (Rivals); last in the Pac-12 (Scout);
2013: 66th overall (Rivals); 69th overall (Scout) … last in the Pac-12 according to both.
Half-empty … The CU Recruiting Class was ranked in the Top 20 for much of the fall, but lost momentum over the last two months leading up to Signing Day. Lopsided losses to Washington in the Pac-12 championship game and to Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl were followed by the loss of three defensive coaches. Delays in finding replacement coaches cost the Buffs when it came to last minute recruiting battles.
Plus, the argument goes, the Class is not even as good as the Top 30 ranking would suggest. It is a larger than normal Class (27, compared to 16 last year and 17 the year before), so the higher ranking is artificially inflated. If you look at the average number of stars per recruit, CU’s Class is even worse. The Buffs are 10th in the Pac-12 according to Rivals (2.93 stars per player); 8th in the Pac-12 according to Scout (3.07 stars per player).
Colorado played in the Pac-12 title game in 2016. The Buffs were arguably the second-best team in the conference (or, at least the third, if you want to give USC its due), yet the coaches did not capitalize. A middle-of-the-road Class after a ten-win season is a lost opportunity … one which Buff fans will rue in future seasons.
My take?
Squarely in the “half-full” camp.
Sure, it would have been nice to have a consensus Top 25 Class, but when your program has been mired in the 60’s and 70’s in national recruiting rankings for what seems like an eternity, coming in at No. 30 or No. 32 ain’t that bad.
Now, two or three years from now, if the Buffs are coming off of consecutive 5-7 seasons, and Mike MacIntyre is back on the coaching hot seat, then the naysayers of today can have their “I told you so” moment.
In the meantime, I will leave you with a link to an article posted this week by Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News, one of the top Pac-12 reporters. In his article, “Pac-12 football 2017 National Signing Day anti-anxiety post“, Wilner starts with a qualifier:
” ... as always, let’s be clear: The point here is not that the star system and class rankings are meaningless. It’s that they don’t mean everything … that developments good or bad over the next 48 hours won’t seal a program’s fate three or four years from now.
This is a small dose of perspective during a chaotic stretch.”
Before going on to compare the recruiting success in recent years by two teams … UCLA and Colorado.
We’ll start the discussion with a certain team from Los Angeles that always seems to sign highly-ranked recruiting classes but can’t quite produce an on-field product to match.
Of course, I’m referring to UCLA.
Here’s how the Bruins’ 2008-16 recruiting classes have been ranked (by Rivals) within the Pac-12: 2, 2, 2, 7, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1.
Pretty darn good, right? Can’t do much better, right?
But in that span the Bruins have zero conference titles, one division title and no season in which they were better than 6-3 in league play.
Compared to Colorado …
Now, let’s continue the discussion with the team at the other end of the spectrum: Colorado.
The Buffaloes won the South last season with a roster of five recruiting classes that ranked, ahem, 8th, 12th, 10th, 12th and 12th in the conference.
The ’13 class warrants more than a passing mention. It was the first group signed by Mike MacIntyre, who was hired two months prior, and deemed not only the worst in the conference but also No. 66th nationally.
Yet it produced eight all-conference/honorable mention selection: Tedric Thompson Chidobe Awuzie, Kenneth Olugbode, Jimmie Gilbert, Bryce Bobo, Sefo Liufau, Devin Ross and Phillip Lindsay.
If Mike MacIntyre and Co. can produce a Pac-12 South champion with Classes ranked nationally in the 60’s and 70’s, imagine what they will be able to do with Classes which are “only” ranked in the Top 30.
—
Other thoughts …
— Can we pass the hat and help raise Darrin Chiaverini’s salary? We already knew from last January that Chiaverini was a great recruiter. Coming in last January 1st, the former Texas Tech coach helped to bring some shine to an otherwise lackluster recruiting year. Wide receiver Juwann Winfree, running back Beau Bisharat, and linebacker Drew Lewis were all last minute additions to the Recruiting Class of 2016, and Chiaverini had a great deal to do with the upswing in recruiting enthusiasm.
This January, though, Chiaverini out-did himself. With the CU coaching staff down three members, the burden was even greater on CU’s prime recruiter.
Chiaverini came through in spades with this Class … and did so with his mother in the hospital. Shuttling back and forth between his mother in intensive care and in-home visits with recruits, Chiaverini did the Buff Nation proud (and this piece of good news. Chiaverini sent out this tweet on Thursday night: “Update on my mom. She is off the ventilator and the doctors are saying her pneumonia is gone! Continue to pray. Was able to talk to her!!” … Welcome news, indeed!).
— The defections never really came. When defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt and cornerbacks coach Charles Clark left Colorado for Oregon, there was significant consternation in the Buff Nation. Not only was there now a void on the coaching staff, but there was real fear that Leavitt and Clark, given much of the credit for #TheRise in 2016, would take some of CU’s top recruits with them to Eugene.
Leavitt and Clark did give scholarship offers to a number of CU verbal commits. In the end, though, you know how many CU commits flipped to Oregon this year?
None. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
In fact, CU only suffered two de-commitments since their 10-2 regular season turned into a 10-4 final record:
Cornerback Morrell Osling, a three-star prospect who committed to CU last July, opted for UCLA when his “dream school” finally offered (Osling was unrated, with no other Power-Five offers, when CU offered him a scholarship last summer);
Offensive lineman Xavier Newman, a three-star prospect who committed to CU in October, but signed with Baylor in the end. Newman’s teammates from DeSoto, Texas, wide receivers K.D. Nixon and Laviska Shenault, kept their commitments to the Buffs. Considering that both Baylor and Texas brought in new coaches this year (and with them, new reasons for optimism in Austin and Baylor), the fact that CU signed seven players from Texas, tied for third-most in school history, is remarkable).
— Were there other misses? Sure. There are always players that you don’t get on Signing Day. Four-star tight end prospect Josh Falo has been a favorite of the message boards for a year, with hopes that Josh would want to play with his brother, CU linebacker N. J. Falo. Watching Josh play for USC will be tough over the next few years.
There were also a number of defensive linemen which would have been nice to sign, like Damion Daniels (signed with Nebraska), Nick Ford (Utah), and Terrance Lang (USC).
Still, it was impressive that Colorado did not suffer a single defection on Signing Day, with all of its known commitments signing with the Buffs. Colorado even picked up two flips of their own, getting late commitments from three-star tight end Jared Poplawski (an Arizona State commit) and three-star offensive lineman Casey Roddick (a Cal commit).
—
I’ll let Jon Wilner have the final word. In discussing CU’s 66th-ranked 2013 Recruiting Class, Wilner noted:
That’s right: A 21-player class that produced eight honors winners –that’s 38 percent of the signees — was ranked dead last in the conference.
Imprecise rankings?
Shrewd evaluating?
Effective coaching?
Good fortune?
How about all four.
The recruiting game is an imprecise science. History does tell us that top ten recruiting Classes tend to beget top ten national rankings. Sustained success in recruiting will, in all likelihood, result in sustained success in the win column.
In the mid-1980’s, when Bill McCartney started winning at Colorado, the recruiting Classes started to improve in the eyes of the national rankings. The turnaround season in 1985, coupled with the epic 20-10 win over Nebraska in 1986, helped to bring in recruiting Classes which played for the national championship at the end of the 1989 and 1990 seasons.
Will the Recruiting Class of 2017 help to bring about similar success at the end of this decade?
Time will tell …
—–
Stuart
Continue reading...