CU Depth Chart 2021 vs 2022

[Buffnik]

I know we've all been in "doom and gloom" mode with the transfer portal. That's legit.

We also lost some key guys to graduation (or who chose not to use the extra Covid+1 year of eligibility).

But I'm looking at this depth chart from the Utah game (attached below) and thinking about the 2022 roster.

Guys, I'm not sure we're actually worse in 2022. We may be better.

QB gets more experienced and we'll have an actual position battle between a more experienced Lewis & Shrout (who was the guy who would have started the season last year if not for injury) along with Kopp transferring in to join the battle.

RB took a major hit, but I do like Venn a lot as a recruit and this is a position a freshman can play.

WR took huge hits, but returns Arias as a starter along with MLC. Other guys flashed a bit and we've got some guys returning from injury. The addition of Sneed helps a ton and it's also a position where freshmen perform.

TE kept the front line guys and probably improved.

OL really only lost Kutsch in terms of someone who performed well in 2021. We get a few starters back. If we can pull someone from the portal (ideally a LT so Wiley could slide in to G), we'll be improved - I know, incredibly low bar - but could be competent & competitive as long as we stay healthy. Coaching + S&C need to carry us a long way here.

On the DL, I think we should be very nervous. We struggled in pass rush last year and we're losing our best pass rushers - especially if Lang leaves. I think we'll be pretty stout against the run, but we could be even worse at generating pressure. That's scary.

LBs seemed to come on at the end of the year even without Landman, so I don't think we're looking at a drop-off there from what we saw at the end of the season. This group is going to need to come together and be the heart of the defense (hopefully behind a DL that can occupy blockers like that 2016 group, ie, Sami being like Tupou).

DB is where I'm in panic mode unless we can find some transfers. Our CB duo was slated to be the strength of the defense. Safety was a weakness last year, so I don't know that losing a starter was such a bad thing, but we at least lost what would have been experienced depth. A defense that has trouble generating pressure without blitzing coupled with the defensive backfield being a weakness is a hopeless situation.

Anyway...

tl/dr summary: I think we'll be much better on offense and much worse on pass defense. Overall, 2022 expectations for me aren't high but I'm not sure that they should be lower than 2021. Schedule looks harder, but my expectation is that we'll probably end up in the 3-5 win range. (Opinion subject to adjustment based on further roster announcements.)

 

[Gary Indiana]

 

[Bliff Cranch]

I know we've all been in "doom and gloom" mode with the transfer portal. That's legit.

We also lost some key guys to graduation (or who chose not to use the extra Covid+1 year of eligibility).

But I'm looking at this depth chart from the Utah game (attached below) and thinking about the 2022 roster.

Guys, I'm not sure we're actually worse in 2022. We may be better.

QB gets more experienced and we'll have an actual position battle between a more experienced Lewis & Shrout (who was the guy who would have started the season last year if not for injury) along with Kopp transferring in to join the battle.

RB took a major hit, but I do like Venn a lot as a recruit and this is a position a freshman can play.

WR took huge hits, but returns Arias as a starter along with MLC. Other guys flashed a bit and we've got some guys returning from injury. The addition of Sneed helps a ton and it's also a position where freshmen perform.

TE kept the front line guys and probably improved.

OL really only lost Kutsch in terms of someone who performed well in 2021. We get a few starters back. If we can pull someone from the portal (ideally a LT so Wiley could slide in to G), we'll be improved - I know, incredibly low bar - but could be competent & competitive as long as we stay healthy. Coaching + S&C need to carry us a long way here.

On the DL, I think we should be very nervous. We struggled in pass rush last year and we're losing our best pass rushers - especially if Lang leaves. I think we'll be pretty stout against the run, but we could be even worse at generating pressure. That's scary.

LBs seemed to come on at the end of the year even in without Landman, so I don't think we're looking at a drop-off there from what we saw at the end of the season. This group is going to need to come together and be the heart of the defense (hopefully behind a DL that can occupy blockers like that 2016 group, ie, Sami being like Tupou).

DB is where I'm in panic mode unless we can find some transfers. Our CB duo was slated to be the strength of the defense. Safety was a weakness last year, so I don't know that losing a starter was such a bad thing, but we at least lost what would have been experienced depth. A defense that has trouble generating pressure without blitzing coupled with the defensive backfield being a weakness is a hopeless situation.

Anyway...

tl/dr summary: I think we'll be much better on offense and much worse on pass defense. Overall, 2022 expectations for me aren't high but I'm not sure that they should be lower than 2021. Schedule looks harder, but my expectation is that we'll probably end up in the 3-5 win range. (Opinion subject to adjustment based on further roster announcements.)

 

[Joe Theismann's Leg]

Not only do I think you're right, I think we're going to see some impact transfers to fill out the roster

 

[You Assholes]

 

[Leon Sandcastle]

I know we've all been in "doom and gloom" mode with the transfer portal. That's legit.

We also lost some key guys to graduation (or who chose not to use the extra Covid+1 year of eligibility).

But I'm looking at this depth chart from the Utah game (attached below) and thinking about the 2022 roster.

Guys, I'm not sure we're actually worse in 2022. We may be better.

QB gets more experienced and we'll have an actual position battle between a more experienced Lewis & Shrout (who was the guy who would have started the season last year if not for injury) along with Kopp transferring in to join the battle.

RB took a major hit, but I do like Venn a lot as a recruit and this is a position a freshman can play.

WR took huge hits, but returns Arias as a starter along with MLC. Other guys flashed a bit and we've got some guys returning from injury. The addition of Sneed helps a ton and it's also a position where freshmen perform.

TE kept the front line guys and probably improved.

OL really only lost Kutsch in terms of someone who performed well in 2021. We get a few starters back. If we can pull someone from the portal (ideally a LT so Wiley could slide in to G), we'll be improved - I know, incredibly low bar - but could be competent & competitive as long as we stay healthy. Coaching + S&C need to carry us a long way here.

On the DL, I think we should be very nervous. We struggled in pass rush last year and we're losing our best pass rushers - especially if Lang leaves. I think we'll be pretty stout against the run, but we could be even worse at generating pressure. That's scary.

LBs seemed to come on at the end of the year even in without Landman, so I don't think we're looking at a drop-off there from what we saw at the end of the season. This group is going to need to come together and be the heart of the defense (hopefully behind a DL that can occupy blockers like that 2016 group, ie, Sami being like Tupou).

DB is where I'm in panic mode unless we can find some transfers. Our CB duo was slated to be the strength of the defense. Safety was a weakness last year, so I don't know that losing a starter was such a bad thing, but we at least lost what would have been experienced depth. A defense that has trouble generating pressure without blitzing coupled with the defensive backfield being a weakness is a hopeless situation.

Anyway...

tl/dr summary: I think we'll be much better on offense and much worse on pass defense. Overall, 2022 expectations for me aren't high but I'm not sure that they should be lower than 2021. Schedule looks harder, but my expectation is that we'll probably end up in the 3-5 win range. (Opinion subject to adjustment based on further roster announcements.)

This is a reasonable take. Overall though, I currently look at it this way; we had a historically bad offense last year, so we have a looooong way to go to being competent. Compounding this, we lost our three most explosive players on offense in Brou, Rice and Stanley. Sneed helps offset this, but still, the baseline is the real problem here. A competent offensive line is essential. We have rarely seen that here over the last 15 years, and I am not holding my breath. I am not so sure that Shrout would have been the starter in game one, but it’s undeniable he would have had a shot to take that position last year…no one knows what that would have looked like. All 3 QB’s are basically unknowns, and I will be curious to see if our OC can change the narrative about him being the anti-developer with these three (in a notoriously complex WCO system in todays CFB world). I understand that Chiv catches a lot of the blame here, and I won’t argue that. But we also have an offensive HC with an NFL pedigree that did exactly what to remedy the issue in season/in game?

Our defense held us in a few games last season, and almost all of our impact players are now gone. Secondary and DL appear to be significant concerns as you point out.

Our schedule is brutal next year, and while I don’t think we go winless, there is not one game on there that I would currently pick us to win.

My biggest concern is our inability to keep the few difference makers that we already had on the roster.

tl/dr offense might be marginally better, but what does that actually mean? 18.4 pts per game? Defense might be okay, but we will likely be out of games a lot earlier than we were last year (especially against the several teams on our schedule that have some explosive playmakers), and a good portion of the games on our schedule might be very unwatchable after the 1st qtr. I don’t see that we’re doing anything to fix this team, and if we are, I’d love to hear about it. Depth on the OL will be a BIG problem.

 

[wsp4820]

So you’re saying other than TE and QB, the roster is definitely worse than the roster that lost by 2 TDs to a Utah squad who was already preparing for the Rose Bowl and only threw it three times the entire fourth quarter, but maybe not that much worse so long as true freshman are able to make immediate impacts at RB, DB, and OL?

Sweet. Thanks for the pep talk!

 

[DenverBuff]

You’re high!

 

[Not Sure]

I’m not at all optimistic about this upcoming season. However, the fact that we had probably the most incompetent OL coach in history leads me to believe that we aren’t as awful there as we all think. We simply don’t know how good we are because we had the college football equivalent of Elmer Fudd organizing the OL. Just some halfway competent coaching there should result in improved play.

 

[Da Lama]

I know we've all been in "doom and gloom" mode with the transfer portal. That's legit.

We also lost some key guys to graduation (or who chose not to use the extra Covid+1 year of eligibility).

But I'm looking at this depth chart from the Utah game (attached below) and thinking about the 2022 roster.

Guys, I'm not sure we're actually worse in 2022. We may be better.

QB gets more experienced and we'll have an actual position battle between a more experienced Lewis & Shrout (who was the guy who would have started the season last year if not for injury) along with Kopp transferring in to join the battle.

RB took a major hit, but I do like Venn a lot as a recruit and this is a position a freshman can play.

WR took huge hits, but returns Arias as a starter along with MLC. Other guys flashed a bit and we've got some guys returning from injury. The addition of Sneed helps a ton and it's also a position where freshmen perform.

TE kept the front line guys and probably improved.

OL really only lost Kutsch in terms of someone who performed well in 2021. We get a few starters back. If we can pull someone from the portal (ideally a LT so Wiley could slide in to G), we'll be improved - I know, incredibly low bar - but could be competent & competitive as long as we stay healthy. Coaching + S&C need to carry us a long way here.

On the DL, I think we should be very nervous. We struggled in pass rush last year and we're losing our best pass rushers - especially if Lang leaves. I think we'll be pretty stout against the run, but we could be even worse at generating pressure. That's scary.

LBs seemed to come on at the end of the year even without Landman, so I don't think we're looking at a drop-off there from what we saw at the end of the season. This group is going to need to come together and be the heart of the defense (hopefully behind a DL that can occupy blockers like that 2016 group, ie, Sami being like Tupou).

DB is where I'm in panic mode unless we can find some transfers. Our CB duo was slated to be the strength of the defense. Safety was a weakness last year, so I don't know that losing a starter was such a bad thing, but we at least lost what would have been experienced depth. A defense that has trouble generating pressure without blitzing coupled with the defensive backfield being a weakness is a hopeless situation.

Anyway...

tl/dr summary: I think we'll be much better on offense and much worse on pass defense. Overall, 2022 expectations for me aren't high but I'm not sure that they should be lower than 2021. Schedule looks harder, but my expectation is that we'll probably end up in the 3-5 win range. (Opinion subject to adjustment based on further roster announcements.)

This is all great, but the question you need to be asking is how do each of these units stack up against the opposite units of our opponents. We can sit here all day and analyze the depth chart and say we might be okay here and there, but how does the TCU secondary stack up against our WR? How does the Minnesota DL compare against our OL? That’s what matters. I could give 2 sh!ts that our OL might be 1% better than they were last year when TCUs front 7 might be experienced and salty as hell. That 1% won’t mean sh!t.

 

[Bliff Cranch]

This is all great, but the question you need to be asking is how do each of these units stack up against the opposite units of our opponents. We can sit here all day and analyze the depth chart and say we might be okay here and there, but how does the TCU secondary stack up against our WR? How does the Minnesota DL compare against our OL? That’s what matters. I could give 2 sh!ts that our OL might be 1% better than they were last year when TCUs front 7 might be experienced and salty as hell. That 1% won’t mean sh!t.

TCUs front seven has four Jrs and Srs starting.

 

[nolabuff]

Losing 10 starters is rough for any team, especially a young one like ours. However, this could be the best year to turnover a young roster, one that did only win four games last year. CU can sign 32 players I believe, seven more than the usual. If you figure we get 4-5 potential starters from the transfer portal, has the bottom really fallen out any more than before? Maybe we’re still in our perpetual 3-5 win era and not a 0-2 win rock bottom.

 

[Buffnik]

This is all great, but the question you need to be asking is how do each of these units stack up against the opposite units of our opponents. We can sit here and analyze the depth chart and say we might be okay here and there, but how does the TCU secondary stack up against or WR? How does the Minnesota DL compare against our OL. That’s what matters.

Dude, with all the roster changes I can barely keep up with CU's team. I have no idea on opponent rosters.

But TCU hasn't been good since 2017 and I'd have to assume that replacing a HC after 21 years is a major transition. That game is very winnable at home.

Minnesota has a lot to reload from last season, but I think they're significantly ahead of us even if we were playing at a neutral site and both brought our 'A' games.

 

[Da Lama]

Dude, with all the roster changes I can barely keep up with CU's team. I have no idea on opponent rosters.

But TCU hasn't been good since 2017 and I'd have to assume that replacing a HC after 21 years is a major transition. That game is very winnable at home.

Minnesota has a lot to reload from last season, but I think they're significantly ahead of us even if we were playing at a neutral site and both brought our 'A' games.

TCU is better than us, but it’s a home opener so toss up. Minnesota will beat us by 30 again. AFA is a loss. Conference has two possible wins. That’s it. 3-9 at best.

 

[Buffnik]

TCU is better than us, but it’s a home opener so toss up. Minnesota will beat us by 30 again. AFA is a loss. Conference has two possible wins. That’s it. 3-9 at best.

I'm not so sure about AFA. It's not a talent disadvantage. Their big strength is they run their systems incredibly well and also do a great job of recruiting to their systems. The good thing for us is (I think) is that we're set up much better to slow down a running team.

 

[241Volcanos]

I know we've all been in "doom and gloom" mode with the transfer portal. That's legit.

We also lost some key guys to graduation (or who chose not to use the extra Covid+1 year of eligibility).

But I'm looking at this depth chart from the Utah game (attached below) and thinking about the 2022 roster.

Guys, I'm not sure we're actually worse in 2022. We may be better.

QB gets more experienced and we'll have an actual position battle between a more experienced Lewis & Shrout (who was the guy who would have started the season last year if not for injury) along with Kopp transferring in to join the battle.

RB took a major hit, but I do like Venn a lot as a recruit and this is a position a freshman can play.

WR took huge hits, but returns Arias as a starter along with MLC. Other guys flashed a bit and we've got some guys returning from injury. The addition of Sneed helps a ton and it's also a position where freshmen perform.

TE kept the front line guys and probably improved.

OL really only lost Kutsch in terms of someone who performed well in 2021. We get a few starters back. If we can pull someone from the portal (ideally a LT so Wiley could slide in to G), we'll be improved - I know, incredibly low bar - but could be competent & competitive as long as we stay healthy. Coaching + S&C need to carry us a long way here.

On the DL, I think we should be very nervous. We struggled in pass rush last year and we're losing our best pass rushers - especially if Lang leaves. I think we'll be pretty stout against the run, but we could be even worse at generating pressure. That's scary.

LBs seemed to come on at the end of the year even without Landman, so I don't think we're looking at a drop-off there from what we saw at the end of the season. This group is going to need to come together and be the heart of the defense (hopefully behind a DL that can occupy blockers like that 2016 group, ie, Sami being like Tupou).

DB is where I'm in panic mode unless we can find some transfers. Our CB duo was slated to be the strength of the defense. Safety was a weakness last year, so I don't know that losing a starter was such a bad thing, but we at least lost what would have been experienced depth. A defense that has trouble generating pressure without blitzing coupled with the defensive backfield being a weakness is a hopeless situation.

Anyway...

tl/dr summary: I think we'll be much better on offense and much worse on pass defense. Overall, 2022 expectations for me aren't high but I'm not sure that they should be lower than 2021. Schedule looks harder, but my expectation is that we'll probably end up in the 3-5 win range. (Opinion subject to adjustment based on further roster announcements.)

I know we've all been in "doom and gloom" mode with the transfer portal. That's legit.

We also lost some key guys to graduation (or who chose not to use the extra Covid+1 year of eligibility).

But I'm looking at this depth chart from the Utah game (attached below) and thinking about the 2022 roster.

Guys, I'm not sure we're actually worse in 2022. We may be better.

QB gets more experienced and we'll have an actual position battle between a more experienced Lewis & Shrout (who was the guy who would have started the season last year if not for injury) along with Kopp transferring in to join the battle.

RB took a major hit, but I do like Venn a lot as a recruit and this is a position a freshman can play.

WR took huge hits, but returns Arias as a starter along with MLC. Other guys flashed a bit and we've got some guys returning from injury. The addition of Sneed helps a ton and it's also a position where freshmen perform.

TE kept the front line guys and probably improved.

OL really only lost Kutsch in terms of someone who performed well in 2021. We get a few starters back. If we can pull someone from the portal (ideally a LT so Wiley could slide in to G), we'll be improved - I know, incredibly low bar - but could be competent & competitive as long as we stay healthy. Coaching + S&C need to carry us a long way here.

On the DL, I think we should be very nervous. We struggled in pass rush last year and we're losing our best pass rushers - especially if Lang leaves. I think we'll be pretty stout against the run, but we could be even worse at generating pressure. That's scary.

LBs seemed to come on at the end of the year even without Landman, so I don't think we're looking at a drop-off there from what we saw at the end of the season. This group is going to need to come together and be the heart of the defense (hopefully behind a DL that can occupy blockers like that 2016 group, ie, Sami being like Tupou).

DB is where I'm in panic mode unless we can find some transfers. Our CB duo was slated to be the strength of the defense. Safety was a weakness last year, so I don't know that losing a starter was such a bad thing, but we at least lost what would have been experienced depth. A defense that has trouble generating pressure without blitzing coupled with the defensive backfield being a weakness is a hopeless situation.

Anyway...

tl/dr summary: I think we'll be much better on offense and much worse on pass defense. Overall, 2022 expectations for me aren't high but I'm not sure that they should be lower than 2021. Schedule looks harder, but my expectation is that we'll probably end up in the 3-5 win range. (Opinion subject to adjustment based on further roster announcements.)

Spot on. We’re losing 2 good corners, one OL and a few others that might be good but weren’t with us this year. 4-8 not that hard to replace.

 

[JMBuffs]

Thanks @Buffnik, this message board has been depressing as ****. A harmonious dirge of negativity sharply contrasted by the intermittent ravings of a single zealot.


Now compare the coaches....2022 looks better.

We've truly lost 6 guys: Gonzalez, Rice, Stanley, Brous, Blackmon, and Perry. And if we're replacing Rice and Stanley with Sneed, Arias, and MLC I think we'll be okay.. and If losing a guy like Perry opens up a roster spot for Brown I'm down with that.

Still haven't heard about Lang, hopefully So'oto recruits him to stick around.

We're ****ed at Corner

 

[Duff Man]

Protecting the QB
Rushing the QB
The secondary

You can't win much with one of those weaknesses, we seem to be trying to hit the trifecta.

 

[Duff Man]

Also, when did Arias become an asset?

 

[241Volcanos]

Protecting the QB
Rushing the QB
The secondary

You can't win much with one of those weaknesses, we seem to be trying to hit the trifecta.

Secondary overrated. Getting to QB hides a lot of weaknesses elsewhere. Buffs can’t rush the QB though, so secondary may get worked some. I think safeties will be better and corners good enough if we can stop run and figure out some blitzing that works.

 

[Bliff Cranch]

Thanks @Buffnik, this message board has been depressing as ****. A harmonious dirge of negativity sharply contrasted by the intermittent ravings of a single zealot.


Now compare the coaches....2022 looks better.

We've truly lost 6 guys: Gonzalez, Rice, Stanley, Brous, Blackmon, and Perry. And if we're replacing Rice and Stanley with Sneed, Arias, and MLC I think we'll be okay.. and If losing a guy like Perry opens up a roster spot for Brown I'm down with that.

Still haven't heard about Lang, hopefully So'oto recruits him to stick around.

We're ****ed at Corner

And if CU can’t put any pressure on opposing QBs they’re going to have shooting-gallery fun against that defense and those corners.

 

[Buffnik]

Also, when did Arias become an asset?

He's so frustrating. Has probably been our best WR at creating separation and also at using his body to position himself to win 50/50 balls. I know we can only go on what we've seen, so we can't count on it, but it's not ridiculous to think that better WR coaching helps him put the drops issue in the past. If we're fortunate enough for that to happen, he'll actually be pretty great.

 

[Duff Man]

Secondary overrated. Getting to QB hides a lot of weaknesses elsewhere. Buffs can’t rush the QB though, so secondary may get worked some. I think safeties will be better and corners good enough if we can stop run and figure out some blitzing that works.

Eh... kinda? CB depth (or lack thereof) usually matters in a at least a few games a year, pass rush questions be damned.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

Depth. If you squint and make some positive assumptions, you can see a half decent starting 22, sort of.

But depth is going to be absolutely terrifying across the board.

 

[Buffnik]

Secondary overrated. Getting to QB hides a lot of weaknesses elsewhere. Buffs can’t rush the QB though, so secondary may get worked some. I think safeties will be better and corners good enough if we can stop run and figure out some blitzing that works.

I agree on QB, but I'm just hoping for solid. I don't see it being the type of performance that is going to cover weaknesses.

On the secondary, I strongly disagree. Having a good secondary (ie, 2016) allows you to take a lot of chances. I expect we're going to be limited to a bend-but-don't-break defense in 2022. The best we can probably hope for is to be solid against the run and for opposing QBs to forced to be efficiently patient as we're playing soft coverage with a sub-par pass rush.

I think we'll be able to trust our special teams, which could steal a game or two given how bad college STs can be.

To be competitive, this also doesn't look like a team that can afford to lose the turnover battle. That's always a crap shoot.

 

[manhattanbuff]

The two worst position groups in terms of qualaity depth were offensive line and inside linebackers. I don’t think either group’s depth issues has been addressed either by prep or portal recruits. No quality Landman heir apparent will be devastating for this team, especially with the physical schedule we’re playing to start and end the season.

 

[BuffinCali]

I know we've all been in "doom and gloom" mode with the transfer portal. That's legit.

We also lost some key guys to graduation (or who chose not to use the extra Covid+1 year of eligibility).

But I'm looking at this depth chart from the Utah game (attached below) and thinking about the 2022 roster.

Guys, I'm not sure we're actually worse in 2022. We may be better.

QB gets more experienced and we'll have an actual position battle between a more experienced Lewis & Shrout (who was the guy who would have started the season last year if not for injury) along with Kopp transferring in to join the battle.

RB took a major hit, but I do like Venn a lot as a recruit and this is a position a freshman can play.

WR took huge hits, but returns Arias as a starter along with MLC. Other guys flashed a bit and we've got some guys returning from injury. The addition of Sneed helps a ton and it's also a position where freshmen perform.

TE kept the front line guys and probably improved.

OL really only lost Kutsch in terms of someone who performed well in 2021. We get a few starters back. If we can pull someone from the portal (ideally a LT so Wiley could slide in to G), we'll be improved - I know, incredibly low bar - but could be competent & competitive as long as we stay healthy. Coaching + S&C need to carry us a long way here.

On the DL, I think we should be very nervous. We struggled in pass rush last year and we're losing our best pass rushers - especially if Lang leaves. I think we'll be pretty stout against the run, but we could be even worse at generating pressure. That's scary.

LBs seemed to come on at the end of the year even without Landman, so I don't think we're looking at a drop-off there from what we saw at the end of the season. This group is going to need to come together and be the heart of the defense (hopefully behind a DL that can occupy blockers like that 2016 group, ie, Sami being like Tupou).

DB is where I'm in panic mode unless we can find some transfers. Our CB duo was slated to be the strength of the defense. Safety was a weakness last year, so I don't know that losing a starter was such a bad thing, but we at least lost what would have been experienced depth. A defense that has trouble generating pressure without blitzing coupled with the defensive backfield being a weakness is a hopeless situation.

Anyway...

tl/dr summary: I think we'll be much better on offense and much worse on pass defense. Overall, 2022 expectations for me aren't high but I'm not sure that they should be lower than 2021. Schedule looks harder, but my expectation is that we'll probably end up in the 3-5 win range. (Opinion subject to adjustment based on further roster announcements.)

Never thought I would say that Nik drank the Kool-Aid, but damn! Minimizing losing the 2020 PAC-12 Offensive player of the year and last years 3 starting WR's for significantly less talented players and a finger's crossed, potential, hope, prayer that younger players match production is not realistic. An entire post filed with words of "may", "flashed", "freshmen", "probably improved", "if we can", "could be competent", "I think", "need to come together", "panic mode unless", "at least we lost what would have been experienced depth"...

If the CU target is based on hope, what if and maybe's, your program is straight garbage, I can do without the Kool-Aid. I love and appreciate your insight Nik, but those comments are based on hoping the product isn't garbage and praying things work out. The truth of the matter is this program is in disarray, the coach is less than sub-standard, the remaining players would struggle to start for any PAC 12 or P5 team. The QB situation is dire (a QB who was woeful and another coming off a serious knee injury), a RB group who has a mediocre Fontenot who's stats are below average for this level, OL who struggled to protect and were tossed around has losses in leadership from that group, LB's core that graduated leaving a question mark at every position, CB's who could not get on the field last year and safeties that rarely played.

I understand the campfire kumbaya speech, but only Dorrell can preach that this team is even remotely decent. This is a dumpster fire, worse than Arizona, Kansas and I will stop there, there is no need to proceed. The very slight improvement in assistant coaches MAY yield a victory or two, but the fact of the matter is, this program is bottom barrel, straight garbage as it stands today. Add seven 4* impact transfers and the conversation is different, but that is not happening.

This may come across as a glass half empty response, but damnit, there is only a drop of aqua in the 16oz glass. But I am with you, still logging on here, and still hoping. I am just no longer buying into the rhetoric that Dorrell is selling until results are displayed on the field. This has been a rough 13 months under RG, Dorrell and company!

 

[Buffnik]

Never thought I would say that Nik drank the Kool-Aid, but damn! Minimizing losing the 2020 PAC-12 Offensive player of the year and last years 3 starting WR's for significantly less talented players and a finger's crossed, potential, hope, prayer that younger players match production is not realistic. An entire post filed with words of "may", "flashed", "freshmen", "probably improved", "if we can", "could be competent", "I think", "need to come together", "panic mode unless", "at least we lost what would have been experienced depth"...

If the CU target is based on hope, what if and maybe's, your program is straight garbage, I can do without the Kool-Aid. I love and appreciate your insight Nik, but those comments are based on hoping the product isn't garbage and praying things work out. The truth of the matter is this program is in disarray, the coach is less than sub-standard, the remaining players would struggle to start for any PAC 12 or P5 team. The QB situation is dire (a QB who was woeful and another coming off a serious knee injury), a RB group who has a mediocre Fontenot who's stats are below average for this level, OL who struggled to protect and were tossed around has losses in leadership from that group, LB's core that graduated leaving a question mark at every position, CB's who could not get on the field last year and safeties that rarely played.

I understand the campfire kumbaya speech, but only Dorrell can preach that this team is even remotely decent. This is a dumpster fire, worse than Arizona, Kansas and I will stop there, there is no need to proceed. The very slight improvement in assistant coaches MAY yield a victory or two, but the fact of the matter is, this program is bottom barrel, straight garbage as it stands today. Add seven 4* impact transfers and the conversation is different, but that is not happening.

This may come across as a glass half empty response, but damnit, there is only a drop of aqua in the 16oz glass. But I am with you, still logging on here, and still hoping. I am just no longer buying into the rhetoric that Dorrell is selling until results are displayed on the field. This has been a rough 13 months under RG, Dorrell and company!

Valid take.

But, man, I only said 3-5 wins. If that's Kool-Aid, times are beyond dark.

 

[BuffinCali]

Valid take.

But, man, I only said 3-5 wins. If that's Kool-Aid, times are beyond dark.

Welp... I was watching The Gladiator last night and that dark age looked significantly better than what we are experiencing

 

[skibum]

Here's my optimistic take:

Chev was a cancer on the team. Lockeroom drama, high school politicking, typical gossip girl type sh*t.

It's finally been exorcised, and a lot of good tissue ended up being removed as well.

So now the actual rebuild starts, with the 8 ACs below the coordinator level looking like the best on paper staff we've seen in Boulder for years.

Even with that positive spin, I still feel like I'm looking at a head coach who is a career .500 coach, has a history of lackluster recruiting and an antiquated offense, a marginal DC, and an OC with a solid record of making QBs and offenses worse.

And to top it all off, a HC that hired the most unqualified OL coach ever, massively overpaid him, and then sat on his hands as he floundered for 1.5 years.

How can the same person who managed that sh*t show do anything right other than by accident?