burnsgm
New Member
First and foremost to preface I like most on this board am a CU alum who is truly emotionally and otherwise invested in the program. I have rarely post but often lurk around the board in lack of a better term. With our 14 recruiting class looking all but set, I realize we could see some surprises both joining and jumping ship, but for the most part we shouldn't see any drastic changes for better or worse, I felt now would be an appropriate time to pose a question I have put a good deal of thought into. With HCMM heading into his second year and ready to hit the ground running (hopefully) on his third recruiting class is this upcoming year make or break for the CU football program?
From a recruiting perspective it has been covered ad nauseam that we need to continue to improve the overall talent coming into the program in order to get to where we ultimately want the program to go, while understanding our limitations. HCMM and co. have shown they are not rockstar recruiters a la Tosh, Hugh Freeze and Ole Mi$$, etc and due in part to necessity has taken a developmental approach to our recruiting. With that being said, in order to to continue to close the gap with our Pac-12 brethren we have to add more high 3*-4* guys to complement the hidden gems Mac has shown he has a knack for finding. While the new facilities should certainly help nothing is going to improve our recruiting but winning. While I realize nothing I said was groundbreaking it does provide some food for thought is the 2014 football season and the ensuing 2015 recruiting cycle make or break for our beloved Buffs football program?
This coming season provides a real chance to make a bowl and my opinion it's absolutely imperative we get to one. Not only will a bowl game provide some much needed national buzz and a sign that Mac has us trending in the right direction, but also as mentioned previously on the board the 15 additional practices are so crucial for the development of younger players in the program. Our OOC schedule this year sets up very favorably for us and i think we all would be very disappointed not see us heading into Pac play unbeaten. After that it gets very tricky, home games vs OSU and Utah and road trips to Cal and Tucson jump out as winnable games, after that who knows. Regardless of how we do it we need to be able to scrap together six wins out of next season to get us to a bowl game. Is this the year we get our "statement win"?
From a player development standpoint 2014 is also vital. We all have our Buff colored glasses on but there are some major question marks across our roster. Will Sefo continue to progress and build on the flashes he showed this season and establish himself as our QB going forward? Is Gillam going to continue to mature both on and off the field and prove to be a star and anchor of our D? Can Nembot utilize his physical gifts and really grasp the RT position and will the rest our our O-line follow suit? What guy/guys are going to step up from our receiving corp and try to accomplish the impossible task of replacing P-Rich? These are just a few of the many questions that need to be answered and I'm sure will be discussed endlessly between now and CSU.
All this being said I think it is very fair to say 2014 is very much a make or break season for the Buffs. While we can't come back all the way from where we were in two years we all know we can position ourselves dangerously close to the brink in two years or a regime. I'd love some feedback from you guys am I being over dramatic or is this one of the most important years in the program's storied history? I apologize for the long winded rambling but have at it AllBuffs...
Go Buffs.
From a recruiting perspective it has been covered ad nauseam that we need to continue to improve the overall talent coming into the program in order to get to where we ultimately want the program to go, while understanding our limitations. HCMM and co. have shown they are not rockstar recruiters a la Tosh, Hugh Freeze and Ole Mi$$, etc and due in part to necessity has taken a developmental approach to our recruiting. With that being said, in order to to continue to close the gap with our Pac-12 brethren we have to add more high 3*-4* guys to complement the hidden gems Mac has shown he has a knack for finding. While the new facilities should certainly help nothing is going to improve our recruiting but winning. While I realize nothing I said was groundbreaking it does provide some food for thought is the 2014 football season and the ensuing 2015 recruiting cycle make or break for our beloved Buffs football program?
This coming season provides a real chance to make a bowl and my opinion it's absolutely imperative we get to one. Not only will a bowl game provide some much needed national buzz and a sign that Mac has us trending in the right direction, but also as mentioned previously on the board the 15 additional practices are so crucial for the development of younger players in the program. Our OOC schedule this year sets up very favorably for us and i think we all would be very disappointed not see us heading into Pac play unbeaten. After that it gets very tricky, home games vs OSU and Utah and road trips to Cal and Tucson jump out as winnable games, after that who knows. Regardless of how we do it we need to be able to scrap together six wins out of next season to get us to a bowl game. Is this the year we get our "statement win"?
From a player development standpoint 2014 is also vital. We all have our Buff colored glasses on but there are some major question marks across our roster. Will Sefo continue to progress and build on the flashes he showed this season and establish himself as our QB going forward? Is Gillam going to continue to mature both on and off the field and prove to be a star and anchor of our D? Can Nembot utilize his physical gifts and really grasp the RT position and will the rest our our O-line follow suit? What guy/guys are going to step up from our receiving corp and try to accomplish the impossible task of replacing P-Rich? These are just a few of the many questions that need to be answered and I'm sure will be discussed endlessly between now and CSU.
All this being said I think it is very fair to say 2014 is very much a make or break season for the Buffs. While we can't come back all the way from where we were in two years we all know we can position ourselves dangerously close to the brink in two years or a regime. I'd love some feedback from you guys am I being over dramatic or is this one of the most important years in the program's storied history? I apologize for the long winded rambling but have at it AllBuffs...
Go Buffs.
