Off-season Composite Roster Moves

[WasianCU]

This off-season should see a little less movement than the past 2 but I still expect to see plenty of transfers in and out. I'll be updating this post to just track team moves but discussion can still be kept in their appropriate threads:

Recruiting Updates
Transfer Updates

Spoiler: Incoming Transfers

Position	Player	247 Transfer Rating	Previous School
OT	Walker Andersen	unrated	UCLA
TE	Zach Atkins	3* - 85 grade	NW Missouri St
WR	Sincere Brown	3* - 88 grade	Campbell
K	Buck Buchanan	3* - 80 grade	LA Tech
S	Tawfiq Byard	3* - 86 grade	USF
DL	Tavian Coleman	3* - 86 grade	Texas St
IOL	Zy Crisler	3* - 89 grade	Illinois
CB	Tyrecus Davis	unrated	Wyoming
LB	Martavius French	3* - 86 grade	UTSA
P	Damon Greaves	unrated	Kansas
WR	Jack Hestera	3* - 87 grade	Utah St
IOL	Xavier Hill	3* - 88 grade	Memphis
LB	Reginald Hughes	3* - 84 grade	Jacksonville St
OT	Larry Johnson	3* - 87 grade	Tennessee
CB	Noah King	4* - 90 grade	Kansas St
DL	Gavriel Lightfoot	3* - 86 grade	Fresno St
S	Terrance Love	3* - 85 grade	Auburn
IOL	Cooper Lovelace	unrated	Northwestern
IOL	Zarian McGill	3* - 85 grade	LA Tech
LB	Shaun Myers	3* - 85 grade	North Alabama
DL	Jahiem Oatis	4* - 93 grade	Alabama
OT	Aki Ogunbiyi	3* - 87 grade	Texas A&M
CB	Teon Parks	3* - 87 grade	Illinois St
RB	Simeon Price	unrated	Coastal Carolina
OT	Andre Roye Jr.	3* - 88 grade	Maryland
QB	Kaidon Salter	3* - 89 grade	Liberty
LB	Kylan Salter	3* - 84 grade	TCU
S	John Slaughter	3* - 86 grade	Tennessee
OT	Mana Taimani	3* - 86 grade	Ole Miss
RB	DeKalon Taylor	3* - 86 grade	Incarnate Word
CB	Makari Vickers	3* - 87 grade	Oklahoma
LS	Luke Whiting	unrated	FAU
WR	Hykeem Williams	4* - 90 grade	Florida St
WR	Joseph Williams	3* - 87 grade	Tulsa

Spoiler: Outgoing Transfers

Position	Player	247 Transfer Rating	New School
RB	Isaiah Augustave	3* - 85 grade
OL	Kahlil Benson	3* - 85 grade	Indiana
CB	Ben Bouzi	unrated
IOL	Ethan Boyd	unrated
LB	Jeremiah Brown	unrated	Returned to Colorado
DL	Rayyan Buell	3* - 85 grade	Memphis
LB	Johnny Chaney Jr.	unrated	FIU
C	Cash Cleveland (Walk-on)	3* - 86 grade	Texas Tech
LB	Kyeran Garcia	unrated
OT	Jay Gardenhire	unrated
TE	Sam Hart	unrated
Edge	Dayon Hayes	3* - 86 grade	Texas A&M
LB	Nikhai Hill-Green	4* - 90 grade	Alabama
RB	Brandon Hood	unrated	UMass
CB	Colton Hood	3* - 87 grade	Tennessee
OL	Tyler Johnson	unrated
OL	Payton Kirkland	3* - 84 grade	Miami (OH)
Edge	Taje McCoy	3* - 87 grade	Oklahoma St
WR	Jordan Onovughe	3* - 83 grade	Stanford
OT	Zack Owens	3* - 86 grade	Miss St
TE	Morgan Pearson	unrated
S	Savion Riley	3* - 84 grade	Georgia Tech
CB	Nahmier Robinson	unrated
WR	Cordale Russell	unrated	Miami (OH)
QB	Walter Taylor	3* - 84 grade	Ball St
QB	Destin Wade	unrated	North Alabama
IOL	Yakiri Walker	3* - 84 grade	Memphis
WR	Asaad Waseem	3* - 85 grade	FAU
LB	Jaylen Wester	3* - 87 grade	Western Kentucky
WR	Adrian Wilson	3* - 87 grade	North Carolina
LB	Trevor Woods	unrated	Jacksonville St
C	Hank Zilinskas	3* - 85 grade	Rutgers

Spoiler: Outgoing Non-Transfers

Position	Player	Notes
LB	Vonta Bentley	Eligibility - Cincinnati Mini-Camp
DL	Shane Cokes	Eligibility - Denver Mini-Camp
LB	Brendan Gant	Eligibility
DE	BJ Green II	Eligibility - UDFA Jacksonville
WR	Jimmy Horn Jr.	Eligibility / Combine Invitee - Drafted 6th Round #208
OL	Wyatt Hummel	Eligibility
CB/WR	Travis Hunter	NFL Draft / Combine Invitee - Drafted 1st Round #2
DB	Travis Jay	Eligibility
OL	Justin Mayers	Eligibility - Denver Mini-Camp
DL	Chidozie Nwankwo	Eligibility
QB	Shedeur Sanders	Eligibility / Combine Invitee - Drafted 5th Round #144
S	Shilo Sanders	Eligibility - UDFA Tampa Bay
S	Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig	Eligibility - UDFA Jacksonvile
WR	Will Sheppard	Eligibility - UDFA to Tampa Bay (Failed physical)
S	Herman Smith III	Eligibility - Las Vegas Mini-Camp
OL	Cardale Thomas	Eligibility
WR	LaJohntay Wester	Eligibility / Combine Invitee - Drafted 6th Round #203
P	Mark Vassett	Eligibility - CFL

 

[WasianCU]

Spoiler: HS and JC Recruits

Position	Name	Composite	Notes
K	Elliott Arnold	unrated	Verbal
S	Antonio Branch Jr.	3* - 0.8894	Signed
TE	Zayne DeSouza	3* - 0.8356	Signed
WR	Quannell X Farrakhan Jr.	4* - 0.9019	Signed
OT	Jay Gardenhire	3* - 0.8383	Signed
WR	Quentin Gibson	3* - 0.8769	Signed
OG	Chauncey Gooden	4* - 0.9015	Signed
DT	Christian Hudson	3* - 0.8885	Signed
TE	Corbin Laisure	3* - 0.8572	Signed
QB	Julian Lewis	5* - 0.9959	Signed
DL	Alexander McPherson	3* - 0.8631	Signed
WDE	London Meritt	4* - 0.9500	Signed
OT	Carde Smith	4* - 0.9128	Signed
ILB	Mantrez Walker	4* - 0.8932	Signed
WR	Adrian Wilson	4* - 0.9075	Signed

 

[Da Lama]

Spoiler: HS and JC Recruits

Position	Name	Composite	Notes
S	Antonio Branch Jr.	3* - 0.8894	Verbal
TE	Zayne DeSouza	3* - 0.8356	Verbal
WR	Quannell X Farrakhan Jr.	4* - 0.9019	Verbal
OT	Jay Gardenhire	3* - 0.8383	Verbal
WR	Quentin Gibson	3* - 0.8650	Verbal
CB	Alex Graham	4* - 0.9534	Verbal
OG	Chauncey Gooden	4* - 0.9015	Verbal
DT	Christian Hudson	3* - 0.8885	Verbal
TE	Corbin Laisure	3* - 0.8572	Verbal
QB	Julian Lewis	5* - 0.9959	Verbal
DL	Alexander McPherson	3* - 0.8631	Verbal
WDE	London Meritt	4* - 0.9500	Verbal
OT	Carde Smith	4* - 0.9128	Verbal
ILB	Mantrez Walker	4* - 0.8932	Verbal
WR	Adrian Wilson	4* - 0.9075	Verbal

That list.

 

[Bear Fiend]

Are incoming kickers in another thread?

 

[o_robbie]

Pearson is a surprise to me and to a lesser extent C. Russell. But it looked like he was buried on the Depth Chart also at WR.

 

[Jens1893]

Think it’d help if we added a note for the reason the non-transfers leave.

 

[WasianCU]

Think it’d help if we added a note for the reason the non-transfers leave.

I'll work on adding those in soon. There's a lot of updating needed for those but it's difficult to find exactly who is leaving with all the eligibility changes right now. For now the list is just Trav and the guys who walked on senior day.

 

[Jens1893]

I'll work on adding those in soon. There's a lot of updating needed for those but it's difficult to find exactly who is leaving with all the eligibility changes right now. For now the list is just Trav and the guys who walked on senior day.

its cool, but id maybe simplify it to "declared for draft" and "out of eligibility" or something for now

 

[o_robbie]

I'd like to get a visual of the Depth Chart again if someone cares to update it once we know who all ended up with a RS for last year. I'm pretty optimistic about our DL next year if we can get another Big DT or 2 to come over to keep that rotation of at 4 or 5 deep. Right now it looks like we have Mcneil, Tawfiq, Barnes Jr, and Brandon DS coming back. I can't say for sure if T.Carter exhausted eligibility or not. I don't think the Freshman are recruited to play as Run Stopping DE/DT in year 1. I expect both of them to play very little in year 1.

I'd like to see 1 DE brought in also who compliments Walker, Wiggins, McCoy who all appear to be more of Rush Ends.

So my transfer portal wish list for the D.Line is 1 DE and 2 DT's

 

[Medford M.]

Pearson is a surprise to me and to a lesser extent C. Russell. But it looked like he was buried on the Depth Chart also at WR.

I don't think either was going to contribute here.

Russell either needs to move to TE or go down to G5

 

[Costa Rica Buff]

I'd like to get a visual of the Depth Chart again if someone cares to update it once we know who all ended up with a RS for last year. I'm pretty optimistic about our DL next year if we can get another Big DT or 2 to come over to keep that rotation of at 4 or 5 deep. Right now it looks like we have Mcneil, Tawfiq, Barnes Jr, and Brandon DS coming back. I can't say for sure if T.Carter exhausted eligibility or not. I don't think the Freshman are recruited to play as Run Stopping DE/DT in year 1. I expect both of them to play very little in year 1.

I'd like to see 1 DE brought in also who compliments Walker, Wiggins, McCoy who all appear to be more of Rush Ends.

So my transfer portal wish list for the D.Line is 1 DE and 2 DT's

Isn't Okunlola only a soph? I agree we need a monster run stopping DE but we should be set at rush end next year.

Carter was a grad transfer so we need at least 2 DT's for a healthy rotation.

 

[o_robbie]

Isn't Okunlola only a soph? I agree we need a monster run stopping DE but we should be set at rush end next year.

Carter was a grad transfer so we need at least 2 DT's for a healthy rotation.

I was thinking Okunlola played on the opposite side of Walker. I'm not sure which side Wiggins and McCoy cycle in on but with Hayes leaving I think we could definitely use a Run Stopping DE.

 

[Medford M.]

So after today's commits, we still need 15 more dudes to fill in the outgoing departures.

 

[GRM]

I am confident that we will get there, but there will be more moves come Spring as well.

 

[WasianCU]

Updated with the latest changes. Looks like we are off to a great start overall for portal season.

 

[o_robbie]

Saw some posts Hodge is coming back? Any insight how he had another season available? Was it the new Juco rule?

 

[cnbuff410]

Saw some posts Hodge is coming back? Any insight how he had another season available? Was it the new Juco rule?

yes

 

[Medford M.]

Once again, nearly every player transferring out of the program is going down at least one level (G5), if not down to FCS.

 

[o_robbie]

Once again, nearly every player transferring out of the program is going down at least one level (G5), if not down to FCS.

Blend of players wanting to play so moving down a level instead of developing and players that weren't necessarily Big 12 level conference players to begin with.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

I think we are going to see more and more players realize that development on the bench isn’t really a thing (unless it’s simply physical development in the weight room), and that real development is done by playing as much football as possible, leading to more and more “leveling down” earlier in their careers.

 

[Buff_nc]

Once again, nearly every player transferring out of the program is going down at least one level (G5), if not down to FCS.

Don't think this is actually true. We have two to the sec, two to the big 10, one to acc.

 

[slider]

I think we are going to see more and more players realize that development on the bench isn’t really a thing (unless it’s simply physical development in the weight room), and that real development is done by playing as much football as possible, leading to more and more “leveling down” earlier in their careers.

Yep. Might as well for G5 or FCS and play, then just transfer P4 after a year or two of playing time

 

[Medford M.]

Don't think this is actually true. We have two to the sec, two to the big 10, one to acc.

7 going lower so far, 5 to power conferences.

 

[GRM]

The main observation I have of the CU guys going into the portal is that many seemed to be snatched up by teams rather quickly than compared to last year. They have just been on the transfer board for less time. That could be indicative of how this portal period is playing out (maybe more schollies?) or that our talent floor is vastly improved, so our guys get an immediate look.

Also, it could be Prime and staff giving out recommendations for guys that depart: ie. "this played happened to not be in our immediate plans/we could not get him on the field, but he is a good player, student and person and will probably fit in well at XYZ..." However, for the guys that are not signed, that is not an indication of them either. Some guys like Trevor Woods will need more time to sort through their next move, such that they can find field...

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

7 going lower so far, 5 to power conferences.

So not nearly all transfers?

 

[Medford M.]

So not nearly all transfers?

To be fair, I don't look at guys going to Stanford or Rutgers as a lateral move at this point.

They may be in a power conference, but that's a step down.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

To be fair, I don't look at guys going to Stanford or Rutgers as a lateral move at this point.

They may be in a power conference, but that's a step down.

I think the better way to say your initial comment would have been, “nearly everyone who transferred out did so because they weren’t going to play at Colorado”.

 

[Medford M.]

I think the better way to say your initial comment would have been, “nearly everyone who transferred out did so because they weren’t going to play at Colorado”.

Yes.

 

[bldrbbott]

I think we are going to see more and more players realize that development on the bench isn’t really a thing (unless it’s simply physical development in the weight room), and that real development is done by playing as much football as possible, leading to more and more “leveling down” earlier in their careers.

will be interesting to watch. as more of a euro soccer fan through the dark days of the buffs program, was always fascinating to see which young players went to lower leagues before popping and which worked through the u18 & u23 programs at their parent club to succeed with the senior clubs. as there's not as much physical development in soccer between 17-21 the skill players in football seem more of a valid analog than the trenches or swing players.

still a skill player like joseph williams took his year at tulsa show attitude and practice that lead to production that match his physical attributes and 7v7 ball skills. a player like q gibson might need a year of consistent nutrition and strength work, but his speed and vision should at least make him a weapon in specific situations while he builds resilience to become a three down, full game contributor.

in the trenches, i wonder how different the trajectories of jay gardenhire / zayne desouza and chauncey gooden / carde smith differ both in reality and hypotheticals. gardenhire / desouza seem physically unique, but coming from a "normal" HS football programs rather than elite programs. both could possibly make a jump just by being exposed to elite work habits and coaching? who knows if they would stagnate by still being overwhelming athletes at smaller schools with likely lesser coaching and competition?

different people respond to different stimulus ... sometimes athletes learn best by being the best on the field while refining their dominant traits in games and others improve by being challenged by teammates, coaching, and practicing against/alongside the guys whose job they want to take.

 

[WasianCU]

This transfer season has felt lackluster when compared to the previous couple but the overall ratings still improved:

27 Incoming transfers - 86.7 average rating (plus 4 unrated)
18 Outgoing transfers - 85.5 average rating (plus 13 unrated)

Of our 31 outgoing transfers, 11 have landed at P4 schools so far.