Coffee is for Closers- Colorado Recruiting

The Rise. Everyone saw the on the field improvement the Colorado Buffaloes put together in 2016, going from worst to first in the PAC-12 South, and earning a place in the conference championship game. While the season ended in two one sided defeats, there is no denying that The Rise was real for 2016. Flash forward to 2017. The Colorado staff and branding has changed the moniker. They have deemed this year the “New Era.” Colorado lost their defensive coordinator to an in conference school, fired their interim defensive coordinator due to domestic violence allegations, and hired D.J. Eliot from Kentucky to take over the defense.

National signing day finished up this week, and despite former defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt’s best efforts, as well as other programs, the Buffaloes kept their recruiting class intact. This recruiting class has a chance to be special, as Colorado and UTSA had the single highest one year recruiting change of any team in the nation. Coach McIntyre’s first four years at the university of Colorado, he never had a recruiting class higher than the 60’s. In the “New Era,” Colorado finished with 27^th best recruiting class in the nation according to ESPN. According to Rivals, Colorado had the 32^nd best class, and Scouts had them at #30. The Buffaloes are back at the big boy table, and for the first time in a long time, there’s starting to be a little national buzz around the program again.

For the first time since Colorado left the Big 12, they made an imprint in Texas. McIntyre assigned 5 coaches to the state, including Co-offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini, who already had ties in the area from his time coaching at Texas Tech. The 8 players out of Texas is the second most of any state in the recruiting class behind California.

The 2017 class has a chance to be a special one, headlined by 4 star offensive lineman Jake Moretti who flipped his commitment from Ohio State to stay home and play at Folsom Field. K.D. Nixon, a 4 star wide receiver from DeSoto, Texas has the chance to bolster an already deep receiving core that returns everyone from last year’s squad. Other offensive line signees who have a chance to make an impact right away include Grant Polley and William Sherman. On the defensive side of the ball, Colorado signed junior college nose tackle Xavier Edwards out of Blinn College to take the place of Josh Tupou at nose tackle.

The 2016 Colorado Buffaloes were special on the field, and their coaches have been special off of it on the recruiting trail. Their ability to keep their entire class intact, and even flip 3 star tight end Jared Poplawski from Arizona State shows a willingness to go the extra mile, as the “New Era” starts to take shape.