BOULDER — Weighing in this week at 6-feet-6 and 245 pounds, freshman tight end Ryan Deehan looks as physically ready to go as any newcomer in Colorado’s August camp.
Deehan also is about as mature for an 18-year-old as anybody could be. Facing a catastrophe early in life will do that.
Last October, the Deehan family lost its Poway, Calif., home in the Witch Creek Fire, just north of San Diego. Ryan was at home when the family was evacuated.
“It was pretty scary,” Deehan recalled Wednesday morning after a two-hour practice. “Two days after we left, our house was gone. That was tough.
“There was a fire four years before that came within a third of a mile, so we thought we might be OK. Then it was gone.”
The family was able to move some possessions out of the house ahead of the fire. But they have not yet begun to rebuild.
“We’re renting right now, and I’m not sure we’ll build another house there,” Deehan said. “We’ve had some problems with the insurance company.”
While adjusting to college football, that’s a lot on a freshman’s mind.
“I think it has helped me learn to deal with stuff,” Deehan said.
“It’s part shock, part maturation,” agreed CU coach Dan Hawkins, who was recruiting Deehan before the fires. “It’s very tough on anybody when you’re young and you deal with adversity. . . . It forces you to grow up maybe a little sooner than you’d like to.”
Deehan was considered one of CU’s top signees in the 2008 recruiting class, earning a four-star ranking from as the nation’s ninth-best tight end prospect. He chose the Buffs over Oregon and Arizona State.
Colorado also signed two other tight ends in February: Will Pericak (6-4, 245) from Boulder High School and Ryan Wallace (6-5, 230) from Bowling Green, Ky. Each has made some nice catches during their first two days of practice.
Footnote.
Offensive guard Mike Iltis, a 6-3, 305-pound redshirt freshman from Sarasota, Fla., injured a knee late in Tuesday’s practice. He underwent an MRI on Wednesday morning and learned he has a torn ACL in his right leg.
Iltis was in the mix for a starting spot at offensive guard until he got tangled up in practice Tuesday, the first day of two-a-days.
There’s an outside possibility he could be back by the Big 12 championship, he said.
“It was a broken play and I got tangled up,” Iltis said. “I’m going to get stronger and get back as soon as I can.”
Said Hawkins: “I just bleed so much for these guys when anything happens to them.”
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
