In reflecting upon his recently completed college football career, Colorado linebacker Marcus Burton said one of his biggest surprises was not hearing many teammates carry a Texas twang during his five years in Boulder. Colorado’s competitors in the Big 12 North all consider Texas prime recruiting territory, but CU’s efforts there have fallen off in recent years.
“I don’t know why that is,” said Burton, who is from Houston. “But it seems like once you start getting a few guys from down there, teams get more and more.”
Burton’s unscientific observation is spot on. During the past three seasons, Colorado’s roster has included a yearly average of about six players who call Texas home. Every other Big 12 North team had at least twice that number, led by Kansas, which has averaged 29 Texans on its roster.
With one day to go before national signing day, Colorado has two known oral commitments from Texas: defensive end Kirk Poston of Houston’s St. Pius X High School and linebacker Lowell Williams of Thurgood Marshall High in suburban Houston. Poston was the more highly recruited, having also received offers from Arizona, Baylor, Georgia Tech and Kansas State. However, neither recruit rated a spot on ‘s current list of the top 100 seniors in Texas.
“With the advent of the Big 12, you’d think Colorado would have at least 15 kids from Texas,” said Pat Jones, a former Oklahoma State coach and now a college football TV analyst. “If you walk into a high school in Texas wearing a Colorado sweater, you don’t have to explain yourself. Everybody knows where that is.
“I know Colorado is heavy into California. But if they can also get kids from Texas, and the local ones from Colorado, you’d be in good shape, it seems to me.”
Kansas may provide the most compelling example of the ability to turn a program around with players from Texas. In 2007, a dozen Kansas starters hailed from Texas, including many of the team’s stalwarts, such as quarterback Todd Reesing and cornerback Aqib Talib. The Jayhawks compiled their first 12-win season in school history and defeated Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Among other Big 12 North schools in the current recruiting cycle, Missouri has known commitments from nine players who call Texas home. Kansas and Iowa State have landed eight apiece, with Nebraska (five) and Kansas State (three) trailing, followed by CU.
Colorado coach Dan Hawkins has said he intends to make a stronger push in Texas. Multiple CU assistants have been assigned to the Lone Star State in recent years, and the Buffaloes appeared to have made some inroads a year ago, landing defensive tackle Nate Bonsu (Allen) and wide receivers Jarrod Darden (Keller Central) and Terdema Ussery (Dallas St. Mark’s).
Bonsu drew substantial playing time with the Buffs last fall as a true freshman. Darden and Ussery were redshirted. But this winter Colorado’s recruiting efforts in Texas have been disappointing.
“Colorado has definitely tried (recruiting Texas) and has had mixed results,” recruiting expert Jeremy Crabtree said. “But also a lot of it is how Coach Hawkins recruited in his previous stop (at Boise State), going farther west. It’s no surprise that at CU, he has made California an important part of what they do. There’s nothing wrong with that.
“But I think if you’re in the Big 12, you have to recruit Texas. There are so many talented players that the University of Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M aren’t going to get. You have great high school coaching down there. You have kids in weight programs in structured situations year-round. There are so many underrecruited kids down there that may only get one or two offers but wind up becoming tremendous college players.”
Hurting Colorado’s efforts in Texas this year may have been the absence of assistant coach Jeff Grimes, who left for Auburn a few weeks before last year’s national signing day. Most of Colorado’s staff had ties to Hawkins at Boise State but lacks a direct connection with the state of Texas. Grimes, a native of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was an exception. He coached previously at Texas A&M and Rice.
Among the current CU staff, second-year offensive line coach Denver Johnson is a primary recruiter for the Houston and Austin areas. Johnson last recruited Texas hard as an assistant at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma during the 1990s.
“It’s good to have coaches with Texas connections on your staff, because Texas is a very clannish state,” said veteran recruiting guru Tom Lemming of CBS College Sports. “The high school coaches down there tend to push players toward college coaches they know.”
Historically, Colorado has thrived with Texas recruits, beginning with Bill McCartney (including Alfred Williams, Kanavis McGhee, Chris Hudson, Bryan Stoltenberg, Koy Detmer) and followed by Rick Neuheisel (Andre Gurode, Michael Lewis, Marcus Stiggers) and Gary Barnett (Mason Crosby, Terrence Wheatley, Hugh Charles, among others). Hawkins and his staff have thus far failed to replicate those successes in Texas.
The Buffs’ current four-year span of losing seasons isn’t helping things.
“Kids want to see progress,” ‘s Crabtree said. “And you can bet that recruiters from other schools remind them of that.”
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
