BOULDER — Newly hired Colorado football coach Jon Embree never abhorred college recruiting, though many of his colleagues who made the move from the NFL disdain it. In fact, Embree said, he rather enjoys it.
Good thing, because during the next seven weeks, Embree may spend more time in the living rooms of prospects than in his own home.
“I’m ready,” he said.
Embree likes the competitive aspect of recruiting — and meeting people and hearing stories about their lives. He also enjoys being an investigative reporter of sorts. Through years of recruiting at CU and UCLA, and while conducting interviews for the Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Redskins during NFL scouting combines, Embree has learned that answers to pointed questions can tell more about an athlete than pages of statistics.
Embree listens for what he calls “red flags” — clues to whether the player really loves the game, or plays ball just because it comes easy to him.
“I want guys that love to compete,” Embree said. “I don’t want guys satisfied because they got a (star) rating. When I recruit linemen, I ask if they’ve been the biggest guy all their life. That can be a red flag that I need to look into further. A lot of those guys become ‘gentle giants.’ We want physical players at every position.”
Embree likes to hear a recruit talk about wanting to earn a college degree. He also counts it a plus, if not a prerequisite, when a prospect mentions the NFL.
“I want players who want to play in the NFL,” Embree said. “I want them to strive to be the best.”
It’s never easy for a new staff to salvage a recruiting class. The calendar presents a special challenge. Most head coaches, such as Embree, are hired in early to mid-December. National signing day is the first Wednesday in February.
Berglund’s pledge vital
When Embree took over the CU program last week, only five players had committed to previous coach Dan Hawkins, a relatively low number at this stage compared with many programs of the “big six” conferences. Many Big 12 schools, for instance, have 15 or more commitments.
Barring “decommitments” or other roster attrition, Colorado figures to have room for another dozen or so signees in February, relative to the NCAA’s roster limitation of 85 scholarship players. Positions of critical need, Embree said, include cornerbacks and wide receivers, followed by defensive linemen, offensive linemen, running backs and finally kickers.
NCAA rules prohibit coaches from referring publicly to the names of prospects. But Embree said CU should be set at quarterback for this recruiting class — in other words if Valor Christian standout Brock Berglund (6-feet-4, 205 pounds) holds to his commitment. Berglund sounds solid in his allegiance and was the first recruit who received a visit from Embree last week.
“(Embree) is a great guy,” Berglund said after meeting him. “He’s exactly what I thought. He knows exactly what he’s talking about football-wise, very knowledgeable. He’s also very charismatic and just has a feel about him that brings confidence. I think he’ll make a great recruiter.”
“Buzz in the L.A. area”
Whereas Hawkins plucked players from coast to coast, Embree said his staff will take a more concentrated and hopefully efficient approach to recruiting and focus on California, Texas and Colorado.
Embree is loading up his staff with assistant coaches — led by offensive coordinator and right-hand man Eric Bieniemy, who can speak about the attraction of Colorado from the heart and also negotiate the Los Angeles freeway system without a road map.
“When you talk about Eric Bieniemy and Jon Embree, they still have that buzz in the L.A. area,” said CU football operations staffer Jashon Sykes, a former Buffs and Broncos linebacker and a native of Los Angeles. “That’s because they’ve done such a great job of recruiting there. And it’s also their personalities. Those guys generally get along with everyone. They can have a normal conversation with anyone. That goes a long way in recruiting.”
For decades, CU coaches have recruited hard in California. The move to the Pac-12 Conference next summer should help the Buffs get more players from the West Coast, said recruiting analyst Adam Gorney, who covers the West Coast for .
The connections that Embree, Bieniemy and other members of the staff have in California will open more doors, Gorney said.
“Maybe the kids don’t know who Eric Bieniemy and Jon Embree are, but the high school coaches remember,” Gorney said. “And a lot of high school coaches have some say in where the kids go or at least pointing them in the direction of a recruiting visit.”
Whether Embree and his assistants can salvage a quality recruiting class remains to be seen. History shows that new staffs can find and land quality players at the eleventh hour.
“Each year there are a lot of kids overlooked,” Embree said. “In this case, one of the good things about having so many guys committed (to other schools) is that you know who you can chase and who you can’t.
“We’ll get a feel for who we can get. At the end of the day, it’s not the guy you don’t get that hurts you. It’s if you sign a kid and he ends up not playing.”
Staff writer Ryan Casey contributed to this report.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
National search
A look at where CU’s scholarship players on the 2010 roster are from:
24 California
21 Colorado
5 Texas
4 Hawaii
3 Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio
2 Louisiana, Tennessee
1 Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington (D.C.), British Columbia.
Salvaging a class
Future starters signed by the past two Colorado football coaches soon after being hired in Boulder:
GARY BARNETT (1999 class)
OL Karl Allis, Little Rock, Ark.
WR John Donahoe, Torrey Pines, Calif.
DB Phil Jackson, Colorado Springs
WR Derek McCoy, Thornton
DB Medford Moorer, Los Angeles
LB Kori Mossoni, Broomfield
DAN HAWKINS (2006 class)
LB B.J. Beatty, Kaaawa, Hawaii
DB Cha’pelle Brown, Altadena, Calif.
DB Jalil Brown, Phoenix
LS Justin Drescher, Southlake, Texas
QB Cody Hawkins, Boise, Idaho
DE Marquez Herrod, Escondido, Calif.
WR Scotty McKnight, Coto de Caza, Calif.
LB Michael Sipili, Honolulu
DB Jimmy Smith, Colton, Calif.
TE Nate Solder (OL), Buena Vista
OL Keenan Stevens, Monument
P Tom Suazo, Glenwood Springs
RB Demetrius Sumler, San Diego
