BOULDER — During the past three weeks, most major-college football teams have been preparing for bowl games. Colorado has spent these past few weeks trying, once again, to figure out how to join them.
CU coach Mike MacIntyre has gone through staff and player evaluations. He dismissed his special-teams coordinator and his strength and conditioning coach. He replaced a wide receivers coach who found a better job.
CU’s path to national relevance, however, will be paved through recruiting.
Now working on his fourth recruiting class since coming to Boulder, MacIntyre has yet to build a top-60 class. But he has filled the CU roster with quality starters, key role players and talented backups.
“If you’re a Colorado fan that thinks Colorado is going to pull in recruiting classes that are going to rank in the top 25 nationally and are going to have Colorado competing for a Pac-12 South title in the next couple of years, basically your expectations are out of whack,” said Adam Munsterteiger, who has covered CU recruiting for since 2003. “What MacIntyre has done a good job with in recruiting has been class depth, which was a real concern under Dan Hawkins and Jon Embree.”
MacIntyre’s predecessors had better recruiting classes, in terms of the national rankings, however. Hawkins signed the country’s 15th-ranked class in 2008. Embree’s 2012 class was ranked No. 36. Those classes included a batch of players who had high rankings, but few of them panned out.
“When those guys don’t work out, you’re not left with much,” Munsterteiger said.
Given the Buffaloes’ lack of success on the field in the past decade, MacIntyre has had a tough time landing big-name recruits, but he’s pulled together classes that have improved throughout their CU careers.
“MacIntyre has done a good job of getting guys that from the top will be starters and guys like Chidobe Awuzie who are all- conference guys,” Munsterteiger said, “and at the bottom you have the guys that are going to contribute on special teams and stay in the program and develop over time.”
So far, MacIntyre has signed only one four-star recruit: wide receiver Shay Fields, who has been a significant contributor.
“I think the next step for MacIntyre and this staff … will be going head to head with the Arizona schools and beating them for some recruits,” Munsterteiger said. “That’s one thing that if you’re a Colorado fan maybe you could be rightfully frustrated with is that the middle tier of the Pac-12 South, you’re not beating out right now.”
CU has 12 pledges for the 2016 class, with the top rated player being four-star defensive back Craig Watts of St. Petersburg, Fla.
Meanwhile, the top in-state talent continues to elude the Buffs. There are five in-state players for 2016 with a three- or four-star rating from — and all five have committed to other schools.
