After making the switch from quarterback to tight end early in his time at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in California, Jake Peters discovered a new love for football.
“You start to love something as you start to have some success with it,” Peters said.
The love has faded a bit during the past two years, but Peters believes he’ll find it again in Boulder.
A redshirt sophomore, Peters announced earlier this week that he will transfer from Arizona to Colorado. After being on scholarship at Arizona, he plans to join the Buffaloes as a walk-on in the summer or fall.
“I have such a love for playing football and these last two years have been kind of hard because you’re there, you’re working out, you’re with the team and, No. 1, when you’re not playing, itap tough,” he said. “But when your position isn’t playing, itap even harder because itap like there’s no real future.”
Peters committed to Arizona when former head coach Rich Rodriguez was leading the Wildcats, and Peters signed his letter of intent in December of 2017 – the first time college football had a December signing period. Less than two weeks later, Rodriguez was fired and replaced by Kevin Sumlin, whose offense doesn’t use a traditional tight end.
“It was more of a split out, move around (tight end),” said Peters, who is now 6-foot-5, 250 pounds. “I’m more of your traditional inline tight end. I rode it out for a year and a half and just realized that this offense wasn’t using my skill set, so I decided it was kind of time to make a change.”
Peters’ parents both attended Arizona and his father was a Wildcats quarterback, so the decision to leave wasn’t easy, but he entered the transfer portal in November. The first person he called was Darrin Chiaverini, then CU’s receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. Chiaverini has since been promoted to offensive coordinator.
Standing on the sidelines during Arizona’s visit to Boulder last October, Peters watched the Wildcats’ starting tight end play about five snaps and enjoyed how the Buffs used their starter, Brady Russell, on almost every play – either as a blocker or receiver. Russell caught three passes for 32 yards and a touchdown that day.
“I felt like I could be used in that exact same scheme, so I was super interested,” said Peters, who caught one pass for negative-1 yard during his time at Arizona.
Peters nearly enrolled at CU in January, but remained at Arizona for the spring semester. His transfer to CU was put on hold after head coach Mel Tucker departed in February and was replaced by Karl Dorrell. After that, the pieces fell into place to secure Peters’ spot at CU.
Chiaverini was retained by Dorrell, who then hired Taylor Embree as tight ends coach. Peters’ offensive coordinator in high school was Taylor’s uncle and former CU tight end Sean Embree.
“After I spoke with (Taylor), spoke with coach Chiaverini and spoke with coach Dorrell, it kind of became a no brainer,” said Peters, who has three years of eligibility remaining. “(Sean) has been kind of my mentor through this entire transfer process.”
If the NCAA approves a one-time transfer waiver this summer, as expected, Peters will be eligible to play immediately. While he comes in as a walk-on, he’s eager to compete for playing time and earn a scholarship at some point.
“I love to compete,” said Peters, who played multiple sports in his youth. “My girlfriend gets mad at me sometimes because I’m so competitive when we just play board games and Xbox.
“I love the fact that nothing’s going to be handed to me (at CU). Coming from being a scholarship kid at Arizona to walking on is hard, but itap humbling in a way, because I kind of get to compete and I have to earn everything that I’m going to get.”
Currently home in California, Peters is finishing his semester at Arizona remotely while also working out as much as he can. He has a home weights set and said he’s had to get creative.
“I’ve been doing weighted box jumps with a backpack with old textbooks in it, stuff like that,” he said. “Itap just kind of doing what I can with what I have.”
At least now he knows where he’s headed when schools eventually open after concerns of the spread of the coronavirus subside.
“As soon as they get back on campus (in Boulder) to start working, I’ll be with the team,” he said.