March 9th
The “Pinstripe Bowl”
No, they’re not kidding. That bastion of college football, New York City, which has given us the Gotham Bowl and the Garden State Bowl, has now come up with the “Pinstripe Bowl”. On December 30th, the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl will pit the #6 Big 12 team against the #3 team from the Big East (if played after the 2009 season, the game would have been between 8-4 Rutgers and 6-6 Texas A&M) .
The game will be played in the new Yankee Stadium, and will be televised by ESPN. “I think no matter what the sport, every kid who grows up wants to play in Yankee Stadium”, said Yankees president Randy Levine. Forget the poor sentence structure (”every kid who grows up”?), the New York bias is certainly showing through. Anyone want to take a poll of Big 12 players to see if they would rather be in the snow in New York on December 30th, or in the sun in San Diego for the Holiday Bowl? The contract, previously announced, is for six years, with each game to be played between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
If you’re thinking that the first Pinstripe Bowl will be the first football game played in the…
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I’m not yet ready for ”cautiously optimistic”
When a hospital releases information about a newsworthy patient, there are different categories of condition which are commonly utilized. When we hear a patient is “critical”, we know what that means. We understand what “stable” means. “Intensive care” is not a good place to be; the “recovery room” is.
Then there is “guarded”.
“Guarded” is what the hospital says when they are not sure which way things will go, but they are keeping a very close eye on the patient’s vitals. If a patient is in “guarded condition”, the patient could quickly recover … or matters could rapidly deteriorate.
Welcome to Colorado football, 2010.
Over the next month or so, Buff fans will hear coaches and players talk about how well things are progressing at the Dal Ward Center. We will hear about the ”new focus” of the players and coaches. There will be talk of a “new energy” / A “new sense of urgency” / A ”new commitment to winning” from the Colorado football program. The same words will be spun by coaches and players at every program across the nation.
Are you buying?
Not to be too negative, but right now (and I emphasize “right now”) it’s hard to see 2010 as…
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2010 Spring Practice – First Look: Defense
Defensive Line
Returning Players: DE Marquez Herrod (Sr.), DE Josh Hartigan (Jr.), DE Conrad Obi (Jr.), DT Curtis Cunningham (Jr.), DT Eugene Goree (Jr.), DE Nick Kasa (So.), DE Forrest West (So.), DT Nate Bonsu (So.), and DT Will Pericak (So.). Walk-ons: DE David Goldberg (Jr.), DE Josh Hartigan (Jr.), DE Tony Poremba (Jr.).
New in 2010: DE Kirk Poston (2010 recruit) and Chidera Uzo-Diribe (2010 recruit).
Flashback one year – to Spring Practice, 2009.
“We’re not going to be the weak link!”, was the rallying cry of defensive line coach Romeo Bandison, talking about his charges during last year’s spring practice. After losing three seniors, the defensive line was an assumed weakness for the upcoming season. “I don’t think it matters how talented you are,” said Bandison. “You are always concerned when you have a lack of experience.”
Spring practice in 2009 was a time of consternation for the defensive line. Sure, there was help coming in the fall, with All-Everything defensive end Nick Kasa having spurned Florida to stay home to play for the Buffs, and with three other highly rated linemen also on the way. That knowledge helped eased the pain…
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2010 Spring Practice – First Look: Offense
Quarterbacks
Returning players: Cody Hawkins (Sr.), Tyler Hansen (Jr.), and Clark Evans (R-Fr.). Walk-ons: Seth Labato (R-Fr.), Blake Stanley (R-Fr.) (Walk-on quarterback Jerry Slota left the team, transferring to DeAnza Community College in California).
New in 2010: Josh Moten (Fr. – 2009 recruit; enrolled in January); Nick Hirschman (Fr. – 2010 recruit; enrolled in January)
If Dan Hawkins wants to have a parade of angry, torch-wielding Buff fans at his doorstep, all he has to do is to name his son Cody as the presumptive starter for the 2010 season.
Okay, that’s not going to happen – at least not during spring practice.
So don’t go nuclear if you read about the quarterback race this spring being an “open competition”. Every job is supposed to be open for back-ups to do their best to oust the incumbents. There was a minor uproar on the internet when Rivals.com published a story entitled, “Quarterback battle brewing in Boulder?”, but the story contained no insights as to any such controversy. In fact, the story contained the following … “Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Eric Kiesau will likely not name their starter for 2010 anytime soon. But one has…
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Tags: Andre Simmons, Bryce Givens, Jarrod Darden, Jason Espinoza, Maxwell Tuioti-Mariner, Nate Solder, Rodney Stewart, Ryan Deehan, Ryan Miller, Terdema Ussery, Toney Clemons, Tyler Hansen
Posted in Spring Practice, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
Pac-10 commissioner’s comments stir frenzy
As is usually the case with such events, the conflagration began with a single spark.
In a recent conversation with the San Jose Mercury, new Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott was asked about the subject of expanding the Pac-10 conference. “We’re looking at it very seriously,” was the reply. The reason that the discussion is being resurrected is that the Pac-10’s television contracts are coming to an end in 2012. If moves are to be made, they need to be made soon. “There’s a value proposition associated with (expansion),” said Scott. “It makes sense that if you’re going to do it, do it when you can monetize it.”
“Monetize it”? Now there’s a great phrase. Translation: college football is all about the dollar, and the Pac-10 doesn’t want to be left behind. The Big 12 and SEC make huge dollars with their conference championships, and the SEC has a mind-boggling $3 billion contract with CBS and ESPN. The conference title game concept has been so lucrative that even the stodgy Big Ten has taken notice, and is seriously considering inviting a 12th team to its league.
Pac-10 commissioner Scott seems to see the writing on the wall. Kevin…
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March 4th
How good is your memory?
Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins’ first words about the 2010 quarterback race were not unexpected. “We’ll see how it shakes out,” said Hawkins said in a controlled interview with CU’s own B.G. Brooks. “Both of those guys (Tyler Hansen and Cody Hawkins) will play with the ‘ones’ and the ‘twos’. We’ll evaluate them every day and see what happens in the scrimmages. And then we’ll see where we’re at.”
Hope you didn’t just throw your mouse across the room.
It’s okay. As you read here a few weeks ago, this was to be anticipated. “So don’t go nuclear if you read about the quarterback race being an ‘open competition’ “, were the wise words posted in the “Spring First Look: Offense” on February 20th. Nothing’s changed here. In fact, there is no guarantee that Buff fans won’t still be sweating out the naming of a starter well into the summer. When asked about naming a starter at the end of spring practice, Hawkins was non-committal. “I think after the spring game you’d like to (name a starting quarterback”, but you just have to wait and see where you’re at,” said Hawkins. “If there’s a…
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What to take from the 2010 Recruiting cycle
Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins opened his Signing Day press conference with an acknowledgement that he really had very little to add to the discussion about the 21-player Class of 2010. There were very few in the room, and indeed, on the internet, who were not already very familiar with the players Hawkins was sitting down to discuss. “Probably, in this day and age,” said Hawkins, “every coach should just get up and say, ‘well, what do you think?’. Pretty much everyone knows who you have.”
It’s true. We did know all about the Colorado Class of 2010 before Dan Hawkins sat down around 3:30 p.m. Signing Day afternoon.
More’s the pity.
There were few surprises for Colorado on Signing Day, 2010. Quarterback Munchie Legaux defected, but that was not completely unexpected. Legaux had been a “soft verbal” for two months, taking official visits to Arizona and Cincinnati before settling on the Bearcats on Wednesday. Tight end Harold Mobley had not been an official verbal, but had been a “strong lean” to Colorado for several months. His choice came down to Colorado and Nevada (though, for much of the fall, Mobley expressed…
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Colorado Class of 2010 – Offense
Wide receiver Donnie Duncan
Donnie Duncanis a wide receiver/athlete from Hamilton High school in Los Angeles, California. Duncan is a little taller than some of the other Buff receivers, coming in at 6′0″, 185 pounds, with a 4.6 timing in the 40 yard dash. The services don’t agree on Duncan, with Rivals seeing him as a three-star player, rating him as the 72nd-best “athlete”, while Scout sees Duncan as only a two-star prospect, the 148th-rated wide receiver nationally.
For the Hamilton Yankees in 2009, Duncan scored 12 touchdowns, playing cornerback, wide receiver, and kick returner. “I liked everything about Colorado,” said Duncan of his official visit November 6th. “It wasn’t what I expected going into the trip. I felt real comfortable, real quick.”
Buff fans will have to keep an eye on Duncan, to make sure he qualifies. “Coach Hagan just keeps telling me to focus on my grades, so I will be eligible,” Duncan told BuffStampede.com in December. “I will show up in game shape and everything, but they just want sure I take care of my grades so that it is not a problem.”
Just so you know, Duncan’s high school,…
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