Breaking news that Darrell Scott is headed to the University of South Florida, per his Facebook account -

"Just got a scholly peeps!!!! Your looking at a bull now. USF here I come baby."

Personally, I think it's a shame that it never worked out for him at CU.  Do you think he was to blame for being out of shape and moving on, or did the coaching staff mishandle his talents?  No matter what, the Buffs will be OK with Lockridge, Speedy, and the new recruits.

bumped from the fanposts

 From Sports Illustrated.com:

Mandel says Hawkins downfall has to do with his fit at CU and is better suited at a smaller school.  I'm not sure why he says that the choice of Hawkins raised doubts from the get-go, though.   

About a decade ago, Gonzaga's basketball team shot into the national consciousness with a magical run in the NCAA tourney. Soon thereafter, its coach, Dan Monson, bolted for the "greener pastures" of Minnesota only to find failure. Meanwhile, Mark Few took the Zags from flash-in-the-pan material to a respected and perhaps even feared program. Here's the football angle: Look at the Dan Hawkins-to-Colorado situation. Is this a cautionary tale about loyalty?

It's a fair parallel between Monson and Few at Gonzaga and Hawkins and Chris Petersen at Boise State. In both cases, the first guy put the program on the map while the successor -- who had already played a key role as an assistant -- took it to the next level. However, the subsequent downfalls of Monson and Hawkins probably have less to do with loyalty than fit.

Let's face it, jumping from one job to the next is part of the sport. Urban Meyer suffered no such comeuppance for jumping from Utah to Florida. Obviously, his skills translated just fine to the next level. Hawkins' have not. And I don't think it's a coincidence that Meyer, at the time, was universally regarded as a home-run hire by Florida whereas Colorado's choice of Hawkins raised doubts from the get-go.

Meyer was groomed by coaches like Earle Bruce and Lou Holtz and had experience recruiting players to major programs. Hawkins spent his entire previous career at outposts like Sonoma State and Willamette, where his unconventional ways obviously played well and where he worked with the type of "hidden gem" players with which he built the Broncos. When Colorado hired him, the single biggest question was whether he'd be able to recruit at the highest level. It's pretty clear he hasn't been able to do so. Colorado's talent level is abysmal.

That doesn't mean Hawkins can't coach. I just think he's better suited to a small-school environment. And that may help explain why Petersen has remained at Boise (despite interest from UCLA, among others) and Few at Gonzaga. They know where they're most comfortable.

Anyone know how much CU plans to charge for the game used throwback jerseys and helmets at cubuffs.com?  My guess is in the $500 range.  I haven't even seen the helmets yet.  Maybe it one of those that have a Buff horn on each side.  I wonder if they have player names on back, too.  Just wondering.  They are supposed to go on sale an hour after the CU vs. Wyoming game.  Just the jerseys and helmets as a set, but not the pants, which are gray.

Thorough analysis, buy why no mention of the Ralphie Report?

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/the-quad-countdown-no-43-colorado/

Key tidbit:

So many questions. First things first: Colorado is not winning 10 games, not in the Big 12 and not with this schedule. (In the team’s defense, it does get Kansas and Nebraska at home.) However, that doesn’t mean the Buffaloes can’t be very good, especially if they can overcome the debilitating injury bug that has plagued the program in each of the last two seasons. Some groups – offensive and defensive line, for instance – remain enigmas, but each has the potential to be very good, especially the young and talented offensive front. The big question revolving around the C.U. offense is what type of play the Buffaloes will get from the quarterback position: if the team gets good – not spectacular, just good – play and consistency, the offense will be much, much better. So I expect an improvement from this team in 2009; however, to be honest, I can’t justify placing Colorado any higher than at this spot. But I could see the Buffaloes, with some luck, the development of their young players and a largely injury-free campaign, being a dark horse Top 25 candidate.

bumped and slightly modified from fanposts - irish1611

2009 commit, OL Shaun Simon has been deemed ineligible by the University of Colorado Admissions' office according to his Facebook status and other sources. Here is what Simon said on his page:

So just found out that CU admissions didn't qualify me! They tryna make a brotha greyshirt!! Naw I'm not doin that we gone restart this and hop up in one of these prep schools and do this recruitin sh*t again! If CU is the place then it's the place but Ima free agent now! im gone pray about it tho! I hope in the end it works out that ima be a buff!!

Once again, we see more cases of attrition in the offseason. Best of luck to Shaun and we hope to get a shot on the flip side of his prep school stint if that is the route he goes. You have to hope that the coaches can make him see the benefit of potentially greyshirting. A greyshirt process will allow him to train and focus entirely on getting his academics in order (like a redshirt but without the team participation in the fall), something that is priority number one. Let's hope this is the only player from the 2009 class that has these issues, a few of these guys will probably be asked to play early on - irish1611

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/big12/0-9-39/Mailbag--Why-isn-t-Tommie-Frazier-in-Hall-of-Fame-.html

Brad from Denver writes: Tim, Your article about APR ratings in the Big 12 left the door open for people to criticize Colorado. The Buffaloes' rating is in peril primarily because of recent attrition of players that were ineligible because of academics, an area that Colorado is more stringent on than just about any other school. Players don't study, they don't play; they don't play, they leave. All schools are created equally, and it is more difficult to achieve a 2.6 GPA at some schools than others.

Accordingly, I do not find it a coincidence that Baylor and Colorado, arguably the two Big 12 schools with the most rigorous academic standards, are at the bottom of the list.

Tim Griffin: I agree with your point about grades at some schools than others. But to steal a line from Tony Soprano, Colorado's APR score is what it is. It's close to falling below the level where punitive penalties start kicking in. If Coach Dan Hawkins is having trouble keeping players eligible and then they transfer, he might consider attracting players who would be more likely to stay.

The APR is the first piece of academic reform that actually has some teeth in it. The NCAA does a lot of things wrong. But I think this piece of legislation that is good for college athletics.

Rick from Boulder, Colo., writes: It stung a little that you didn't see any Buffs make your top 40 in the Big 12. Would you say a couple might have made the list if it were a top 50 instead? I think Colorado has some talent just about to have a breakout season.

Tim Griffin: I included Darrell Scott on my list of 10 players who nearly made the list. If Markques Simas plays up to his ability, I think he can develop into a solid Big 12 player. Josh Smith is a versatile player who does a lot of things well. Jimmy Smith looks like he might develop into a lockdown cornerback. And I like their offensive line collectively, although one player doesn't stand out for me.

And I think a big performance this season might enable them to have several players on the 2010 list.

From SI at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/cory_mccartney/05/06/spring-mailbag/1.html

Hey Cory, just wondering what your take is on Dan Hawkins' latest at Colorado? HELMET CAMS for the quarterbacks??? There is even a blog on the subject!
-- Jeff Granger, Boulder, Co.

Thanks for the tip, Jeff. I really can't believe more teams aren't using these. Helmet cams give coaches an invaluable first-hand look at exactly what the QB sees as he goes through his progressions and at what he sees developing down field. It's a pretty simple concept and I wouldn't be surprised to see other teams implement it.

It is, however, a little ironic that Hawkins is using technology to aid his program, but closed practices 10 days into spring after ripping fans for posting too much information on blogs and message boards. It's the nature of the beast because after all ... It's Division I football. ... It's the Big 12. ... It's not intramurals. Sorry, couldn't resist.

As far as those QB tapes go, you have to think there's at least one Hawkins rant on there that could find its way onto YouTube. No coach has a bigger propensity to shoot from the hip, and candid camera Hawkins is the stuff of pay-per-view dreams. I know I'd pay $59.99 to see Hawkins: Uncut and Uncensored.

Facebook prank burns some Husker fans

Some Husker fans who frequent Facebook had a cruel joke played on them by a guy named Tommy Wilson.

Wilson had started a Facebook group called 1,000,000 Husker Fans. Many Nebraska supporters joined.

But after gaining his fair share of supporters he changed the name of the group. It's now called: 1,000,000 Fans of Tommy Wilson. A bunch of hackneyed jokes about the Huskers and their following are now on the page.

Join the CU Buffs fans to become part of 1,000,000 fans for Tommy Wilson!

Tim Griffin of ESPN ranked the Buffs last in the QB battle: Who Can Rest Easiest This Spring? 

Cody Hawkins vs. Tyler Hansen vs. Clark Evans vs. Matt Ballenger, Colorado -- Another tight battle that is muddled because the Colorado coaching staff made the desperation move of burning Hansen's redshirt midway through last season. Hawkins and Hansen both have won Big 12 games, but it should be an even race that plays out through the spring. This is a positional battle that could hinge on every scrimmage.

Good article about business of SB nation in today's Washington Post - see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/08/AR2009020801725.html

A New Arena for Hard-Core Sports Fans

By Kim Hart

Monday, February 9, 2009; Page D01

As throngs of hockey fans made their way to the Verizon Center for the Capitals game Thursday night, another group of sports enthusiasts gathered in a spacious brick loft across the street.

Their goal was to kick off SportsBlog Nation, or SB Nation, a network of more than 185 blogs and Web sites that cover just about any sport, league, team or player, from mixed martial arts to the Baltimore Ravens.

"The purpose is to connect fans of teams from all over the country," said Jim Bankoff, a former AOL executive who recently took over as chief executive of the Washington-based SB Nation. Bankoff is also a senior adviser with venture capital firm Providence Equity Partners and he helped raise funding in the "mid-seven figures" for the company. He declined to give a specific amount.

The round of financing was led by Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley firm that backed Facebook, and was led in part by Boston Celtics minority owner Jim Breyer. Additional funding came from AOL vice chairman emeritus and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis and Brent Jones, the former San Francisco 49ers player who is now managing director of private equity firm Northgate Capital. Chris Schroeder, chief executive of Arlington-based HealthCentral Network, a collection of health-related Web sites, is also an investor.

Founded six years ago with one blog about the Oakland A's, the site didn't want to replicate other online sports portals, such as Yahoo Sports or ESPN.com, which feature mainstream sports news. "There's plenty of those out there," Bankoff said. "Instead, we focused on going team by team."

Instead, SB Nation set about to serve as a gathering place for some of the Web's most popular sports blogs, such as Hog Heaven, chronicling everything Redskins, and the Testudo Times, covering the Maryland Terrapins. At least one blog is added to the list every week, but the standards for admission are high. SB Nation blogs are serious about covering the nitty-gritty details about a team that hard-core fans want to know -- like locker room scuffles and players' favorite movies -- that local news outlets don't always cover, said Jerome Armstrong, partner with the WebStrong Group in Alexandria who serves as an adviser to SB Nation.

"Local media is on the decline, but fandom is not," Bankoff said, with no offense meant to The Post reporters in the audience, of course.

The bloggers featured on SB Nation are scattered across the country; about 15 are in the Washington area covering local and faraway teams.

Jeffrey Clark, a financial analyst from Springfield, started blogging about the Boston Celtics 10 years ago as a way to meet other fans. One of the reasons he joined SB Nation in October was to take advantage of the advertising infrastructure and technical expertise offered by the site, which takes care of administrative maintenance that most bloggers would rather not deal with.

"I had my own ad revenue and dabbled in HTML, but it was too hard to manage all of that," he said. "I wanted to get back to writing."

Even less-followed teams with less-than-stellar records are represented on the site. Iowa native Will McDonald recently moved to the District but still keeps up his blog following the Kansas City Royals. To strike a common chord with fans, he writes short profiles of towns that have Royals contingencies. He's finishing his dissertation on 18th-century poetry but finds time to write two or three posts a day.

"There's this weird diaspora of people from the Midwest," he said. "They can relate."

In the crowd were representatives from marketing agencies and a few potential advertisers.

"We're increasingly a very attractive place to advertise" to reach sports fans, Bankoff said. Instead of paying a few thousand dollars to advertise on a radio station's sports talk show, Bankoff is trying to get sports bars, car dealerships and beer companies to try SB Nation. "They want to go where there are authentic fans."

The company shares office space with LaunchBox Digital, the start-up incubator that recently announced it was going to invest in another round of entrepreneurs this summer. Many local technology executives, including Hugh Panero, Sean Greene and Leonsis, were there to show support for the venture.

As owner of the Washington Capitals and the Washington Mystics, and part owner of the Washington Wizards, Leonsis, who blogs daily, has a special interest in how bloggers generate interest for local teams.

"I felt alone in D.C. for a long time," he told the group of bloggers. "Now there are 30 to 40 really mature, active bloggers following the Caps. It's helped give the fan base permission to think the Caps are cool."

And he expressed hope that the site would find a viable business model, which now relies mainly on advertising, "because you all deserve to be rewarded for what you're doing."

Also making an appearance was a member of the tech community with growing clout: Julius Genachowski, a LaunchBox founder who is expected to be named chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

After exchanging handshakes and friendly smiles with friends, Genachowski was introduced to the reporter standing nearby -- me -- who he has not been allowed to talk to since joining President Obama's transition team. And despite numerous attempts on my part, he has stayed true to his vow of silence.

We shook hands and I let him get back to socializing. But I felt better about my lack of communication with him when Leonsis, a close friend of Genachowski's, accused him of not returning his calls.

At least I'm not the only one.

See ESPN.com Recruiting -

It has been a very good year for athlete Preston King (Las Flores, Calif./ Tesoro). King was just named 1st team all-state by CalHiSports.com and picked up his second scholarship offer earlier in the week.

King put up big numbers on both sides of the ball last season is being recruited as a wide receiver. San Jose State was the first school to offer and King was set to visit there this weekend but those plans have been altered.

"I'm going to visit San Diego State this weekend now," King said. "They just offered me a scholarship and I'm very interested in them. I might have to re-schedule the visit to San Jose State but San Diego State wants me to commit by Signing Day so I'm just going to see how it goes this weekend."

A week ago, King took an official visit to Colorado and the Buffs made a strong impression on the athlete.

"Colorado was perfect," King said. "I've never met a better coaching staff and a better group of people. They're going to be a top notch program real soon and I loved the visit. Everything was first class and I have nothing but good things to say about them. I just wished I had an offer from them."

Colorado has offered King as a preferred walk-on along with USC, Boise State and a handful of other schools. King has said the Trojans are his dream school but it would be tough to pass up a scholarship from another program as well.

Even though UCLA picked up a commitment from Stan McKay,

"McKay did say he wasn't completely closing the door on Colorado and said his commitment wasn't quite 100% just yet.

"I'm still thinking a lot about Colorado," McKay said. "That's a great school too and I know I could come in there and play right away. UCLA has some good young safeties but Colorado doesn't have as much depth.

"Colorado will be coming over for a home visit tomorrow night and then UCLA will be coming over on Thursday. This weekend I leave for Washington and when I get back, I'll have to sit down and figure out where the best place for me is."  See  http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=West_Recruiting 

Go get 'em, Hawk!

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated ranked our beloved Buffs number 30, WVU number 37 and FSU number 40 in his latest div 1 poll.  It seems a bit low for WVU to be ranked 37 since they used to be a top 10 team, and perhaps a tad high for the Buffs after struggling vs. Eastern Washington, but I'll take what we can get.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/ncaa/09/09/extended.rankings1/index.html

I have to disagree with you that redshirting Polk would be a good idea.  This kid is a 4 star stud, and even though Scott and Stewart appear to be behind Sumler, I would either use Polk as another tailback weapon (you can't have too many, especially considering injuries and fatigue), or as the article says, he would be amenable to being placed in special teams situations.  I also think recruiting a player of his caliber, and then redshirting him, sends a strong negative message to future recruits who are considering suiting up for the Buffs. 

Besides the Colorado State University, West Virginia University, and University of Nebraska games, is there any way to catch CU Buffs football on TV (or online) for its other games?  I live on the East Coast and was wondering if there's some sort of package to get the games via TV or internet, and not where the athletic department mails a CD of the game afterwards.  Thanks, and let's go CU Buffs!  - MDBuff