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Think you've got it bad?

Posted February 5, 2008

So you've read 1,479 posts on your favorite Colorado and Texas message boards about where a 17-year-old California boy will go to college. It's the day before signing day and you think you just can't take the last 24 hours before finding out who actually joins the Colorado football program and who goes elsewhere.

If you think you've got it bad, imagine what coach Dan Hawkins and his assistants must be feeling.

They all have spent hundreds of hours away from their families in the past year traveling the nation telling dozens of young kids how great they are just so those kids can tell them thanks but no thanks.

I was thinking the other day about how Hawkins described the whole process of assembling a recruiting class at the beginning of his signing day press conference last year.

“It’s amazing what kind of monumental effort it is to put these guys down on paper," he said. "It takes an unbelievable amount of coordination from your staff and your coaches. It’s a grind. There was a period of about three days where I slept about five hours and I wore the same set of pants for two days because I didn’t have the opportunity to stop or take a shower.

"All of the other coaches are very much the same way. It’s a lot of time away from their families and a lot of coordination. I’m sitting here as the spokesman but there is a whole lot of coaches that shared in this and a whole lot of staff that really grinded on it as well."

So, really, it's all a matter of perspective. You might feel like you live and die with the Buffs. I'm sure that's true, but no one feels more disappointment and more joy than those coaches. I'm sure they feel pretty confident about their guys today, but these last 24 hours have to be hard. Just makes sense.

...CU has commitments for the 2008 class from a total of seven states. Last year the staff recruited 23 players from a total of 11 states. Most people probably wouldn't guess this, but the state that has supplied the most Buffs since 1973 outside Colorado, Texas and California is... wait for it....

Illinois. Yep, 23 recruits have signed from the state of Illinois since 1973. Florida is just behind at 22.

If I was being recruited to CU, I'm not sure I'd want to say no to this guy.

It's Hawkins during the Oklahoma game last season.

Last year the program broke a 13-year streak without a recruit from Georgia by landing defensive end Conrad Obi, who redshirted in 2007. This year, Hawkins appears to have broken an 11-year slump without a player from Ohio by securing a commitment from linebacker Doug Rippy.

When linebacker Lynn Katoa joined the program as an early high school graduate at the semester break, he became the first recruit to join the program from Utah since 1991. That's a 16-year drought. Yikes.

I know Utah isn't exactly flooded with dozens of Division I players, but it is right next door. You would think CU would have done better there over the years. Sort of strange.

...I hope you will join me at 10 a.m. (MDT) Thursday on Buffzone.com for a live chat. We can talk about the CU recruiting class, spring football and anything else CU related. I'm looking forward to it.