Carson Lee is a guy whose true character seems to reveal itself within minutes of talking to him. He's thoughtful and intelligent in the way he speaks — his answers to questions and opinions (not only pertaining to football) are well-thought out and insightful.

I won't claim to know him extremely well or to be a trusted buddy of his, but he is unquestionably sincere, genuine and passionate about his future in playing football at the University of Colorado. The Buffs are lucky to have him and he's made a continuous impact in regards to the program's recruiting efforts.

Lee committed to Colorado back in February, thus making him head coach Mel Tucker's first pledge for the Class of 2020. The in-state product and Greenwood Village native was the initial case of a CU recruit that seemed to be sold on the prospects of an immediate culture change and desire to win that Tucker and his coaching staff have made their essential campaign slogan as they continue to get settled in at CU.

"[Having] already been up to Colorado many times before because I’m a local kid — I already had a good idea of where the program wanted to be and where it needed to be," Lee said. "After the talks with coach Tucker and everybody I just knew they were going to get it where they wanted to be and I wanted to be a part and represent my home state to help turn this program around.”

While Lee indicated he was sold by the language and mission statement of Tucker and Co., what he witnessed of coaches and players over the Buffs' recent spring practices helped further cement confidence in his commitment.

"After going and watching a couple of the spring practices, seeing the improvements that they made over the short couple weeks and months — it was unbelievable to see that strides that everyone had made," he said. "Seeing what [offensive line coach and run game coordinator] Chris Kapilovic has already done now with the new guys brought in and the guys that were there last year — I can’t wait to be a part of what we do in the future.”

Lee is unique in the strides he's made to do as much as possible to help Tucker court fellow recruits. As the Buffs' first commit for 2020, he is in a good spot to lend a hand to coaches in telling other guys what he's seen from the football program at Colorado and why they might want to consider coming to Boulder.

Before the commitments of Jake Wray and Brendon Lewis, Lee was in good contact with both of them.

“The first time I met Jake Wray was the first spring practice I went up to and me and him just hit it off," Lee said. "We talked two or three times a week before he committed and then the week before he did, when he took his unofficial, me and my mom went up to [Boulder] and had dinner with he and his mom and a couple of the coaches. Everyone was just getting along so great and it was just a good vibe with them."

Regarding Lewis, the man he could very well could be blocking for in the near future, Lee took a similar approach.

"With Brendon, I think probably a month or two before he committed, I followed him [on Twitter] and we started talking and became good buddies," Lee said. "He was letting me know [that] he was going to commit...it’s really cool building relationships with all these guys.”

Lee said that Tucker and other coaches at CU asked that of him — to build relationships with fellow recruits and share his perspective on the football program at Colorado with them. He continues to do just that.

"I think we’ve got a few surprises coming for Buff Nation here in the next couple weeks," he said. “I talk consistently with about five or six of the other recruits that the coaching staff are very high on…[I] tell them what’s going on, how the coaches feel about them, how I feel about them and just getting to know them too."

The effort and passion Lee has displayed as commitment season continues to heat up have no doubt come as welcomed aid from the coaching staff at CU. Having a guy cognizant to the merits of establishing a rapport with fellow soon-to-be Buffs is invaluable.

"At the end of the day, this isn’t all about recruiting — it’s about the relationships that you build and I want to be able to go into college knowing a lot of these guys so that we don’t skip a beat from the day we step on campus," Lee said.