L.A. tackle Sam Yoon, fresh from being offered, is interested in the Buffs
The month of June thus far has presented Los Angeles (Loyola) Calif. offensive tackle Sam Yoon with a multitude of new opportunities to consider. UCLA offered June 5, Oregon State did the same on the 10th and Colorado followed suit June 16.
That day, Wednesday, June 16, Yoon was in Boulder on an unofficial visit. He had planned to work out in-person for Mitch Rodrigue but unfortunately, there was a foul up with his physical and he was unable to do so.
That said, the time he spent in Boulder was far from a failed mission.“Boulder was beautiful," Yoon said. " Seeing it was with my own eyes was pretty eye-opening. I have a really close family friend that is going into her sophomore year at (Colorado), so she took me out to dinner the night before and we went to the Sink — it was good."
"Campus was really beautiful, I was really impressed with the academics and overall, it was an awesome experience.”
Yoon, a 6-foot-4, 289-pound prospect, is being looked at by CU as a tackle, the position he currently plays at Loyola.
He did say that some other programs envision him as more of an offensive line athlete, so to speak, or, in other words, someone who might be moved inside to guard by the time he gets to college.
Other than the Buffs, Beavs and Bruins, he holds offers from Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Kansas State and others.
So far, he has taken an official visit to California, while, in addition to his unofficial at CU, he's also visited UCLA unofficially and worked out for coaches at Southern Cal and Stanford.
While he was unable to workout for Rodrigue, which was the primary goal of him taking an unofficial visit to Colorado, that didn't stop his prospective future position coach from offering him on the spot.
“When I got there, they were very hospitable, very welcoming, I got a facilities tour, a campus tour, got to meet a lot of coaches, staff and players and (Rodrigue) told me that I had an offer in his office.”
Yoon said that he'd established a line of communication with Rodrigue earlier in the spring and that the conversation moved fairly quickly to getting him out to Colorado.
Things had been going well over the phone and virtually but seemed to be solidified by Yoon and Rodrigue being able to meet face-to-face.
“It’s been great building a relationship with him," Yoon said. "He’s a great guy. I really like his values and he seems like a player-oriented coach, which I like a lot. We had had some conversations over the phone leading up to the trip but nothing can quite replicate that in-person feel. Getting to meet him, shake his hand and look him in the eye was great for that.”
While the Buffaloes did just reel in a pledge from Mississippi tackle Carter Edwards, Rodrigue implied to Yoon that he's not done looking for more Class of 2022 help at the position.
While Yoon addressed the reality that scholarship spots inevitably all fill up, one way or another, the Buffs appeared to have crept in the conversation as a program he'll continue to consider as he further navigates this summer and his recruitment.