As he prepared for an interview with Karl Dorrell in late January of 2021, one that would see him hired on as Colorado's inside linebackers coach, Mark Smith took time to familiarize himself with the Buffs' players.

Having previously served as recruiting coordinator at Arkansas (2018-19) earlier in his career, in addition to being heavily involved with recruiting during his three years at Southern Methodist (2015-17), Smith wagered that Dorrell would ask him some questions about recruiting.

Through his studying, the composition of Colorado's roster became obvious.

“We had a roster that was divided up almost equally, a third, a third and a third, with Colorado, Texas and with California," Smith said. "We had a sprinkling of guys from other places, but you could see the dominance of those three states. That created a natural footprint.”

Crunching the numbers, Smith's assertion wasn't perfect, but his point rings true nonetheless: year in and year out, CU's roster is primarily comprised of recruits from California, Colorado and Texas.

Out of the 85 scholarship players the Buffs rostered last year, 14 (16%) hailed from Colorado, 18 (21%) were from Texas and 22 (26%) came from California.

That's good for 64% of CU's scholarship players being from three states.

For Smith, who was tapped as recruiting coordinator by Dorrell this offseason, the aforementioned three states make up the Buffaloes' "recruiting footprint."

Historically, dating back decades, Texas and California have proven to be fertile recruiting grounds for the Buffaloes while Dorrell also views local-grown talent retention as a significant priority.

“Everything we do with recruiting from coach Dorrell is going to start and end with getting the best players in Colorado," Smith said. "That’s our focus. When we meet as a staff and go over anything with recruiting, we’re discussing the Colorado in-state players as a priority.

"That’s the priority for us and we have a staff that is fully committed to us. Outside of that, it’s Texas and California.”

The Buffs are currently in the hunt for a number of in-state Class of 2023 prospects.

Out of Cherry Creek High School alone, CU has extended offers to edge Blake Purchase, wideout Ismael Cisse, defensive tackle Hank Zilinskas and d-end Chase Brackney.

Rocky Mountain (Fort Collins) offensive tackle Ethan Thomason, Regis Jesuit (Aurora) tight end Andrew Metzger and Grandview (Aurora) offensive tackle Zachary Henning are some other notable in-state players Colorado is actively recruiting.

For the Buffs to have success with local talent, their effort in working to do so must be sincere.

“It is critical to us to make sure we get the best players in Colorado to stay in Colorado," Smith said. "Our first day out on the road (during) our January recruiting, (Dorrell) sent all 10 guys plus himself — 11 guys — we went to over 50 in-state schools on the first day we could be back out in January. That was important to him.”

Of course, at the end of the day, it's simply not possible for every Centennial State standout to stay home and choose the Buffs.

In terms of fan reactions, when local prospects leave the state, it is often perceived as a failure on the part of the Buffaloes, or, as indicative of homegrown recruits thumbing their nose at Colorado.

Still, Smith did see how a fan might become frustrated at the sight of losing a talented in-state prospect to another program.

"I do understand from a fan’s perspective out there, if there is a guy that signs or commits somewhere else outside of the state saying, ‘I wonder what happened there?’

"There’s a lot of factors that go into why decision are made, but I do know this: the emphasis from the head coach’s office and all throughout this building is that we want the best players in this state to be right here.”

While the Buffs are undoubtedly going to continue to recruit close to home and in previously mentioned states that have historically borne fruit for the program, that is not to say that coaches' attention are fixated solely on a handful of states.

"Our footprint is really Colorado, California and Texas — that’s our wheelhouse," he said. "But then, we have an extended footprint outside of that."

In the immediate past, Colorado has experienced success recruiting states such as Arizona, Georgia and Florida in addition to junior colleges in Mississippi and Kansas.

Furthermore, the Pacific Northwest has dealt CU some notable recruits (senior wideout Daniel Arias is from Washington while sophomore quarterback Drew Carter hails from Oregon).

Every now and again, Colorado's coaches can be seen issuing offers to prospects way out of the Buffs' traditional recruiting grounds.

Per Smith, Dorrell does not discourage his coaches from going after players in non-traditional recruiting grounds.

However, in such cases, there is a desire to make sure the recruits are sufficiently interested in Colorado.

"With Coach Dorrell, the one prerequisite for offering a kid that’s outside of that area is that there be some kind of connection between them and the University of Colorado or the state of Colorado," Smith said. "Maybe they have a relative who is living here or they visit Colorado every summer or there’s some kind of attraction or pull to Colorado."

Obviously, not every prospective recruit is going to have a connection to Colorado or Boulder.

If that is the case, it's not disqualifying.

"We want to make sure that we get them here on an unofficial visit," Smith said. "If you pay out of your own pocket to come and visit, then you’ve created an investment on your end to come visit here."