Matt McChesney owns, operates and serves as head coach at Six Zero Strength + Fitness, an elite, 12,000 square-foot training facility in Centennial. McChesney was Colorado's first commit in the Class of 2000 and went on to become a Buffaloes team captain while earning an all-Big 12 honorable mention from the AP as a senior in 2004.

He then went on to enjoy a six-year career in the NFL with the Denver Broncos, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.

McChesney in his career at Six Zero has helped develop some of the creme of the crop in terms of homegrown Colorado football players. Pupils of McChesney's include CU commits Carson Lee, Kaden Dudley, Anthony Costanzo and many, many more in-state talent.

Thus, with his aficionado-level knowledge with respects to recruiting in the state of Colorado, CUSportsNation turned to McChesney for his insight on how the Buffaloes thus far under Mel Tucker have done in-state and the direction of CU's program moving forward, with a lens focusing on keeping Colorado recruits home.

Question: You recently hosted the likes of Mel Tucker and Chris Kapilovic at Six Zero. How'd the meeting go and what'd you guys discuss?

Matt McChesney: “Everybody else was in the meeting. I met with (Tucker), (Kapilovic), (director of player personnel) Geoff (Martzen), (offensive coordinator Jay) (Johnson), (corners coach Travares) Tillman — everybody. We were in there for about 90 minutes and it was awesome. I focus on my guys obviously, but we talked about everybody. A lot of the time, and I don’t just say this to say it, but they ask me straight: ‘do you work with this kid or not?’ and a lot of the time when I say no, they’re like ‘wow,’ and shake their heads.

One thing we’re focusing on (at Six Zero) is development. Every kid needs to develop, but every single kid in Colorado is severely behind the eight ball, so anybody that I can help mentally and physically progress so that they’re more responsible and more of a leader when they walk in (to college), that’s less work that the coaches have to do.”

Question: Does the fact that Tucker and a big chunk of his staff are in your office, coming to you for input and advice about various in-state guys, is that a testament to how seriously they're taking recruiting within the Centennial State?

Matt McChesney: “I’m not going to sit here and act like coach Mac and (Darrin) Chiaverini and everybody on the old staff didn’t try (to recruit in-state). They all came down — Klayton Adams was in my office all the time.

When Wisconsin came in, for example, and I didn’t really know the guys from Wisconsin, it was like a business meeting.

It wasn’t like it was (on Thursday with Tucker) where we’re sitting there, man to man, talking. I’m not watching what I say. It’s coach’s conversation — that’s what it’s supposed to be like. There’s no tension.

I would say that (Tucker’s staff) is more responsive. When I say to them ‘you cannot let this kid get out of the state’ and they ask my opinion on where he’s going to fit, I give it to them and it seems like they’re listening. They moved on Dudley, they moved on Costanzo, they’re going to move on a couple other kids that I’m not going to talk about. But it was a very productive conversation. It was extremely give and take. I sat there and asked bluntly what these kids need to do to even get on their board.

For so long, and we’ve talked about this too, CU has (been far from competitive) for 10 years. I was a senior captain on the last team that won a bowl game — that’s not good. I’m 40. That sucks, so (Tucker and Co.) also have to remember that the in-state kids that watched us suck for so long, some of them just want to get out of here.

We have to identify the correct ones and then make sure that they do not get out of Colorado. If you look at the last decade, and some of the guys we’ve let leave, you could put together an All-Pro team.”

Question: When Colorado lands younger guys like Dudley and Costanzo, does that force the hand, in a way, of other in-state guys their age to maybe take a closer look at Colorado?

Matt McChesney: “When’s the last time that you saw a young guy like actively want to commit to CU? When? When’s the last time kids like Anthony Costanzo and Kaden Dudley got offered and were like ‘**** this, I don’t want to go anywhere else. Mel Tucker’s my guy. I love this place, I want to stay here. Let’s roll.' I can’t remember the last time.

My point is this: we can’t let Drake Nugent go to Stanford. We can’t have it happen. Especially when he played next to (Austin Johnson) and they wanted to play in college together.

When Klayton Adams is a 6-foot line coach and he’s telling me Drake Nugent is too short to play center — I wanted to bash my head against the wall.

...down the road, as we progress, especially in next year’s class, I feel like Tucker and everybody knows what they want and they are super aggressive and confidnent in what they’re doing.

I truly believe this — them bagging a five-star pass rusher (Antonio Alfano), he gets (Jason) Harris, he gets Brenden Rice, he gets this slick QB who I hope they play as a freshman, they get Carson Lee — they’ve got kids in state and they’ve got kids from out of state that are dope. That also entices in-state kids to stay. Now they’re watching all this big-time recruits come to Boulder.”

McChesney's final thoughts: "Personally, I think the Buffs are going to win the South and win 10 games next year. I think theyre going to have the saltiest defense in the Pac-12. I would not be surprised if they really turned some heads.”