There's been much excitement around Colorado's Class of 2020, and yesterday, the first day of early signing period, certainly was a peak in that respect.
From QB Brendon Lewis, to the pair of four-stars who signed NLIs, WR Brenden Rice and DB Christian Gonzalez, there certainly has been no lack of anticipation for the aforementioned players to get on campus and join the Buffs.
But make no mistake, there are loads of other incoming players worthy of similar preliminary hype. Below is a look at some of them.
The two late commits to 2020, Montana Lemonious-Craig and Mister Williams, I find myself feeling particularly excited about. Both I think have loads more athleticism than are getting credit for. Lemonious-Craig in particular, who's 6-foot-2, plays like he's 6-foot-5.
He's got great speed for his size and furthermore, I loved what Mel Tucker had to say about him yesterday in that when Tucker initially came across Lemonious Craig's tape, he envisioned him as a safety. Right off the bat, Lemonious-Craig insisted that he felt like he'd best serve the team as a WR and Tucker along with Darrin Chiaverini soon after concurred.
The Buffs obviously are loaded at WR right now, with incoming studs and returning talent (plus K.D. Nixon let's not forget!) but Lemonious-Craig really strikes me as a guy who could forge a solid WR/QB relationship early on with Brendon Lewis.
As for Williams, I dare to go on record and say this guy is near the top of CU's incoming class in terms of sheer athleticism. Can't wait to see him work with Nate Landman and Ross Els to see what the two of them can teach young Mr. Mister.
When I interviewed Mister a few weeks ago, he mentioned how playing both ways at Oaks Christian (RB/LB) helped him develop into a higher football IQ backer, since he has a good handle on what running backs look for when bursting through holes.
You can see how that's impacted him as a player when you watch him on film; Williams of course was one of the final commits before early signing period and thus I think he has not received the due attention or excitement in regards to what he brings to the table.
Right now, I think Nate Landman and Akil Jones seem locks to take the starting ILB gigs through their senior seasons, but potentially beginning in 2021 — be ready for Mister Williams to take a center stage role within this D.
Following the course of underrated commits, Jayle Stacks I think is up there, too. He may not have signed an NLI (blueshirt) but this dude, despite his two-star status, which I think no doubt has its negative implications in terms of how a player's perceived, should be viewed as an incoming difference maker.
But Stacks, the recently named CHSAA 5A POY, is multi-faceted enough to warrant excitement. Everything I've heard about him suggests (and his film below certainly shows his history of doing this with Cherry Creek) that he's going to be something of a Swiss army knife for Colorado when all is said and done.
He's a power back — seems like in college he fits the bill of a short yardage guy and/or goal line back who can plow through walls of defenders but is also fast enough to cut upfield when he finds space. Stacks can block, he runs routes — I bet he'll find himself in wildcats packages blocking for whomever gets the ball.
Guy Thomas is another player in this class who I think to some extent has been overshadowed / the excitement around him dulled a bit. As we're all aware, Colorado has an OLB position to fill in 2020 with the graduation of Alex Tchangam and Nu'umotu Falo.
Thomas will be the initial experiment of Brian Michalowski — recruiting a DE by nature and converting him into an outside backer. Michalowski has proven he often takes this route in recruiting OLBs, and with the status of Jason Harris continuously in the air, Thomas as of now is set to be the first guinea pig in that respect.
Carson Wells didn't have the year he wanted in terms of applying consistent QB pressure, and I think the OLBs in general fell a bit short from Michalowski's expectations, but alas, in year two, with a fresh corps of handpicked guys coming in to bolster CU's systems, I am interested to see what Thomas, the Nebraska transfer, can do.
