Taylor Embree joined Colorado media for a meet-n-greet Zoom call recently, where he spoke about a variety of topics, including his many connections to Colorado, how he's enjoyed recruiting at a Power Five institution as well as the current TEs room in Boulder.

Embree has offered a variety of tight ends since joining Colorado's staff, including in-state standouts Erik Olsen (Heritage High School) and Gunnar Helm (Cherry Creek High School), both of whom are highly recruited four-star prospects.

Olsen recently named CU in a Top 6 list while Helm himself listed the Buffs in a Top 14 put out a few weeks ago.

Additionally, Embree has extended an offer to Jalen Shead, a three-star TE from Olive Branch, MS whose offer sheet continues to grow. Earlier this week, Embree offered his first 2022 target, Marlin Klein out of Rabun Gap, Georgia.

So far, Embree has enjoyed his recruiting duties at Colorado.

"I love it," he said. "It’s building relationships at the end of the day. Recruiting has changed so much since my dad (Jon Embree) was coach here, with social media and even just the mindset of kids nowadays. They think differently. But at the end of the day it's all about building relationships and all about being honest with guys."

"I can tell you right now — there’s not a coach in college football that will develop guys and prepare guys for the next level like I can. That’s what I’m telling guys. I’m in this to develop guys and get them ready to play on Sundays.”

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Embree in his short tenure at CU has also overseen the addition of a handful of walk-on tight ends to his room in Matt Lynch, Jake Peters and Nick Fisher. Lynch joins CU via UCLA, Peters transferred from Arizona while Fisher is a graduate transfer from William Jewell College.

On top of that, Embree is excited to get to work with incumbent tight ends Brady Russell, Luke Stillwell and incoming freshman Caleb Fauria and Louis Passarello.

"I’ll say this. Right now, Brady Russell is one of those guys that you want in your room and need in your room," Embree said. "say that from the standpoint that he’s a true competitor, he’s a true leader and I think he’ll really come out of his shell this year as a leader for the team. I’m happy with what I got. I think there’s a bright future for Luke Stillwell. He can be elite in the pass game and he’s hungry to learn the run game.

We’ve got a bunch of guys transferring in and they all have got a chip on their shoulder. I like our freshmen we’ve got coming in, too. Louis (Passarello) is going to be really good — he’s a true wide and is all about football. I think Caleb (Fauria), when he gets healthy, he’ll be a weapon in the pass game. But what we’ve got in our room is true competitors.

We’ve got guys that want to win and who are hungry to learn. I can work with that any day of the week, especially with where we’re at. What we’re doing is setting a mindset of ‘we’re going to out-tough the Pac-12.’ I’ll say this right now — coming from the NFL, watching the Pac-12, how you can win this conference is running the ball and getting after guys every single play. I’ve been in a system where that’s what we did for the last three years — get after guys every play and it starts with the tight end.

With me, it’s a mindset. You’re going to go out there and make them feel you every play. We can go out there and set the tone for the offense. That’s what we’re going to be doing in our room.”

“For me, this was a unique opportunity," he said. "I told myself I wasn’t going to leave where I was with the San Francisco 49ers unless a perfect opportunity came along, and to me this is as perfect as it gets. I grew up a Buff, shoot, I knew the Fight Song since second grade. My dad played here, my uncle played here, so to me, this is a unique opportunity because this is home for me. There’s a lot of pride and a lot of tradition I’m familiar with with CU. There’s not a place I’d rather start my coaching career than here.”

Some kids are picking places because they’ve got cool helmets or old tradition but what I’ve found is that kids who do their research and they look up the coach and who they’ve been with — those are the kids that I think (my experience with George Kittle) resonates more with because they understand why they're working with and who they’re trying to be," he said. "I think it goes both ways. Sometimes, they’re like ‘wow, you helped develop George Kittle’ but some other kids, it doesn’t really stick to them or matter as much. Usually it’s the ones who do their homework and understand that tight ends are a unique position. You’ve got to be good at run game, pass game and pass protection. In my mind, you need to know how to read the defense better than the QB does. It’s one of those positions where you want guys who are ready to learn. You want guys that are eager to develop and understand that it’s a process in developing. Usually, those are the guys that think it’s cool that I worked with Kittle.”