The Buffs have quietly assembled a solid corps of PWOs ahead of 2020 season

Looking ahead to the 2020 season, across multiple position groups, the Buffaloes have managed to beef up certain areas with the cost-free addition of preferred walk-on players.

Many of them stand a good chance to see playing time and at the very minimum, can contribute on the scout teams or as specialists.

Without making too much of a splash, Karl Dorrell and Co. have quietly brought in a solid contingent of players free of cost to bolster thin position groups.

Preferred walk-on players are all too often looked down upon as inconsequential. In reality, their contributions to a given team are far more significant than is regularly acknowledged.

Whether those contributions come via bettering the first team units by forming up the scout teams, making their presence known on special teams or simply enhancing the competition in a given position group's room, PWOs can often play a significant role in how a team shapes up leading into and during a season.

A good handful of Colorado's coaches have done well to bring in cost-free additions to their respective position groups ahead of this upcoming season.

While he certainly wasn't the first PWO to join up with Colorado, perhaps the most intriguing of CU's walk-ons is QB Mike Chandler out of Converse Judson High in Texas, whom Danny Langsdorf and Dorrell plucked out of the Lone Star State in early August.

The Buffs are getting an absolute steal in Chandler, whose eyebrow-raising statistics ultimately yielded him a total of three scholarship offers, none of which were P5.

His total offensive yardage as a senior was 3,844. He posted a 62% completion percentage, threw for 2,563 through the air and tossed 25 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions.

On the ground, he averaged 8.4 yards per carry, rushing for 1,281 yards and scoring another 25 touchdowns.

Colorado's lack of experience within the QBs room has been well-documented. While true freshman Brendon Lewis was one of the centerpiece recruits of the 2020 class and upperclassmen Sam Noyer and Tyler Lytle have years of experience working (in general) within CU's offensive system, what's lacking across the board is game reps.

In Chandler, the Buffs get a QB who heads to Boulder having played in back-to-back Texas Class 6A Division I Region IV title games.

The 6-foot-0, 185-pound dual threat QB at the very minimum can contribute on the scout team to prepare CU's defense for versatile, run-happy Pac-12 opponents.

At the maximum, he may very well end up turning some heads when the Buffs can return to the field and put pads on.

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Taylor Embree undoubtedly had the most success in beefing in his room through the cost-free addition of PWOs, as he procured three such players for the Buffs.

Matt Lynch joins CU from UCLA. Jake Peters comes to Boulder via Arizona and Nick Fisher enters the fold having played his career at the DII level (William Jewell College).

Resident tight ends Brady Russell and Luke Stillwell plus true freshmen Caleb Fauria and Louis Passarello now have some further competition to keep them honest.

With Russell returning as the only experienced tight end, kudos are due to Embree for bringing in more of the same to his room through some PWO additions.

Moving on, don't overlook Travis Drosos, a PWO long snapper from Arizona.

The departure of JT Bale following his senior campaign last year deprives the Buffs of the most experienced specialist (488 plays) in program history.

Replacing him will be no small task and he'll definitely receive fair consideration in competing with fellow walk-on long snappers Derek Bedell and James Townshend for the eventual starting gig.

The Buffs have good depth at OLB but Brian Michalowski brought in Texas outside backer Luke Horne as a PWO this cycle.

The same could be said of CU's wide receivers, but Darrin Chiaverini has brought in a couple reinforcements in Justin Schafer out of California and Michael Byrd, who joins CU following a stint at Texas Christian.

While as a collective group, the impact of CU's preferred walk-ons has yet to be determined, nor will it be until the season gets underway.

Many of the aforementioned guys won't show up on the stat sheet or see reps with the first team units. But in more than one case, the Buffs have brought in free-of-cost reinforcements that have a good shot at working their way up from PWO to scholarship player.

It's not hard to look at Colorado's walk-ons and anticipate some of them exceeding expectations or contributing in a meaningful way.