Under the Lights Camp Notes: McKinney likes Colorado's 'fresh air'

While the Buffaloes' Under the Lights Camp on Saturday evening had roughly 140 less prospects than the camp they hosted on June 11, Colorado's second camp featured more talent, including four-star prospects Brandon McKinney and Isaac Slade-Matautia.

The limited number of camp participants allowed Brandon McKinney to get plenty of one-on-one coaching from Buffaloes safeties coach Joe Tumpkin on Saturday. Although McKinney is a four-star recruit, there is still plenty he can work on as he prepares to take his game to the next level. He was glad he made the trek out to the Front Range.

"It was really nice to finally to come visit Colorado and meet more of the coaches and see the campus. And it was nice to meet some of the players," said McKinney. "The campus here is beautiful. You have a lot of things to do around here. It seems like a great atmosphere. I like the fresh air. There is a lot of room to move around. I like that a lot.

"There weren't too many people at the camp so it was good to talk to the coaches a lot and get to talk to the players that were helping out. They are all about family here, and if I came here, I could come in and start as a freshman; that is definitely a good thing."

McKinney is in the process of lining up summer visits with USC, UCLA and Washington. He is hoping to narrow his list of suitors down to five finalists "in a month or so."

"I want to go to a college where they can help me be successful to go on to the next level and get a good education in Business," McKinney said. "I am also looking for an overall good team atmosphere and I want to be around a group of good guys."

McKinney said colleges have complimented him the most on his size (6-foot-1, 190-pounds), his football IQ, as well as his competitiveness between the lines.

Carson Wells showed why Colorado is after him on Saturday night. The 6-foot-2.75, 225-pound linebacker prospect from Bushnell (Fla.) South Sumter turned heads from the beginning to the end of the camp.

"I felt like I moved my feet real well and I did good throughout the drills and the one-on-ones," said Wells, who won the fastest man competition among the linebackers, just edging out Colorado commit Jonathan Van Diest.

Wells then outraced the fastest quarterbacks and linebackers in another race.

"[Defensive coordinator and linebackers] coach [Jim] Leavitt was proud of how I showed up today. He thinks I can move real well in space and can cover people," he said.

Wells has been on the Buffaloes' radar for "about two years" now and Colorado extended an offer "about two months ago."

"That is why I decided to come out here to visit, since I had the offer," he said. "I had never seen mountains like this before. It is beautiful out here. At first I thought it was cool that Colorado offered and now that I have seen the place, it kind of hit me like I really want to come here."

In total, Wells has 15 offers, including other offers from Harvard, Tulane, Southern Miss and Florida Atlantic. He does not currently plan to make a commitment until midway through his senior season.

"The past two weeks we've been in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama and Colorado looking at schools," he said. "I am just going to keep going to camps and keep getting better, keep learning."

Additional camp notes -

**** Buena Park (Calif.) High offensive tackle Ryan Nelson, Katy (Texas) High defensive lineman Ryder Anderson and Buena Park High junior Alijah Allen all received an offer from Colorado after putting together an impressive camp performance in Boulder on Saturday night. BuffStampede.com will have more on all three in the coming days.

*** At 6-foot-0, 205-pounds, Isaac Slade-Matautia does not have the size of a typical blue-chip linebacker recruit, but he has great instincts and he is excellent in pass coverage. Slade-Matautia is also considering Arizona, Arizona State and Nebraska.

*** Van Diest and his Englewood (Colo.) Cherry Creek teammate Dante Sparaco were the only Colorado commitments that participated in the event. Sparaco worked strictly at tight end during the camp, and he was one of only two players at the position so he picked up a lot of tips from Buffaloes tight ends and fullbacks coach Gary Bernardi.

*** Sherman Oaks (Calif.) Notre Dame's Tyler Asemota also turned heads on Saturday. He is a big 6-foot-3, 194-pound receiver that gets moving with his long stride. Asemota has offers from Oregon State, BYU, Hawaii, Montana, Wyoming and Fresno State.

*** Quarterback Austin Burton, who accounted for nearly 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns at Newton (Ma.) South as a junior before moving to Winter Garden (Fla.) West Orange, showed off his athleticism at the Under the Lights Camp. Up to this point, Burton has received offers from FIU, Florida A&M, UMass and New Hampshire.

*** Three-star outside linebacker recruit Fa'avae Fa'avae, from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei, was hoping to visit Colorado for the first time this weekend, however, he was unable to make the trip. "But I'm planing on coming next month," Fa'avae said.