Since taking the helm as Colorado's head coach early last December, Mel Tucker has often articulated that he wants to recruit players to Colorado aggressively and fearlessly — regardless of the profile of big-name players, regardless of powerhouse schools after said players — Tucker has made it clear that he won't hold back in recruiting top tier recruits.
So with that being said, as his first early signing period will soon be behind him, has Tucker lived up to those assertions?
A detailed three-season look at which schools the Buffs have beaten out in landing recruits, the volume of P5 offers per commit vs. years prior, and total number of P5 offers accrued by commits signed to Colorado from 2018-2020 reveals the answer.
Yes, Tucker's money is where his mouth is.
Here's what Tucker had to say on Dec. 18 in Boulder about competing with other P5 programs and for that matter, perpetually ranked programs, to land recruits:
"The first thing is about self-imposed limitations. I don't believe in self-imposed limitations. I'm not looking at a top player or any player in a state bring recruited by top programs in the country and thinking 'you know what, I don't think we can get that guy. Let's go to the next guy.' I'm not into that...I don't ask who else is recruiting (players)."
Note: Four-star RB and current Colorado commit Ashaad Clayton is not included in the below figures. Clayton has yet to sign a NLI and has said he plans to do so next February.
So how are Tucker and Co. attracting higher-profile guys to Boulder?
"We're not in a vacuum — there's other schools recruiting these guys. But these players and their parents, their high school coaches, they (see) the vision here with our coaches, our current players and with out athletic department. With Rick George, Phil DiStefano — everyone can see the vision and they feel the culture. That's why these guys signed up. They understand that we are all in for championships here."
"It's not just lip service. It's very authentic. These are things that you just can't fake. You can't fake being all in, or being authentic, or caring about athletes or caring about academics and making guys the best that they can be — that's not something that you can fake. A lot of these guys will tell you; their mom will tell you, their dad will tell you, the kid will tell you — 'hey, what stood out about Colorado is that they were real. We trust these guys.' And through the recruiting process, it's always about building trust and we always do what we say we're going to do."
