Published Dec 5, 2018
What will Mel Tucker bring to Colorado?
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Mike Singer  •  CUSportsReport
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The Buffaloes have its 26th head football coach in Mel Tucker, the school announced today. Tucker, who is a 46-year-old Cleveland, Ohio native, spent the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator at the University of Georgia in Athens.

UGASports.com managing editor Anthony Dasher has been covering the Bulldogs since 2007, and weighed in on Tucker and his thoughts on what the Buffaloes are getting in its new face of the football program.

"I've always thought he was going to be a head coach pretty soon," Tucker said. "He almost got the Tennessee job last year. When we heard that the Colorado job was a real possibility, I was not stunned at all ... I think Colorado is getting a great guy and I think he's going to do really well out there."

According to ESPN's Football Power Index, the Bulldogs have a defensive efficiency rank of 83.76, which ranks 5th best in the entire nation. They've only given up 30+ points twice this season, both in losses (LSU, Alabama).

Tucker's defense is a multiple one in its truest form. The front seven can be very confusing for opposing quarterbacks, as the Bulldogs will sometimes have anywhere from two-to-four down linemen on any play.

"Very multiple," added Dasher. "Georgia has a base 3-4 defense but they probably play nickel 60-70% of the time. I could see him running a defense very to similar to what Georgia is. Again, very multiple with a lot of nickel and a lot of dime. That's his bread and butter."

In Georgia's past three recruiting classes (2016-2018), they signed 11 defensive line prospects that are ranked four-stars or higher. Colorado over that same span? A whopping zero.

So Tucker may not be able to have an exotic defense due to lack of talent and depth up front, although the Buffs D-line did improve a good bit from 2017 to 2018 and return a strong pair of defensive ends in Mustafa Johnson and Israel Antwine.

"Since he and Kirby have been there, they've really gotten (DL ecruits) who can do a lot of different things for them," Dasher said. "I would imagine as he moves forward at Colorado, he's going to recruit those types of players."

Where Tucker excels the most is coaching defensive backs, and interestingly enough, the Buffs' last head coach had a similar background. Dasher would refer to Tucker as a defensive back guru.

"I would. No doubt," he said. "With the job he's done, he helped develop Deandre Baker, who is a finalist for the Thorpe award. Deandre credits Mel for a lot of his success. Mel is a very hands-on coach. He'll get in there and work with the guys. He'll throw DB's passes during practice and things of that nature. He's definitely a very hands-on guy and a guy who his defensive backs think very a lot of."

Georgia's media policies are very strict, as they barely allow assistant coaches to speak with the media throughout the year. For one, it will be very interesting to see if Tucker's media policies will be as closed off as they were at Georgia -- which is much more strict than what CU had under MacIntyre. Tucker has also spent a few years coaching under Nick Saban, who also doesn't allow much media access either.

With that being said, Tucker is good with the media when he's had availability.

"In the few conversations we have had, he's a very knowledgeable man," said Dasher. "He explains in a way that's easy to understand for people like me, and I'm sure his players as well.

Tucker has done a strong job as a recruiter over the years. He's mainly recruited defensive back prospects and has strong ties in the Southeast, especially in Florida.

"The kids obviously like him," Dasher noted. "They think very highly of him. He's a very personable individual. There's just a way about him that people gravitate towards. I can see why he's been successful on the recruiting trail."

Lastly, Dasher noted that Tucker is a strong coach in terms of making second half adjustments. That will be music to fans of the Buffaloes.

"You look at the second halves of Georgia's games this year in general, and the defense has always played some pretty good football," said Dasher. "You look at (the SEC Championship game from Saturday vs Alabama) and they had some issues there but it wasn't anything through the scheme. It was just more of execution than anything else. Coach Tucker will get (Colorado) ready to play. We've seen in games this year in the second half where Georgia's defense really took another form, and a lot of that is due to Coach Mel."

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