Colorado 2020 Signing Day with Mel Tucker

On the Colorado edition of the 2020 Inside Pac-12 Football Signing Day Special, Pac-12 Networks’ Mike Yam & Yogi Roth interview Mel Tucker on the highlights of the Buffaloes recruiting class.

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
While the Buffs they are rolling.It's national signing day of the second version
of the Welcome Inside of San FranciscoStudios. To focus is Melt Tucker's Buff
Squad. We'll talk to coach injust a moment here, Mike Am and
Yogi Roth with you. I remembera couple of weeks ago December, when
we were doing the early signing period. You were raving about this class.
The job the Tucker and staff wereable to do in this period really really

(00:32):
impressive, especially with the reach outsideof the footprint. Yeah, and the
way they finished, right, theyfinished with three at least as of right
now. If that's the end ofthat for them, two running backs to
safety. And the thing with melTucker is that he has an idea of
what every position should look like,should feel like, and he's not gonna
budge right. He's not just gonnatake a guy that looks like you and
me is five eleven or you know, you fileven and I wish he's like

(00:56):
you had a certain size. SpeedAthletic doesn't aality. And they went across
the country did it. They jumpedinto sec country and did it. They
did it in the pack to afootprint the big to a footprint. So
this program's coming. Man, They'regonna be physical, there, be fierce.
They're gonna be, as he wouldsay, relentless. Yeah. But
by the way, to be clear, at SEU, they have had a
good tradition of some wide receivers.I mean Dady Goodson a couple of years

(01:19):
ago and I was Katie Nixon onthe football field. I do remember one
of the highlights for Meddy Goodson standingnext to him. Yes, I was
taller than the wide receiver, couldn'tball like him, but at least I
had that going for me. Let'sget a closer look at this class.
Melt Tucker, who is the headcoach of the Buffs, is with us
now. Coach Jogie and I werejust talking about your class. Congrats,
by the way, the success thatyou had even last season creating a lot
of buzz around this program. Iwant to circle back to some of the

(01:42):
instate guys. I had read anarticle the other day as I was preparing
for this show, and I foundit interesting that some of the instate recruits
had said the amount of energy thatyou infused into this program became really attractive
to them. There was a timewhen CU was down and then they won
the South and then kind of droppedoff a little bit. And here it
comes the games that we had anunpactrol of network. I mean it was
bonkers on television at fulsome field.How important is it to make sure that

(02:07):
that the in state guys know thatCU is not only a destination for them
to stay close to home, butto win some football games. Yeah,
it's huge. You know, wehave to do a great job recruiting our
state. Um, you know,that's a big goal of ours. And
we have to show the players inour state that we can win games.
And so we came in and wepreached the message up you know, being

(02:29):
relentless and toughness and running the football, stopping to run, you know,
just playing great football. And andit was kind of like a wait and
see type of deal. And asthe season unfolded, I think everyone can
see that, you know, we'removing in the right direction. So our
state is energizz our in state recruitsour energize and so we feel like we're
gonna be able to do as amuch better job recruiting our state. And

(02:50):
Jel Sacks being one of those guysrunning back a big back today, you
got death in your backfield. What'shis skill like, skill set like?
And then and to me, thebest back who signed in the Pac twelve
where there's December now is a shotClayton from New Orleans. Yeah. Yeah,
jay Lee Stacks is a two hundredand twenty five pound back. You
know, he's built low to theground. He lost some weight this year,

(03:13):
so he's quicker, he's faster.You know, he's got great,
great balancing body control. And wewanted a guy that could really push the
pile, you know, a guythat could uh, the guy that could
get the tough yards like late inthe season, and so you know,
he's a guy that that we targetedand where a would to get him.
Coach, I remember being on campusin August before the season started, and

(03:35):
I think there was so much hypeand rightfully so, around Labiska Shenault at
the wide receiver spot. Your entirecore though at that wide it is insanely
deep, and I don't think peoplerealize that. And sure, Katie Nixon
creates a lot of buzz on socialmedia and certainly some plays on the football
field, but how confident are youin that unit? Having a ton of
success, even though we're not exactlysure about the quarterback spot right now.

(03:55):
Yeah, I mean, Coach savhas done a great job recruiting that position.
We have a lot of depth atthe receiver spot. We have length,
we have speed. You know,we have toughness, We have William
blockers in the run game. Youknow, Katie coming back is huge for
us. Um, we're gonna we'regonna have a trigger man. You know,
we got three quarterbacks that are goingto compete in the spring for the

(04:15):
starting job and through fall camp,and so we feel like our receiving corps
can match up against anyone. BrendanLewis being one of those guys. Coach,
we got to see a little bitof Blake Synstrom in the SC game
player impressive in high school. He'salready there. What have you felt from

(04:36):
him already being on your campus.Yeah, Brendan Lewis is, Uh,
he's exactly what we were looking for. I mean, he's an excellent pocket
passer. He's got a strong arm, he's got really good touch, Uh,
you know on the short and intermediatethrows. Uh, He's a guy
that can make plays with his legs. Um, you know, he's a
guy that can do, you know, everything we want him to do.

(04:58):
He's a great leader, you know, he runs a He's come from a
great program, very well coached.He can do everything we wanted him to
do. So he's going to bea great player for US. Coach.
In this day and age with collegefootball, a lot of teams will dip
into the transfer portal for a littlebit of a quick fix. When you
lose a guy like Stephen Montes,you're highlighting some of the younger talent there.
Did ever cross your mind or yourstaff where you might look as at

(05:19):
a potential transfer at that spot togive you some experience and be a little
bit of a stop gap to ayounger guy. Yeah, we always monitor
the portal. We feel really goodabout the three guys we have with Tyler,
you know, Blake and then Brendancoming in and so we'll have great
competition in the spring and then we'llsee how it unfolds. But all of
those guys can play football for us, and it's gonna be a great competition.

(05:43):
Coach. I grew up on theEast Coast and it's very familiar with
Teddy Gain and very familiar with thatpart of Ohio. You go today and
get Will England, a safety.You're from that state. What's it like
for you a to walk the streetsin your home state to go get a
player if you're signing an autograph ofkissing babies the old and then go get
a guy like this who's a prettylong athletic dB. Yeah, this kid's

(06:04):
already you know, six two,one hundred and ninety five pounds. He
can do a lot, I mean, very versatile, you know, punt
return to kick returner, he playsquarterback. You know, he can play
corner, you can play safety.And it just is I've had a lot
of success recruiting kids from Tagan Seniorout of Glenville High School, and he's
another one of those guys. Isthat something else that we're going to see

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over the coming years. Obviously thepactual footpoint is really important, you highlight
keeping in some of those instinct guys. But your experience with big time programs
on the other side of the country, it looks like based off of this
class that's paying dividends for you.Yeah, you know, we're going to
recruit nationally. You know, wehave some some ties in sec country and
so um, you know, we'regonna use them. You know, it

(06:49):
doesn't matter to me where the playersare. We feel like that we can
recruit these guys to too Bold orto Colorado. They'll have a great experience.
Everyone to visitors here loves it.They love our coaching staff. They
bought into our culture. And sowe're very aggressively recruiting places like Georgia along
with Texas in California, making areal strong push in the state of Arizona.

(07:13):
We'll go to Ohio, We'll goto Michigan, um to, We'll
go where we have to go toget players. You also go to Louisiana.
You know, you got a specialback today, a Sean Clayton coach.
Did you Was he a lock?Did you think you were going to
get him the whole time? Yeah, well I felt really good when the
papers came through this morning. Youknow, you know, he is a
highly recruited player. He's a guythat we targeted, you know, a

(07:36):
long long time ago, and wejust stuck with him. You know,
he came here, he visited,he committed. You know, he and
his mom loved the place. Umit was a good fit. And you
know, he is a big partof this build. You know, we
want to be able to run thefootball, we want to be able to
have multiple backs, we want tobe able to wear people down. And
this Um, this young man ishe is a special player. He is

(07:58):
a true difference maker at the runningposition. Coach. I heard your interview
on Sirius Sexam that Yogi was onwith guy here Maman. We were doing
a simulcast on pactrol Of Network andone of the things that resonated was you
were talking about some of the guysand you said, hey, you know
you have an opportunity to play rightnow for this ball club. Who are
some of the guys that are inthis class that we can't expect to sing

(08:18):
in week number one? Have animpact for the Buffs. You know what
I've told teaching every one of theseguys that come in and be ready to
play. UM. And you knowthat's one of the big selling points we
have here is you know we're gonnaplay the best player. If we proved
this year in our first season thatwe'll play freshmen and we'll start them.
You know, we did that inthe secondary, we did it on a
d line, we did at therunning back position, and so you know,

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all these guys know that they comein, they get in shape,
they'll come in and compete. Youknow, if they're ready and and they
earn a job, they'll be outthere plan. And So whether it's Christen
Gunzals or Brendan Lewis or or BrendanRice or you know, Jalen Striker or
an easy shot at Clayton, anyany one of these guys. Um,
you know, these guys are goingto come in, They're going to compete,

(09:00):
and we're gonna play the We're gonnaplay the best players. All the
arrow right now is clearly pointing up. You mentioned a great place to play
college football. It's a great placeto live. Every time I'm in Boulder,
man, it is. It isawesome to be down or up there
on campus. Coach continued success.Congrats on this class and looking forward to
seeing it in a couple of weeks. Thank you so much, appreciate it.
You like Boulder love all. Imean, every time we go,

(09:24):
it's pushed that flight back to theafternoon. Yeah, yeah, it's okay,
I'll say say that night. It'sa long ride, not really a
traffic exactly one of those deals,you know, the rental car trying to
get there. It can be it'llbe dicey, but the point is there's
there's a lot to gravitate towards.Uh this program. Melt Tucker, this
class pretty impressive. Give me someguys, because he said, Hey,
best guys are gonna play. Whoare the best guys that you saw on

(09:46):
team? Well, there's a lot, you know, I kind of track
them. Like if you see thecolor yellow on this that's like an instant
impact player. You three hundred ofthose guys that you went through. Nobody's
counting around. But that being saidJason Harris, he may not play right
now because they got some JC guysthat I think will elevate. But to
get this guy at Arizona Legacy family, Mom and dad played sports at Arizona.

(10:11):
Dad played football play in the NFLfor about seven years as well.
Mom played hoops there. I thinkthat was a big get, you know,
to get him, that was asurprise. You know, it happened
after the first day of the earlysigning period, but a big get for
them in my opinion. He referencedChristian Zalez. That's another guy who I
absolutely love. Guy Thomas Junior Collegeoutside linebacker that's where they need to get

(10:35):
better their front seven. To me, really defensively, he coaches the corners,
they're gonna be faster, the secondaryis gonna be physical. You saw
them play with a lot of confidenceas the season went on. Now there's
just times and when they're in space. Can they operate? Can they win
one? On matches? You knowthis conference better than anybody, Mike.
The teams are going to spread youout. So whether it's Guy Thomas,
whether it's Justin Jackson, Alvan Williams, Christian Zalez, these are talented players.

(10:58):
Here come Guy Thomas. He's amidyear player in my in my eyes
as well as the title of histape with Sackman, because that's exactly what
he does. He's a true edgerushers. Had his goals to get twenty
sacks. If he gets twenty sacks, you can be talking about this guy
in the awards ceremony in major collegefootball. So I just think overall,
this team's gonna look different getting offthe bus. Are they are? The
size is there? Though? LikeI think that's like the one thing seeing

(11:22):
those guys up close on the defensiveside this league. I know what the
national reputation is, and I don'tknow how accurate it is, but they
need to get bigger. It's kindof like what I set off the top,
like they will not concede to justhigh effort, high productivity, high
output. If you're looking like me, like they just have what they their

(11:43):
defensive means. They wanted to besix four like Alvin Williams, you know,
if they want their safeties to besix to one, like Christian Gonzalez.
They want their guys to look likedudes. Right that he's been around
and look at his resume, whetherit's the NFL obviously well documented in the
college game Ohio State, Alabama,Like, he's been around the world,
and I think you have to beable to match up in the fronts if
you want to win, especially closegames. His program, Downhill runn They're

(12:07):
built to play in close games.Texas is still a big deal for this
program. Feel like we make athing out of it. They went back
six from Texas, right, it'sKatie la Visca. It was that group
and they've continued to do it.Another huge move for them, and I
just think they do a great jobof staying in the footprint and recognize their
footprint is just the Pac twelve,it's the Big twelve. His footprint is
the SEC. Like they've got anice reach where they've found some diamonds on

(12:31):
the rough and beaten some big schoolson some big recruits. I feel like
this there's an opportunity right now forthis Buffs team in that division to potentially
make some noise. Still, thebiggest question for me is super quarterback spot,
right, I mean, Steve Montesget a leader like that and all
of a sudden you're not exactly surewhat they're dealing with. We'll get a
closer look at that position spring game. Yeah, Black and Goal Saturday in
April twenty fifth, we got itfor you at noon Pacific time. Pact

(12:54):
twelve Network and the Pact twelve nowapp