Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Embree Itching For 'Full Force' Recruiting
January 03, 2011 | Football, B.G. Brooks
After a 15-day "dead" recruiting period that encompassed the holidays, Tuesday signals the start of a five-day contact period that will see Colorado's new head football coach and six of his assistants - seven being the permissible maximum - visiting prospects in various parts of the country.
"I know people are probably sitting out there wondering (about CU's recruiting) . . . wondering if we're doing anything, why haven't we heard about this guy or that," Embree said Monday.
"But I can assure you, there's a lot of interest; we're on some really good guys. They've been calling Eric (Bieniemy) and some of our other coaches. For us, it's all about getting on the same page, figuring out who the guys are we want to recruit, seeing them, then going and getting them. (Tuesday) we'll be out full force, all over the place."
Hired by CU roughly a month ago, Embree has his staff virtually filled, although not all positions have been officially announced. Those that have been include offensive line (Steve Marshall), defensive line (Mike Tuiasosopo), defensive ends/outside linebackers (Kanavis McGhee), secondary/defensive coordinator (Greg Brown), tight ends/special teams/passing game coordinator (J.D. Brookhart) and running backs/offensive coordinator (Bieniemy).
Inside linebackers coach Brian Cabral was retained from former coach Dan Hawkins' staff.
Embree and seven assistants were on campus Monday, with Bieniemy expected to arrive in Boulder on Saturday. He will not be among coaches who are on the road recruiting this week. However, Bieniemy, previously employed as the Minnesota Vikings' assistant head coach/offense and running backs coach, received NCAA clearance to begin making recruiting calls on CU's behalf shortly after his hiring was announced last month.
Bieniemy took (and passed) the mandated written recruiting test while the Vikings' season still was underway. Jill Gainey, a member of CU's compliance department, traveled to Minnesota and administered the test at Vikings headquarters, allowing Bieniemy to at least begin making/taking calls.
Because of the coaching change, Embree and his staff are attempting to catch up on the recruiting front. Embree believes the Buffs "can make up ground, but I'm not going to be just taking people, though. I'm not just trying to fill out a class with 'X' number of guys and just have them be guys. We have to get good players, quality players."
CU's target number of signees on Wednesday, Feb. 2 - National Letter of Intent Day - is 15. However, Embree added, "There'll be room to go over that if it's a good enough player. But right now, I'd say 15."
Since his hiring, Embree said there has been "tons" of interest in CU from "all over the country" shown by prospective recruits, their parents and/or high school coaches.
That broad, nationwide interest - as well as Embree's and his staff's relatively late start - will alter the Buffs' approach in the 2011 recruiting cycle. This year's process won't necessarily reflect CU's long-term recruiting philosophy under Embree.
In future years, he intends to specifically target Colorado, Texas, California and the remaining states that comprise the Pac-12 Conference, which CU enters next fall for Embree's debut season.
But this cycle's circumstances "changes things a little bit," Embree said. "You want to focus in California and Texas, but we've been getting calls from North Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee, New Jersey, Illinois . . .
"So this is the kind of year where you kind of have to go where some players are that are kind of recruiting you - guys you're interested in that you think are good players, then get back to your core of what you want to do from a recruiting standpoint.
"We hope we can get some kids from California and Texas, but it may not be the sheer numbers this year that we want (from those states) as far as the future goes."
With spring semester classes beginning Monday, Jan. 10, Embree plans to have all staff positions filled by this weekend. Sunday marks a "quiet period," with another "dead period" running from Monday through Thursday, Jan. 13. A contact period begins the following day and runs through Saturday, Jan. 29.
"Quiet" and "dead" periods cover the four days preceding national signing day (Feb. 2).
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
