Brooks: Frosh Reporting Differs For Football, Hoops

BOULDER - Mike MacIntyre's pair of new quarterbacks will arrive this weekend and begin summer school classes on Monday, June 3, but their first-year Colorado teammates will have almost another three full weeks before they report to campus and settle in to prepare for the 2013 season.

"I want them hungry to be here," MacIntyre said of the June 23rd reporting date for the remainder of his incoming student-athletes.

CU signed 20 high school prospects in February and MacIntyre expects "another five or six" walk-ons. When the newcomers report in late June, "We like to have them doing stuff together all day, staying together from 7 (a.m.) to 6 at night, six days a week - bonding, making connections," he said.

"When August hits (players report on Aug. 5), it's a new reality for them. I want them to have a feel for their new teammates, both the guys they came in with and the older guys on the team."

From previous experience, MacIntyre said he believes if all freshmen and newcomers report in early June, "I think they start getting burned out around the first of October. I want to let them have three to four weeks to say goodbye to mom, their grandparents" - and he added with a laugh - "break up with their girlfriends."

MacIntyre's approach to the summer and reporting dates for newcomers differs from CU basketball coaches Tad Boyle and Linda Lappe. All four of Boyle's freshmen will enroll in the first summer school session, begin a conditioning regimen they will be expected to continue throughout the summer, then take a late-summer break before fall classes begin. Basketball practices officially begin in mid-October.

"A lot of (coaches) are keeping their players all summer," Boyle said. "I want our guys to stay fresh . . . I want them to go home and then come back knowing what to expect. A lot of that nervousness will be gone."

Boyle said with the exception of sophomore guard Eli Stalzer, all of his returning players will be enrolled in the first summer session. Stalzer will be enrolled in the July session.

Lappe's schedule for her incoming players has changed in each of the three summers she's coached the women's team. This summer, two of her incoming players will take early on-line classes, with the other two delaying their arrival until July.

"It's been different every summer for us," Lappe said, adding the difference this year was precipitated by her team's European trip that's scheduled to begin on Aug. 12.

Boyle's incoming players are 6-5 multi-purpose guard Jaron Hopkins, of Mesa, Ariz.; 6-6 wing Tre'shaun Fletcher, of Tacoma, Wash.; 6-8 combo forward Dustin Thomas, of Texarkana, Texas; and 6-5 forward George King, of San Antonio.

Boyle said Thomas and King would go home later in June for graduation, then return to CU. His team will have four days of conditioning a week and play pickup games. A new rule allows coaches two hours of summer court time a week, which Boyle says "doesn't go very far, but it's better than nothing."

Lappe's new foursome includes 6-2 forward Zoe Beard-Fails, of Herndon, Va.; 6-2 center Briana Watts, of Fresno, Calif.; 5-8 guard Desiree Harris, of Oakland, Calif.; and 6-0 wing Haley Smith, of Sammamish, Wash.

SETTLE IN AND START ABSORBING: For obvious reasons, MacIntyre wants freshmen QB Sefo Liufau and junior college transfer Jordan Gehrke (Scottsdale Community College) on campus at the earliest possible date.

MacIntyre hopes both newcomers will absorb as much of the offensive scheme as possible and compete with junior Connor Wood for the No. 1 QB spot. MacIntyre has said he won't name a starter until he's seen the camp competition play itself out.

Liufau was the only quarterback signed in MacIntyre's first CU recruiting class, and MacIntyre said, "We know he can throw and is really accurate."

The need to add another player at the position arose when 2012 returnee Jordan Webb suffered a season-ending knee injury in spring practice and junior Nick Hirschman announced his intention to transfer shortly after the completion of spring drills. Webb also is awaiting results from an arrest on a second-degree assault charge that MacIntyre said "must run its process" before Webb's future on the team is known.

In their search for another quarterback, MacIntyre and offensive coordinator/QB coach Brian Lindgren began working their JC connections and settled on Gehrke, who passed for 2,358 yards and 22 touchdowns (14 interceptions) last season at Scottsdale.

"We looked at about five or six junior college kids and felt he was the best," MacIntyre said.

Gehrke transferred in February to Ventura (Calif.) College, whose head coach, Steve Mooshagian, was a MacIntyre acquaintance. MacIntyre said Mooshagian offered this scouting report on Gehrke: "A in accuracy, B-plus in athleticism, B in arm strength."

"But," added MacIntyre, "(Mooshagian) told me he could flat-out play and probably would be one of the top two JC quarterbacks in the country next year."

Only problem was, Gehrke hadn't yet played a down for Ventura, and his leaving for CU would send Mooshagian on a late search for another quarterback. Recalled MacIntyre: "He (Mooshagian) said, 'You want him now, don't you?' I said, 'Yeah, we just lost a quarterback.'"

Citing his relationship with MacIntyre and offensive line coach Gary Bernardi, Mooshagian gave his approval for Gehrke to transfer and wished him well. When they were at San Jose State, MacIntyre and his staff were aware of Gehrke as a high school player (Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale, Ariz.). But at about 6-0 and pushing 170 pounds, he was undersized and didn't turn the heads of many major college recruiters.

A post-high school growth spurt pushed Gehrke to his current listing of 6-2, 190, and MacIntyre believes he's getting a proven JC competitor who is "really bright, sharp academically and football-wise. His coach told me, 'Mike, he will be a good one; he's a phenomenal kid.'"

MacIntyre said Lindgren has "had a lot of success with kids like (Gehrke)," referring primarily to SJS quarterback David Fales, who bounced around (Nevada as a redshirt freshman, Wyoming for a summer class, Monterey Peninsula College) before landing with the Spartans and ultimately setting school passing records.

Gehrke, said MacIntyre, "is not your typical JC guy. We know he's played, he's accurate and is a competitor. My job is to make sure we've got enough guys at the position so if one goes down we'll have somebody else ready."

Depending on Webb's status, the Buffs could open August camp with seven quarterbacks on the roster.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU