Tucker Set To Sign Second Recruiting Class

Signing Day Plan: Coverage of Colorado's Signing Day activities will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday with a live broadcast on Facebook.com/CUBuffsFootball and Twitter.com/CUBuffsFootball. Voice of the Buffs Mark Johnson will host a three-hour show that will announce the Signing Class. Some of the signees will join the broadcast live via video conference and Johnson will interview coach Mel Tucker and the assistant coaches. Some former Buffs will also be featured on the broadcast.

BOULDER — Technically, Colorado football coach Mel Tucker signed his first Buffs recruiting class a year ago.

But that class came just two weeks after Tucker took the job at Colorado — and while it provided an indication of what he wanted to accomplish with the Buffs, it was just a taste.

One year later, the picture is becoming much clearer — and the recruiting class Tucker reveals Wednesday will be much more of a meal.

Tucker arrived in Boulder with the plan of building the type of program he saw on a daily basis while coaching at Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia. Big, dominant lines on both sides of the ball that would stop the run on defense and run the ball with authority on offense. Skill position players capable of becoming difference makers. Linebackers with the ability to be disrupters. Defensive backs with the ability to play man-to-man against any receiver.

Above all, athletes everywhere. Size and speed do matter — and that's what Tucker has been intent upon bringing to Colorado. He and his staff have analyzed and identified talent literally on a nationwide basis and in the process, raised CU's recruiting profile. Tucker has already put the Buffs back in the national picture in that regard.

But Tucker also hasn't abandoned Colorado's historic pipelines.

He has re-established in-state connections and made sure great players in CU's backyard know they are welcome — and wanted — in Boulder. Colorado prep players have always been important and that hasn't changed under Tucker's watch.

Meanwhile, he has also rebuilt the pathways that made Colorado an elite program 30 years ago. Those Texas and California hotbeds that once proved so fruitful for the Buffaloes are being cultivated again, and already they are providing a solid return. The doors of prep powerhouses in those areas are open and CU staffers are making sure to knock regularly. Coaches in those areas once again recognize the Golden Buffalo logo.

It's all part of a well-organized and well-executed plan.

Tucker arrived in Boulder at a time when the Pac-12 is in what might be described as a rebuilding mode. This will be the third straight year — and fourth out of six overall — that the conference won't have a team in the college football playoffs.

That's good timing for a coach who has made no secret of the fact that he wants to build a Pac-12 program with an SEC mentality. Physical, relentless and a non-stop, non-negotiable work ethic.

Of course, Tucker isn't the only coach in the conference with that goal. But there's nobody so far ahead in the race that Tucker can't catch them. He has identified outstanding players, convinced them that the future in Colorado is bright and brought them into the fold.

That's the first step.

The second is player development, and Tucker has already proven he and his staff are outstanding in that area. Freshmen who proved they were ready to play last season got that opportunity — and then delivered.

It is part of the process that Tucker outlined to CU athletic director Rick George when he interviewed for the job, and a process from which he hasn't wavered. Compromise and shortcuts aren't part of Tucker's approach.

George, by the way, no doubt likes what his coach has done thus far — and it's worth remembering that George knows a thing or two about the recruiting process. He was, after all, CU's recruiting coordinator when Bill McCartney was building the most successful stretch in Colorado football history. He knows the importance of steady pipelines and the value of a national reach.

Those foundational cornerstones are once again being put in place. Tucker is building a program to last.

Wednesday's recruiting class is just the next step toward a future that once again has promise in Boulder.

Colorado University Athletics

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