An NFL caliber-corner is going to return to Boulder for his final season.
No, not that corner.
But in a big boost for the secondary, Preston Hodge announced his decision to return for the 2025 season, taking advantage of an NCAA waiver granting additional eligibility to players with juco experience.
Hodge will have the chance to be an NFL corner. He was named honorable mention all-Big 12 this past season despite missing 4 games due to injury. In the 2023 season, Hodge’s PFF pass coverage grade was 88.8, ranking him 9th among all cornerbacks in the NCAA. While his PFF scores dropped this past season, he was also playing out of position. Hodge is a prototypical nickel corner, and last year he was playing outside corner more regularly as the Buffs liked to play Travis Hunter at the nickel corner regularly.
Hodge’s return gives the Buffs 3 experienced – and talented — returning corners along with Colton Hood and DJ McKinney. Colorado also adds Oklahoma transfer Markai Vickers to the cornerback room, but otherwise there’s not a lot of depth at the position. If we’ve learned anything regarding Deion Sanders’ time at Colorado, though, it’s that the Buffs will have elite, NFL-caliber cornerbacks on the outside. That won’t change this coming season, in part thanks to Hodge, and I also expect that Colorado will add at least one more cornerback in the Spring Transfer Portal.
The Whistle and The BBB
There are more Buff-centric YouTube channels than fans that attended CU’s 2021 Spring Game. But I would be remiss if I didn’t spotlight The Whistle, a YouTube show that is part of Uncle Neely’s Thee Pregame Network. The Whistle is hosted by Coach Andre Hart and Coach Michael Pollock, and is a (sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally) hilarious look at the on-and-off field lives of the assistant football coaches.
The Whistle Co-Host Michael Pollock was just named Special Teams Coordinator. Pollock is going to learn to love Boomin’ Buck Buchanan™, a transfer kicker from Louisiana Tech. You see, Boomin’ Buck Buchanan™ is a much-needed kickoff specialist. Boomin’ Buck Buchanan™ was the lead kickoff guy at Louisiana Tech last season, and he allowed the 2nd fewest kickoff return yards in the country (4 for 58 yards). Colorado allowed the most kickoff return yards in the country last year (51 for 1,131 yards). Read those stats again —- Boomin’ Buck Buchanan™ is going to be Pollock (and the defenses’s) best friend next season.
Boomin’ Buck Buchanan™ may also give the Buffs an option to actually kick a field goal from further out than 40 yards. We still love you, though, Alejandro Mata. Mata don’t miss.
Oh, and to answer the question you were about to ask — BBB is not, to my knowledge, the resurrected Hall of Fame defensive lineman that played for the Kansas City Chiefs that died in 1992.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Buchanan
“New” Coaches
The NCAA has eliminated the cap on the number of full-time, on-field coaches that schools can employ, and the Buffs have made related changes to its coaching staff. Previously, the NCAA limited teams to 11 on-field coaches (including the head coach). While analysts, quality control staff, and graduate assistants could contribute to program operations, only designated coaches were permitted to directly engage in hands-on instruction and in-game coaching.
The updated regulation permits schools to hire full-time staff members who can both coach players and also participate in recruiting activities /activities previously carried out by analysts.
The “new” (old) coaches at Colorado are:
- Michael Pollock. New role: Special Teams Coordinator. Former role: Quality Control Analyst (offense) and — most importantly — co-host of The Whistle. Pollock is a veteran of the Georgia high school football scene and was an offensive line coach at Jackson State before joining Deion Sanders in Boulder.
- George Helow. New role: Edge Coach. Former role: Senior Defensive Coach. Helow’s resume is beyond impressive – he was a special assistant to Nick Saban for 2 years before joining the Buffaloes, and served as the linebackers coach at Michigan in 2021 and 2022, linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Maryland, and safeties coach at Georgia. Don’t worry, George —- we won’t mention the time you spent as an assistant coach in Fort Collins from 2017-2019.
- Tommie Robinson. New role: Assistant Running Backs Coach. Former role: Director of Quality Control (Special Teams). Robinson has coached for over 35 years, with previous stops including USC (where in 2017 he was named 247Sports Recruiter of the Year) and LSU (where the Tigers won the National Championship in 2019), and Texas A&M (where, to his credit, he refused to take part in the cringe-inducing yell leader-coordinated BS).
- Gunnar White. New role: Co-Assistant Offensive Line Coach. Former role: Quality Control (offensive line). White joined Deion Sanders’ staff at Jackson State in 2022 and has been with him since. Also, since people have asked me — CU is still going to hire the head offensive line coach. White (and Hegamin) will both assist the new head offensive line coach once he is named.
- George Hegamin. New role: Co-Assistant Offensive Line Coach. Former role: Director of Leadership and Engagement / M4 Sherman Tank. Hegamin was a Super Bowl champion with the Dallas Cowboys, a Brand Ambassasdor for Under Armour, and he also worked at powerhouse IMG Academy in Florida. Hegamin and Sanders have known each other since 1995 and they were teammates in the NFL. Hegamin also helped turn the tide in the Battle of Bulge in WW2 as a M4 Sherman Tank.
