[Editor’s note: This post was going to run on Monday. However, after the Spring Game this afternoon, Jay Gardenhire announced that he was going to enter the tranfser portal. Gardenhire must have heard that this post was going to run and so he decided to transfer so that we wouldn’t publish the post and he wouldn’t have to read this article. We’re not Pulitzer-level writers, we know, but is it really necessary to transfer in the off chance that we decide not to run this post, Jay? Well, the joke’s on you, Big Man, because we’re going to run the article anyway. Have a great weekend, Buff fans…and godspeed, Jay Gardenhire].
This Hello! post is also known as “How do you hide a giant from the world of collegiate high school recruiting?” This is a post in our series of Hello posts, where we breakdown each newcomer in the 2024-25 high school recruiting class. Up next is OL Jay Gardenhire. For our previous hello post on Quanell Farrakhan Jr., check out:
Position:
Offensive tackle.
The Details:
| 247 | On3 | ESPN | Rivals | |
| Ranking | 85/100; 3 stars; #122 OT; #35 player in Michigan | 83.16/100; 3 stars; #132 OT; #41 player in Michigan | 74/100; 3 stars; #152 OT; #37 player in Michigan | 5.5; 3 stars; not ranked nationally or in Michigan |
| Height/Weight | 6’8”; 350 pounds | 6’7”; 380 pounds | 6’7”; 350 pounds | 6’8”; 350 pounds |
| Composite | #1877 player nationally; #140 OT; #40 player in Michigan | N/A | N/A | N/A |
High School:
How do you hide a giant from the high school recruiting process? It’s got to be difficult for a 6’8” 350+ pound 17 year-old to evade college football recruiters. Somehow, Jay Gardenhire was able to largely evade college recruiters, with “just” 3 BCS offers — from CU, Pittsburgh and Boston College. This raises the question – how did Gardenhire slip between the recruiting cracks?
Answer #1: Have the player start playing football “late”
Gardenhire grew up in New Jersey and went to the academically prestigious Wayne (N.J.) DePaul Catholic Prep for high school. From an athletic standpoint, Gardenhire thought of himself primarily as a basketball player. Gardenhire didn’t play football until his sophomore year and, almost improbably didn’t play offensive line until his junior year. During his junior year of high school, Gardenhire helped lead DePaul Catholic to a 7-5 record and a state championship in the New Jersey Non-Public School B Division. On the basketball court, Gardenhire averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds his junior season. [As we’ve mentioned on this website before, it’s a very good sign when offensive lineman play basketball because it indicates above average footwork.]
Answer #2: Have the player transfer out-of-state before senior year of high school
Gardenhire transferred from DePaul Catholic to West Bloomfield High School in Michigan for his senior season this past fall. CU football player (and 2024 signee) Brandon Davis Swain also attended West Bloomfield High School but graduated before Gardenhire was at the school. West Bloomfield finished this past season 5-6 and made it to the 2nd round of the Michigan High School Division 1 football playoffs.
Answer #3: Have teams express concerns over Gardenhire’s size.
A source indicated to me that Gardenhire was heavily scouted by Michigan State, and that the Spartans didn’t offer in part because of concerns that Gardenhire was “too big.” In fairness, Gardenhire has been listed at 380ish pounds in several recruiting articles that were published over the last few years and this is probably too big to play effectively at the collegiate level. However, the CU roster that was published on signing day lists Gardenhire at 330 pounds (!) – which is almost the ideal weight for an offensive tackle as big as Gardenhire. For the Spring Game roster, however, Gardenhire was back at 380 pounds, which is not a great sign. He’s too heavy.
Famous basketball coach Frank Layden once famously said “you can’t teach height.” The BuffsBlog corollary is that you can’t teach size, period. Over the last decade, Colorado recruited offensive linemen that were undersized with the hope of putting “good weight” on them and turning them into monsters. Unfortunately, this rarely, if ever, worked. Deion Sanders and the other CU coaches subscribe to a different theory — get BIG offensive linemen in the door and then have them work with the strength and conditioning staff to mold their bodies. We’ll have to see which approach works best, but my guess is that CU’s current coaches have the correct approach….if the players have the right work ethic.
The scooooooop (or how an under-recruited giant was discovered by CU)
Colorado offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur visited West Bloomfield to visit quarterback Beau (not Bo!) Jackson. Beau (not Bo!) Jackson is a 6’4” QB that ended up committing to Pittsburgh over offers from CU, Bowling Green, Buffalo and Central Michigan.
While walking the halls of West Bloomfield, Shurmur spotted Jay Gardenhire. Shurmur stopped in his tracks and went over to talk to him, and discovered that he played offensive line. Shurmur then called former offensive line coach Phil Loadholt and told him to check out his tape. After watching tape, Loadholt offered Gardenhire.
Despite the fact that Gardenhire had offers from Boston College and Pittsburgh, Gardenhire immediately vaulted CU to the top of his list. Gardenhire was able to reach out to Brandon Davis-Swain (although they didn’t play with each other, they developed a relationship in the short amount of time they spent together.). Davis-Swain spoke highly of Colorado, and this further helped sway Gardenhire.
Gardenhire said, “Davis-Swain is a great person, he really cares, being able to play on the same team as him would be pretty cool.”
Gardenhire committed to the Buffs shortly thereafter. He noted that CU recruited him like he was a top priority, and that CU showed Gardenhire – and his family – that he was wanted and how he would fit into the program.
Gardenhire told BuffStampede the following:
“CU coaches feel I fit with the program. They feel Colorado is a program that I could grow in, and I can really be a big part of it and be successful in their system and their program with Coach Prime and Coach Pat, all the coaches up there. They were just really excited. They were talking about my attitude up there. They liked how I carried myself throughout the visit. And my interactions with Coach Prime and Warren Sapp were really good… getting to talk to Warren Sapp a little bit about football, it was really cool to talk to a Hall of Famer, because I’ve never done that before. So, having that be an experience on the visit is definitely something that can help swing things, for sure.”
Run the tape!
Gardenhire’s highlights from West Broomfield show him towering over opposing defensive linemen – it almost looks like the Blind Side movie clips.
And while he isn’t seen driving defensive players 30 yards downfield or making violent pancake blocks, he is seen moving defensive ends physically and effectively while showing the ability to get downfield. The clips of him getting to the 2nd level while blocking is a good sign and helps alleviate potential concerns about Gardenhire’s size and related lack of mobility. Still, his ability to lose weight is going to dictate whether he can ever crack the field at CU.
But how does he fit into the CU multi-verse?
Gardenhire is a smart kid. He attended a prominent academic high school in New Jersey. Moreover, his mother, Dr. Alissa D. Gardenhire, earned her doctorate at Harvard. His father is not, for the record, NY Mets star and former Detroit Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire. He’ll fit in great.
Excitement level (out of 5 stars):
2 stars. Gardenhire is a very, very big man. Very, very big men aren’t falling out of trees. If they were, that’d be very dangerous. CU obviously sees that Gardenhire has enough size and talent that they can mold him into a dominant offensive tackle. He’s going to need time with the CU strength and conditioning staff to work on his body, so expect a redshirt. But after 2-3 years in the program, we may be looking at a contributing right tackle if he works hard at reshaping his body.