Biggest High School Recruiting Weekend This Decade?
For those that read my most recent recruiting updates, you’ll know that I’ve been bullish on early recruiting results. For more, check out: https://buffsblog.com/colorado-buffaloes-high-school-recruiting-board-defense-version-one/ for the defensive board and https://buffsblog.com/cu-buffs-high-school-offensive-recruiting-hot-board-version-2-0/ for the offensive board.
We’ll get these posts updated in coming weeks. But my optimism seems to be confirmed by subsequent recruiting news, including news of this weekend. This weekend, the following high school players will be in beautiful Boulder, Colorado on official visits:
OT Felix Ojo. Ranked #4 player nationally.
Edge Jake Kreul. #36 player nationally.
RB KJ Edwards. #42 player nationally.
Athlete Jalen Lott. #52 player nationally.
WR Jase Matthews. #66 player nationally.
IOL Breck Kolojay. #268 player nationally.
OT Deacon Schmitt #345 player nationally.
TE Gavin Mueller. #829 player nationally.
This is a LIST, folks. While some of these players are going to be tricky to sign, never count out Deion Sanders. And I’ve heard from sources that Breck Kolojay is a name to watch for a potential commitment sooner than later (!). Kolojay hails from Grand Junction and, like Jake Kreul, is currently playing at IMG Academy…the same program that Jordan Seaton, Alexander McPherson and London Meritt all played for. Maybe Kreul joins his teammate on the commit list after the weekend?
In any respect, the weather gods look pleased — the weather forecast calls for 70 degrees and sun on Saturday. There’s nothing better than a beautiful sunny day in Boulder.
The Art of the Deal: College Football Recruiting Websites
In a market consolidation move within college football recruiting, On3 has acquired Rivals. The deal is expected to close imminently, and fans are being told that the integration should be completed prior to the start of the upcoming football season.
For those of you that want to nerd out on corporate flowcharts and related ridiculousness, the story behind college football recruiting websites is a doozy as it all circles around one man — Shannon Terry. Shannon Terry, friends, is the godfather of college football recruiting websites.
Shannon Terry co-founded Rivals in the late 1990s.
Rivals was then sold to Yahoo! in 2007 for about $100 million….meaning it was a good time to be Shannon Terry. Oh, one interesting thing to note — Yahoo! doesn’t get a good non-compete in place with Shannon Terry at the conclusion of the sale……who says good corporate lawyers don’t matter?!?!
Shannon Terry then goes on to found 247 Sports in 2010.
247 Sports was then sold to CBS in 2016. The financial details weren’t disclosed, but presumably it was another good time to be Shannon Terry.
CBS doesn’t get a very good non-compete in place with Terry at the conclusion of the sale (noticing a trend here?).
Shannon Terry then launches On3 in 2021 as his next major venture in the online recruiting space. Yep, that’s 3 for those of you counting at home.
And now, in April 2025, On3 acquires Rivals from Yahoo….and BOOM. It’s a full circle moment for good ol’ Terry — Terry’s company On3 brings Rivals back under his leadership. It’s just like the movie Inception, folks. The only constant? It’s good to be Shannon Terry.
For those of you predicting the future, I’d put money on On3 acquiring 247 from CBS in about 3 years.
And to think — you can read your college football recruiting news here on BuffsBlog — for free!
Minor League College Football
The creation of the transfer portal has shaken the foundation of college football in many ways.
One of those ways? The creation of a de facto minor league system. 247 Sports’ Chris Hummer noted that more than 70% of the returning first team all-conference picks from the G-5 conferences (Mountain West, MAC, American Athletic, Conference USA, and Sun Belt) this past season entered the transfer portal and enrolled in Power 4 schools. In contrast, the number of Power 4 all-conference players entering the portal this off-season is sigificantly lower — only one player.
This is a crippling number that shows how difficult it is to keep a roster together at the G5 level.
Hello! Noah King, Welcome to the Black and Gold!
Noah King set to join Buffs this summer.
BuffsBlog has a tradition of putting together Hello! posts for all incoming college freshman. I thought that we were done with these articles (JuJu and Quentin Gibson are coming, I promise!) since the recruiting class was finalized in February. [I don’t put full-blown Hello! posts together for the college transfers – instead, I’ll typically do a breakdown like the article earlier this week at https://buffsblog.com/dealing-with-roster-math-whos-up-next/.]
So imagine my confusion when high school senior Noah King, a Kansas State commit, enters the transfer portal after enrolling early at Kansas State and decides to transfer to CU. Does he get a Hello! post or should he be treated like the other transfers? Going forward, we can say that King pulled a Jay Gardenhire and an Adrian Wilson by transferring before the start of their freshman year.
I’ve been thinking about whether to Hello! him for the last 24 hours. Yes, my life is different now than it was when I was grinding as a corporate lawyer.
The answer? He gets treated like a transfer but with a Hello! header. So here we go:
Noah King is a 6’2″ 200 pound cornerback. He has experience at safety but one CU source told me that he projects as a cornerback at CU. King was the #218 player nationally and the #26 ranked cornerback per 247 Sports. He committed to Kansas State out of high school over offers from the Corndogs, West Virginia, Kentucky and 9 other schools. He was the 2nd highest rated commit in Kansas State’s 2024 class.
King hit 22.10 miles per hour as a sprinter this spring with the Wildcats, so he has very good speed. Ryan Wallace from GoPowercat notes that his length was also a plus. Wallace said:
“King is a tall and rangy defensive back with solid cover skills. Above average tester for his size, particularly in how well he can accelerate and change direction. Confident in his abilities, King still isn’t a completed project but has everything a coach would want in a prospective safety.”
Based on my review of his film, it’s clear King needs to work on his play recognition. At times it can appear that King’s play doesn’t match the level of athlete that he is, and we suspect that could be because there’s still some processing being done on his part. The good news? He has a coaching staff that can help him with these kinds of issues. King is a finesse player right now and needs more time in the weight room. But I expect that after a year or 2, King could be a multi-year starter for the Buffs.
King committed to the Buffs over portal offers from Miami, Houston, and Illinois.
Men’s Hoops Adds Another Transfer
CU transfer guard Jon Mani hopes to surprise the author of this post.
After Tad Boyle signed PG Barrington Hargress last week, I was feeling a little better about the state of the men’s basketball program.
Hargress played two seasons at UC Riverside. Last year Hargress averaged 20.2 points per game, 4 assists per game, and 2.3 rebounds per game while shooting 44.4% from the field and 33% form 3.
More importantly, however, Hargress played a ton of minutes and maintained a very low 10.8% turnover rate per KenPom. In other words, Hargress takes care of the ball. This was a huge problem for the Buffs last season, as the team averaged a 21% turnover rate (bottom 20 nationally). The 6’ 195-pound Hargress is undersized but a very adept passer (his assist rate was 74thnationally out of over 2300 eligible players) and a willing defender. Hargress was a first-team All Big West selection last season and he should immediately become Colorado’s best backcourt player. Hargress was ranked as the third-best guard transfer to join the Big 12 this offseason per 247 Sports.
That was last week.
This week, Colorado received a commitment from Jon Mani, a 6’6″ sophomore transfer guard from the University of Denver. Mani averaged 2.9 points per game, 1.6 rebounds per game, and 0.5 assists per game for a Denver Pioneer team that was awful, finishing 11-21 and in 7th place in the vaunted Summit League.
Woof.
But John, maybe he’s a pure shooter? While Mani was recruited to Denver for his shooting acumen , he shot 33% from the field and 30% from 3 for the Pioneers.
But John, maybe Mani just played spot duty? Nope — Mani played in 30 of 32 games in his true freshman season, averaging 14 minutes per game.
But John, he’s a walk-on, right? Nope.
This is a tough one to understand.
To put a positive spin on this — Mani was the highest rated recruit to sign with Denver in its basketball history and was ranked as a top 25 high school player in California two years ago. In CU’s 5-out offense, having a big guard that can shoot and is a dynamic enough athlete to draw a double team off the bounce is important. Let’s hope Mani grows into that kind of player. I’ll be rooting for him.
I’ve been vocal in my belief that Tad Boyle deserves another year to help turnaround the program. But to be competitive in the Big 12 next year, Boyle is going to need another difference maker like Hughes. Let’s hope he is able to add such a player — I’ve been told that CU has one more transfer slot available.
JR Payne — Cooking With Grease
North Texas transfer Desiree Wooten will be a key engine for the CU women’s hoops squad this season.
The CU women’s basketball team added a third transfer this week when it added Desiree Wooten to the program.
Wooten, a 5’8″ guard from North Texas, was a 2nd team All-AAC player and a 1st Team All-AAC defensive team selection for the Mean Green. She averaged 11.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 33 starts last season for UNT. North Texas had a strong season last year, finishing 25-9 and 2nd in the AAC, ahead of teams like South Florida, Tulsa, Tulane, Rice, Memphis and Temple. Wooten has 2 years of eligibility at Colorado.
Wooten was 2nd on the team in scoring last year and recorded a team-high 58 steals (!) last year. She totaled 18 double-doubles last season.
Wooten is CU’s third transfer portal commit this offseason, joining Claire O’Connor and Zyanna Walker.
O’Connor is a knock down shooter that averaged 7.7 points per game for the Bulldogs, who knocked CU out of the NIT tournament this past season. O’Connor shot 41% from 3 point range and started 29 or 31 games for Gonzaga last year. O’Connor has two years of eligibility at Colorado.
Walker is a ferocious defender (the only underclassman named to the Big 12 All-Defense team) and averaged 8.2 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game, and 3.4 assists per game for Kansas State. She started every game of the season for Kansas State, which finished 28-8 and 4th in the Big 12. Kansas State made it to the Sweet 16 this past season, and Walker was a huge part of the team. Walker has 2 years of eligibility at Colorado.
CU returns point guard Kennedy Sanders (5 ppg and 2.3 apg), and frontcourt players Jade Masogayo (12.5 ppg and 5 rpg), Tabitha Betson (5.4 ppg and 4 rpg), and JoJo Nworie (3 ppg) in the frontcourt. CU has room for up to 3 more transfers and there are still more than 1500 players in the transfer portal (!) JR Payne has shown the ability to reload the team’s roster successfully, and this team will be a terror defensively. I expect the Buffs to be back in the NCAA tournament next year.
Crazy that G5 is becoming like triple A for P4 teams. I can’t imagine what it would be like to root for a G5 team.