Some of the hand-wringing over high school football recruiting can slow down, at least for today.
CU received a commitment this afternoon from offensive tackle Xavier Payne. Payne, a 6’7″ 320 pound offensive lineman, was a Florida State commit that decommitted from FSU two weeks ago after an official visit to Boulder. [There are whispers that FSU asked him to look around and that his decommitment was “mutual” FWIW.]
While he is a “middling” 3-star according to most recruiting rankings, his offer list is indicative of a player much, much more highly regarded (and an offer list is a better indicator of collegiate success than a player’s star ranking). Payne had 34 total offers, including offers from Florida State, Florida, Miami, Penn State, the Corndogs, Tennessee, Ole Miss, etc.
Payne is No. 95 on the Florida state rankings for 2026 according to 247.
Payne played his junior football season at Orlando (Fla.) Jones High. He started at left tackle there for a team that played for a Florida 4A title. Payne then transferred to Miami (Fla.) Edison High School ahead of his senior season.
BuffsBlog will follow up with a formal Hello! post soon. In the meantime, stay tuned to BuffsBlog for more.