Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre listens to a question during Pac-12 media day in California on Friday. (Associated Press)
CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Competitors in the Pac-12 Conference came to football media day at Sony Studios ready to talk about playing for division, conference and national titles and Heisman Trophies, but the news of the day Friday for Colorado was roster attrition and the possibility of even more to come.
CU announced three more scholarship players have left the team with less than two weeks remaining before fall camp opens Aug. 6 and coach Mike MacIntyre said he was unable to rule out further attrition in the coming days.
Wide receiver Gerald Thomas, tight end Vincent Hobbs and defensive lineman John Stuart, all members of the 2012 recruiting class under former coach Jon Embree, are the latest to leave.
MacIntyre made it clear he is still working to institute his culture and rules and it hasn't been easy.
"I don't know yet," MacIntyre told the Daily Camera when asked if he now has the team he expects to take to camp. "We want to make sure all our kids are committed. I've been talking with our captains on and off this summer and we still have got a few kids that are a little resistant.
"You've got to go to class. You got to go to tutoring. You've got to do the right things off the field. You got to listen. You got to care. I've had six months where I have met with a lot of these kids individually a lot. Really invested in them, and if they don't want to get on the train and go, that's the worst thing you can do is have a bunch of guys going the opposite way."
When he made those comments, MacIntyre was not talking specifically about the three most recent departures.
Hobbs and Thomas had family issues occur in their lives that stole their attention and focus away from academics and football in the past year. They both decided they would be better off transferring to schools closer to home in Texas. Both played last season as true freshman. Thomas is expected to transfer to Sam Houston State.
Stuart redshirted last season and decided to transfer to a school closer to home in California.
The Buffs are coming off a 1-11 season and a coaching change and have seen a handful of players decide to leave the program since the end of spring ball, including three of the six quarterbacks on the roster at the beginning of the spring.
Colorado's recent track record and the reality that the program is starting a rebuilding project under a new coaching staff once again, led media members who cover the Pac-12 to vote the Buffs last in the South Division with the fewest overall points in the poll of any team in the league.
"The future is bright, no matter what you hear out there, our future is going to be bright and we're going to work hard and make the right steps and do it the right way," MacIntyre said during the Buffs' time on Stage 8 in front of hundreds of media members.
MacIntyre said he will not make exceptions when it comes to setting standards for players in his program because doing so won't help the team improve. He said it's unhealthy for the team to allow players to get away with skipping out on responsibilities.
"It can really hurt a program because they are the same guys who would be griping on the sidelines when they're not playing and antagonizing kids who are doing it right," he said. "They are the same types of kids who sometimes get in trouble. I'm not saying they will but they are not invested in the team."
It wasn't all negative for the first-year Buffs coach.
He said he was overcome with a sense of pride and enthusiasm to get the season started during a private moment in the green room with wide receiver Paul Richardson and defensive end Chidera Uzo-Diribe, who accompanied MacIntyre here.
MacIntyre said the defections from his program also will allow him to reward walk-ons who have done things the right way in the spring and summer and throughout their careers. He said he is planning to inform several players in the coming week that they have earned scholarships.
"I have been honestly very pleased with 95 percent of them," MacIntyre said. "That's my job is to keep working on them. And the captains come and talk to me about them and they're trying to work on them, too, but everyone has got to get on the same page."
The program announced the additions of eight new walk-ons for the start of fall camp Aug. 6. Some had been previously reported. The local walk-ons are defensive back Tanner Harrison and tight end Chris Hill from Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, running back/defensive back Ryan Moeller from Rifle and tight end Robert Orban from Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora.
Follow Kyle on Twitter: @KyleRingo
manning peyton florida state meghan mccain wilson chandler bristol motor speedway prometheus
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন