In less than a week, the Buffaloes' 2016 class will be signed. Quite a bit can happen in the meantime, so buckle up.
Due to some type of issue with his flight, blue-chip recruit Beau Bisharat (pictured above) and his parents did not arrive in Colorado for his official visit until last night. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound athlete from Carmichael (Calif.) Jesuit was given the option to attend the hoops game, but he decided not to. Bisharat instead spent time with his host, offensive lineman Sully Wiefels, and some other players. Wiefels spent a couple years in Northern California at American River College and knows some of the same people. Jonathan Huckins will be his player host tonight. Bisharat will not be leaving Boulder until later on Friday. I mentioned yesterday that his sister attends Arizona State, the other college he has taken an official visit to. Obviously the Buffs are trying to sell CU's academic reputation since that is an advantage they have over the Sun Devils.
It sounds like as of right now Cottonwood Senior linebackers Fua Pututau and Pookie Make are the only scheduled visitors for this upcoming weekend. I'll try to keep my ear to the ground to find out if any late visitors get added. Buffs defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt was in Salt Lake City to meet with both yesterday. Pututau is expected to decide between Utah, Colorado and BYU. Maka will pick between Utah and Colorado. "Utah is pushing hard," Cottonwood Senior head coach Mike Tidwell told me last night when I asked him about Maka. "But I just left their home with Coach Leavitt and he is so good. So honest with Pookie and his parents. I'm getting very positive feedback from mom."
Something is definitely going on with Patrick Taylor Jr. behind the scenes. But unfortunately I don't know exactly what his situation is at the moment. The long-time CU pledge was scheduled to take an official visit to Memphis last weekend and he has been silent since then. As someone pointed out on the board last night, his Twitter bio used to include that he was a Colorado commit but no longer does. UPDATE 8:45 PM: Taylor Jr. announced his change in commitment from Colorado to Memphis. The Tigers are promising him an opportunity to play running back, whereas he would likely end up at linebacker if he signed wit the Buffs. Also, Taylor Jr.'s teammate and good friend Coye Fairman is verbally committed to Memphis, despite the fact he is not expected to pass the NCAA Clearinghouse and will likely have to go the Junior College route.I continue to hear the Buffs feel very good about their chances of getting four-star Junior College receiver prospect Juwann Winfree to switch his commitment from Pittsburgh to Colorado in the near future. Memphis has been trying to get him to come out on an official visit this weekend.
Lorenzo Burns is done with official visits and in-home visits, and now the three-star athlete prospect from Temecula (Calif.) Linfield Christian School will now announce between Colorado and Arizona on signing day. My prediction is he picks the Wildcats, but that is just a gut feeling I have always had with him, not based on anything I've heard from sources. I have been wrong before.
It continues to sound like Houston (Texas) Stratford linebacker Jordyn Brooks will definitely stick with his commitment to Texas Tech, but the Buffs have not given up hope on possibly flipping blue-chip running back Rakeem Boyd from Texas A&M. My suggestion would be to not get your hopes up, but crazier things have happened.
Of course, La Mirada (Calif.) High defensive line recruit Keanu Saleapaga is the other highly regarded prospect to keep an eye on in the coming days. He will pick between Colorado and BYU after visiting Provo this weekend. I'll wait to make my prediction here until after his final visit.
Depending on what happens with Winfree and Burns, a couple other recruits you might want to continue keeping an eye on are Hartnell College receiver Ronnie Turner and Palm Springs (Calif.) High athlete Tayler Hawkins. Turner has tripped to Cincinnati, Colorado and might check out Mississippi State this weekend. Hawkins has visited Colorado, Washington State and San Diego State.And in case you missed it in the other thread, Buffs co-offensive coordinator, receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Darrin Chiaverini was at the airport at 4 am this morning to fly down to Florida to meet with Anthony Julmisse and Johnny Huntley, their two highly regarded commitments from South Plantation, one last time before signing day.
