Colorado Recruiting Surge Continues With Seventh Commitment

The Colorado Buffaloes have landed class of 2026 recruit, forward/center Eric Jacobsen. Jacobsen announced the news on social media.

Eric Jacobsen Commits to Colorado

colorado buffaloes recruiting commitment class of 2026 recruit eric jacobsen ncaa tournament tad boyle boulder march madness — Feb 14, 2026; Provo, Utah, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Tad Boyle looks on during the second half against the BYU Cougars at the Marriott Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Baker-Imagn Images | Aaron Baker-Imagn Images

Eric Jacobsen is a 6-11, 235 pound center out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 51 center in the 2026 class according to Rivals.

Jacobsen posted his commitment announcement on his X account on June 3.

“Super excited to be committing to the University of Colorado Boulder!” Jacobsen captioned on a photo of him wearing a Colorado jersey. “Thank you to everyone who helped along the way.”

Super Excited to be committing to the University of Colorado Boulder!! Thank you to everyone who helped along the way. @CUBuffsMBB #committed #gobuffs pic.twitter.com/GfNfv9EtWg
— Eric Jacobsen (@EricJacobsen222) June 3, 2026

The Buffs incoming 2026 class now consists of seven players.

Rider Portela, Forward
Goc Manual, Forward
Alex Dickerson, Guard
Amir Jones, Guard
Chase Hill, Forward
Luke Mirhashemi, Guard
Eric Jacobsen, Forward/Center

Colorado’s highest rated recruit so far in this class is Portela. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 39 small forward in the 2026 class per 247Sports Composite rankings.

As a senior for Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix, Arizona in 2025-26, the 6-6, 175 pound Portela averaged 12.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.0 steals per game.

Colorado Seeking NCAA Tournament Return

The Colorado Buffaloes are coming off a 2025-26 season where they finished with an overall record of 17-16 and a mark of 7-11 in Big 12 conference play. For the second consecutive season, they failed to make it to the NCAA Tournament.

Colorado coach Tad Boyle has been in Boulder since 2010. In that time span, Colorado has made the big dance six times. Their last trip came in 2024. The Buffs won a first round game before falling in the second round that year. Boyle has been with Colorado long enough to make it a reasonable expectation to get the team to the NCAA Tournament at least every other year. After back-to-back years of missing it, 2026-27 could end up being a make or break season.

The Buffaloes' chances of being a participant on the 2027 NCAA Tournament got better this offseason. The tournament will be expanding next year from 68 teams to 76. This is good news for teams hunting for at-large bids.

The amount of auto-bids for the 2027 tournament will be the same and those extra eight spots will all be teams that didn't win their conference tournament. In the 68-team field, 60 of them were automatically placed in the the round of 64. Then there were eight teams playing in the First Four to earn their way into the 64-team field. The number of teams that will have to play their way into the round of 64 in 2027 will increase to 24.

That means 12 spots in the 64-team field will not yet be determined when the bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday as opposed to four spots in the prior format. It was a controversial decision to expand the tournament, with many fans strongly against. It will be interesting to see how it plays out this March.

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