Allan Baugh Breaks Down his Decision to Commit to CU
Allan Baugh became the first scholarship recruit to commit to Karl Dorrell and his staff on Tuesday.
The 2021 defensive lineman felt comfortable committing to Colorado sight unseen and without ever meeting anybody on the coaching staff.
“My family and I just felt comfortable with the decision after multiple phone calls to the coaches and we felt like it was the right decision for me and my future,” Baugh said.
The 6-foot-3, 255-pounder has had lots of conversations with various members of the Colorado staff. They were able to build a strong relationship over these last few weeks and sold Baugh on a vision of returning CU to the glory days.
“The coaching staff was very passionate about what they want to do with this program,” Baugh said. “Obviously, Coach Tucker had a great recruiting class and he’s not there anymore but they’re going to take it and run. The staff that Coach Dorrell put together shows that they are very committed to building this program back to the way it was back in the 90s and hopefully I can come in and help with that process.”
Baugh has talked with multiple coaches including Dorrell, some of the strength coaches and defensive line graduate assistant Aziz Shittu. The main recruiter has been defensive line coach Chris Wilson.
“He kept it real,” Baugh said about what he liked about Wilson. “It wasn’t always about football with him. We talked about a lot more things than football, about life and being a person, a man, in general. And I felt very comfortable with him and his plans for me and it was a situation where I felt like he was the right guy to coach me in the future.”
The Florida native called up Dorrell and gave him the good news on Monday night.
“(Dorrell) was obviously pretty excited,” Baugh said. “I think I’m the first 2021 commit that he’s gotten, his first recruit since he’s been there. So obviously he was very excited. Especially because when he got it he wanted to start that Florida pipeline to Colorado and I’m kind of the first one to kick the door down.”
The connections to St. Thomas Aquinas has already started working. Now it’s about whether they can stick in Florida and start building a legitimate pipeline. Baugh said he’s willing to help with that over the next few months.
“Going to St. Thomas Aquinas and nowadays with all of these camps and stuff, you get to know a lot of the other top kids in your area,” Baugh said. “So hopefully when these camps open up, I can be a mini recruiter for the Buffs and try to get some more kids from this area."
Baugh’s other power conference options were Boston College and Maryland. He was also heavily considering the service academies.
This is CU's first commit from Florida since Carson Wells in the 2017 recruiting class. Although they do have two other current scholarship players on the roster from the Sunshine State, transfers Guy Thomas and Nigel Bethel.