Colorado Has Recruited a Strong Core for The Future

The Buffaloes have good commitments at key positions

With this Colorado football season over for most practical purposes, our attention turns -- as it often does this time of year -- to the future. 

Not the so-distant future, though. 

Colorado has 17 commitments in the class of 2020. And we'll throw Alabama transfer Antonio Alfano into this analysis too. That's 18 new players (so far) joining the Buffaloes, and if Mel Tucker and Co. have done anything well in recruiting in Year One, it's get good players at critical positions. 

Going by Rivals.com's rankings, Colorado has one four-star prospect coming in. That's wide receiver Brenden Rice, who chose CU over Michigan, Texas A&M and Wisconsin, among others. That's a big one because Colorado is losing two excellent receivers after this season in Laviska Shenault and Tony Brown. 

So that's a good start. 

But Colorado is also losing quarterback Steven Montez after this. year. What about his replacement?

Well, CU has a commitment from quarterback Brendon Lewis, a three-star with a 5.7 rating who picked the Bufflaoes over Missouri, Mississippi State and Washington State. 

So, receiver and quarterback of the future (possibly). What about the line?

There, again, Colorado is off to a nice start, pulling Jake Wray away from Alabama and Arkansas and getting a Colorado kid, Carson Lee, away from Arizona and Arizona State. 

Another top player in CU's class is running back Stacey Sneed, who had offers from Arizona, Arkansas and Baylor. 

And then you have two defensive ends, Alfano, the top-rated player in the class of 2019, and Devin Grant, who chose Colorado over Oklahoma State, Air Force and Colorado State. 

That's not the whole class, obviously. That's just the guys rated 5.7 or better in Rivals' system. 

When Mel Tucker took over at Colorado, it was obvious he'd need to build a new core immediately. That starts with a quarterback, some offensive linemen, and some pass rushers, generally, and while recruiting rankings are just opinions, this really couldn't be going much better for Colorado.