Jalen Shead takes "very detailed" virtual visit with CU Buffs
Jalen Shead has quickly become one of the top tight end targets for the Colorado Buffaloes in the 2021 recruiting class.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pounder is a late bloomer for his class. His junior season was his first season of football after primarily playing basketball for most of his life. People always asked him if he wanted to play football and it took his high school football coaches convincing but he finally took the leap.
And now he's receiving power five interest.
He followed tight ends coach Taylor Embree on Twitter and since then their relationship has taken off.
"I like Coach Embree as a coach and as a person because of the conversations that we've had," Shead said. "He's really straight to the point. He always keeps it 100 if you get that like he’s just a very truthful person, he will not deceive you."
On Friday, Shead took a virtual visit with the CU staff.
“They started off with this very cool video of the whole campus basically, and showed me everything," Shead said. "Everything outside of football and inside of football. So during the visit, they showed me basically every aspect of facilities and the things that they had other schools didn't have."
Hailing from Olive Branch (Miss.), Shead didn't know much about Colorado but was impressed with everything CU has to offer.
"The visit was very, very detailed," Shead said. "It really answered all the questions that I had before the visit. So it was pretty outstanding compared to the others that I've done. And I can't really say anything bad about it. So it was pretty interesting."
The facilities stood out to Shead with the medical and rehab services and equipment the athletes have available to them.
"There was this very advanced treadmill I've never seen before," Shead said. "And I've been to plenty of facilities and campuses before. And I noticed some things that I've never seen before."
He was also impressed with Colorado academically as someone who is interested in majoring in engineering.
We talked about what I wanted to major in," Shead said. "Actually, they're like No. 10 in the country for what I want to major in, so it was pretty cool."
Shead is hearing from lots of schools although Colorado remains his only power five option.
He's been hearing a lot from Florida State and Louisville but they have yet to offer.
From the schools that have offered, Memphis and Central Florida are in contention for Shead's talent as well as Colorado.