barion brown

We’re catching up on the shape of 2022 recruiting, which has morphed some since the staff shakeup this offseason. I covered defense last week but there have been some significant moves on the offense too.

Summary:

QB: New board, best two options are a couple of Midwest 3-stars Cincy and Iowa were after.
RB: Hart is going to gun for some 5-stars.
WR: Bellamy’s added some long and tall prospects (one an ATH from Groves) to the longtime pursuits of Gattis-beloved targets Brown/Morris.
TE: Klein solid, the other GA prospect is now a 4-star with SEC suitors, other-other GA prospect recently decommitted from PSU.
OL: The commit may move up the rankings, one impending commit is gonna hold off to get to know Moore better, one impending commit already does, and a number of Sherrone’s top targets have replaced guys who liked Warinner.

Most Likely Warinner OL to Stick

CO 4* commit Connor Jones hasn’t wavered with Sherrone Moore taking over as position coach, and Brice Marich got us some recent scouting from Jones’s coach:

“…a point of improvement was his footwork in pass-pro. It really got better and moving lateral with quickness. He’s violent with his hands and all those things really improved significantly during last off-season through the end of the 2020 season. He’s always been a very physical run blocker and always been very demanding of himself. He punishes people and finishes blocks, but that’s how he’s always been. I think his lateral speed, quickness and violent hands in pass-pro have really gotten better.”

Colorado doesn’t have any naturally large bodies of water, so that coach can be forgiven for mangling a maritime Keynesian economics metaphor…

“He’s a guy that puts water in the harbor.”

…to say Jones is a great teammate. But he also reports Jones is up to 6-7/290, so it could also mean the kid literally lifts all boats.

We thought we’d have a second guy from the state in the class, as CO 3* Braden Miller, Reece Atteberry’s teammate and SixZero Academy partner($), was really close to committing our people tell us (and EJ’s people tell him($)). Clearly the Warinner divorce held off Miller’s announcement, which is great news for those of us who were procrastinating on that Hello post.

MN 4* Lucas Heyer is a top priority for a lot of Big Ten schools. Warinner was in early($) thanks to his Minnesota connections, but it waits to be seen if Michigan surrendered their slim lead there when they surrendered Ed. We may not have to wait long; 247’s Brice Marich put in a Crystal Ball to Michigan this week($).

[After THE JUMP: lock up yo five-stars]