Big 12 Classes of 2007: Colorado

February 13, 2007 by Steve Hanway

Colorado fans have to be excited by what appears to be the Buffs best class in four years. Rivals.com and Scout.com both puts CU's 2007 class as second only to Nebraska in the Big XII North. Whether it's relative to the past or to the rest of the division, it's an undoubtedly positive class. Still, I'd rank it behind Missouri.

Statisticians know that information can be lost when data are aggregated. An arithmetic mean alone doesn't tell you the range or the distribution of a given variable. What I'm getting at is that Colorado is getting a lot of love for some of the standouts in its class, but top to bottom it's hard to say it surpasses the Tigers.

First, the good (which is very good). The Buffs landed a five-star offensive lineman from Littleton, CO. He had offers from USC, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and the major programs in Florida but chose CU instead. Quite a coup for Colorado. Add to that a four-star wide receiver from San Diego and two four-star junior college transfers at running back and defensive end and you've got some good star power.

The Buffs then filled with a good core of fifteen three-star players including safety Anthony Wright from Compton (who Nebraska had offered). As I've mentioned in past write-ups, there are plenty of examples of three-star players that pan out in a big way.

But then, the Buffs had eight scholarships going to players that received two-stars from both Scout and Rivals. Past performance (at Nebraska anyway) shows that more often than not two-star prospects are not ready for prime time. This is why I put the Buffs behind the Tigers. The Tigers had half as many two-star players and therefore probably brought in more guys that can be true starters. When nearly a third of your scholarships look like longshots , you just can't call that better than a class where more like 12% are in that category.

So props to the Buffs on their best class in years, but let's hold off on making them the leading contender with Nebraska in the Big 12 North for now.

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