OT: 5* cb cormani mcclain signs with coach prime time
5* db cormani McClain has signed w Colorado, giving them the top db’s from the last two classes. He is ranked 9th overall per 247. This is after a very dramatic saga of recruitment involving Miami and u Florida.
coach prime has something cooking in boulder.
https://247sports.com/player/cormani-mcclain-46109958/
January 19th, 2023 at 9:13 PM ^
Correction:
Will Johnson is the top DB from Last years class.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:13 PM ^
I coached against Will 3x in HS. Once as a junior and twice as a senior (one was in the playoffs). We ran the Power-T and for those games he played safety so he could make more of an impact. I remember transferring my coach hat to my fan hat at times and saying “this guy is for real.” His football IQ was off the charts and his athletic ability matched.
Side note, he would probably be our best WR if he chose to go the offensive route. He was quite skilled there as well
January 19th, 2023 at 11:58 PM ^
Must be Lakeview, we spanked you guys. We didn’t play him in an actual game but we had 7v7s vs GPS, it felt like he could literally cover half the field
January 20th, 2023 at 6:03 AM ^
Indeed. Who are you with?
January 20th, 2023 at 12:39 PM ^
Skanker Bay
January 19th, 2023 at 9:14 PM ^
Wrong board I think.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:14 PM ^
I’m sorry but it feels all hype. I predict 20-30 portal transfers out of boulder next year.
January 20th, 2023 at 2:14 AM ^
The first step is recruiting. It's not a surprise that a top dB recruit from Florida of all places would follow coach Prime. Deon is an NFL and college Hall of Famer and a legend especially in Florida because of FSU success. Think Tom Brady if he became the head coach at Michigan. Some people still hate on Tom the way some hate on Deon. Can you see Coach Prime wearing Buffs? You know like our turnover Buffs? That's today's culture. He fits and is very relatable to today's kids.
Bottom line is he is gathering highly rated talent and stocking Colorado like Lincoln Riley came into USC and and restocked with premium California kids. He still has to coach it on both sides. But this is nothing like ATM imo.
And once the CFB playoffs move to 12 teams, you don't have to get to 12-0 to qualify. Some have said here that they are content to win the Big Ten and beat our biggest rival. A few have said CFB are mere exhibition games. How do define success in Colorado if you start out at 1-11 and unranked in a depleted PAC12?
In the end I think Deon ends up in Florida, FSU, or SEC when Saban leaves. But that will be progression from a volunteer high school coach, through an HBCU college tram, and now a Power 5 conference school. He's at least putting in the work.
January 20th, 2023 at 9:24 AM ^
I think Deion will end up at FSU, IF he can coach. I'm in the camp that his coaching ability is still to be seen.
As has been discussed here several times before, at JSU he was fielding a roster of talent that most of, if not all of, his opponents couldn't match. Was his success due to coaching ability, or was it a talent advantage, or combination of both? He might be able to sign top 10 recruiting classes, but he won't have a sizable talent advantage over most of his opponents.
Time will tell.
January 20th, 2023 at 10:26 AM ^
To your point, Deon built up an impressive record but failed to win the HBCU bowl game (essentially the Super Bowl for the HBCU teams). I watched the last one in December, JSU was not organized and they really relied on their talented QB and the one 5* kid. While North Carolina A&T simply ran all over them, outplayed them and were simply the better football team.
Deon will sign a huge recruiting class, but with an improved PAC12, it will be interesting to see how he does when the talent level is essentially level if not when he is on the short end of talent to start out with.
I would expect that this year Colorado will be at talent disadvantage in at least 5 games (Oregon, USC, UCLA, Utah, and Oregon State - don't laugh at this one...) and maybe 2 more (TCU and WSU)... Obviously going 1-11 is the bottom of the barrel so showing improvement from there is a start. So he has 3 years to establish himself to move to the upper part of the PAC12, thus challenging for a CFB playoff spot. Otherwise his appeal will start to diminish.
January 20th, 2023 at 12:48 PM ^
Not finding an excuse here but Deion seemed a bit distracted at the end of JSU's season.
Better yet, the entire program seemed distracted.
January 20th, 2023 at 11:41 AM ^
What I think will happen is that he will have talented teams because apparently has filled his staff with very good coaches. However, anything that falls on the head coach to actually coach and not be a figurehead will be lacking ie: clock management, penalties etc. What kind of culture will he promote? Many people say the coaches coach the players, the head coach coaches the coaches...so can he really coach the coaches?
January 20th, 2023 at 6:48 AM ^
Agreed, in this portal / NIL era, after they go 3 - 9 next year, a lot of his talent will leave for greener psstures.
Get your popcorn ready! 🍿
January 20th, 2023 at 8:59 AM ^
yea, but what if they go 9-3
January 20th, 2023 at 10:07 AM ^
This 1st year, nearly impossible!
January 20th, 2023 at 9:49 AM ^
Well thats some nice wishful thinking.
January 20th, 2023 at 10:56 AM ^
I think it's far more likely Deion's Colorado turns into another Texas A&M rather than another Alabama/Georgia.
Lots of guys going there for the hype and money, but TBD if any of them will stay or if they can actually form a cohesive team and if Deion is actually a capable P5 coach.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:15 PM ^
I seem to recall a team stacked with 5 stars at every position get their ass kicked this year for the second year in a row. I am not impressed a hall of fame DB is getting 5 star DB’s to commit. I will take a wait and see approach.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:35 PM ^
This 100%.
Also not many ppl know about the schedule fixing Deon did at JSU…
January 19th, 2023 at 9:39 PM ^
Schedule fixing? Didn't they mostly just play their conference?
January 19th, 2023 at 10:35 PM ^
They didn't really "fix their schedule", but they definitely didn't challenge themselves either.
8 conference games (the SWAC had the worst Sagarin Rating among all FCS conferences that give out scholarships) and 3 OOC games:
- 1st OOC game was vs. Tennessee State. That's fine, that's an annual rivalry. But TSU isn't good either, at best they are on par with a mid-tier SWAC team. (on a side note, Notre Dame plays TSU this upcoming season. Huh???)
- 2nd OOC game was against Grambling, a SWAC team they weren't scheduled to play in-conference.
- 3rd OOC game was against Campbell, a Big South team that has never won more than 6 games in a season and only began giving out scholarships a few years ago.
JSU went 11-0 against that schedule, but I'd guess there were on the order of 25 other FCS teams that would have also gone 11-0. Their schedule didn't tell anyone much.
January 20th, 2023 at 9:12 AM ^
JSU is an FCS school. I believe that Deion removed the FBS games that had been on the JSU schedule.
I don’t have a horse in the race - and, think Colorado football will be interesting theatre to watch this season.
Colorado will have a talented roster. Will they have the coaching, schemes, and quality of execution to win in the PAC-12? Tune in this fall…
January 20th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
I have no problem with JSU not playing an FBS school. 80% of all FBS vs FCS games are non-competitive farcical buy-a-wins ------ that percentage is even higher when it's a Power 5 team calling up a lower-tier conference FCS team.
But could JSU have scheduled a Southland or SoCon or MVFC school for one of their OOC games? E.g., a team that's better than anyone in the SWAC but still competes at the FCS level. Per reports I've seen on other message boards, JSU had the opportunity - and said no.
January 20th, 2023 at 9:18 AM ^
They still had to, you know, actually win those 11 games. You don't do that by being a shitty coach that can't scheme, train, or motivate your players. Nobody said they should've been in the playoffs!
My bet is that CU goes ~.500 this season and see a bunch of portal transfers in and out as players adjust to Prime. The following season I can see being a winning team more often than not. Dude has proved himself on the field at every level he played, and has so far proven himself as a coach at every level he's coached.
Bet against him at your own risk...
January 20th, 2023 at 10:46 AM ^
This is where we are aligned. I just noted above that Deon essentially has 3 years to establish himself.
Even with the influx of talent, I looked at their '23 schedule, they will be at a talent disadvantage for at least 5 game and possibly 2 more.
If he is able to pull off 3-4 wins this year, that would be a great start. Then year 2, 6-7 wins and a bowl game, then year 3 ~9 wins. I would suspect at that point he would be eyeing the SEC coaching openings at that point (or FSU / Miami) for an opportunity to 'go home'.
Of course he could pull off a TCU (sorry to note this, it hurts me too) and have all the stars align (multiple come from behind wins when the other team loses their QB in the game), but I feel that the PAC12 has much better top end teams than the load of (!@$*#@& in the BIG12.
January 20th, 2023 at 9:19 AM ^
Is schedule-fixing like when Michigan canceled the UCLA home-and-home series and replaced that with home games against Hawaii and ECU instead?
January 20th, 2023 at 10:46 AM ^
Andrew, I cannot speak for the above context of the ‘schedule fixing’ comment. However, I can paraphrase something Deion said in a media conversation / press conference.
That comment was essentially.. “These (FBS) schools want us (and other FCS schools) on their schedule - they pay us $500K for that game. If we bring the team, the band, etc.. - the travel, lodging, and meal costs are greater than that amount of money. So, we actually lose money in those games. They (FBS teams) want a win. We get beat up and lose money. Why do we do that? I don’t support that model.”
Again.. this is paraphrased - but, does represent his point. And, I don’t have any issue with the point he makes.
As an aside, I am not a fan of conferences (like the SEC) scheduling late November FCS games - and, I have raised this point before. Some comments about Michigan’s OOC schedule - and, yes - I agree, it was weak. But, Michigan didn’t play any FCS schools.. a number of SEC / ACC schools cannot say that.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:09 PM ^
Seems like if you played a position in the NFL for years you should be able to easily recruit multiple 5*s at your position.
January 20th, 2023 at 12:00 AM ^
Hear this Jadyn.
January 20th, 2023 at 10:49 AM ^
There is playing in the NFL for several seasons and there is being a HOF and consider the GOAT at CB ever....
Slight clarification, but significantly impactful with recruit.
It would be the same as Harbaugh having Brady's playing resume....
January 20th, 2023 at 4:45 AM ^
Of course, they went undefeated in the conference in every other game those years, which of course makes it that much more delicious for us.
Ton of 5 stars certainly doesn't guarantee success but at least provides a shot. That's enormously more than Colorado had before Prime.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:21 PM ^
Colorado will be fascinating to watch, but I’m gonna continue to bet on the Michigan Wolverines to succeed at the highest levels.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:28 PM ^
Welcome to the party, pal?
January 19th, 2023 at 9:30 PM ^
The talent will be there in Boulder. Remains to be seen if Coach Prime can coach it to win at a high level.
He seems to have the ability to coach, but he enjoyed a gross talent advantage by luring top kids to Jackson State. The competition steps up big time in the PAC-12. Colorado can absolutely afford to be patient with him, they will have fairly modest expectations for the first year or two, but playing USC is a whole other animal from playing Grambling State.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:04 PM ^
Idk UCLA and USC are joining the B1G soon, correct? Oregon, Utah and UW will be tough but it’s not a murderers row.
I think his antics might rub the Patagonia and Chacos club the wrong way in the long run. But a lot of things can be glossed over by winning. Should be fun either way.
January 20th, 2023 at 3:16 PM ^
hahaha Patagonia club.... well done
January 19th, 2023 at 9:30 PM ^
Even with USC and UCLA out, Washington, Oregon and Utah should be able to best CU for several years to come so long as the coaches stay in place.
I'm getting Hugh Freeze/Ole Miss vibes with all this, even with NIL legal to pay etc -i.e. star studded roster, may pull off a spectacular upset here or there.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
Yea. It won’t matter. This isn’t basketball where 1-2 players can take over.
The next 2-3 years will be a huge wake up call where hype can’t take you to the next lvl.
He can lose all his games this year that won’t necessarily be his fault.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:35 PM ^
I'm not saying this feels like Texas A&M North or anything but we'll see just how much of this new-program smell sticks around after a year where, even if they're improved, the Buffs will still be behind a number of programs in the Pac-12.
Sanders can absolutely recruit and can win when he's got a significant talent advantage. I think he'll do well at CU compared to previous iterations but there's a ceiling there in terms of boosters and fan interest/talent availability he's not going to be able to paper over quickly.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:35 PM ^
I find all the prime hate strange.
January 19th, 2023 at 9:53 PM ^
Dude is a grown man demanding to be called “Prime”…. He invites it…..he also has a shady past with relationships, assault, and Dallas charter schools.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:09 PM ^
He’s a legend, dude. If he chooses to be called Coach Prime, is that really that big of a flex? He’s not asking players to bow before him and kiss his pinky ring. I’ll get off your lawn now.
January 19th, 2023 at 10:49 PM ^
I haven't followed his life or career especially closely but from what coverage I've consumed osmotically (starting with the move to Colorado) it seems like he's at the center of his own universe - jumping at the first shot at a P5 job after treating the JSU gig like charity work, calling his son "your quarterback" before he'd even transferred, etc etc... I dunno, just rubs me the wrong way.
Not saying I've made up my mind about the man. Just the impression I've formed from content consumed at arms length.
That said, nobody but nobody is making him wear a shirt hyping himself. That's just silly.
January 19th, 2023 at 11:17 PM ^
I’m the same way with him. He also has a hat that says prime on it. It just seems it’s all about him. He can recruit we will see if he can coach
January 20th, 2023 at 9:18 AM ^
“Enough about you… more about me…”
January 20th, 2023 at 8:57 AM ^
jumping at the first shot at a P5 job after treating the JSU gig like charity work
Charity work? What? How? Maybe I don't know enough about his tenure, but he basically put a middling HBCU school on the map. Went 27-6 over three seasons and had some big-time recruits come to JSU that could've chosen SEC/FBS schools. Was he supposed to coach there forever? He's likely the reason why anyone has ever heard of Jackson State University outside of the south. Are you really going to knock someone for taking a job moving from the FCS SWAC to the FBS PAC 12?
calling his son "your quarterback" before he'd even transferred
Didn't RichRod and Harbaugh both make similar, albeit tongue-in-cheek, references at some point while coaching at Michigan? I'm pretty sure a lot of college coaches who have sons between the ages of 8-17 that play football make similar statements with different levels of seriousness. Also have you seen the CU QB room prior to his arrival? Imagine the old Steven Threet/Nick Sheridan days and you're basically in the ballpark. Dreadful.
Lastly, the whole "Prime" thing is essentially a brand. He's selling himself to recruits, boosters, and really to the community as a big-name coach. The guy is wearing a hoodie and probably has some hats he gives out to the team or recruits. That's marketing, I guess? As a Colorado State alum, I hate giving even the smallest amount of goodwill or praise to CU or Coach Prime as he likes to be called but if it really bothers you, I suggest you look away.
January 20th, 2023 at 3:21 PM ^
TBH, I knew who they were but didn't realize they had a football team that was the opening and closing act for their band.
January 20th, 2023 at 6:24 AM ^
And don't forget he tries to get a discount on pedicures just cuz he has 8 toes!
January 20th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
Underrated comment. +<blank check>
January 20th, 2023 at 8:06 AM ^
'Dude is a grown man demanding to be called “Prime”'
I think what you're failing to understand is that recruits LIKE that.
It's only considered a bad thing by old stick in the mud white guys, and is largely seen the exact opposite way by the people he actually needs to impress.