Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado goes for strength, bloodlines in recruiting class

Published Dec. 20, 2017 9:55 p.m. ET

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) Bloodlines and skill meant more to Mike MacIntyre than experience when it came to quarterback Blake Stenstrom, a key recruit in the University of Colorado's 19 signees in the first-ever early signing day for football.

Stenstrom was never a full-time starter at Colorado powerhouse Valor Christian High School. That's because he backed up Michigan-bound quarterback Dylan McCaffrey from 2015-16 and last season split time under center with McCaffrey's brother, Luke, a 2019 prospect with Power 5 scholarship offers.

''Great bloodlines,'' MacIntyre said of Stenstrom, the son of former Stanford and NFL quarterback Steve Stenstrom. ''He's over 6-3, can make all the plays, committed early, very confident.''

Other key members of the Buffaloes' bulked-up recruiting class include DL Israel Antwine from Oklahoma, who chose Colorado over Oklahoma State; LB Clyde Moore from California and wide receiver Dimitri Stanley of Aurora, Colorado, and Cherry Creek High School.

''No. 1 player in Colorado, can play both sides of the football,'' MacIntyre said of Stanley, whose father, Walter, was a wing back for the Buffaloes in the early 1980s.

After focusing on speed in last year's class, MacIntyre went for strength in this year's recruiting class, which he called the ''most developed class we've signed coming in, they'll play a little bit quicker and be better at a younger age, stronger and more athletic.''

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