Recruiting: TE Justin Favors and Ath Donnie Duncan Commit to Colorado

by Bob_Bell on Nov 11, 2009 9:31 PM MST in Buffaloes Football Recruiting

The Colorado Buffaloes compounded a win against Texas A&M last weekend into five verbal commitments, giving them a total of 12 in the 2010 recruiting cycle. Just to give you some perspective of where the Buffs are in the recruiting game compared to last year, on this day in 2008, the Buffs were receiving a verbal from their fourth total commitment in DT Nate Bonsu, so Colorado is much farther along than they were last year at this time.

The two most recent commitments are TE Justin Favors and Ath Donnie Duncan. Below are some player profiles:

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via alt.coxnewsweb.com

Justin Favors
Rivals Star Rating -
TE - Trotwood, OH - Trotwood-Madison High School
Recruiting Sites: Rivals - Scout - ESPN.com
Video: ESPN.com
Measurables: 6'4" 232lbs 4.8 forty
Rankings: Rivals - NR, Scout - NR, ESPN - 35th overall tight end
Status - Committed to Colorado
Offers and Other Interested Schools - offers from Cincinnati, Toledo,Colorado, Kent State,Bowling Green,Akron, Ball State, Syracuse, Texas Southern, Louisville

Commentary: Favors is from the same high school as current Buff LB Doug Rippy. Coming into the 2010 recruiting cycle, tight end was certainly a need for Colorado. With only two scholarship players returning next year in redshirt freshman DaVaughn Thornton and junior Ryan Deehan, the Buffs have received a verbal from Colorado prep Kyle Slavin and now Favors. Those conditions were certainly on Favors' mind:

"What I liked best (about his visit to Colorado) was the game. I liked the atmosphere and the campus. And the players welcomed me in," Favors said. "They are graduating six tight ends. They need tight ends to come in. They told me I've got a chance to play next season if I work hard."

According to ESPN.com, "Favors is a productive tight end in the passing game. He has solid size and looks on film to carry good bulk. He has good hands and displays the ability to consistently catch the ball with them and bring it in to his body. He displays the ability to go up and get the ball and extend his arms to make a catch. Displays good concentration and the ability to track the ball. He has solid straight-line speed, but is best suited for the short-to-intermediate passing game." The Dayton Daily News calls him a tremendous receiver and blocker.

Dave Berk of Scout.com thinks that if Favors was a couple inches taller, he would be a top tight end recruit. Some sites have him listed at 6'2", some have him as tall as 6'5":

If Justin Favors was just a couple of inches taller he'd be one of the top tight ends in the country. But standing just about 6-foot-2, 212-pounds he often gets looked over. A skilled receiver who knows how to get open and make the catch, Favors would be a perfect fit in a flex tight end position. In the season opener Favors pulled down 6 passes for 105 yards.

Favors has done a good job getting video of himself out on the internet. Here is one of him at an Ohio combine. Go to the site to see him do other drills, below he is running some routes. He is certainly a big kid and shows that he has some pretty good athleticism:

JJHuddle.com ranks Favors as the 18th ranked athlete in the state of Ohio.

According to the BDC, Favors still will take other visits to Syracuse and Louisville although he verballed to Colorado. Favors also plays basketball.

Below is some more video of Favors on the football field from scoutingohio.com:

see after the jump for a profile of Donnie Duncan

Donnie Duncan
Rivals Star Rating -
Ath - Los Angeles - Hamilton High School
Recruiting Sites: Rivals - ESPN.com
Video: See Below
Measurables: 6'0" 185lbs 4.6 forty
Rankings: NR
Status - Committed to Colorado
Offers and Other Interested Schools - offers from New Mexico, Washington State. Interest from Arizona State

Commentary: Talk about a kid with a smooth stride with no wasted movement. Very solid highlight video. Donnie plays both sides of the ball at wide receiver and defensive back. From his highlight film, he looks to have outstanding body control and is instinctive. Duncan was named to the ESPN CalHi Preseason All-L.A. City Section Team earlier this year:

WR -- Donnie Duncan (Hamilton, Los Angeles) 6-0, 175, Sr.
The Yankees' top player was a second team All-City selection by coaches as a junior and should enjoy another banner year in 2009. Duncan also displayed solid ability at a Nike Combine in Los Angeles this past spring, recording a 73.23 SPARQ Rating. His individual marks included a digital 4.62 forty, a 31-foot Power Ball toss, a 32.9 inch vertical jump and a 4.68 20-yard shuttle.

According to the Denver Post, the athlete has 8 total touchdowns this year:

Duncan has caught six touchdown passes this season and has returned two interceptions for touchdowns. His other top offer came from Washington State.

"Colorado said that if I went there, I could compete right away as a freshman," Duncan told Rivals.com

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Comments

Duncan looks dynamic.

Playmakers are what we need wearing black and gold. This kid looks like a real athlete from his highlight video. I’m excited to watch him out there on Saturdays.

Welcome to Buff nation Donnie and Justin

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER!

by MinnesotaBuff1 on Nov 11, 2009 11:25 PM MST reply actions

If these kids were playing anyone, I'd be impressed.

All of these two and three star recruits must have the WAC shaking in their boots.

by legendarywalton on Nov 12, 2009 12:27 AM MST reply actions

I didn't want to be the first to say it...

I’m glad we’re getting some recruits this week and I certainly want to welcome these kids aboard, but our class is still ranked 10th and 11th in the big 12 according to scout and rivals. Let’s not get carried away…

by nebraskasux on Nov 12, 2009 4:53 AM MST up reply actions

Where exactly did the last 5 star recruit get us?

I hear what you are saying and don’t necessarily disagree but I also don’t really trust recruiting rankings. There is absolutely a correlation between recruiting classes and success but I think when you are dealing with 17 and 18 year olds a lot can change in a year or even 6 months. If it is size you are worried about adding bulk to these guys will be easy in a redshirt year if they have the frame for it. I would absolutely like to see more 4 and 5 star interest but I don’t think those commits would make or break any recruiting class.

by NYCskibum on Nov 12, 2009 9:19 AM MST up reply actions

I would take Duncan right now over Espinoza. Ratings are the most over rated tool to rate athletes. There are more 2-3 star kids in the nfl then 5 star. Who would you rather have;
Rodney Stewart or Darrell Scott?
Welcome all recruits, lets see what you can do.

1990 National Champions- Colorado Buffalo's
1913,1957,2004 National Champs- Auburn Tigers

by trayrenfro on Nov 12, 2009 9:39 AM MST up reply actions

Don't forget...

that the majority of All-Americans in the past 5-10 years have been 3 and 4 star recruits according to Scout and Rivals ranking systems. I think 3-stars had the most with quite a few 5-star recruits never meeting expectations for one reason or another. Outstanding Big 12 players I can think of off of the top of my head that were 2-3 star recruits include Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, Todd Reesing and Michael Crabtree who I believe was a 2 or 3 star QB. Also, think about the George Hypolites and Jordan Dizons who came in as 2 star fullbacks and emerged as great defensive players because of good coaching. Someone mentioned earlier that Texas Tech and Kansas are amongst other Big 12 schools that have had “worse” recruiting classes according to Rivals/Scout the past few years but much more production on the field. Granted, I would love to have a bunch of a 4 and 5 star recruits, you can’t get those rating without at least a lot of athletic potential. But let’s also be realistic, we aren’t in Texas, Cali or Florida where these recruits are bountiful and we don’t have ND’s tradition or the facilities everyone talks about. And this isn’t 1989 when whether we want to admit it or not, CU had much laxer admissions policies and let in quite a few “hoodlums” who caused some serious problems on campus that simply wouldn’t be tolerated today. I think it all comes back to coaching in the end. If we get a solid class filled with 3 star recruits, I’d be really excited. But the quesiton remains, can Hawkins coach them up to their potential and can he take the few 5-star recruits we do get, like Ryan Miller, and turn them into All-Americans. This remains to be seen…

by BuffFiend87 on Nov 12, 2009 9:39 AM MST reply actions

Totally agree with the comments above

Rating services are wildly innacurate. I just have two points;

1) look at the other programs scouting these kids

2) if our coaches can’t develop 4 & 5 star recruits to their full potential, what makes you think any of these 2 & 3’s are going to take the nation by storm? Yes the talent could be there, but is the coaching?

by legendarywalton on Nov 12, 2009 12:45 PM MST via mobile reply actions