Colorado Football: Buffs building from Texas’ Desoto High School

With Mel Tucker officially on board as Colorado football head coach the DeSoto to Boulder recruiting pipeline is on full blast. 2019 just might be the year.

It’s hard to believe that the same CU football team that finished the season 5-7 was also the same team that went undefeated through their first five games.  After all, it’s easy to forget a good September when a team loses it’s last seven games.

That said, the two players that particularly stood out during those early weeks of 2018 CU football season were sophomore receivers KD Nixon and Laviska Shenault Jr.  The two of them were actually high school teammates from DeSoto, a Dallas area high school that’s been a perennial powerhouse for the past two decades.  Some of their notable alumni include Super Bowl MVPs Von Miller and Elis Hobbs – and it’s players like that which demand the attention of recruiters who are hungry to sign the next big star before he becomes a household name.

That’s why it was anything but a coincidence that these two wound up on the same college team, rather it was the result of a smart, targeted recruiting strategy to get some of the top talents in the country.

The DeSoto receivers didn’t waste any time making an impact on CU football, accounting for more than half of the teams receiving touchdowns in 2018 and they even managed to be responsible for nearly a third of the teams rushing touchdowns.

The DeSoto to Boulder recruiting pipeline can at least in part be credited to Darrin Chiaverini, known to his players as Choav Chev, who’s been on the CU football coaching staff since 2016.  His roles have ranged from Recruiting Coordinator to co-Offensive Coordinator and he’s been especially effective in his recruiting efforts in the talent-rich states of California and Texas.

Starting with the class of 2017 the Buffs picked up commitments from KD Nixon and Laviska Shenault Jr.  That following year they added Josh Jynes, DeSoto offensive lineman and then the class of 2019 included their highest ranked DeSoto recruit yet with La’Vontae Shenault.  The 4-star receiver happens to be the younger brother of the best offensive player on the team.

With the 2019 Colorado football season only months away, it won’t be long before new head coach Mel Tucker will begin to implement his systems and prossesses, but no matter what changes are made to the game plan it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the DeSoto playmakers are kept out of the endzone.

These last two seasons have been impressive but with La’Vontae on the roster, there are even higher expectations than ever before.  2019 will truly be the test to see how much one recruiting pipeline with a small city like DeSoto can make a lasting impression on a major college football program.