Rocky Mountain’s Alex Kinney has committed to the University of Colorado, according to various media reports.
Kinney is a 6-foot-1, 197-pound kicker and punter who will be a senior for the Lobos this season. His commitment was first reported on Twitter by Chris Sailer, who runs kicking national camps as well as a service ranking kickers.
Chris Sailer ranked Kinney as the No. 3 punter and No. 22 kicker in the 2015 class nationally.
Kinney punted 40 times last season, and averaged 35.75 yards per attempt. He was also 11-of-15 on field goals with a long of 51, and made 27-of-28 extra points.
On Saturday, Kinney told BuffStampede.com that he “was pretty excited when Colorado offered, it was shocking. I didn’t really expect it at all. … I had a pretty good camp and they need a punter for next season so it worked out well.”
“I kind of wanted to get out of state but I realize in-state is great,” he added to BuffStampede.com. “Colorado is a great school, Pac-12, you can’t really beat that. They haven’t had a great record in recent seasons but I think they are going in the right direction.”
Kinney follows linemen Tim Lynott (of Regis Jesuit) and Dillon Middlemiss (of Pomona) as in-state kids from the 2015 class headed to CU.
Jake Holtzmann and Austin Conway, two of the top Class of 2015 boys basketball players in the state, made their college choices on Tuesday.
Holtzmann, a 6-foot-5 small forward from Chaparral, pledged to Denver. Conway, a 5-foot-10 guard out of Overland, committed to Wyoming.
The two are the first publicly-known boys basketball commits of the 2015 class from the state. The 2014 class ultimately sent 12 players to Division I schools, and had 25 total college commitments.
According to Rivals.com, Holtzmann also had offers from Air Force and Northeastern. He posted the news of his commitment on Twitter:
Very excited to announce that I've verbally committed to play the game I love at Denver University! Pumped to be a Pioneer – Go DU!
Holtzmann averaged 16.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a junior for Chaparral. He had seven games of at least 20 points, including a 26-point effort in an epic Sweet 16 game against Rangeview which went two overtimes.
At DU, Holtzmann will join a long line of Colorado products, including 2014 Mountain Vista graduate Jake Pemberton.
Conway also had offers from Indiana and Rice per his Rivals profile. He announced his decision on Instagram, writing: “Long process but made my decision I’m blessed excited and thankful to call myself a cowboy #Wyo thank you to every one who helped me get here.”
Austin Conway. (Pam Wagner)
Conway averaged 10.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals during his junior season for Overland. A dynamic athlete, he’s also the Trailblazers’ quarterback and accounted for 2,984 yards of total offense, as well as 32 touchdowns, last season.
In fact, Conway was also a coveted football recruit — fielding offers from Colorado, Colorado State and Nebraska, among others — but ultimately decided to stick with basketball.
Like DU, Wyoming has a recent history of Colorado kids — including former Boulder standout Riley Grabau and Chaparral star Josh Adams.
A on-going list of boys basketball college commitments from high school athletes in Colorado’s class of 2015. Send additions, along with position, height and weight, to rcasey@chsaa.org.
A on-going list of girls basketball college commitments from high school athletes in Colorado’s class of 2015. Send additions, along with position, height and weight, to rcasey@chsaa.org.
Is 2014 the most athletically-gifted class to graduate from this state in recent years? Or ever?
Well, maybe.
It’s tough to find real perspective when it comes to recruiting, seeing as how real data has only been kept since about 2002 at the earliest. Even then, not many commitments and signings were reported at that time, and even fewer were reporting from sports like lacrosse, volleyball and even baseball.
So while the data from the 2014 class absolutely blows away anything that we’ve been able to dig up, we can’t say how it stacks up to, say, the class of 1995. Still, it’s astounding where this year’s crop of seniors will head.
A total of 905 athletes have signed to play their sport(s) in college.
Of those, 343 will head to Division I programs.
Baseball features an astounding 45 Division I players in this class. I was able to find data as far back as 2006. The next-highest output of D-I guys from Colorado came in 2008, when the state had 28. This year’s 45 Division I seniors, by the way, came from more than 20 different schools.
Boys basketball has 12 Division I guys this go-round. That, too, is the most since data was kept, going back to 2002.
Likewise, girls basketball has 18 Division I players. Again, it is a high-water mark, though I only found reliable data back to 2010.
Football will send 31 players to D-I FBS schools, which is the most since 2008 (33). Another 16 will head to D-I FCS programs.
Other sports, like boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse and volleyball were right at or above their average Division I outputs over recent years.
In every instance, these sports are reporting the most college signings across all levels. Now, that is undoubtedly because we’re getting more kids to report their college commitments and signings than ever before. (Additionally, our lists only include athletes who are arriving on campus as scholarship athletes. There are dozens of other walkons headed to colleges.)
Even so, the data backs up that the 2014 class will be one to remember.
Valor Christian offensive lineman Isaiah Holland, a senior, had committed to Army to play football, but was recently denied admission “due to a medical issue,” according to 9News. Instead, he has signed with Colorado. “I love this state and I love that I get to be one of the cool Colorado kids that gets to go,” Holland told 9News.
Another late college switch: Chaparral baseball’s Keenan Eaton tweeted that he will head to Wichita State instead of Vanderbilt. This season, the Shockers featured five Colorado products.
Arapahoe selected assistant Brad Jansen as its next boys basketball coach. He takes over for Dan Snyder, who was massively successful for the Warriors before stepping away from coaching this offseason. Snyder briefly accepted the job at Grandview before changing his mind. Grandview has since hired Michael Rogers, formerly of George Washington.
Grand Junction hired Isaac Madison as its boys basketball coach, the school announced on Tuesday. Madison was an assistant for the Tigers for the past 11 years. “We look forward to the leadership that he will bring to our men’s basketball program, and the contributions that he will make to the Tiger coaching staff,” athletic director Ned Pollert wrote in an email.
How epic was last week’s 2A baseball semifinal battle between Rye and Sedgwick County? The two pitchers accounted for a combined 32 strikeouts. Rye’s Trenton Hughes had 17, Sedgwick County’s Chase Dunker finished with 15. Sedwick County won 4-1 in eight innings, but then lost to Resurrection Christian in the title game.
Reagan Todd’s two-out, walkoff grand slam to beat Mountain Vista in the 5A baseball tournament last weekend is one of the craziest finishes to a game I’ve seen at any level.
The MLB Draft, set for June 5-7, should be interesting for locals. Thomas Jefferson graduate Kyle Freeland, now pitching at Evansville, is expected to be a top-10 pick, and others like Regis Jesuit’s David Peterson and ThunderRidge’s Brody Westmoreland figure to be selected early. Peterson drew a crowd of scouts while pitching last weekend.
Dr. James Andrews — who has performed countless Tommy John surgeries — and a colleague are releasing an app which seeks to lower the risk of arm injury to youth baseball players. It will be called Throw Like a Pro, and will suggest guidelines on how to manage pitching — such as number of rest days and maximum number of pitches — based on a player’s age.
Former Chaparral offensive lineman Shane Callahan will transfer from Auburn to one of the in-state schools, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. The paper cited a desire to play closer to home. Callahan will be a redshirt sophomore.
Cherry Creek is building a swimming pool. Here’s a pic from AD Jason Wilkins on Twitter.
In mid-February, Chatfield sent out a release announcing the hire of baseball coach Brandon Stone.
Stone was up against it. Chatfield’s first game was exactly 30 days away.
Well, Stone’s Chargers are now 11-0, and sit atop Class 5A baseball’s Wild Card points by a sizable margin. Through the weekend’s games, Chatfield has 114.091 points; second-place Regis Jesuit is at 111.364, third-place ThunderRidge has 109.000.
We’re only at the midpoint of the 2014 season, but Chatfield is just two wins away from matching its entire total from all of last season, when the Chargers went 13-10.
Still, that record is somewhat deceiving. Chatfield cruised through the district round to reach the final eight last year (where they went 0-2). Now, they’re carrying the momentum on through to this spring.
Leading the way has been junior Kyle Winkler, who is batting .559 with a team-high 18 RBIs, five doubles and a home run. It’s a dangerous lineup, which features seven players hitting .390 or above, and five kids with double-digit RBIs. The latter group doesn’t even include Blake Moore, who has three home runs.
The staff, led by a trio of seniors, has been good, too. Nick Chamberlain has a 1.33 ERA in a team-high 21 innings pitched. Patrick Barder carries a 2.58 ERA in 19 innings, while Travis Schnoor is at 3.50 in 12 innings.
Chatfield hasn’t won a game in the final eight since 2008. Does that change this year?
He’s the third local football player from the class of 2015 to commit publicly thus far. Pine Creek defensive back Avery Anderson and Valor Christian defensive back Eric Lee have both pledged to Nebraska.
East went 13-1 last season, with the lone loss coming in the Class 4A championship game. The Leopards feature senior-to-be Christian Folau, a linebacker who has committed to Stanford.
The two teams will play on Sept. 5 at Valor.
It is the third out-of-state team the Eagles will play next season. They’ll open up at Bonneville, Idaho, on Aug. 22 (Zero Week), before returning home to play Pomona on Aug. 29. The East game is the following week, and then Valor — a five-time defending champion across classes 5A, 4A and 3A — hosts Chandler (Ariz.) on Sept. 12.
Denver East’s Carey gets his own day
Gov. John Hickenlooper and Rep. Angela Williams proclaimed April 10 “Rudy Carey Day” for the Denver East coach.
Here’s a picture our Tom Robinson snapped at the announcement last week:
On a related note, Collier’s Angels finished at No. 10 in MaxPreps’ national rankings. It’s the highest finish for a boys team in this state since the ranking started in 2005-06.
Regis Jesuit’s girls basketball team finished at No. 11 in those same rankings. It, too, is the highest finish ever for a girls team from Colorado. That ranking started in 2005-06, as well.
Cherry Creek baseball coach Marc Johnson won the 700th game of his career on Wednesday. Friday, the Bruins’ Brian Perry won his 200th as boys lacrosse coach.
Here’s an interesting take on youth sports from Changing The Game Project, where they examine “an adult driven, hyper competitive race to the top in both academics and athletics that serves the needs of the adults, but rarely the kids.” This culture, they argue, “produces bitter athletes who get hurt, burnout, and quit sports altogether.”
A complete database for college commitments from high school athletes in Colorado’s class of 2015. Send additions, along with position, height and weight (when applicable), to rcasey@chsaa.org.
A on-going list of college football commitments from high school athletes in Colorado’s class of 2015. Send additions, along with position, height and weight, to rcasey@chsaa.org.
A on-going list of college lacrosse commitments from girls high school athletes in Colorado’s class of 2015. Send additions, along with position and height, to rcasey@chsaa.org.
FALCON — It was no secret during the 2013 football season that University of Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre wanted Falcon standout Kalen Ballage to be a Buff.
MacIntyre’s eyes would light up at the mention of the designated athlete from just east of Colorado Springs. Thursday, MacIntyre got his answer and is now forced to move on without him.
“I spoke with him today. He really didn’t have much to say,” Ballage said. “He just kind of congratulated me and told me that I should go far in life. I thanked him for that. He’s a really good guy and good coach and I think CU’s going to do good things with or without me.”
Ballage, like so many other high school athletes, was allowed to sign his National Letter of Intent to continue his football career on Wednesday. But the weather had other ideas. Snow and sub-zero temperatures cancelled all activities for Falcon school district No. 49 on both Wednesday and Thursday.
Falcon’s Kalen Ballage, pictured at a signing ceremony on Thursday. (Dan Mohrmann)
Not wanting to keep everyone in the dark any longer, Ballage sent in his commitment to Arizona State. He and the rest of Falcon’s student athletes officially signed during a private ceremony at the Woodmen Hills Rec Center in Falcon.
“I kind of went back and forth for a couple of months but at the end of the day (Arizona State) is where my heart was at,” Ballage said. “I visited a lot of different schools but Arizona State is the place to be.”
Ballage lined up at running back, wide receiver and linebacker for Falcon, making him one of the top versatile players in this year’s class. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds, he has the size and the speed to contribute for the Sun Devils right away, which is what he hopes to do.
The plan going into his freshman year is for him to be used primarily as a running back, which will give him plenty of chances to score with ASU’s explosive offense.
“That’s the plan is to come in and play right away,” he said. “I need to stay healthy and work hard and I don’t see I won’t be able to do that. It’s definitely a blessing.”
Although he had plenty of options on the table including CU and UCLA, the further in to the recruiting process he got the more he felt the pull from Arizona State. He cited the connection he made with the players down there as a big reason. He had been receiving text messages from those players as signing day neared, but not to pressure him into making a decision.
It turned out the guys he had grown close to on his visit just wanted to check in on him and talk about things other than football. That attitude resonated with him and when decision time came, it made things much easier for him.
His putting it off a day had more to do with wanting to go through the signing day event with his friends and teammates than the uncertainty of the path he was about to take. And despite social media reports that he was on campus in Boulder, Ballage never had a doubt that he was bound for Tempe.
“I was not in Boulder on Wednesday (laughs),” he said. “Whoever saw that must be seeing things, but it’s been a wild ride and I’m glad it’s coming to an end.”
Ballage and ThunderRidge offensive lineman Sam Jones were the only two Colorado prospects to sign with Arizona State. The state of Colorado as a whole accounted for 46 Division I signings in 2014, making it a banner year for the state.
