Buffs add a highly-recruited prep, could be a hint at something big

The Colorado Buffaloes are adding beef for their future, picking up a commitment on Monday from four-star offensive lineman Chauncey Gooden and Deion Sanders may not be done.

At 6-foot-4 330 pounds, Gooden, is the No. 19 interior offensive lineman in the country for the class of 2025, according to the 247Sports Composite. Gooden listed his top 10 in the winter, showing he could’ve played for just about anyone with the Buffaloes winning the commit from Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Playing for Trent Dilfer for two years where they won back-to-back state championships at Lipscomb Academy, Gooden is a two-time Tennessean All-Midstate member and TSWA all-state offensive lineman. He’ll be a three-year starter this fall and hangs on with the Mustangs, who had a rough 2023.

Chauncey Gooden with a message to all CU recruitment targets:

“If you are Colorado recruit, and you ain’t committed here yet; I’m coming for everybody”

Go get em young man! @ChaunceyGooden #SkoBuffs #TieYoCleats pic.twitter.com/IQFACgBnKg

— GUCCE🦬🐦‍⬛ (@guccetheart) June 24, 2024

Gooden is Colorado’s fourth commitment from the 2025 class and highest-rated thus far. He’s the second-highest-rated offensive line high school commitment since Sanders moved to Boulder, coming just behind prep star Jordan Seaton.

And yet the news on Gooden could be just the start. He was visiting Boulder over the weekend and it went so well that he gave Prime his word. This is a massive positive sign about how the weekend went where Gooden was just a sideshow for the main story of Julian “Juju” Lewis’ visit. The quarterback is the ninth-ranked player in the country overall according to 247 Sports and the second-best gunslinger in the Class of 2025—he’s currently committed to USC.

The Buffs are trying to flip Lewis to basically be the replacement for Shedeur Sanders, who will leave Boulder after this fall and be a top 10 NFL Draft pick next spring.

Maybe the most interesting sign in all of this is the recent uptick in prep recruiting again from Coach Prime—which is a sign he could be here to stay longer than most think. Why would be spending time and effort trying to flip some of the nation’s best preps who are committed to play in the Big Ten and SEC if he wasn’t going to coach them?

At any rate, Colorado’s new line coach Phil Loadholt has lived up to his task in trying to fix Colorado’s line as Gooden is the sixth three-star or better player the Buffaloes have added since the assistant was hired. And we all know how badly CU struggled in the trenches in year one under Prime, something he appears to have fixed headed into 2024 and is focused on for the future.

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