Phil McGeoghan knows exactly what he's looking for on the recruiting trail

BOULDER — Colorado is in on just about every wide receiver worth knowing about in the 2023 recruiting class.

“We’re not going to back down anybody in recruiting at the receiver position,” new CU wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan said last week. “If you’re a top talent at wide receiver and you’re in 2023, I’m going to be on you to come here.”

It’s clear that McGeoghan knows what he’s looking for.

Recruiting is an interesting word for me,” he said. “It’s more about identifying and then connecting. That’s the definition for me. You look at tape, obviously, it’s the initial evaluation, ‘Can he run? Can he catch? Does he have courage in traffic? Is he good with the ball under his arms?’ All the physical intangibles that you look at, as well as just like the metrics as far as the 40 time and the vertical jump. There’s more to it than just that. There’s learning what motivates this person. Do they love football? Are they are eager to learn or are they just doing it because they’re very good at it and it’s an opportunity for them to play college football and they enjoy all of the trimmings that go with being a collegiate student-athlete at this level. So I think you have to identify, then you really have to investigate.”

By the end of his first week on the job, McGeoghan had already offered a handful of top-10 recruits in the class and at least a third of the top 35. While offers don’t mean all that much unless CU actually lands a few freak talents in Boulder, McGeoghan’s confidence on the recruiting trail is obvious and he has the resume to back that confidence up.

McGeoghan’s last stop was with the Los Angeles Chargers, where he worked with Pro Bowl receiver Keenan Allen and rising star Mike Williams. He’s also worked with Jarvis Landry and plenty of others during stops with the Dolphins and the Bills.

@PhilMcGeoghan is a real 1!!! pic.twitter.com/zRU022j6O7

— Coach Phil Austin (@coachphilaustin) August 27, 2020

But the pandemic forced McGeoghan to be apart from his family—including his young son—for the entire 2020 season because of strict NFL protocols, which prevented him from traveling across the country to visit it. Instead of reliving the experience in 2021, McGeoghan decided to take a season off.

“I just felt like I was losing ground as a father,” McGeoghan said. “I didn’t know my biological father until I was 38 years old and for me being a father is not obligatory. I want to be there and I want to be a part of this process. I’m going to develop everybody else’s children but I’m not going to spend enough time developing my own son? That’s just not how I live my life. But it was difficult because I love football.”

When Colorado came calling in January, it was an easy decision.

McGeoghan joined the Denver Broncos as a rookie in 2001, when CU head coach Karl Dorrell was the head coach. They developed a relationship over the course of McGeoghan’s two seasons in Denver that has lasted two decades.

“If there’s an issue that comes up today  in my social life or with my children or things like that, I’m not the only guy that coach gets a call from,” McGeoghan said. “There’s a lot of guys in that (Broncos) room that call him for guidance because of his even demeanor and his calming presence. There’s no situation in life that’s too big.”

While the move from the pros to the collegiate ranks (where McGeoghan has spent one season since 2011) sounds difficult, the 42-year-old isn’t concerned.

“I don’t look at it that much differently,” McGeoghan said. “We have to learn how to get into a stance, we learn how to come off the ball. All the fundamentals have to be taught and they have to be taught well.”

The most important piece to McGeoghan is ensuring that his group is ready to work.

“This isn’t going to be a country club,” he said. “We’re going to work. I want guys who want to work and want to improve and have a burning desire to be great and compete, go to class, get a degree, be good young men; we’re gonna learn a lot of life lessons, not just about the round depth on a comeback. There’s a holistic development process, and I want guys who want to be better men, want to be better sons, and eventually, husbands and fathers.”