CU Buffs Jay MacIntyre has no regrets

February, 5, 2014, Jay MacIntyre makes one of the biggest decisions of his life, the decision to play football for Colorado and his father Mike MacIntyre, over schools such as Air Force and Wyoming.

Both Jay and his dad knew the decision would come with criticism and questioning, but he hasn’t second guessed his decision once.

“I’ve never regretted the decision of coming here once since I got on campus, I love it here,” said the redshirt freshman. “It’s not just the football that I love, it’s also the city and the people, so there was a lot more that went into it than just the football. The football is awesome and everything around it is awesome, so I’ve never regretted my decision, I really love it here.”

One of the challenges of playing for his father is the necessity to separate their football relationship from their family relationship.

“We do have to make an effort, but we kind of have a good balance with it,” he explained. “He played for his dad, so he knows how he liked it when he was a player, so he kind of does the same with me. We don’t really talk about football at home, we kind of just leave football to the football field, and when we’re at home it’s just father and son having family time, it’s a good balance.”

Often times coaches don’t get to spend as much time with their families as they would like, which likely explains “JayMac’s” favorite part of playing for his pops.

“Just seeing him every single day, growing up he’s always been one of my idols, and now I get to see him everyday, see what he does, see how much work he puts into it,” said the young MacIntyre. “My whole life has sort of revolved around his job, moving to eight different states, now I get to see him do that daily work every day.”

But it isn’t all easy.

“When your dad is the coach, there’s always some things that are tough, you always want to do well for him, and you always have high standards for yourself,” admitted Jay. “You came here to win games for him because you know how important it is to him and the whole coaching staff family. If you lose than it’s not very fun for the family, if you win then it’s awesome for the family.

“The pressure of it, I mean it’s not that bad,” he added. “But I put a little more pressure on myself because I know how it feels on the coaches and the coaches families.”

On top of the pressure of being the coaches kid for the first time, there was another tough transition for MacIntyre when he got to colorado.

Jay had literally played every position on the football field but one. Yes he had even played center on his first ever day of football practice, but he had never once played wide receiver until he came to Colorado.

“When I first came to fall camp last year, I didn’t really know what to do as a receiver to get open and different things like that, I kind of was just running to spots and kind of just running routes,” explained the now slot receiver. “The redshirt year gave me a chance to learn different things, watch [Nelson] Spruce, D.D. Goodson, all those guys. Coach Walters has really taught me how to attack people’s leverage and things like that, so I’ve just kind of brought all of that to my game and practiced it throughout last year and over the summer. Now I feel a lot more comfortable in the slot position.”

“I love playing receiver now, I just love playing football, honestly,” added MacIntyre. “I loved playing QB back in the day, but now I have to adjust to the role of receiver, and I love it. In my first camp I was like, ‘dang, we run a lot,’ but I’ve gotten in much better shape and I really like it.”

You wouldn’t have known he had never played the position at last year’s fall camp, as he showed off quick routes and sticky hands, but on top of a full year practicing there, he also has a full year in the Buffs strength program under his belt.

“He’s gotten better, he weighs 190 now, and he’s running high 4.4’s,” said the head coach. “When he came in he was like 175, so he’s really put on a lot of muscle mass and strength and he’s doing well.”

Jay is competing with Donovan Lee for the starting role in the slot, but  the MacIntyre with the depth chart in his hand alluded to the starter label not meaning much.

“The way we do it, as many plays as we’re going to run, they’re all going to play,” explained coach Mac. “We’re going to need seven, eight receivers to play, especially with a 13 game season.”

“Competition is good for the team,” Jay said. “We’re both up for the job and we’re both really good friends, so we have fun competing with each other and pushing each other.”

When all is said and done, young Mac just wants to win.

“I feel like we can beat every team we play, I feel like we’ve worked hard enough and we showed last year that we can play with every team, now we just have to finish,” he told. “We just have to finish every game as a team, make it to a bowl game, and make this year something special… I want to play whatever role they give me to the best of my abilities and just do the best I can, that’s all I can really control. When I get my shot, I’m going to go out there and give it the best I can, when I’m on the sidelines, I’m going to do my best to help my teammates however I can.”

As the old saying goes, winning cures everything, and that includes the scars of old for Colorado fans when it comes to coaches son’s.