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CU went into August preseason camp trying to settle on a starting quarterback among three primary contenders — third-year sophomore Nick Hirschman and transfers Connor Wood from University of Texas and Jordan Webb from University of Kansas.

Meanwhile, senior linebacker Doug Rippy and junior offensive tackle David Bakhtiari were named to watch lists of national postseason awards in July. Rippy was named to the watch list of the Butkus Award, which is given to the nation’s top linebacker, while Bakhtiari was named to the watch list of the Rotary Lombardi Award, given to the best lineman or linebacker.

And standout receiver Paul Richardson hinted during the summer that he might be ready to play at some point in 2012, despite suffering a major knee injury in the spring.

The Buffs will be one of the youngest teams — if not the youngest — in the nation’s Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012. But coach Jon Embree (Comm’88) knows success on the field is the only sure-fire way to influence how fans view the program.

“I don’t think you can manage the fans’ expectations,” Embree said in the spring, “because you’re going to have some that don’t think you’re going to win one game, and you’re going to have some that think you’re going to win all of them.”