Hi, there Zips fans. First post, but your comment about "cracking the lineup" deserves a little history. Here's the background that might assist your evaluation. One of my kids goes to CU and we've watched this scenario unfold for several painful years. (My son is not on the team, but has been pretty close to the action.)
Hirschman was recruited by Dan Hawkins, who was fired 2 years ago. Hawkins' favorite QB was his own son, Cody. His second favorite was Tyler Hansen, who is now having a cup of coffee in the NFL these days. Hirschman was redshirted behind those two guys.
HC Hawkins was fired and replaced by Jon Embree who then led the Colorado team to their two worst seasons since the invention of football.
Embree brought in his own guys (including KU transfer Jordan Webb, who happened to be the college roommate of Embree's own son who played at Kansas) and then benched Hawkin's QBs guys in favor of Webb. The final 1-11 season Embree played more sophomores and freshmen than veterans, no surprises, since he stated he would play his own guys in weekly news conferences. He even held separate team meetings: those he recruited and those he inherited. Hirschman and the six other QBs on the roster got to watch painfully as Webb lost game after game, but retained the HC's absolute loyalty.
Embree was fired at the end of the (worst in the BCS) 2012 season, and this spring QB Nick Hirschman was facing the possibility of his third head coach in three years; one of whom had benched him for not being a blood relative and one benched him just for being recruited by the previous coach. With the newest coach actively recruiting MORE qbs for his system, and saying he didn't want to name a QB until after he's seen how HIS recruits look when he arrives on campus this summer, the veterans were obviously wondering if they'd see a replay of the previous regimes.
So that's about it. You have a very smart quarterback (accepted to Ivy League schools) who has some Div 1 experience and leadership qualities.
Here's a little interview from when he was recruited to Colorado. Should give you a better idea who he is.
http://www.ralphiereport.com/2009/7/1/9348...-live-interview
With ability to graduate early and still have two years to play two, Hirschman chose a school where he'd have a good chance of being "the guy." Not sure how this will all shake out, but there are a lot of very young QBs on the Zips' roster, so having an older, experienced guy could be good for the short-term and also for the long term -- in that he can help prepare the younger QBs for the road ahead. Whether he's starter or backup, he's competent and nobody knows what his ceiling is yet.
Best of luck to you.
