Don’t flip out, Livvy Dunne. Apologies, bayou moms. Paul Skenes may have an LSU girlfriend and an LSU baseball card. He’s still, deep down, a Zoomie at heart.

“Anything that I can do, or any of us can do, to bring eyes to the Air Force Academy is good,” Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching phenom and former AFA baseball star told a crowded circle of reporters earlier this weekend at Coors Field, where he was supposed to pitch against the Rockies, but won’t.

“Especially with how much it affected me. But I owe them that much.

“So I want to keep that going as long as I can because the tough part is, for me, I get labeled as ‘The LSU Guy,’ because obviously I got drafted out of there. But I’m just as much an Air Force guy as I am an LSU guy.”

Skenes found out last week that his scheduled spot in the rotation, Father’s Day at Coors Field, some 90 minutes — if traffic’s kind — up the road from the Academy, was being shifted from Sunday to Monday.

So he went back to his old AFA haunts on Friday morning. He took some Bucs teammates with him, including rotation mate Jared Jones, to see the old stomping grounds. They caught up with AFA baseball coach Mike Kazlausky. They saw his cousin, who’s now a glider instructor at the Academy. (Jones tried the virtual reality glider and landed successfully, Coach Kaz told me.) They walked around the Terrazzo. Mitchell Hall. The War Memorial.

It was like dancing with as long lost love. While the cameras circled Skenes, who’s sporting a 3-0 record, a 2.43 ERA, drawing comparisons to Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg along the way, the 6-foot-6 man-mountain with the rocket right arm almost got misty-eyed while talking about his Colorado Springs days. And what could’ve been.

“Definitely, as soon as you drive down there, there were some memories that popped up,” said Skenes, who played at Air Force as a freshman and sophomore (’21 and ’22) before transferring to LSU, the way station to becoming the No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

“Pretty cool, though, to get to go back now as a major-league player and think, ‘Wow, this is where it all started for me.’ Yeah, I was thinking about how I could’ve just graduated from there.’”

He might’ve, if the wingtips in Washington could ever figure out a consistent strike zone when it comes to service academies and pro sports. Last fall, the national defense bill that eventually passed a divided Congress included a provision that said any “agreement by a cadet or midshipman to play professional sport(s) constitutes a breach of service obligation.” In layman’s terms, that translates to two years of active duty, minimum, before the clock starts on a potential athletic career. Although the whole two-years-of-service-first thing has shifted back and forth at least a half-dozen times — required, then not required, then required again — over the last eight years or so.

Knowing that a junior year could be a mess, Kazlausky planned ahead. After Skenes hit .410, posted a 1.183 OPS and recorded 11 saves as a freshman catcher-closer with the Falcons, Coach Kaz pleaded to then-AFA superintendent Richard Clark to defer the required service time.

“I said, General Clark, this is the David Robinson of Air Force,” Kazlausky recalled. “‘This is the greatest athlete to ever come through our school … And unfortunately, the answer was going to be, ‘No.’”

Skenes, whose uncles served in the Coast Guard and Navy, didn’t ever want to flee the Wild Blue Yonder. Coach Kaz told him to go with his head on this one. Not his heart.

“He’s an old soul,” Kazlausky said. “He’s been put on God’s green earth to make a difference. And I’m not just talking about baseball.”

The big righty wound up with the Tigers, where he won the Dick Howser Award, was named the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series and landed a $9.2-million signing bonus from Pittsburgh, the largest in MLB draft history.

“It shows you the type of coach that Coach Kaz is, to encourage him to pursue that journey and that experience,” Aerik Joe, his old AFA roommate, told me by phone from Japan on Saturday. “As well as what it says about Paul.”

Skenes stories are the stuff of legend now. When big Paul saw an opposing Mountain West women’s soccer player kneeling during the national anthem, he allegedly ran into the baseball locker room, grabbed the Stars & Stripes and brought it out to the field, waving it proudly during the match.

In 2021, after an attack in Afghanistan had taken the lives of 13 U.S. service members, at 4:45 p.m. the national anthem was played and the flag brought down. Skenes and his baseball teammates stood at attention. Meanwhile, up a nearby hill, Skenes could see two football managers in a video booth slightly slouched, distracted, eyes off the flag. When the anthem was finished, Skene went over and berated the managers for slacking.

“The kid’s an American patriot,” offered Ryan Rutter, Skenes’ commanding officer back in the day. “I don’t know any other way to say it. At a young age, he showed his colors to be red, white and blue.”

Things came so easy for a young Skenes, even at one of the most rigorous undergraduate environments in the country, that Rutter once asked the future No. 1 pick if he had any weaknesses that bothered him. This from a guy who hit .367 at Air Force and batted leadoff while throwing in the high-90s.

“I’m not that fast,” Skenes replied. “I wish I was faster.”

Rutter still chuckles at that one.

“Paul was ready to be a second lieutenant when he showed up here,” Rutter recalled. “He was ready to be an officer in the Air Force.”

Old classmates at AFA sent him photos from graduation last month. His mom still talks to their parents. He’s a patriot first, but pitching pays the bills.

“A big part of me wishes that I could graduate from there and be doing what I’m doing right now,” Skenes said. “But that’s not super compatible in a lot of ways. But (I) kind of got the best of both worlds.”

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Colorado high school recruits flocked to Boulder on June 6th to participate in the University of Colorado’s Elite Camp. Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders and the rest of Colorado’s coaching staff spent the day meeting and coaching recruits from all over the Centennial State and awarded select standout players with scholarship offers.

After dominating the transfer portal over the last two offseasons, the 2025 recruiting class is shaping up to be the class that Coach Prime and Colorado’s coaching staff will recruit the hardest since their arrival in Boulder. While Colorado’s biggest recruiting weekend of the summer is next weekend (June 21st-23rd), multiple players in the 2025 class and beyond have emerged as potential targets for CU and spoke with DNVR about their experience at Colorado’s Elite Camp.

2025 three-star ATH Zayne DeSouza

Before last Thursday, 2025 three-star ATH Zayne DeSouza only had two scholarship offers from Washington State and Northern Colorado. Listed at 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds, DeSouza balled out at earned his first Power 4 offer directly from Coach Prime after his performance at last week’s Elite Camp.

DeSouza plays tight end and defensive end for Loveland High School but worked out as a tight end at last week’s Elite Camp. DeSouza was working with tight ends coach Brett Bartolone and the rest of the tight ends in attendance before Coach Prime pulled him aside, DeSouza told DNVR.

“I came in there with the intention of trying to get an offer and impress the coaches, especially Coach Prime. He seemed to take a liking for me, he was coaching me the whole camp. He came over, grabbed me and said, ‘Where are your parents at, I’m going to give you an official offer’,” said DeSouza.

DeSouza went to Nebraska for a camp this weekend and is planning on either attending camps at Wyoming or Kansas State after. He will also attend a game in Boulder for an official visit this fall.

2025 three-star WR Jeremiah Hoffman

Jeremiah Hoffman has visited Boulder at least three times over the last year and made yet another impression on Coach Prime and CU’s coaching staff last week. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, Hoffman plays wide receiver for Severance High School in Severance, CO. According to his Twitter bio, Hoffman has run a 4.5 40-yard dash and has set multiple Colorado High School state track and field records.

The speedy wide receiver out of Severance has yet to earn a scholarship offer from Colorado’s coaching staff but he was singled out by Coach Prime at last week’s Elite Camp. Hoffman is currently ranked as the 10th overall 2025 recruit out of the state of Colorado according to 247Sports.

2027 WR/TE Landon Wolny

Landon Wolny calls Glenwood Springs, CO home but plays for First Baptist Academy in Naples, FL. Last year as a freshman, Wolny had 27 receptions for 377 yards and five touchdowns in ten games. He is listed at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds and plays wide receiver and tight end for First Baptist Academy.

Although he is only entering his sophomore year of high school, Wolny performed well enough in front of CU’s coaches to earn an official offer. “I went into [Colorado’s] camp to showcase my skills. I put everything that Coach Prime was telling me and showing me to use, balled out and got the offer,” said Wolny.

Wolny also worked under Coach Bartolone and graduate assistant Andrew Zimmer while at CU’s Elite Camp. He visited Colorado last year for their matchup with Oregon State and is expected to return to Boulder for a game and visit this season.

2026 QB Yianna Balafas

Yianna Balafas plays quarterback for Kent Denver High School in Englewood, CO and led Kent to a 9-1 season throwing for 1704 yards, completing 73% of his passes for 19 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He also had 163 rushing yards on 11 carries for another two touchdowns.

“What was really cool was how Coach Prime was there the whole time. Usually, some coaches will just show up at the beginning, say hi, leave or show up at the end but he was there the whole time,” said Balafas.

Balafas attributes his high completion percentage to his mind for the game. He will also be attending camps at Vanderbilt, Stanford and multiple Ivy League schools this summer. PrepZoneCO also listed Balafas as one of the top 2026 quarterbacks in the state.

2026 ATH Jack Offerdahl

Jack Offerdahl plays all over the field for Dakota Ridge High School but competed at CU’s Elite Camp as a defensive back. Listed at 6-foot and 180 pounds, Offerdahl was Dakota Ridge’s third-leading tackler in 2023 with 80 total tackles. He also had 12 passes defended and three interceptions. Offerdahl also returns kicks and punts and led Dakota Ridge in return yardage, punt return yardage and return attempts.

He is the younger brother of current Colorado running back Charlie Offerdahl and shows an identical work ethic and drive in his play and demeanor. “I was disappointed with how I performed, I was hoping to perform well enough to earn an offer but Coach Mathis picked me as one of the top 5 DB’s at the end so I must have done some good things,” said Offerdahl.

Offerdahl also told DNVR that he would be highly interested in returning to Colorado for more visits.