While Colorado struggled through yet another poor season in 2012, which ultimately led to the firing of head coach Jon Embree, Bakhtiari against was a bright spot with second-team All-Pac-12 honors.
"I've been contemplating this for a long time," Bakhtiari said in announcing he would leave school a year early for the NFL. "It didn't have anything to do with Jon Embree [former Colorado head coach] being fired. I had always intended to see where the NFL was going to position me after I submitted myself for the review.
"The evaluation came back and had me in the second- to third-round range for a pick, but I also received some good feedback from Steve Marshall [Colorado offensive line coach] and Coach Embree, who spoke with several of their contacts around the league, and they thought I might even go a little bit higher, and that helped, too."