CSU signing day central
GoldandGreenNews.com will continually post updates on the latest CSU signings by posting each player's capsule. Below that is a summary of the 2016 recruiting season for the Rams.
Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo is expected to announce the signing of a full recruiting class on Wednesday afternoon, the first day recruits can sign National Letters of Intent. CSU went into the cycle anticipating a class of around 15 or 16, but due to various attrition – players graduating early, leaving early for the NFL Draft, or other factors, the Rams are expected to ink a full class of 25.
One thing was made clear upon Bobo's arrival in Fort Collins: the Rams won't settle. That's not necessarily meant to be cliché, or be hyperbole to pump up the fanbase, or draw clicks from readers. Simply stated, Bobo and his staff shot for the stars this recruiting calendar year.
Now, they swung and missed on prospects. A lot of them. The month of December in particular comes to mind when the Rams lost out on numerous top targets. It's one thing to lose out to Power Five schools - DT Anthony Yates and DE Austin Larkin to Purdue, DT Isi Holani to Kansas, QB Richard Lagow to Indiana, QB Patrick Towles to Boston College, DE Bronson Massie to Kansas State, DE Phillip Napoleon to Oregon State, and a late flip from safety Toyous Avery to West Virginia this month. Those were to name a few.
But when the Rams lost top targets to G5 competition over the last month and a half, many fans began to wonder. Misses on DT Nakita Lealao to Nevada, DT Malik Forrester to Fresno State, ATH Darion Anderson to Georgia Southern, WR John Williams to Memphis, safety Terrell Williams to Houston, DE Josh Odige to UCF, DE/DT Josh Fatu to Boise State. With news of each committing elsewhere, fans on our board began to grumble.
Now, of course teams will swing and miss on the norm. But to borrow a baseball comparison, the Rams were often like Mark Reynolds - swinging for the fences on every at bat.
Yet here's the thing. In this case, it was actually a good thing. CSU may have missed out on a boatload of targets, but they also happened to land a multitude of highly regarded prospects that they never even came close to landing for the majority of the past 15 years. Not even under Jim McElwain did CSU land a total crop of recruits that was this talented from top to bottom.
As is often the case, CSU had a commitment flip to other another school, as Toyous Avery switched to West Virginia. They also had two cornerbacks, Joseph Jackson and Rocco Marucci, decommit.
The staff tried to do some flipping of its own. They tried hard to convince recruits committed elsewhere to become Rams. OT Keenen King (Washington State), OT Dillon Reinkensmeyer (Virginia), OT Jaron Caldwell (UNLV), RB Lamical Perine (Florida), LB John Picone (Texas Tech), and ATH Armunz Mathews (USF) were all heavily recruited (some more than others) while being pledged to other teams. The only previously committed player they were able to flip was athlete Robert Awunganyi from UTEP.
With all of that being said, and with how up and down CSU's recruiting execution was in December, the Rams finished stronger than perhaps they ever have.
Following the dead period in January, CSU secured commitments from six different prospects, including a pair of three-stars. But the Rams are also expected to add at least three more recruits to the fold today. I have detailed in The Fort whom I believe will ink on the dotted line, bringing CSU's total count for 2016 to around 25 or 26 commitments.
Ultiamtely, the Rams are expected to ink one of its most talented recruiting classes ever from top to bottom.
Stay tuned to GoldandGreenNews.com for the latest developments and insight.
Ryan Krous is the publisher of GoldandGreenNews.com. You can email him at ryan.krous@gmail.com or follow him on twitter @RyanKrous for all the latest and breaking Colorado State news.