With the spring transfer portal window eliminated, there’s all the more pressure for players to find their new home during the 15-day period in January. And although there’s no time limit for players to commit — they just have to enter before Jan. 16 — fans usually see players switching before either the new semester starts or spring ball begins.
So now with the transfer portal closing, let’s review what happened with Colorado State football’s shift in talent.
Compared to the previous season, the 2026 full list of transfers both in and out was extensive, but with the mid-season firing of Jay Norvell and introduction of Jim Mora, a large turnover was bound to happen.
As of the portal closing Jan. 16, Mora has 14 players following him from UConn — meanwhile one of the Rams’ defensive lineman, Andrew Laurich, recently committed to the Huskies for the coming season — pulling in several different levels of star power as CSU lost practically every one of its best players.
So who’s coming in from UConn?
Tight end Javonte ‘Juice’ Vereen was one of the first transfers from UConn to come over, helping to recover the loss of the talented tight ends Jaxxon Warren and Rocky Beers. Vereen brings in 310 receiving yards from his one season with the Huskies and notches the second-highest on his team for receiving touchdowns of five.
Notably, tight end Pearce Spurlin III also committed to CSU from Georgia and hasn’t played in a couple seasons due to a heart condition, but a successful surgery has put him in place to continue playing. Spurlin had three catches for 60 yards in 2023.
Alongside Vereen, committing early was defensive end Stephon Wright, who was a former four-star recruit, racking up a career total of 58 tackles, four sacks and one interception.
But there was one question that was very prominent in recruiting: Who was going to be the next starting quarterback?
The Rams had three different starting quarterbacks throughout the 2025 season with Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, Jackson Brousseau and Darius Curry.
Fowler-Nicolosi departed CSU soon after the firing of Norvell, but Brousseau had taken over long before, ending the season with 1,354 passing yards and nine touchdowns. After reports of Brousseau transferring to California, the quarterback quietly took to social media and changed his bio to tag Cal Football.
Curry had his starting stint when Brousseau was out on injury, but his season quickly ended with a suspension after interim head coach Tyson Summers reviewed footage and saw Curry spitting on a Boise State player.
Curry has made no mentions of transferring, and his X bio still remains “QB @ Colorado State University.”
Now coming from UConn is quarterback Ksaan Farrar who has multiple years of eligibility left. In 2025, he was third for the Huskies in passing yards with 84 and had a completion rate of 61.1%.
Yet he’s not the only quarterback coming in.
Just two days into the transfer portal opening, Mora made one his biggest commits: former four-star recruit Hauss Hejny. The 6-foot quarterback comes in from Oklahoma State as a redshirt freshman. Unfortunately, Hejny didn’t see much action in 2025, as a season-ending foot injury that required surgery took place during the opening game.
In his only game with Pokes, Hejny completed five passes for 96 yards and scored one touchdown in the process.
When Hejny committed to CSU, fans thought the starting quarterback was solidified. And although it appears to be that way statistically, Farrar and Hejny are both young players and quarterbacks, leaving time for competition.
Alongside the quarterback position, the Rams took another major hit in other categories. CSU lost all four of its main running backs and is bringing in four, all playing for the Huskies at some point during their careers: Durell Robinson, Mel Brown, Oliver Lundberg Coleman and Malichi Greaves.
Robinson was at UConn in 2024, but most recently Auburn. His most productive season was two years ago with the Huskies, when he totaled 731 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Robinson notched 57 rushing yards and one touchdown last year with the Tigers.
Brown brings in the second-most rushing yards of the four with 262 and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Lundberg Coleman ran for one touchdown and was fourth on UConn’s team for rushing yards with 138.
Greaves did see action in multiple games but finished the season with only three carries for 15 yards.
On the other side of the offense, the Rams are pulling in five new wide receivers. Beers had the highest number of receiving yards with 388, but close behind was wide receiver Tommy Maher who will be staying with CSU come next fall.
Joining Maher is Jordan Mosley who will be in his sixth year of playing collegiately after one season at Northwestern and four at Mississippi State, bringing in a career total of 668 yards and five touchdowns.
Another upperclassmen receiver is Reginald Vick Jr. with 12 touchdowns and 1,448 receiving yards, who worked his way up from Division II with Virginia Union.
Terrence Smith has several years of eligibility left after spending his freshman year at UConn and has proven to be a dual threat as a receiver, finishing his most recent season with 75 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown and 34 receiving yards.
But Mora isn’t just pulling from UConn; in fact, he’s gone out of the country to find his perfect roster.
He originally recruited Lundberg Coleman from Sweden and has dipped into Canada for his cornerback, Jordan Lessard. Lessard recorded 18 total tackles and three interceptions in his most recent season.
Alongside Lessard is a strong defensive presence from recruiting. CSU lost its star defensive player, Owen Long, to Arizona State.
But will the Rams be able to recover from the loss of his power?
A 230-pound linebacker, Oumar Diomande, comes to the green and gold after three seasons with the Huskies, tacking on 116 tackles, five sacks and eight tackles-for-loss in his most recent season.
Diomande also paid visits to North Carolina, Northwestern, SMU and Penn State. His final visit was to CSU, where he announced his commitment a few days later.
Elijah Mc-Cantos is one of the more recent defensive commits and will be among the senior players, with four seasons under his belt. The defensive back has a career total of 77 tackles, two interceptions and 1.5 tackles-for loss. With one season of eligibility left, Mc-Cantos reported offers from Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Memphis, Wyoming, Baylor and Charlotte; on Jan. 10, CSU’s offer to him was reported, and six days later he officially committed.
One last defensive player who brings notable stats behind him in his most recent season is Richard Mosley III with 63 tackles, 2.0 tackles-for-loss, one sack and one interception. He also ranked 12th in the nation with two fumble recoveries.
After losing its captain offensive lineman Tanner Morley to Kansas State, the Rams brought in two offensive lineman weighing in at over 300 pounds: Toriyan Johnson and Payton Stewart. Stewart was rated as one of the top recruits from the state of Washington and one of the top offensive tackles in the country, as listed by several recruiting entities.
The Rams also tacked on punter Cavan Craig who, in his most recent season, punted 46 times, averaging 41.8 yards. They also added kicker Kali Nguma who went 12-of-13 in field goal attempts last year.
Reach Sophie Webb at sports@collegian.com or on social media @sophgwebb.
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