Colorado State football is turning the page.
Following a disastrous 2-10 season in 2025 to end off an eight-year stretch in which the Rams had a losing record in seven of those seasons, the move into the Pac-12 gives CSU the significant chance to rediscover its winning ways.
And it all starts with new head coach Jim Mora.
Mora was announced as new head coach of the Rams Nov. 26, 2025, a little over a month after the program parted ways with Jay Norvell.
Since his introductory press conference on Dec. 1, 2025, Mora has made it his main initiative to instill a new culture in the football program — one in which winning is the standard — an approach he has most recently implemented at UConn and has carried throughout his 42-year coaching career.
“There is no top to the mountain,” Mora said in his introductory press conference as CSU head coach. “You just keep going — keep climbing. When you reach one peak, you find a way to get to another peak. You set a standard and when you reach that standard, you push the standard higher. There is no peak; there is no finish line, there is no limitation; there is no timeline other than today. … I will never put any limitation on what this football team can be ever if we do the work, which we will.”
The start of the Jim Mora era was met with the first priority — retooling the roster. Mora overhauled the roster by bringing in almost 40 transfer portal additions, including many from his 2025 UConn squad. Very few players from CSU’s 2025 team were brought back, and Mora and his staff received commitments from over 20 high school recruits as the team prepares for the future as well.
As the transfer portal period came to an end, the roster was fully set and the revamped team was showcased throughout the spring practices and scrimmages. The team still has lots of positional battles that may not be announced until the days leading up to Week 1, but Mora’s mission to build a team that works to become the best possible has not changed.
“As a team, in terms of their attitude, they’re understanding what it is going to take for us to be successful,” Mora said following the team’s second open spring football scrimmage. “Their willingness to embrace that, I’ve seen that elevate. I see a closeness developing on the team. … It’s becoming more and more competitive, and those are all great signs.”
Throughout the entirety of spring ball, no decisions were made regarding who may start come opening week. One positional group where that especially is true is the quarterback room.
After a long 2025 season of quarterback struggles and unreliable QB play, CSU rebuilt their QB room with transfer portal additions of Hauss Hejny and K’saan Farrar, along with the incoming freshmen class that includes Darnell Kelly and Carter Emanuel. Hejny is the headline name of the bunch and seems to have emerged as an early favorite for the starting job.
Hejny, an Oklahoma State transfer, is listed at 6 feet tall, and comes to Fort Collins following a year in which he missed the entire season with a broken foot after getting injured in OSU’s season opener. Known for his scrambling ability and quick speed, Hejny brings excitement to a recently dormant QB room.
“I’m not going to say why I should be the guy, but I’m going to work my tail off until Week 1 to be that guy,” Hejny said in April. “Just because that’s who I am — I’m a competitor — and no matter if I’m named the starter three weeks ago or I’m named the starter in Week 3, I’m going to keep just being the same person every day because that’s what I’m called on this Earth to do: Be the same person every day.”
CSU also fortified their skill positions in the roster rehaul, with intriguing additions such as tight end Juice Vereen from UConn, running back Mel Brown from UConn, tight end Pearce Spurlin III from Georgia and wide receiver Terrence Smith Jr. from UConn.
On the defensive end, former four-star prospect Stephon Wright, a defensive end also brought from UConn, pops out as a name to watch, as well as another UConn standout, linebacker Oumar Diomande. Most of the players that Mora brought from his 2025 coaching spot at UConn seem bound to be starters on the new-look Rams squad.
“The guys that we have brought over and then the returners that we have here already, I feel like we have a close connection already,” Brown said after a spring practice. “It’s going to be a real brotherhood. I feel like everybody gets along; we don’t have anybody with any insane egos or anything like that. We click very well as a team.”
Now with the inaugural Pac-12 season just weeks away from kicking off, CSU will begin to ramp up for the season with a huge season opener facing them: a matchup against cross-border rivals Wyoming at home Sept. 5. A showdown for the Bronze Boot will signal the start of the Pac-12 era for CSU football, and then conference play will begin Week 5.
After years of losing seasons following high expectations, the Rams will look for 2026 to be the year the team finally begins to change the trajectory of the program. With the implementation of the Mora culture, a revitalized roster and a clean slate in a new conference, CSU football could very well be staring at the dawn of a new, winning culture.
Reach Devin Imsirpasic at sports@collegian.com or on social media @DImsirpasic.
