Dec. 20 mark national signing day for football. As athletes put pen to paper to commit to playing for higher institutions, heres a list that will be updated throughout athletes announcing their intentions to play football for Colorado State.

“This is always a great day for us and our program,” coach Jay Norvell said. “Big day in college football everywhere, we get to sign the majority of our players for our recruiting class for the calendar year.”

Three-star defensive line Edmari Binion: With their first signing announcement of the day, the Rams announced that the 6-foot-6-inch Binion officially put pen to paper on Dec. 20. The edge hails out of California, where he attended St. Pius X-St Matthias Academy in Downey, California. While MaxPreps doesn’t have any stats for Binion, CSU beat out schools like UNLV and Washington to land the three-star edge rusher.

Three-star defensive line Keegan Shank: Attending Chaparral high school in Scottsdale, Arizona, Shank has officially put pen to paper Dec. 20. The 6-foot-4-inch 255 pound edge has had 30.5 tackles for a loss in just 20 games played across his high school career. He also added eight sacks during his time playing for the Firebirds. Shank is rated as a three-star recruit by 247sports and picked CSU over the likes of Mountain West rivals Air Force and Utah State.

Three-star running back Jalen Dupree: Attending Malvern high school in Malvern, Arkansas, Dupree ran all over the competition. In just three seasons Dupree rushed for 6805 yards on 771 carries and added 93 touchdowns. That’s 8.8 yards per carry, which helped him go for more that 2k yards in his junior and senior years. Dupree won the MaxPreps Arkansas player of the year in 2022, helping him to receive a three-star rating by 247sports. Dupree picked CSU over schools like: Air Force, UNLV and Kansas State.

“Really really impressive high school player,” Norvell said about Dupree. “We’re excited about Jalen Dupree.”

Three-star offensive line Zach Smith: Marking their first local signing of the day, CSU signed the offensive tackle out of ThunderRidge high school in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. The 247sports three-star recruit played varsity during his entire time at ThunderRidge, even getting some reps at the tight end position. The Rams beat out schools like Oklahoma State and Nevada.

“A guy that’s going to be a monster offensive lineman,” Norvell said about Smith.

Defensive back Dagan Myers: Staying local, CSU announced they would sign Myers who played at Chatfield high school in Littleton, Colorado. While Myers currently is not a rated recruit, he still showed flashes in his final varsity season where he defended 11 passes, intercepting one. He has also proven to be a dynamic returner, taking two punt returns to the house and one kick return home.

“Greg Myers’ son, but he’s a tremendously talented player in his own right here from the state of Colorado,” Norvell said about Myers.

Three-star defensive line Jack Moran: For their third local signing, CSU signed 247sports three-star recruit coming out of Ralston Valley high school in Arvada, Colorado. Moran is 6-foot-6-inches and 255 pounds and has accounted for 68 tackles, six sacks and three tackles for a loss in his high school career.

“Another legacy player, his father (was a) great player here for coach (Sonny) Lubick,” Norvell said about Moran. “Jack is a strong physical defensive lineman who we are so so excited about.”

Three-star tight end Jaden Landrum:  Playing tight end for Etiwanda high school in Etiwanda, California, Landrum found success becoming a 247sports three-star recruit. Landrum caught 11 touchdowns going for more than 1400 yards while at Etiwanda. CSU beat out a plethora of  Mountain West teams to land Landrum including: Nevada, San Jose State and UNLV.

Three-star quarterback Darius Curry: CSU landed the 247sports three-star recruit out of Long Beach Poly high school out of Long Beach, California who comes in at 6-foot-1-inch and 185 pounds. The Rams beat out several schools to do so, including: Arizona State, Colorado and California. Curry threw for more than 6,000 yards and 79 touchdowns in his final two seasons at quarterback, he also only threw 15 interceptions over that same time period.

“Highly coveted high school quarterback from Long Beach Poly,” Norvell said about Curry. “Dynamic player, very athletic, big arm, but just an incredible leader and so excited about him.”

Three-star wide receiver Kory Hall: Rams land a 6-foot-3-inch 195 pound wide receiver out of Cleveland high school in Reseda, California. Hall is a 247sports three-star recruit, which was shown by his final two seasons where he received for more than 2,200 yards and reeled in 34 touchdowns. The Rams beat out: Utah State, Washington and Washington State to land Hall.

“Jordan Ross from Warren high school in Compton, Kory Hall from Cleveland high school and Landon Bell from Newbury Park, all dynamic guys that kind of fit that role we love,” Norvell said about the receivers that signed with CSU. “Young Tory Hortons and we’re excited about them.”

Three-star defensive back Chance Harrison: The Rams land a two-way athlete who played both wide receiver and defensive back for Rio Mesa high school, in Oxnard, California. He is slotted to play defensive back for the Rams. The 247sports three-star recruit had 160 tackles, 15 passes defensed and nine interceptions in four years on varsity. CSU beat out: Arizona, Washington State and BYU to land Harrison.

Three-star defensive back Chauncey Davis: CSU lands it’s second recruit from Etiwanda high school. In Davis’ time at Etiwanda he had 89 tackles, six passes defended and two interceptions. The three-star recruit committed to CSU over the likes of Air Force and Oregon State.

Offensive line Trajon Townsend: Rams land a big 6-foot-6-inch offensive lineman out of Lawndale high school in Lawndale, California. Townsend isn’t rated by 247sports, but is a big body that can help fill the future of the Rams offensive line.

Three-star defensive back AJ Noland: Coming out of Tualatin high school in Tualatin, Oregon, Noland amassed 29 total tackles. His hard work is shown not just on the field, but off as well where he finished with a 4.o GPA, which garnered him offers from Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia. Yet the Rams still land the cerebral defensive back.

Three-star wide receiver Jordan Ross: With an 89 composite score by 247sports, Ross is just 1 point away from being a four-star recruit. The highly-touted receiver coming out of Warren high school in Downey, California had multiple offers prior to signing with the Rams. Some of those schools included: Colorado, Arizona, Auburn, Michigan State, UCLA and Notre Dame. Ross had a break-out senior season where he caught 72 passes for 1,633 yards and 27 touchdowns.

“Just a really dynamic wide receiver,” Norvell said about Ross. “No. 2 recruit all time according to 247 for CSU, so really excited about Jordan Ross. I think he’s got a chance to be one of the next great receivers here at CSU.”

Three-star wide receiver Landon Bell: The Rams added another big name to their already stacked recruiting class at wide receiver. Also a near four-star recruit, Bell comes in with an 87 composite rating by 247sports. In his senior season at Newbury Park high school in Newbury Park, California, Bell put up 55 receptions for 895 yards and 12 touchdowns. He chose CSU over the likes of: Texas, Colorado, Michigan State and UCLA.

“Landon Bell I guess is the No. 10 recruit all time for CSU according to 247,” Norvell said about Bell. “Another big, dynamic receiver that we’re really really excited about.”

Three-star offensive lineman Berlin Lillard: CSU locked in a massive o-lineman. Lillard comes in at 6-foot-5-inches and 325 pounds to help bolster the trenches for CSU. Coming from Bishop O’Dowd high school in Oakland, California, Lillard was a three year varsity player. CSU beat out: Brown, Columbia and Nevada for the highly-touted big man.

Three-star offensive lineman Braden Hales: Rams add another big guy to the trenches with 247sports three-star recruit. Hales comes in at 6-foot-5-inches and 290 pounds. Hales comes to CSU from Olathe North high school out of Olathe, Kansas. Some offers he received came from: Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma State.

“Berlin Lillard from Bishop O’Dowd and Braden Hales from Kansas, really really excellent offensive lineman,” Norvell said about Lillard and Hales.

Three-star offensive lineman Phillip Ocon: Ocon played mostly on the defensive side of the ball at St. Francis high school in La Canada, California. However, he looks to bolster the offensive trenches. Offensive line coach Bill Best is probably jumping with joy after landing another big guy for the trenches, with Ocon coming in at 6-foot-4-inches and 295 pounds. The Rams beat out teams like: Air Force, San Jose State and UNLV to land Ocon.

“We’ve found in this age of transfer portal and all that, we have to get kids that are more ready to play coming out of high school,” Norvell said about Ocon. “And Philip Ocon is about as physical a young center that we can find from St. Francis and La Canada.”

Three-star offensive lineman John Holthaus: The final of the Rams early signings hails from Sierra high school in San Mateo, California. At 6-foot-7-inches and 290 pounds, the o-lineman joins the massive room that Best has put together for the Rams’ future.

Norvell on the entire class:

“All-in-all really talented class. Multi-talented like we always look for and this is going to be a class that is the basis of our recruiting,” Norvell said.

Norvell on the 12 recruits out of California:

“I think we have a really good plan on recruiting California. We’re invested in there, our coaches know the area, we don’t waste time and the people know us. We’ve been back there year after year after year. We’ve taken care of their players, their players have success in our program, they know they’re going to get taken care of.

We’re in a developmental program where we take players and we develop them and we work with them. And so I think the coaches there appreciate that,” Norvell said.

Norvell on if he expects the new players to make an immediate impact:

“I told our coaches ‘we don’t recruit players to play on the bench and we never had. I probably learned that more at Oklahoma than anywhere, I just always recruited guys to play and we expected them to come in and play. We want that mentality from players, we play freshman, we’re not afraid to play freshman. I think a lot of coaches are, I’ve never been that way. If a kids got talent and he can help us, we throw him in there.

We’ve got a lot of talented kids, especially the skill players. They’re going to push our guys as soon as they show up on campus,” Norvell said.

Norvell on what his favorite part about this recruiting cycle was:

“I love going to see families, I love going off campus and goin into people’s homes — and I had a pretty incredible experience — if they’re really good you get to do it more than once. It’s pretty incredible to see where a kid lives, how he grew up. I always love going into kids bedrooms because you can really find out a lot abut them by what posters they have up and that type of stuff and usually get pretty good fodder to tease them later on.

I love those relationships and I love seeing the progress that kids make and you know this is a life changing day for these kids. I think that gets lost in all this NIL and transfer portal — I mean this is a day that changes kids lives. A lot of these kids have never thought they’d get out of their neighborhood, or these bad circumstances that they grew up in. And to get a scholarship and go to college, it changes their lives, it changes their family’s lives. Some of these moms that we talked to, they’re just trying to get their kid through the next day, let alone trying to get them to college. It’s pretty good stuff what we get to do and you get reminded of that every once in a while when you’ve got to deal with all of this other crap that you don’t want to do. You remember why you got into this business,” Norvell said.

Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.