Colorado State football is heading into its most anticipated season yet under coach Jay Norvell‘s leadership.
CSU is looked at by many people as a team that should make a bowl game this year. Week one could be incredibly telling with No. 4 Texas looming in the distance. Quarterback Quinn Ewers is one of the best in the nation and is coming off a season where he lead UT to a top-10 offensive finish.
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By no means is anyone giving CSU even a little bit of a chance — ESPNBET currently has CSU as 32.5-point underdogs, but that’s not on the minds of the players.
“I’ve been here for a long time, and just the team, just how everybody’s bonding, gluing together — it’s just special.” –Henry Blackburn, defensive back
Instead, this week will be about how the team has prepared and how they can execute their game plan.
“We’ve had a lot of time to game-plan this game,” Norvell said. “We’re anxious to play it, you know — I am excited, our kids are bouncing around (and) excited to play a game. They’re tired of hitting each other, and we’re excited to get our first opponent.”
Offense
After a very up-and-down 2023 season, Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is poised to make that next step in becoming one of the best QBs in the Mountain West.
One of the most important things to possess as a QB is confidence, and Fowler-Nicolosi often exudes confidence and will bring that into what he called a huge opportunity heading to UT.
“Obviously, it’s awesome to get in there and go test your skills (and) see where your team’s at with a great opponent in Texas,” Fowler-Nicolosi said. “And so I think we’re all excited to go down there and get the chance to play them and see where we’re at.”
Although the passing game is pretty set at where they’re at and looks to be explosive, the Rams will not be competitive by only passing the ball. Although they run an air raid offense, CSU still has to be competent in the running game, something that they — at times — struggled with last season.
Heading into Texas, there will be an opportunity for someone to take those reins and establish themself as a primary back for the Rams. Justin Marshall looks like the No. 1 option at this point, but Avery Morrow, Kobe Johnson and Damian Henderson II are right behind him and could very easily eat into his carries.
“We want to be able to control the football,” Norvell said. “We want to get some explosive runs running the football. I think that’s something we feel like is missing.”
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Who to watch: Vince Brown II is set to be the starting tight end with Norvell’s announcement that Jaxxon Warren will be out for the season following shoulder surgery.
Brown II hasn’t played a lot at the Division I level, posting only four catches for 32 yards in his lone year as a Ram. However, he also had a really good-looking camp, and with Tory Horton stretching the field, that could leave the middle wide open for Brown II to feast.
Defense
UT will be an excellent test to see improvements on the CSU defense. Losing Chigozie Anusiem, Mohamed Kamara and Justin Sanchez should create opportunities for the next wave of guys to step up.
Buom Jock should fill in nicely for Sanchez, and Nuer Gatkuoth has the potential to be a great pass rusher for CSU. However, fans will have to wait to see Gatkuoth back in action after Norvell announced he would be out Saturday.
“I’ve been here for a long time, and just the team, just how everybody’s bonding, gluing together — it’s just special,” Henry Blackburn said. “I’m proud of the guys — we’ve been putting in a lot of work.”
One of the things that has been emphasized for the defense this offseason has been communication. With the new rules in college football, players are now allowed to have direct communication through a headset with their coaches.
This not only aids faster communication between the sideline and the field, but it has also created more chatter between players as well.
“Everybody’s talking every single play,” Blackburn said. “We’re all locked into our key, locked into motions, adjustments, shifts — everything we need to see before the snap.”
Who to watch: Jock is coming into his second year at CSU, but there has been a lot of buzz surrounding what he can bring in the middle of this defense.
The Rams struggled giving up big plays last year, but the dynamic of Jock paired with Chase Wilson could help remedy some of that, especially in the running game.
Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.
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