Fort Collins – If it’s not the basketball or volleyball teams practicing in Colorado State’s gym, it’s winter graduation exercises.
The Rams were left out in the cold and light snow Saturday for their last two practices before leaving today for San Diego and Thursday’s Poinsettia Bowl game against Navy. After a mild fall, CSU experienced some of the worst bowl preparation weather in years.
Saturday, the main gym was set up for graduation, and the auxiliary gyms were used as staging areas for the graduates.
With Colorado announcing Friday seed money for an indoor facility and Boise State just opening a new indoor practice area, CSU could be one of the few schools in the Rocky Mountain snow belt without a dedicated indoor practice field. Fellow Mountain West schools Utah and Brigham Young recently completed their facilities; one is underway in Wyoming; and Air Force always has use of its field house.
“It would be nice to get one,” CSU coach Sonny Lubick said. “It would be nice for the entire athletic department. I’m dreaming now, but the softball team could go in there. If we had an indoor facility it would help immensely.”
Because of the pre-Christmas timing of the Poinsettia Bowl, CSU had only two days of practice after finals to get in some intensive work. When the team thaws out for practice in San Diego, Lubick had hoped to do just clean-up work. Saturday’s practice was cut short 20 minutes by the bitter weather.
“Today was an attitude practice,” Lubick said.
It was a return to two-a-days for graduating seniors.
“I practice in the morning and I’ll walk (the commencement ceremony) at 4,” wide receiver David Anderson said Friday when he ran off the field faster than he said he ran any route in practice.
He had considered gluing his graduation cap to his helmet to wear to practice and graduation but didn’t, at least for practice.
“It was a great feeling taking my last final knowing I’ll never be in a classroom again,” Anderson said.
Welcome wagon
Lubick called new Colorado counterpart Dan Hawkins earlier in the week to congratulate him on the job, and Hawkins returned the call Friday in his whirlwind first day.
“I wished him good luck,” Lubick said. “He was very deserving of the job. I wish they wouldn’t have hired him. He’s a good guy, a good man. I’m sure they got the right guy.”
Footnotes
R.J. Sanders (6-0, 190 pounds) of Montbello High School is the latest to join the in-state fold. Sanders committed after a trip to Washington. CSU also picked up its first three-star prospect on the scout.com list in Michael Johnson, a 5-10, 203-pound safety from Weston (Fla.) Cypress Bay High School. Other recent additions include wide receiver Brett Willis (6-3, 185) from Garces Memorial in Bakersfield, Calif., and defensive end Patrick Massey (6-5, 210) from Austin (Texas) Westlake High School. … CSU officials said the school had sold 4,500 tickets for the bowl game by the end of the week.
