When Colorado State’s seniors reported to their first camp five years ago, their older teammates owned conference championship rings by the handful.
Now only a handful of those rings – souvenirs of CSU’s last Mountain West Conference crown, in 2002 – remain among active players. When the Rams hit the practice field today, only five of the 10 seniors in the two-deep were recruited freshmen in 2002.
“We have the last ones,” senior offensive tackle Clint Oldenburg said. “We know we’re the last link. We want to leave our younger guys with the same thing those seniors left us. The winning tradition is our goal.”
The Rams’ coaches will scream themselves silly the next three weeks in an effort to perfect assignments and execution. The intangibles of peer pressure and senior leadership only come from within the player ranks.
It’s a small senior class. Offensively, only Oldenburg, blocking back Tristan Walker and guard Josh Day signed in February 2002. On defense, safety Ben Stratton and cornerback Brandon Cathy are the lone holdovers.
The other seniors in the two-deep either joined as walk-ons or transferred in from junior college. Three others – David Anderson, Courtney Jones and Joey Flores – finished their eligibility in four years. Injuries took a toll on the rest who didn’t transfer out early.
When the current seniors finished their first season, those 2002 seniors had MWC rings for 1999, 2000 and 2002. Earlier cycles at CSU also collected three rings per five-year class, going back to three Western Athletic Conference titles from 1994-97.
Given that success, Oldenburg and his classmates had every reason to believe conference title rings were standard issue at CSU, like helmets and shoulder pads.
“I definitely thought we would have had more rings than we do now,” Oldenburg said.
Of his sophomore season when CSU was 4-7, he said, “You never think you’re going to have the worst year in your coach’s tenure. Sometimes things happen. I think it made us better and made us work harder.”
Since 2002, CSU finished third, tied for fourth and tied for second.
Last year’s seniors came into camp with a vow not to go out with the only back-to-back losing seasons in Sonny Lubick’s CSU career. Still, going 6-6 didn’t satisfy anyone, especially with the 51-30 Poinsettia Bowl loss to Navy.
“Getting eight, nine, 10 wins, that’s the kind of season we have to have here,” Oldenburg said.
The ring issue was reinforced recently for Oldenburg at the MWC football preview near San Diego. TCU players were flaunting their MWC title rings from 2005. The Utah players, who had two from the previous seasons, and Oldenburg didn’t wear their rings.
“It’s an etiquette thing,” Oldenburg said. “It’s a climate of, ‘What have you done lately?’ You don’t walk around with a conference championship ring from three years ago.”
The Rams don’t jump into the conference race until homecoming weekend Oct. 7 against UNLV.
“Whether you start 4-0 or 0-4, you still have a shot at the conference title,” Oldenburg said. “Our only motto is to get a ring.”
Footnote
Lubick is looking forward to the competition at cornerback, where nine players are listed on the preliminary depth chart. Nnamdi Ohaeri, a former running back moved to corner, has recovered from offseason foot surgery and will play safety. Stratton, who missed last season because of a knee injury, is cleared to play.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
Rams have issues
The biggest concerns Colorado State coaches are looking to address heading into preseason camp.
1. Rush defense: Nowhere to go but up from No. 115 national ranking.
2. O-line tweaking: Can junior college transfer Marvin Arnold move into the starting lineup?
3. Secondary depth: Develop a rotation from nine cornerbacks on the depth chart.
Schedule
All practices open to public. Practice field south of Moby Arena on Shields Street.
Today through Monday: 9 a.m.
Aug. 8: Media day (Hughes Stadium)
Aug. 9-18: Alternating days of one 9 a.m. practice and two-a-days, 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. practices
Aug. 21: Classes begin, daily 4 p.m. practice
NATALIE MEISLER
