Fort Collins – On a dreary, pull-back-the-covers Saturday morning for 99 percent of Colorado State students, football players were getting ready to pull on the gear for the first time since December.
There was no joy in the Rams’ locker room when coaches announced practice was canceled.
So the Rams made up for it in ideal weather Sunday with a chippy attitude between offense and defense usually seen after two weeks of practice in August.
“I was upset. It was a horrible day, but we wanted to get started,” senior H-back Kory Sperry said. “We had a horrible season last year and wanted anything to get ourselves going.”
Said senior defensive tackle Erik Sandie, “I wasn’t very happy at all.”
No one was happier to be out in the sun Sunday than star running back Kyle Bell. Coming off knee surgery that wiped out his 2006 season, he is under wraps this spring. Just taking a handoff and catching a few passes meant the world to him.
“It’s a great feeling just to be back,” Bell said.
“It’s the first day, everyone is that much more amped. Everyone is competing for a job,” Sandie said. “We can feel it on the defense. The offense is in our face and we want to compete with them.”
There were several loose-ball scrums at the line of scrimmage. Redshirt freshman running back John Mosure was finishing a long run when cornerback Joey Rucks punched out the ball from behind.
“There were a little bit too many collisions for having no pads on,” CSU coach Sonny Lubick said.
Lubick couldn’t fault the contagious enthusiasm.
“We have a lot of senior leadership. Everyone is really amped to be here,” Sandie said. “We know what we did last year (4-8). I’m not going to say the defense did horrible, but we want to make everyone better as a team.”
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
