Wyoming has rarely been a school to make much recruiting noise, either nationally or within the Mountain West Conference. That appears to be changing.
Unlike the other two MWC schools with new coaches, San Diego State and New Mexico, Wyoming is off to one of its best starts in recent years.
New coach Dave Christensen has oral commitments from two three-star quarterbacks, including Austyn Carta-Samuels, who decommitted from San Jose State last week and was offered scholarships by several conference schools. Carta-Samuels told he was lured by Christensen’s spread offense and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo, who left San Jose State for the Cowboys.
Carta-Samuels, of San Jose Bellarmine Prep, isn’t alone in hoping Christensen will develop him into the next Chase Daniels. The Cowboys have another three-star QB recruit in midyear junion college transfer Robert Benjamin. With four returning QBs, it will be a crowd in two-a-days if there isn’t attrition before then.
Wyoming is the surprise in the MWC so far, ranked fifth by despite Christensen getting a late start. The Cowboys have 20 oral commitments, with a target of 24.
CU.
Colorado added four commitments at the start of the week and a sleeper to end it. David Bakhtiari, who didn’t play offensive tackle until his senior year, is a rare Big 12 commitment without a two-star rating on . He’s a one-star on .
Wide receiver Andre Simmons of Independence (Kan.) CC is visiting Kansas State this weekend, according to . Considering K-State has typically bulked its rosters with junior college transfers while CU has had trouble getting them into school, he could be gone.
CSU.
The Rams picked up two late under-the- radar types. Cameron Moss, a tight end from San Diego charter school Steele Canyon, picked the Rams from a top three that included Dartmouth and Cal Poly. He wasn’t in the . database other than a goldandgreennews blurb. Jared Koster is listed as a two-star end but played linebacker his senior year at Norco, Calif. The Rams lost one of their highest-rated commitments this week to Missouri in safety Donavan Bonner of Dallas.
Voting result.
Contrary to some Internet reports, the MWC voted in favor of a football proposal during the recent NCAA convention for a long-discussed early signing date. The football coaches convention proposed a three-year trial allowing high school seniors to sign during the third week of December.
Where were they then?
In 2004, . listed Gartrell Johnson (who then went by the name Gartrell Shavers) as a one-star prospect with academic issues. On the day he could have picked up his degree at CSU, Johnson produced one of the best bowl games in history with 375 combined rushing and receiving yards in the New Mexico Bowl.
First to enroll.
Grandview safety Matthew Tucker, one of just three four-star recruits in Colorado, isn’t waiting around for the high school signing. He graduated early and is attending classes at Arizona State.
