FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Two quarterbacks highlighted Colorado State’s haul on national signing day Wednesday.
“I was excited about last year’s class,” coach Steve Fairchild said. “I think this one is even better.”
Pete Thomas and Garrett Grayson were the featured members of the 28-player recruiting class, Fairchild’s third at Colorado State.
“We got two accurate, tough guys,” Fairchild said. “It’s important to them to become good football players.”
Thomas threw for 5,553 yards and 52 touchdowns with 11 interceptions the last two seasons at Valhalla High School in El Cajon, Calif. He already is enrolled at Colorado State.
“Thomas drew nationwide attention,” Fairchild said. “He will definitely compete for our starting quarterback job this spring.”
Grayson, a three-year starter at Heritage High School in Vancouver, Wash., had 70 TD passes and compiled almost 11,000 yards of total offense.
“Grayson led the nation in throwing percentage and broke a lot of 4A records,” Fairchild said. “Steve Kragthorpe, who was the coach at Louisville, thought this guy was one of the top five quarterbacks in the country.”
Fairchild would like to develop stability at the position after starting fifth-year seniors the last two years.
“I’ve said all along that we’re never going to be comfortable here at quarterback until we’ve had a guy go through it for four or five years,” Fairchild said.
The Rams received a pleasant surprise when Tony Drake, a 5-foot-9, 176-pound running back from Skyline High School in Dallas, decided to come to Fort Collins.
“Tony committed very early to Michigan,” Fairchild said. “Throughout the recruiting process, we thought he was going to attend Michigan.”
Drake ran for 1,373 yards and 13 touchdowns last fall.
If there was a priority, it was the offensive line, where the Rams lost four starters. They replenished the position with recruits Mason Hathaway, Mason Myers, Ti Sambrailo, Christian Stefo and Alex Tucci.
“You can’t address that in this recruiting class,” Fairchild said. “It’s too late. You must keep feeding it with high school players like we did.”
Colorado State also signed five linebackers, four defensive backs, four defensive linemen and three wide receivers.
The class included 11 players from Florida, eight from Texas and three each from Colorado and California.
“We’re not sitting in an area where there are 20 million people and we can count on there being enough to recruit here (in Colorado),” Fairchild said. “We have to be prepared to go wherever and whenever to fill out a class.”
When asked why he didn’t sign more Colorado players, Fairchild said: “If I could fill out the entire class in-state, we would. We’re not signing anybody based on their street address.”
Fairchild is seeking a rebound from a 2009 season in which the Rams lost their last nine games after winning the first three. Colorado State was winless in the Mountain West Conference.
“Some of our staff was here in the ’90s where year in, year out, Colorado State was competing for the conference championship,” Fairchild said. “We know that our program can be that type of program. We see the prize and will keep working until we get there.”
