FORT COLLINS — At the end of national signing day, fans and analysts alike start talking about stars.
Naturally, Colorado State wasn’t going to do well in that regard, having signed just 12 players and ranking 122nd out of 129 FBS teams, according to . had the Rams even lower, 128th overall. First-year Colorado State coach Mike Bobo, who comes from Georgia, where recruiting really matters, said his view of the situation hasn’t changed a bit.
“That’s for the fans, and it creates excitement and it creates passion about the game, which I think makes college football great,” Bobo said. “It’s fun, but at the end of the day, you’re going to turn on that tape and evaluate that kid. It doesn’t matter if he has five stars or two stars. Some of our better players in my years at Georgia were guys we signed the last two or three days or the night before signing day that had nothing or two stars.
“It’s about what you do with them when you get them there and develop them … what’s inside of them — if they have that ‘want to.’ “
To him, the stars were the coaches he brought in on his staff. They studied film, found areas of need and went out and landed the guys they needed.
For instance, moving from a 3-4 defensive alignment to a 4-3 requires more bodies up front, and the Rams signed three such players. They also looked for size on the offensive line, with three players meeting that requirement. For the style of offense Bobo wants to run, he needed a big running back, and the Rams filled that need in Isaiah Matthews of Enterprise High in Redding, Calif. He was a player Bobo said was targeted from the day of his arrival, Dec. 23.
In a way, Bobo said it was very much in his benefit not to have to sign a large class with limited time to study film of the current roster and diagnose needs.
“If you look at this overall class, I think the common theme you will see (is) guys who have size,” Bobo said. “We want to sign longer guys, taller guys who have a big upside, because quite frankly, it’s about identifying those guys and developing them.”
What he liked was signing six Colorado kids. Olabisi Johnson (Bear Creek), Salofi Gaoa (Rocky Mountain) and Deshon Mayes (a Pomona product out of Glendale CC in Arizona) had already been on board, as was Parsons, who transferred in while the Rams were at the Las Vegas Bowl. The Rams added to that group by finding defensive lineman Richard King (Rangeview) and linebacker Max McDonald (Rocky Mountain) late in the process.
“I feel like we won Colorado with the guys we recruited,” Bobo said. “Most of these guys were committed (before I came). I know coach Marty English does an outstanding job in this state and is very well known and respected and has a handle on Colorado and Colorado kids.
“Every year we’re going to try to win Colorado. We feel like we win it every time we sign a guy from Colorado, because we offered him a scholarship. Wherever he ranks, that’s too early to decide that. We’ll decide that on the field.”
Five things to know about the recruits
• Mitch Parsons, a transfer from Vanderbilt, was a member of Chaparral’s 2012 basketball team that won the Colorado 5A state championship.
• Since 2010, the Rams have recruited six players from Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fla., including a member of this year’s class, offensive lineman Colby Meeks.
• Among Mountain West schools, only Hawaii (12) had fewer recruits in its 2015 class than Colorado State’s 13.
• Incoming linebacker Max McDonald, from Rocky Mountain High School, has strong CSU ties. His uncle, Kevin Warner, played football for Colorado State, and his aunt, Jene Warner, ran track for the Rams.
• Lineman recruit Salofi Gaoa, from Rocky Mountain, won’t be the only member of his family attending CSU. His mother, Rose Gaoa, is currently pursuing a degree at the school.
Nick Kosmider, The Denver Post
