After making it through a tumultuous 2025 season that included a 2-10 record and a mid-season coach firing, many players on last year’s Colorado State football team decided not to stick around.
However, several did.
As a new era has begun at CSU with first-year head coach Jim Mora at the helm and a jump to the revamped Pac-12 Conference, a few of those holdovers — especially on defense — are already making an impact this season.
For jack Kenyon Agurs and cornerback CJ Blocker, the decision to stay was an easy one. Mora’s arrival and the retention of defensive coordinator Tyson Summers played a big part in it.
“With coach Mora coming in and him bringing in a lot of UConn guys, too, I just kind of stayed confident under coach Summers,” Agurs said. “I really like the scheme that he runs. I like how he trusts me at the jack position, putting confidence in my game. So, thatap really the main reason I stayed.”
Both defenders have a lot of faith in Summers.
When Jay Norvell was fired mid-season last fall, Summers took over as the interim head coach. When Mora arrived, he kept Summers on to lead the defense, saying he had trust in him.
“I was super excited because mine and his connection has grown over the years, just his attention to detail and his love for corners,” Blocker said of Summers. “He is specifically just always trying to put me in the right positions to make plays because he knows I’m able to. He’s always just communicating with me, trying to build that connection. So, I can really appreciate him.”
In the first two games of the season, Agurs has eight tackles and a forced fumble while Blocker has eight tackles and a pair of interceptions.
Even though the Rams have allowed 37 points in their first two games, one glaring defensive statistic is the yardage the team has allowed, especially last week against Southern Utah.
Wyoming totaled 273 yards of offense against CSU while the Thunderbirds amassed 442.
Fortunately, CSU was able to do more than enough offensively to offset that. But the players know that might not always be the case.
Agurs specified discipline and technique as the biggest things the Rams need to focus on defensively, especially going into the biggest game of the season and possibly the 10-year history of Canvas Stadium against BYU on Saturday.
Kickoff against the Cougars is 5:30 p.m. at Canvas Stadium. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS.
“We went into Southern Utah knowing they were a triple option team,” Agurs said. “So, that was a big key. We weren’t satisfied. So, going into BYU, thatap our standard, high technique, good technique, good eye discipline and just go out there and play violent.”
“There’s been a lot of good and there’s been a lot of bad,” Blocker added. “I think we can clean up a lot of things and I think that’s good. We still have success and we know there’s still bad, but we’ve got a chance to clean that up. It’s still not going to be perfect but just try to be perfect; we try to be better every week.”
Through two games, the CSU defense has come away with eight turnovers — four in each contest.
The Rams believe they are capable of keeping up that pace.
“We have a team that can do that, and especially the defense, we have the guys to do that,” Blocker said. “With coach Summers, he’s always making a plan to get turnovers and thatap kind of our philosophy on defense is get turnovers, takeaways, all that. So, if we just keep working hard, keep pressing on it, keep doing the right things, that will come every single game.”
Agurs and Blocker aren’t the only defenders from last year’s team who stayed and are having an impact this season. Linebacker Jaseim Mitchell has 14 tackles while lineman Jack Moran has eight tackles and a sack.
All of them will be looking to make improvements this weekend while believing if they focus, they can answer the challenge BYU presents.
“Really, we’re just going in thinking they’re a good team,” Agurs said. “So, it’s really a mental game, like I said, discipline and knowing that if we just go in there, locked in from the start, mentally we can win the game.”
For Blocker, who transferred to CSU from Utah, Saturday’s game against BYU is personal.
He played for the Utes in 2023 and 2024 before transferring to CSU prior to last season and knows the Cougars from the rivalry between those schools.
“The Holy War, thatap a big, big deal over there,” Blocker said. “So, this game kind of means a lot to me. I’m just trying to make sure I work hard and just repeat the process every single week to try to get better.
“As a team, BYU is ranked and itap been a minute since we’ve played a ranked team at CSU, so this is a big game for all of us, especially with a new team. So, we’re trying to just keep going every week and keep building.”
