Colorado State picks up a pair of veteran transfers — what to expect from the new Rams

The reinforcements are on the way for Niko Medved and the Colorado State Rams.

After beginning the week with no transfer commitments, CSU picked up a pair of key veterans this week with both Ethan Morton and Keshawn Williams announcing that they will continue their collegiate careers in the Green & Gold. 

Morton comes to Fort Collins with one year of eligibility after spending four seasons at Purdue, where played in 132 games and recorded 29 starts. He saw his minutes decrease significantly this past season on a Boilermakers squad that was one of the top teams in the country. His defensive prowess and experience competing in big-time games, though, is really appealing for a team that will have multiple young players serving key roles. 

A 6-foot-6, 215-pound guard / forward that can use his length to get to the hoop and stretch the floor a little bit from behind the arc, Morton has a chance to essentially fill an Adam Thistlewood-type role on offense. He’s not going to be the star of the show most nights, however, he can knock down a corner three or drive hard in the lane to finish off the glass. 

Morton is a pretty skilled passer, too. He’s a guy that can run the floor and hit an open shooter in fast break scenarios. But where he’s particularly crafty is in half court sets. Playing with big men like Zach Edey, you have got to be able to feed the post and that’s an area where he excels. I’m interested to see how that could benefit an up-and-coming bruiser like Rashaan Mbemba. 

Defensively, Morton can help make up for what CSU loses with the departure of Josiah Strong and very likely Nique Clifford. You can match him up with bigger guards or smaller forwards and feel comfortable with his ability to keep them in check. His defensive box plus/minus of 5.2 this past season would have ranked first on CSU — at least out of the players that logged legitimate minutes.

Williams comes to CSU by way of Northern Illinois. The 6-foot-4, 175-pound guard spent the last three years with the Huskies after playing his freshman season at Tulsa. He’ll have two years of eligibility with his COVID year and medical redshirt.

When healthy, Williams has been a consistent scorer and really reliable option at the D1 level. He averaged 17 points per game on 45 percent shooting from the floor over 44 games between 2021 and 2023. Quite honestly, had he stayed healthy, there’s a pretty good chance that Williams would have been playing for a high major this past season. 

Unfortunately for Williams, the athletic guard tore his ACL after just 15 games in the 2022-23 campaign. He then attempted to come back for the 2023-24 season but logged just 14 total minutes in one appearance this past December. 

Now seemingly back at 100 percent, Williams has the opportunity to prove himself once again, this time in the Mountain West. He took an official visit to CSU back in 2019, so in a different world he could have been a Ram this whole time. In a crazy and chaotic period for college basketball, it’s encouraging to see that long-term relationships can still pay off for the staff though.

We’ll have to see how he’s moving this fall before we can accurately set expectations for the 2024-25 season. But if Williams looks like his old self, the former MAC standout could be a really important pickup for a team that has a ton of offensive production to replace.

Williams is explosive off the drive and can throw it down at the rim if given too much space. He’s a really tough defensive assignment, though, because he can also stop on a dime and pull up with a smooth jumper.

Kyan Evans is a natural facilitator and CSU’s system inherently features a lot of ball movement, so Williams won’t necessarily have to create every scoring chance. Having said that, with a sophomore point guard assuming a much larger role, there are bound to be some lumps along the way. Having someone like Williams that is capable of creating for himself and scoring at a high volume should take some stress off of the younger guys.

It’s a long offseason and there are still multiple moves to be made. But this week the Rams did a nice job filling some of the openings in the rotation.

We’ll see what moves Medved and Co. have in store in the coming weeks.