2022 recruiting update: Colorado State's class begins to take shape under Jay Norvell

DENVER — The recruiting season is in full swing and Jay Norvell has little time to waste with the early signing period coming up in a week. 

Prior to Norvell’s arrival, CSU’s 2022 class ranked 117th in the country according to 247Sports. So the new staff has some work to do in terms of adding talent to the program this winter. 

That said, Norvell did give some insight into what his recruiting plan will look like at his introductory press conference on Tuesday, and while the staff will hit the road with urgency, he preached the importance of not being too hasty with their approach. The veteran coach explained that you can still add a lot of talent to your roster after December via the transfer portal or JUCO ranks. He also added that a lot of high school players end up going under the radar as well due to so much transfer movement going on. 

“We’re currently talking to players. We’ve been recruiting players already, we’re evaluating the current commitments. You know, it’s just the nature of college football, it’s changed so much,” Norvell said. “ This time of year, really, there’s a lot of changes. And so we have to be able to manage that. The transfer portal really changes things.”

“We’ll look at every avenue to improve this team,” Norvell continued. “We plan on having kids on campus this weekend — get to know them and have them get to know us. And then obviously we’ll work over break. And in January we’ll finalize this class. There’s still time. There will still be a lot of players available after this early signing period.”

While the transfer portal does modify how coaches, especially new ones operate, Norvell made it clear that you have to be careful to not be too reliant on it. He said that most transfers don’t end up working out in the end. So if they are going to use the transfer portal, he wants it to be with players where he knows their background and preferably already has a history. 

Multiple Nevada players have already posted that they are now in the transfer portal since Norvell and many of the coaches left for other opportunities. It will be interesting to see how many end up coming out to Fort Collins when it’s all said and done. Trevyn Heil, a 6-foot-3, 280-pound, freshman center has already committed to CSU. Originally a three star recruit out of Grandview High School in Aurora, Heil also held offers from Air Force, Northern Colorado and Yale before signing with the Wolf Pack. 

Other notable Nevada players that have decided to transfer include linebacker Daiyan Henley who had 103 tackles, four interceptions and three fumble recoveries in 2021. Henley tweeted on Wednesday that he had already received an offer from the new tight ends coach Chad Savage. 

Wide receiver Elijah Cooks, linebacker Lamin Touray, offensive lineman Gray Davis and defensive tackle Teivis Tuioti are all leaving too. One would assume that the number of departures will only increase in the coming weeks. And some of them just may end up at CSU. 

Outside of the transfer situation Ram fans will also have their eyes locked in on which preps players end up signing from Steve Addazio’s time and which UNR commits end up flipping to the Green & Gold. Most recently CSU has lost a verbal commitment from quarterback Jake McNamara. Running back AJ Jones tweeted that his recruitment process is 100 percent open as well. 

Considering the change of coaches and scheme it makes sense that the 2022 class will get a bit of shakeup. Although it’s not a guarantee, with basically the entire offensive staff coming to CSU with Norvell, Ram fans should keep their eyes on Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, a three star quarterback out of Aledo, TX that recently decommitted from the Wolf Pack and picked up an offer from the Rams. Fowler-Nicolosi has thrown for 3,266 yards, with 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions over 24 career games. As it currently stands he holds offers from Arizona, Arkansas State, CSU, Middle Tennessee State, Oregon State, Pittsburgh and Toledo. 

We’ll see how the 2022 class comes together over the next six weeks or so. It’s clear that the process just got a whole lot more interesting though. Get ready to be stalking Twitter for the next few weeks, Ram fans. Cruitin’ season is officially here.