DENVER — A new era of Colorado State football is here. New coaches, a new system, and a whole lot of new players. CSU’s 2022 recruiting class is now up to 28 signees, 19 of which are already on campus this spring.
The Rams announced 22 additions during the early recruiting period back in December, mostly offensive players, as the hirings of the defensive staff were not yet official at the time. On Thursday, though, CSU announced that six more players have signed and are presently in Fort Collins. The six signees include four FBS transfers, a JuCo player and one high school commit that comes over from a prep program in Georgia.
The most experienced player now donning the Green & Gold is Chigozie Anusiem, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound defensive back that played his first four seasons at Cal (2018-2021). He has suited up in 25 games and made six starts since redshirting as a freshman in 2018. Anusiem recorded 40 tackles and seven pass breakups in those games. And he comes to CSU with two seasons of eligibility remaining, a big bonus considering his significant time spent in the Pac-12.
In addition to Anusiem, the Rams also were able to land the top-rated junior college recruit out of the state of California. D’Andre Greeley, a 6-foot-0, 180-pound defensive back comes to CSU after spending one season at the City College of San Francisco, where he recorded 10 interceptions including a pair of pick-sixes. Greeley helped lead CCSF to a 13-0 campaign as well as a JuCo state championship. According to 247 Sports, Greeley is a top-15 junior college recruit in the country. He’ll have three seasons of eligibility, starting this fall.
Jay Norvell has said on a couple of occasions that cornerback would be a big priority for CSU on the recruiting trail this cycle. On paper at least, it appears that the new staff has been able to land some studs to help fill out the secondary.
Norvell, Freddie Banks (DC) and Co. also added depth to the front seven, though, with CJ Onyechi (DL), Telvis Tuioti (DT) and Nuer Gatkuoth (DL). Onyechi, a Rutgers transfer, had previously announced his commitment, so Ram fans were already aware of the defensive end from the Big Ten. Gatkuoth also recently verbally committed, despite taking a trip to Virginia Tech, so his signing was expected as well. Tuioti, however, was a pleasant surprise considering he picked up an offer from Nebraska this winter.
Tuioti redshirted at Nevada in 2020, before playing in five games in 2021. He doesn’t have a ton of experience to this point, but at 6-foot-3, 265 pounds, Tuioti certainly has the frame of a Division I starter. As a senior in high school in 2019, Tuioti racked up 73 tackles and a pair of sacks for Southeast High in Lincoln, NE. And his father is the defensive line coach for Dan Lanning at the University of Oregon, so you know football is in his DNA.
Finally, the special teams situation has been a little odd, at least in the sense that CSU is already on its second special teams coordinator of the Norvell era before having ever played a game. Before Thomas Sheffield left for Hawaii with Timmy Chang, though, he was able to help the Rams land Nevada transfer punter Paddy Turner.
Turner redshirted in 2021 with the Wolf Pack, so he has no game experience, but he is the son of a former pro athlete. His father, Scott, scored 33 goals for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1991 to 1999. Paddy is a product of ProKick Australia, a program designed to transition Australian athletes to perform at the college and NFL levels.
Ram Nation might need to keep a roster handy this fall in order to keep up with the new faces. It will be interesting to see how quickly the staff can get the new and old players to mesh together, but the general excitement from the fan base is at a level that we haven’t seen in at least a half decade, maybe longer.
The 2022 football season will surely have highs and lows, drastic changes rarely occur without some hiccups along the way. It also should be a lot of fun, though, and that too has been a missing component for multiple years.
