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Colorado State adds three more verbals for 2024 cycle — what you need to know

June 27, 2023

Colorado State’s 2024 class is now up to double digits after receiving three more verbal commitments in the last 24 hours.

The first of the group to announce his allegiance to the Green & Gold was Chauncey Davis, a 6-foot-0, 165-pound cornerback out of Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California. He is CSU’s first defensive back for the 2024 cycle.

Although he does not currently have a recruiting ranking on any of the major sites, Davis does hold multiple Division 1 offers. According to his Twitter profile, Army, Air Force and Navy have all recruited him heavily. He’s also been offered by Georgetown. After recently being noticed by cornerbacks coach Marcus Patton at a camp, though, Davis took an official visit to CSU this past weekend and enjoyed the experience enough to verbally commit.

Davis is coming off of a junior season in which he recorded 64 total tackles over 14 games. He also had a pair of interceptions and seven pass deflections to round out an impressive year of production.

Watching his highlights on Hudl, what really jumps out is the way that he’s able to react on the fly and make a play on the ball. He has a quick first step and his closing speed is definitely worth noting. I also really like that he shows no hesitation to aggressively pursue a ball carrier. Unlike a lot of lean defensive backs at the high school level, he does not look scared when he has to make a solo tackle in the open field.

In addition to the first defensive back of the cycle, the Rams added yet another defensive end for Buddha Williams to develop. Braxton Strong, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound prospect out of Peru High School (Indiana) announced his commitment to CSU on Monday afternoon, too.

Strong has heavy recruiting interest in the IVY League and has taken official visits to Harvard, Princeton and Yale in recent weeks. As appealing as it would be to attend one of those prestigious universities, though, Strong ultimately went with the place he is most likely to make a name for himself on the gridiron. According to 247Sports, some of his other offers include Air Force, Army and UCONN.

As a two-way player for Peru High School this past season, Strong had 31 receptions for 419 yards and a pair of touchdown catches at tight end. He also had three carries for 25 yards. As a defensive end, Strong recorded 27 total tackles and one sack. He has 64 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss and five sacks in his career.

Watching Strong’s film on Hudl, it’s unsurprising that he plays both sides of the ball at the high school level. His size and athleticism make him a mismatch no matter where he lines up. Seeing the way that he runs, though, he’s going to be an absolute missile coming downhill in pass rush situations, especially as he becomes more refined in the trenches.

Finally, rounding out the most recent trio of commits, we have wide receiver Donte Ferrell out of Woodward Career Technical High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound wide receiver is listed as a three-star prospect according to 247Sports. In addition to CSU, he holds offers from at least nine other schools, including Boston College, Georgia Tech and Memphis.

Ferrell is coming off of an extremely productive junior campaign in which he recorded 92 receptions for 1,714 yards and 12 touchdowns (171 yards per game). Watching his highlights online, you can see why his numbers are so insane.

First off, Ferrell is extremely elusive in the open field. If a defender does not take the proper angle on him, Ferrell is getting away every single time and probably taking it to the house. He’s shifty laterally and has burner speed when he hits the gas. He’s the exact type of receiver that Jay Norvell raves about when it comes to creating yards after the catch.

What also stands out to me, though, is that he has ball skills in the air. As a guy that also plays defensive back at times, you can see him have success high pointing the ball and ‘out-manning’ the opposing receiver. That tells me that he will be able to have success in contested situations. And he won’t just be a guy that is just a one-trick pony in space. Ferrell looks like the type of every down receiver that you need in the Air Raid.