CSU Football bolsters defensive line through transfer additions

Colorado State continues to add depth for the defensive line via the transfer portal. After losing a ton of production from this past season’s team, the Rams have filled some of the holes caused by transfer departures and Mohamed Kamara’s moving on to the NFL with four veteran additions for the trenches. 

Starting with the defensive tackles, where the Rams do bring back Cam Bariteau and James Mitchell but will have to account for the loss of Grady Kelly, CSU has gone out and added three big-bodied individuals to help shore up the rotation inside. 

Will Prendergast, a 6-foot-2, 280-pound transfer from Florida International University was the first to pledge allegiance to the Green & Gold. A native of Prosper, TX, Prendergast began his career at Blinn College before spending the last two seasons at FIU. Although he does not have a ton of production in his FBS career — so far Prendergast has just eight total tackles in 21 career games — he does come to Fort Collins with some starting experience under his belt. We’ll see if he can come close to the type of player he was at the JUCO level, when he produced 11 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in just eight games back in 2021. 

The Rams also added a pair of familiar faces to the squad by bringing over Poukesi Vakauta from Utah State and Jernias Tafia from Washington State. 

Vakauta is a 6-foot, 300-pound interior defensive lineman that played in 37 games for the Aggies going back to 2020. The majority of his production came between the 2021 and 2022 seasons when he had 24 total tackles, 7 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He had just five tackles in nine games this past fall though. 

Vakauta had three total tackles and a fumble recovery in the 2021 win over the Rams in Logan, UT. We all obviously remember that game for different reasons though. It will be interesting to see what type of role he fills now suiting up for a former conference foe. 

The most recent addition for the defensive line, Jernias Tafia, is a 6-foot-3, 300-pound redshirt junior with two years of eligibility remaining. He made his collegiate debut in Washington State’s win over the Rams in Pullman in 2022 before playing in a limited role in 12 games in 2023. He had one tackle in Wazzu’s win over CSU in Fort Collins this past season. 

Rounding out the defensive line additions through the portal, Gabe Kirschke is a 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end that joined CSU this summer with three years of eligibility remaining. Originally a walk-on at Wisconsin out of Valor Christian High School, Kirschke redshirted in 2022 and did not see any action in 2023. After playing outside linebacker with the Badgers, though, the staff thinks that he can be a potential steal at defensive line for the Rams. 

“We lost Grady Kelly which was tough for us. He was a really important interior player for us,” Jay Norvell told DNVR. “We’ve got James Mitchell coming back, we’ve got Cam Bariteau coming back inside, which are really important veteran players. The problem was we lost the guys behind them.”

Norvell continued, explaining that with the additions CSU has made this summer, he feels much better about CSU having the necessary depth to play with the type of physicality and intensity that he desires from the defensive line. They may not have an individual put up the type of numbers that Kamara did these past couple of years but Norvell feels that between the returning players like Nuer Gatkuoth, the transfer additions, as well as the up-and-comers like DeAndre Gill, the defensive line should be able to get the job done. 

“We’re not going to have a Mo Kamara out there,” Norvell said. “But I think by committee, we’re going to have a lot of really athletic, consistent players that can play winning football for us.”