FORT COLLINS, Colo. — As the Ram Faithful eagerly awaits the 2020 football season, one of the things that has helped pass the time is the aggressive recruiting approach from Steve Addazio and his staff.

As of Tuesday night, Colorado State football is up to 16 verbal commitments for the 2021 recruiting cycle, many of which are from right here in the Centennial State.

The most recent local commit, Mukendi Wa-Kalonji, is a three-sport athlete out of Grandview High School in Aurora. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound defensive end announced his commitment to the Rams via Twitter.

Respect my decision 💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/j8kWRIXSaI

— Mukendi Wa-Kalonji (@MukendiWaKalon1) June 3, 2020

Wa-Kalonji recorded 30 tackles and two sacks as a junior last season but has flown somewhat under the radar from a recruiting perspective. 247Sports does not currently have a profile for him and the only other Division 1 offer that he posted about was from the University of Nevada.

As Addazio has said on multiple occasions, though, his entire recruiting philosophy is based around finding diamonds in the rough.

Grandview High School often gets overlooked due to the success of Cherry Creek, Valor Christian, Columbine, etc. But the program does have a solid track record for producing talent. In the last decade alone, the following NFL players have come out of Grandview: WR Tanner Gentry (Wyoming), DE Eddie Yarbrough (Wyoming) and TE Evan Baylis (Oregon).

Obviously, we are a long ways from knowing whether Wa-Kalonji has a chance to play professionally or not. Either way, though, it’s really encouraging to see CSU going out and embracing local talent — and at the end the day, at least Ram fans can rest easy knowing that he won’t come back to bite them in the butt like Gentry and Yarbrough did with the Pokes.

2021 commits

QB | Luke McAllister | 6-foot-4, 187 pounds | Monument, CO.

QB | Chance Harris | 6-foot-0, 198 pounds | Clovis, NM.

RB | Alex Berrouet | 6-foot-1, 200 pounds | Acton, MA.

RB | Patrick Smith | 5-foot-11, 185 pounds | Absecon, NJ.

WR | Gerick Robinson | 5-foot-11, 160 pounds | Las Vegas, NV.

WR | Langston Williams | 5-foot-10, 155 pounds | Centennial, CO.

TE | Drake Martinez | 6-foot-3, 205 pounds | Houston, TX.

TE | Tanner Arkin | 6-foot-3, 215 pounds | Fort Collins, CO.

OL | Justin Michael | 6-foot-5, 260 pounds | Fort Collins, CO.

OL | George Miki-Han | 6-foot-1, 300 pounds | Santa Ana, Calif.

DL | Grady Kelly | 6-foot-3, 257 pounds | Navarre, FLA.

DL | Mukendi Wa-Kalonji | 6-foot-5, 210 pounds | Aurora, CO.

LB | Elijah Muhammad | 6-foot-2, 230 pounds | Middle Village, NY.

DB | Lathan Adams | 5-foot-9, 160 pounds | DeSoto, TX.

DB | Andrew Garwo | 5-foot-11, 170 pounds | Fairless Hills, PA.

P | Jackson Ray | 5-foot-11, 150 pounds | Gilbert, AZ.