Colorado State’s 2025 class is starting to gain steam. 

After 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive lineman Caden Branston became CSU’s public commit for the cycle last week, the Rams added a verbal from another intriguing prospect in the trenches in Kentez Allen. 

A 6-foot-4, 285-pound offensive lineman, Allen is a three-star prospect out of Eagles Landing High School in McDonough, Georgia. He committed to CSU over an offer to stay home and play at Georgia State. 

Listed as both an offensive tackle and guard, Allen can be seen playing a lot of left guard on his Hudl film. It will be interesting to see where he lands at the collegiate level though.

A true mauler in the run game, a player that clearly embraces the physical element of football, what stands out more than anything is the way that he finishes plays. Whether in pass protection or mobbing down the field with a back behind him, Allen is the type of guy that plays until the whistle, maybe even a little bit after it. He definitely seems to have a sense of nastiness to him that can be tough to find at the high school level. 

From the very beginning of his tenure in Fort Collins, Jay Norvell has made it clear that he wants an offensive line with NFL size. Going into the 2024 season, the veteran head coach has talked about the depth in the trenches being better than it’s ever been since he came over from Nevada. That said, adding players to the program like Allen is a good way to ensure that the depth continues to be a strength in future years. 

Starting the fun off this week, on Tuesday afternoon Cannon Valenzuela became CSU’s third verbal commitment for the 2025 class. A 6-foot-4, 200-pound multi-sport athlete out of Jacksboro High School, Valenzuela is the first pledge for the Rams out of Texas this cycle. 

A wide receiver and defensive back at the prep level, Valenzuela is being recruited to play linebacker at CSU. He’d be joining recent signings like Niko Lopez, Drew Rodriguez and Jaden Landrum, all of which had similar backgrounds before converting to linebacker with the Rams. 

Valenzuela has 149 catches for 2,562 yards over the last two seasons. He’s also caught 26 touchdowns. So his offensive production has been quite consistent. On the defensive side he has 208 total tackles, 13 pass deflections and five interceptions, though, so it’s not like he has been a slouch on that side of the ball either. 

Watching his highlight plays on Hudl, what really stands out is his athleticism. He covers a ton of ground with his long strides and he’s pretty agile for someone with that much length. You can also see that he has natural instincts and does a great job of breaking down opponents before reacting and making plays all over the field. 

Prospects like Valenzuela are the best players on the field no matter where you line them up at the high school level. He’s out there hurdling guys on offense and racking up stats in the secondary to boot. 

Adding someone with not only his positional versatility but also such a unique athletic profile is a nice win for the CSU staff. He also plays basketball and baseball in addition to running track.

I’m very interested to see how he grows into a new role, especially as he puts on some weight after he gets on campus. He feels like the type of unique athlete that very easily could have ended up somewhere like Air Force, where he would have gone on to be a pain in CSU’s side under Troy Calhoun. 

The 2025 class should continue to grow in the coming weeks as more and more targets take their official visits to campus. June tends to be the busiest recruiting month of the year for the Green & Gold.