DENVER — The greatest of all-time. 

The 2021 season has not gone to plan for Colorado State football. Staring down the barrel of a 3-9 finish, this year will be remembered largely for the shortcomings of the Rams and the frustrating ways that CSU lost a couple of winnable games. 

As much as football season has been a let down and it definitely has been, the biggest silver lining of it all has been Trey McBride cementing himself as the best tight end in the country and the greatest to ever play the position for CSU. 

With six catches for 89 yards against Hawaii, McBride became the first tight end in program history to record a 1,000 yard season. He’s just the 13th tight end ever to accomplish the feat, which says a lot about how rare of a player the Fort Morgan native is. McBride also surpassed legendary Ram, Keli McGregor, to become CSU’s all-time leader in receptions by a tight end (154). 

Trey McBride surpasses Keli McGregor to become CSU’s all-time leader in receptions by a tight end. Just an incredibly impressive career. pic.twitter.com/uViEIdSFFD

— Justin Michael (@JustinTMichael) November 21, 2021

Weirdly enough it took until the fifth drive of the game for McBride to even get his first target against Hawaii, but down the stretch he was able to produce enough to record his eighth game of 80+ receiving yards this year and etch his name atop the history books for CSU. 

Disappointingly, due to only having one touchdown this fall, McBride isn’t going to be able to catch Kori Sperry’s career total of 20 touchdowns. As it currently stands No. 85 is tied with Joel Dreesen for the third-most touchdown catches by a CSU tight end (10). One more would tie Kivon Cartwright (11) for second-most. Regardless of his touchdown numbers, however, McBride’s insane production this fall has him in a league of his own. While there have been some absolute ballers to play tight end for the Green & Gold over the years — guys like Dreesen, McGregor and Sperry — none were viewed nationally the way that McBride is. 

ESPN’s draft guru, Todd McShay, has projected McBride as a top 30 NFL prospect and the No. 1 tight end on his board all season. Pro Football Focus has consistently graded him as one of the best contested catchers in the country. So whether he actually goes in the first round or not, it’s clear how revered McBride is. He’s going to be highly prioritized by someone’s front office as a top 50 draft pick and likely go on to have a phenomenal professional career. 

It might sound like an exaggeration but a couple of years from now it wouldn’t be surprising to see as many McBride jerseys around Fort Collins as there are Josh Allen jerseys currently being worn up in Wyoming. That’s the type of potential he has in the NFL and how beloved he should be in Ram Country. Having said that, no matter how his professional career ends up playing out, there’s no doubt that McBride is one of the most talented players to ever represent CSU. His commitment to the school is something that should never be forgotten. And Ram fans should feel fortunate to have been able to watch him up and close for the past four years.