CSU Football Notes

Colorado State's spring roster was going to be limited to begin with after 23 players graduated from last year's roster. It became even thinner still as coach Mike Bobo announced four players have left the team and will graduate early, and 11 are injured, most of whom will miss all of the 15 practices.

It will have an impact on what the Rams are able to do in camp.

"It might be a little bit different in how much we can do against each other and how physical we can be," Bobo said. "I don't know that we can have three full scrimmages where we have over 125-150 plays and then have a long spring game. It might have to be structured where it's more half a practice and a situational scrimmage. That's something that we'll have to see as spring goes.

"Right now we have enough numbers to practice and to be functional, and there's guys over three deep at every position. Now, some of them are walk-ons, but we're going to coach those guys up. I think we've just got to be smart as a coaching staff."

John Freismuth, Colton Foster, Trey Smith and Marcus Wilson have all decided to graduate this spring and will no longer play.

The injury list is long, and some of the players on it make it even more painful, beginning with safeties Jordan Fogal and Jamal Hicks, both of whom have started for the Rams. Toby McBride made an impact on the defensive line as a true freshman, but missed most all of last season with a back injury that is still lingering, leading him to seek out a second opinion. Emmaual Jones and Christian Cumber are both recovering from surgeries. Cumber's was to an ACL last fall; Jones' came in the offseason, and he may be able to return late in camp.

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Offensively, the Rams will be missing offensive linemen Jeff Taylor (offseason surgery) and Ben Knox (shoulder issue), wideouts EJ Scott (who missed last year with an ACL tear and will be limited to side work) and Tyler Smith (offseason surgery) and running back Marcus McElroy (who missed most of last year with a blood-clot issue, with the team hopeful he will be cleared in late April).

New offensive line coach Dave Johnson quipped: "I only need five."

Bobo said the small number of players will limit how much the team scrimmages and hits live in camp. Defensive coordinator John Jancek targeted tackling as an area of improvement, adding it can be shored up without excess hitting.

Redshirt chance — The NCAA is discussing a change to the redshirt rule, allowing players to play up to four games at any point in the season and still be granted a redshirt year. The proposal is expected to be voted on — and passed — in April. Bobo is all for the change.

For one, he said it helps keep players motivated throughout the season with the prospect of being able to play. The major factor is being able to develop players.

"It might be they run down on the kickoff for the last four games, or they play in a third-down package on defense where they get four or five snaps sprinkled in, that experience will carry over into next year," he said.

Of note — Safety Braylin Scott (facing legal charges) and wideout Preston Williams (team suspension) have both been cleared for spring practice. ... The only position changes for the team are Robert Awunganyi is back in the secondary after moving to receiver last year; he'll also compete at nickel with Darius Campbell. Jones will be a defensive end after playing outside linebacker. He has added bulk, now up to 260 pounds. ... The Rams have 15 practices for the spring, four of which will take place this week. Because of class schedules, the normal routine will be Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, though the team will not practice on Easter. ... Bobo said McBride will be granted a redshirt season for last year.

FORT COLLINS — When the phone rings early in the morning or late at night, it just can't be good.

Picking up with head trainer Tony Hill on the other line, Colorado State coach Mike Bobo wasn't expecting good news, and hearing quarterback Collin Hill had retorn his left ACL left him heartbroken for the player.

Collin Hill, who was expected to step into the starting role for the Rams this year, had worked hard in the offseason to regain his form. On top of that, he'd inserted himself as a leader, getting the team in and out of offseason workouts.

Now, what was supposed to be the redshirt sophomore's time to emerge, the Rams have a feel of uncertainty heading into spring camp, which began Monday night with a late workout at the stadium under the lights.

"We'll coach the quarterbacks up, we'll get somebody ready to play and we'll get somebody ready to execute in our first game," Bobo said at Monday's news conference.

Who is now the key question. Even if Hill were healthy — a long shot the Rams still aren't ruling out while noting it's a stretch — there was plenty of development to explore on that side of the ball. Hill hadn't played in a game since he was a true freshman, the Rams are missing three starters on the offensive line and the unit was missing a consensus All-American at wideout in Michael Gallup.

It was going to happen with a new offensive coordinator and line coach in place, variables that had already led to Bobo stripping down the offense a bit heading into spring, but now there's a bit more to do after the phone call from Hill.

Dave Johnson, the new offensive coordinator and line coach, had never seen Hill play, so he admitted he has no idea what he is missing. While he hasn't worked with Bobo for awhile and some things have changed, the approach remains true.

"We're not panicking," Johnson said. "We're not doing anything except going on with our offense, going through our normal installation and allowing guys to step up."

It was never going to be just plugging in new players, but when it's the quarterback spot, the situation becomes amplified, especially when dealing with four players on the roster who have never thrown a collegiate pass.

"We were going to have to find a guy that we felt good about being the backup going in, and now Collin is out of the equation," Bobo said. "Now these two guys, the focus will be on them. They'll have a lot of opportunities.

"The spotlight will be on them. Let's see how they handle a little bit of pressure."

The "two" are J.C. Robles, last year's backup, and Justice McCoy, a true freshman. Another freshman, Judd Erickson, walked on last year and has been with the team for a year. Salvatti D'Ascoli, who graduated from Ralston Valley in 2017, walked on for spring.

Then there's the wild card: That the Rams' starting quarterback for the season opener with Hawaii on Aug. 25 is not yet on campus. Yes, CSU is in pursuit of other options.

"We're actively recruiting as we said after our signing day," Bobo said. "We did not sign a quarterback in this class, and we will actively recruit a quarterback this offseason. We're still doing that."

Even if the program lands a graduate transfer who is ready to play right away, the process of getting those on hand ready is still crucial.

Robles, a junior had appeared in four games, all of them mop-up duty. He has one run to his credit and has not thrown a pass. He, like all of them, has much work to do to proven he's able, and Bobo has already told him to position himself as a leader and speak up.

"J.C. Robles has got to be a more accurate passer to play in this system," Bobo said. "He's got to be better fundamentally in his feet, and he's got to play confident, and part of that comes with getting more opportunities and more reps.

"He's got to take it upon himself to be confident. Not necessarily in how he plays, but how he projects his voice, how he talks to his teammates, how he leads. He's going to be put in that situation."

McCoy and Erickson both did mostly scout-team work last year, and Bobo added people have the wrong idea about McCoy. He was labeled a dual-threat quarterback out of high school, but Bobo feels that's a more apt description of Robles.

"Justice McCoy, he's put on about 20 pounds since he got here. I like the way he looks physically right now," Bobo said. "He's going out there and putting it together. Processing information for Justice, taking it from the meeting room to the drills to the team situation to the scrimmages, how fast can he process it.

"Judd has gotten a lot of reps in individual and one on ones and pass skel. He hasn't a lot of team situations, and that's usually the case with a kid who gets redshirted his freshman year. So how's he going to handle those situations. Judd and Justice are pretty much the same, how do they process."

Bobo, Johnson and new defensive coordinator John Jancek all talked about how spring is going to be about fundamentals and getting the system to match the players on hand. Jancek is bringing a 4-3 alignment, which will lead to adjustments on his end, doing so with a completely reconstructed defensive staff.

The loss of Hill just adds another layer for the Rams this spring.

"We'll try to get those guys able to function and help lead this football team, and then we'll have to do things around that quarterback of what he can do and what he can handle," Bobo said. "There's a lot of offense you can run. There's a lot of offense that we've ran here. There's a lot of offenses I ran at the other place.

"We've got to figure out what we can do as an offense. We were going to have to do that anyway. We lost three offensive linemen, we lost some guys at outside receiver."

Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard