CONGRAT POST: HERE'S JOHNNY!

We wanted to give a quick shout out to 2012 Colorado State recruit Johnny Schupp for qualifying for California's state wrestling tournament this last Friday. Johnny went 5-0 to win the Masters heavy weight title. We wish him the best of luck. Try not to break the dude's neck. Can't wait to see you next fall. Here's the article if interested: Cal grappler

On another note. There's another sport CSU needs to add into it's department. Wrestling is sick! If you've ever had a chance to see Minnesota or Iowa wrestle, consider yourself lucky. That's as close as you're going to get to professional wrestling. I know someone will make a crack about WWF, who wouldn't. The Iron Sheik is a classic character. Point is CSU needs to add more varsity sports. I get the whole title 9 thing, or whatever it's called, who cares. If there's support from fans, why not bring in hockey, or baseball, or wrestling.

UPDATE 3.5.12:

The Reporter photography 

Johnny wins heavy weight California state championship in wrestling. Schupp went 5-0 in the state tournament in dominating fashion by pinning all his opponents. It took him two minutes fifty nine seconds pin Michael Lowman to take state. Nice work! Congrats Johnny!

ONE UPSET SPECIAL PLEASE: CSU BEATS NEW MEXICO

From all the times I've watched this Ram basketball team, that was the hardest I've ever seen this team play. In case you haven't heard, the CSU Rams basketball team pulled off another epic upset lastnight against the #18 New Mexico Lobos; short handed! Without Will Bell, Pierce Hornung out muscled the Lobo defenders, putting an exclamation point on the win with a killer dunk at the end of the game. Pierce wasn't the only one that shined. Dorian Green scored a team high of 17 and killed it at the line. The entire Ram team looked intense and were determined to make the Lobos road kill. Beauty job!

As far as the reffing goes, the Rams seemed to get shafted on some calls and it's been happening all season. Luckily it didn't effect the outcome lastnight but Hugh Greenwood, Lobo Aussie, was playing patty cake all game long and was finally called out on it at the end of the game. Is it CSU's reputation of an up and coming basketball program? Is that the growing pains? I don't know but the MW ref crews should take a look at some game film so they can learn from retarded mistakes.

Another thing that was pretty weak was the attendance. Just over 4000? Come on, we gotta sell that shit out. Especially the students. Just because they're not giving away free hotdogs or bandannas doesn't mean "don't show up". Having said that, that was the loudest 4000+ fans I've ever heard at Moby. Killer energy but, seriously. 

Whatever. Another win for the Rams and it brings them one step closer to the big dance. Way to go boys!

"AL" B. SURE TO RUN THE DEFENSE

Al Simmons on the set of Paul Simon's classic "You can call me Al"

UTEP's safeties coach Al Simmons will be taking over as Colorado State's defensive coordinator. Who the “Al” is that, you ask? “Al” tell you right now. From reading his resume, he has been coaching forever and at every school in the country. He has never been a Head Coach and has limited D-coordinator experience at Cal State Hayward and San Francisco State. Two colleges I have never heard of.

“Al” go ahead and say it. This move is a head scratcher. I liked a lot of the choices Coach Mac made in selecting his staff. He is an offensive minded coach, so you would think the D-Coordinator would have extra responsibilities. Well, he probably does and the last time Al was a D-coordinator was 1997. His resume does boast a litany of NFL and college stars. Do the names Deltha O’Neal, Trevor Bell and Dennis Weathersby ring a bell? Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

SUPER MERGE AS A POSITIVE

March Madness is perhaps the great sporting event and the last 2 years, the Butler Bulldogs have made it to the final. Maybe comparing football to basketball is apples and oranges, but the tournament system creates excitement and allows the smaller schools to compete. A move had to be made and beggars can’t be choosers.

So, due to all the negative press this Mountain West/Conference USA super combo has been receiving, we thought we would post a list of the positive outcomes to this merger. Also we are taking suggestions for the name of this “super” conference. I vote for Super Conference.

1. We won't have to see this piece of crap MW block logo on our field anymore.

2. CSU fans will enjoy traveling to exotic places such as Greenville, NC to battle East Carolina and Huntington, WV where the Rams can take on the likings of the Marshall Herd. Pretty sure they have airports in those cities. Actually, it will be nice to travel to New Orleans to see the Rams wipe their asses with a Green Wave. Hawaii too.

SIDENOTE: What the hell is this? Looks like something my five year old niece drew. A tree? A Christmas cookie with a football? Soft serve ice cream running away from the cone that it was placed in? Stupid. I can't believe we are going to be in a conference with this garbage. F for effort, + for looking like a tree.

3. The idea of a playoff between division winners is an excellent idea. A positive in my book.

4. The multiple flags that will be flown around Hughes Stadium, just like the ole' WAC days. This will dress up the Rams' home once again.

5. You know, instead of complaining, come up with a better idea.

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE USA SUPER COMBO

Conference Mountain USA West looks to finally have legs and the two conferences should be completely merged into one 16 team super conference soon. We've written on this subject in the past many times: speculated on what the conference should look like, who will dominate this new conference and how it will affect the Rams. 2013 is the anticipated merger and hopefully we will have answers to these questions then. The most likely outcome, I doubt this will have any impact on whether or not the d-bags that run the BCS will even let an AQ emerge from this super conference championship. So, this still leaves Colorado State on the outside but leaves time to improve their chances in getting that BCS bowl bid.

The execution of building a new on-campus stadium will bring CSU on step closer. I can't believe that there is an opposition to this. Why wouldn't it be a benefit to the school? I get that there is some sentimental factors in destroying a piece of crap like Hughes Stadium, and trust me, I've had some of the best times of my life in there, but, that place sucks. Jack Graham couldn't build it fast enough as far as I'm concerned and you should feel the same way if you're a Ram fan.

By the time our stadium is built, the new super conference will be in full swing. We will know then whether to jump ship to a bigger conference, or ride it out. My guess is, CSU will be shopping for a new athletic home. With all the new marketing going towards new out of state tuition, Colorado State will be bursting at the seams with new student population and Northern Colorado, especially Fort Collins, will have grown to a new attractive market making the region and new hot bed for bigger money to play in. Everyone wants to move west and Colorado is NOT California.


Another thought is, will the BCS even still exist? I hope not. I'm not going to bore you with similar rants you've read in the past on this subject. You know where we stand on the BCS.

In a concluding thought, yeah, go ahead with the merger. Give it a couple years. Graham will get this school out of this conference mess and solidify Colorado State in a stable, more prominent home for our athletes to compete in.

HELP WANTED: DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

The story has been buzzing for a while now that Larry Kerr, Defensive Coordinator is getting the boot.  I’m pretty sure Kerr has been hiding underneath his desk for a couple of months to still be considered a staff member.  That or posing as a student, attending house parties, study sessions at the library and Thursday nights out for $1.50 monster beers at Wash Bar. You know, trying to blend in. Helping his cause is that Coach McElwain was busy winning National Titles (cough, cough) giving Kerr a chance to barricade the door.  Kerr has coached the Rams defense to 85th in total defense last season (2011), 96th the year before (2010), and 78th the year before that (2009).  Rushing defense was right near the bottom in 2011 at 116th with only Kansas, Indiana, New Mexico and Texas Tech putting up sloppier performances.  Pretty horrific stats with no real signs of improvement as the recruiting classes progressed under Steve Fairchild’s tenure.  Somewhere in the depth of my mind I think Fairchild may have gotten his final year on his contract if he had gotten rid of Kerr at some point through the season or right at the end, although it’s debatable because it was probably too late for Fairchild.  Ramifications covered the defense and the 2011 outlook before the season and the prospects looked good.  Then, the Rams were hit with a barrage of injuries, including Mychal Sisson, the Captain, but I don’t view it as an excuse.  Breakout seasons were had by Nordly Capi, and Shaq Barrett. 

So what does it mean for Kerr, the mastermind of the defense.  My bet, and I’m all in on this one, is he’s gone.  His bubble was burst at the end of 2010.  Quite honestly I don’t know how or why he’s still there.

UPDATE:  Kerr not listed on staff (officially), but it is unknown whether he has been officially let go.

GRADING THE CSU RECRUITING CLASS

Wednesday, Colorado State football took the first steps in turning their entire program around by picking a pretty solid recruiting class of 24. Jim McElwain’s foundation for future talent will probably be the toughest class that he’ll ever have to assemble. And after watching J-Mac and Cap’n Jack deliver some kick ass speeches at the annual Ram Round-Up; which by the way had more than twice the attendance of last years, it totally pumped me up for the program’s future. They really made want to start shoveling money I don’t even have into the athletic department. Jack Graham is a great salesman.

Sorry, I got off track a little. We’ve broken down this incoming class into four categories to grade.

Size

A+ With three players tipping the scales at 315 pounds and higher, and four more around 300, I would have to say this is one of the biggest classes I’ve seen in recent years for Colorado State. When I watched these big guys on film, they’re not only mammoths; they got some skills to man handle people. I got the impression from J-Mac’s speech that CSU will mimic the 90’s CSU teams where we had an intimidating defense and a smashing running game.

Speed

B-/B Although on tape some of these recruits do look fast, I couldn’t really tell if they were legit or if the kids they were playing against were just slower. The other thing is who knows who’s timing their 40s. I think last year we had a little more speed in our in coming class. This year speed is compromised with size.

Skills

B Each player has shown some impressive things they can do but I would say only a few wowed me through their entire video. Honestly, I think the big men showed off their goods more than the skilled players did. We’ll see in the Spring when we get to see these guys in action.

Overall

B+ As a whole I think this class was very solid. Even though the stupid star system and the ranking of our class at the national level, (103^rd by scout.com) would tell a different story, I think our class will make an immediate impact on both a Ram team level and at least a conference level. I think we can take some fools out.

UNIFORM SIDENOTE

Rumors have come in about the spaghetti o shoulder uniforms are in the process of being redesigned. At a recent student Q&A session with J-Mac, a student asked about new uniforms and J-Mac replied jerseys “are in the process of redesign” and make a joke about someone wearing Nike being a bad thing. Reading into this whole situation makes me believe that Under Armor is a likely front runner because of the conflict of interest and competing element of an already Nike saturated front range (CU, Air Force and Wyoming all are Nike schools). That’s fine with me. I think all the Nike sponsored schools are starting to look the same and what a way to be different than to go with a direct competitor of the uniform giant. Either way, anything is better than Russell.

Take what you want from this report. It's just the word on the street.

NATIONAL SIGNING DAY 2012

Yes! Signing day is here. We'll be having the live press conference for you in a LIVE chat that you can join in on starting at 12:45 mountain time today. You can access it right here in this post or click the LIVE GAME CHAT button. We'll update you on all the signings for Colorado State below.

Colorado State Ram Commits

Click on the players below to see our profile post and/or highlight video.
K - Keenan Adam
TE/WR - Tommey Morris
C- Fred Zerblis
DE- Johnny Schupp
DB- D'Arric Thomas
RB- Mister Jones
LB- Kevin Davis
WR- Jordon Vaden
RB- Joe Hansley
QB- Craig Leonard
LB- Nolan Peralta
LB- Deonte Wortham
TE- Brett Jordan
OT/DT- Nick Callender 
S/LB- Nick Januska 
DT- Mitch Frentescu
DT- Calvin Tonga
TE- Daniel Nwosu
DT- Fredrick Walker 
OT- Tomas Tivera 
WR- Darran Hall
DL- Shaq Walker
DB- Josh Bowman
LB- Bryan Ohene
OL- AJ Frieler 

Currently Colorado State sits at 103rd in recruiting in the nation according to scout.com.

QUICK UPDATE

Mister Jones IS available for competition this fall.