Fort Collins, Colorado

Saturday, March 13, 2010 | 43°F

Business Center | Spring Break

by Adam Bohlmeyer

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Signed, sealed and delivered. They are yours, CSU.

The CSU Rams football team announced their official 2010 recruiting class Wednesday, a group of 28 players that head coach Steve Fairchild said he is proud of. The third-year CSU coach thanked everyone who makes up the University for playing a role in helping to sign his new recruits.

“You don’t get a class like this without tremendous support from the university, not only within the Athletic Department, but students, staff and faculty,” Fairchild said. “It was a tremendous effort and we’re very lucky to have the product we have to sell.”

Along with highly anticipated quarterback Pete Thomas, the Rams received official letters of intent from Tony Drake, a highly recruited running back from Skyline High School in Dallas, Texas and Garrett Grayson, a top-ranked dual-threat quarterback from Heritage High School in Washington.
The 2010 class of recruits consists of 13 defensive players and 15 offensive players, including four offensive linemen, a position the Rams needed to refill after losing four linemen to graduation last season.

Fairchild acknowledged the holes in the Rams offensive line, but said he wasn’t focusing on any specific position when he created this commitment class.

“It’s never whether you address a certain position,” he said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. “What we would like to do is address all 22 positions in every class and keep a steady flow of talent coming up through our program.”

CSU went all over the map to sign this year’s recruiting class, gaining 11 commitments from Florida recruits, eight from Texas, three from California, three from Colorado, two from Washington and one recruit from Oklahoma.

Fairchild gave credit to his coaching staff for working hard to find the best players they could and getting them to come to CSU.

“This is obviously a multi-year task,” he said. “Our guys were impressive and were able to secure this group of signees.”

The Rams coaches aren’t the only one’s giving credit to the current recruiting class. Rivals.com ranked CSU’s class fourth in the Mountain West, behind conference powerhouses BYU, TCU and Utah. The Rams rank 59th nationally, seven spots ahead of rival CU-Boulder and 31 spots ahead of Wyoming.

Although he said he fully expects to play more experienced players in the upcoming season, Fairchild explained he wouldn’t be surprised if some of his new recruits see some significant playing time.

“I think our staff and I always talk about, if a guy can help us win, we are going to play them,” the San Diego native said. “Realistically, you’d like to think you are going to redshirt the entire freshman class. There is still a lot of time between now and August. We’ll just see where it is but I’d anticipate someone will be able to come in and play.”

With the 2010 recruiting class officially in place, Fairchild said that the process of improving the Rams is only beginning, adding that the coaches need to do their job now.

“None of these guys right now are good enough to help us win a Mountain West championship,” he said. “They have to develop, and our coaches have to develop these guys. They need to be a lot better in a year or two and that’s part of the job.”

Assistant Sports Editor Adam Bohlmeyer can be reached at sports@collegian.com.

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