Mile High Sports

Colorado State football adds three veteran players, while 26 transfers is 2nd-most in MWC

Rich Kurtzman
Trey Paster runs onto the field for the University of California in 2022.

Trey Paster, new Colorado State linebacker. Credit: Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports.

Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell called the current state of recruiting in college football “uncharted waters” following the teams’s Green and Gold Game.

That’s because in previous years, teams could add 25 new scholarship players. But that rule was waived last May for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. This year, the Rams are expected to bring in around 50 new players, or double a typical class.

“It’s kind of an unusual time in football,” Norvell explained about recruiting. “I’ve never had this many recruits coming in. We could have close to 50 new players this summer which is basically two years of recruiting, what we’ve been used to [in the past]. 

“So, it’s kind of uncharted waters. We’re doing a lot of things the last two years we’ve never done before in coaching. We’ve recruited every weekend in the last month and a half. Getting recruits on campus. That’s just never happened before.”

Norvell is adding a ton of talent to the roster, ranging from high school graduates to JuCo transfers and DI transfers, too.

Damian Henderson, a 4-star running back from California, highlights the high school guys. He’s expected to at least compete, if not win, the starting running back job this fall.

Then, there are 12 DI transfers. Ron Hardge III is a graduate student formerly of Oregon State where he played nine games in 2021 with 20 tackles and 2 passes defended. Tight end Dallin Holker, formerly of BYU, played in 13 games both in 2018 and 2021 but only played in three contests last year for the Cougars which left him with two years of eligibility.

But most recently, the Rams announced three new, veteran players in wide receiver Dylan Goffney, linebacker Trey Paster and 30-year old kicker Jordan Noyes.

Three new transfers and possible starters for CSU

The Rams may have Tory Horton as their No. 1 wide receiver, but the team went out and signed a ton of wideouts during this recruiting cycle. That includes Goffney, a 6’1″ 195-pound receiver who’s coming to Colorado State by way of SMU.

In 2022, Goffney caught 18 passes for 369 yards and 2 touchdowns. Here’s a quick highlight of Goffney’s play:

The next impact player is Paster, a 6’2″ 220-pound linebacker who played somewhat sparingly in three years at California of the Pac-12. In 2021, Paster enjoyed 25 total tackles with 4.5 TFLs, one sack and two fumble recoveries. Considering the Rams lack of depth at linebacker, Paster seems likely to start inside for them.

Finally, there’s Noyes, the 30-year old kicker and oldest player in college football. He transfers from Utah and provides the Rams with an answer at kicker which looked to be missing, at least in the Green and Gold Game. There, multiple kicks were missed by Ashton Wolff. Noyes went 6-for-8 on field goals in 2022 and a perfect 34-of-34 on PATs.

Players come, players go

Of course, with so many incoming players for the Rams, there are bound to be many leaving, too.

Colorado State is currently second in the Mountain West with 26 players who have entered the transfer portal during this cycle. Only New Mexico has more players in 29.

The latest was lineman Justin Michael, not to be confused with writer/podcaster Justin Michael who covers the Rams:

The Rams are far from alone in having a ton of players hit the transfer portal; CU has had 47 players enter the portal between April 15 and May 5 per ESPN.

For now, at least, this is the new reality of recruiting in college football.

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