With many things happening at once inside Colorado State athletics, we bring you the Rams round up.
Colorado State men’s basketball had Aaron Katsuma pick inter-conference foe New Mexico for a new landing spot, CSU football has most of their kickoff times set and sadly, Benjamin Brune passed away today.
Benjamin Brune passes away
First off, sad news in Ram Nation as Benjamin Brune passed away today.
For anyone interested, you can share pictures and memories on https://t.co/E5AOjALoXx
We will eventually print that and make it a book for the kids.
— Benjamin Bruneᴴᴰ (@BenjaminBrune) June 1, 2023
Ben posted this on Twitter only one month ago, on May 1:
Hey everyone, I wanted to reach out with an update regarding myself.
I have recently been diagnosed with cancer. I have epithelioid angiosarcoma. You won’t find a lot of info on Google as there is not much known about it. pic.twitter.com/94xwKVdUPP
— Benjamin Bruneᴴᴰ (@BenjaminBrune) May 1, 2023
From CSU’s website:
“Benjamin Brune is in his 6th season at Colorado State University Athletics. Brune is the Assistant A.D. for Broadcast & Creative Services and oversees the Rams Creative and RamVision brands. Those brands are responsible for creating content to promote storytelling, broadcasting, and fan experience.”
He was a great ambassador for CSU sports on Twitter and engaged with fans and media alike. The Centennial State native will be missed.
Aaron Katuma leaves CSU for UNM
Katsuma announced on Twitter earlier this week he’s leaving Colorado State for a position with the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque:
Fort Collins and Ram Nation – Simply, THANK YOU! It has been an absolute privilege! 💚
On to the next adventure! #GoLobos 🐺‼️ https://t.co/R3AFJwROET
— Aaron Katsuma (@AaronKatsumaUNM) May 31, 2023
Katsuma followed head coach Niko Medved from Drake to Colorado State. He was Drake’s Director of Basketball Operations for one year before being in the same role for Medved in Fort Collins the last five years. And last year was his first as the team’s Director of Recruiting.
Five weeks ago, the Rams landed three huge players in a row; Javonte Johnson, Nique Clifford and Joel Scott. It’s unclear exactly how much of those three signings were due to Katsuma’s recruiting, but either way, CSU is now set up with experienced, high-profile players going into the 2023-24 season. An interesting note is Johnson was formerly with New Mexico, not that it ties into Katsuma leaving, necessarily.
It’ll be interesting to see if CSU promotes within for their new recruiting director or if they hire someone outside the program.
CSU Football kickoffs at great times
Finally, some good news. Colorado State Football’s home kickoff times — and some away kicks, too — have been announced.
And the good news is, almost all of CSU’s home games will be at 5 p.m. MT. That’s a great time for some football, and a far cry from yesteryear when the Rams regularly played with 8 or 8:30 p.m. MT kicks.
Colorado State football, in their second season under head coach Jay Norvell, look to get things going early as they host Washington State on Sept. 2 (5 p.m. MT, CBS Sports) at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins.
Next up, the Rams head to Boulder to reignite the Rocky Mountain Showdown against the hated rival CU Buffaloes (8 p.m. MT kick, ESPN).
Then, CSU has their two “layup” games with Middle Tennessee State (Sept. 23, 5 p.m. MT, ESPN Nets) and Utah Tech on Ag Day (Sept. 30, 5 p.m. MT). Washington State went 7-6 last year and CU now has Deion Sanders at head coach with a ton of new, big-time recruits. So, CSU could start 0-2 but should come to 2-2 at least by the end of September.
In October, the Rams face Utah State (TBD) in Logan, Boise State (TBD) in Fort Collins (Fox Sports Network) and travel to UNLV (TBD) before hosting Air Force (Oct. 28, 5 p.m. MT, CBS Sports). The Utah State, Boise and UNLV games’ kickoffs are yet to be set.
Finally, the Rams play in Laramie against the hated rival Cowboys (Friday, Nov. 3, 6 p.m. MT, CBS Sports) before hosting San Diego State (Nov. 11, 5 p.m. MT, CBS Sports), hosting Nevada (Nov. 18, 1 p.m. MT) and then flying out to Hawaii (TBD) to end the regular season.
In all, that’s five 5 p.m. kickoffs, one at 1 p.m., one at 6 p.m. and one game at 8 p.m.
With those 5 p.m. kicks, fans can come and either eat dinner in the parking lots while tailgating or in the stadium, then leave around 8, which is much better than 11 p.m. or even midnight.