Swallow hard, CSU fans: Trey McBride wasn’t wrong.
The former Ram and current Arizona Cardinal, who’s the best tight end in the NFL right now – at least, by the numbers – was a guest on a podcast recently where he offered a blunt and not totally flattering assessment of his time at his alma mater. There are people who follow the Rams – and some who just enjoy poking fun at the state’s “little brother” football school – who thought the Fort Morgan native’s depiction of his recruitment and tenure at Colorado State was unkind at best. While the program – then under Mike Bobo and Steve Addazio – didn’t come off in a great light during a recent Bussin’ with the Boys episode, there wasn’t a single untruth or negative embellishment during the interview.
Trey told it like it was. And that’s the key: Was.
During McBride’s time in Fort Collins, which was the period leading up to the advent of Name, Image and Likeness payments, CSU couldn’t play ball.
“They had it (NIL payments available) my senior year,” McBride smiled…“At Colorado State? Man, come on… I didn’t make any money. It (NIL) was there… but it wasn’t there.”
McBride was a standout as soon as he took the field for the Rams, even while the team was, in his words, “getting our teeth kicked in” by in-state rival CU and the other top programs on their schedule.
Nevertheless, he opted to remain in Fort Collins after Bobo and his staff were fired following McBride’s sophomore year. COVID had hit. Bobo became the offensive coordinator at South Carolina, and McBride came close to following his former head coach to the football-mad SEC because they were the only conference that was going to play regardless. When the Mountain West ran a reverse and decided to play an abbreviated season in the fall of 2020, McBride decided to stay home.
McBride’s loyalty to his Colorado roots remains apparent these days when he shows up to play in charity golf tournaments in rural Weld County and holds free-admission football camps in his hometown. “I ended up staying for some reason,” he said sheepishly. “And it ended up working out for me.”
He made the right choice. In his final season, he earned consensus All-America honors.
After he won the Mackey Award as the best tight end in all of college football in 2021, the CSU athletic department – not exactly flush with cash – wanted to put the trophy in the school’s trophy case. A great recruiting tool, right? McBride wanted to take his award home with him. The only solution was to get a replica for the school. The cost was $15,000. They even asked if McBride could pay for it.
If that request sounds absurd, it’s because it is… or was.
The same sort of thing wouldn’t happen now, not under the watch of the current admin and Athletic Director John Weber. And that’s where the focus needs to be for Ram Nation. That’s what was. Not what is.
It’s not an insult to point out what was lacking during the Bobo and Addazio (and Norvell) years. The facts speak for themselves.
“I love Colorado State,” McBride concluded. “It led me to where I’m at. But I will always wonder what it would have been like to go to a big, Power Five program where the stands are full and we didn’t lose every game, you know? I bet it’d be pretty cool…. but it’s all good.”
It’s good because he’s putting up record numbers in the NFL, is among the highest-paid tight ends in league history and because his alma mater isn’t hung up on the past – instead, they’re working toward being pretty cool.
