first foremost any surprises that we should expect or what have you liked so far out of the preseason since Spring ball here for Colorado State yeah it's a pre veteran group uh you know a lot of ways it's been a quiet Camp which I I think is a good thing you know most starting positions you know are known and have been pre-established but you know with veterans you know a few transfers and such sprinkled in uh to take some spots but it's pretty steady which is you know what should be in year three under Jay norell uh so I think that's the biggest thing is you know the first two years is a lot of change and turnover as they kind of had to fully rebuild the program but now it's you know it's all a a two tight end set for for a while there right and then you had to go to a spread and then without no running game man it was kind of daunting but hell man the running game should be a little bit better this season yeah definitely last year a lot of injuries in that group basically used a walk-on as the the main Ry back all of last season due to those injuries and and everything now I mean there's really SI guys that are um you know kind of in contention for carries a freshman red shirt freshman now but he came on late last season averaged about 100 a game Justin Marshall uh the last three he's gonna be the league guy to start but there's a lot of guys uh back there that have some Prett pretty good talent so I'm excited to see how that group shapes up um and yeah I think it's you know it's still technically an air rate offense they're going to throw it around but they definitely want to be able to run the ball and control some games a little better this year um of course we got to talk about that air rate it's going to be featured by wide receiver um Tory Horton now you want to talk a little bit about this guy and how special he can be yeah Tori is is big time uh he this gonna be is this a Sunday ball player Oh easily and he could have been in the draft this year he would have been most projections had him as about a you know maybe a fourth fifth round guy he came back to obviously try and boost that stock um yeah talking to some Scouts informally you know certainly could be a top three round guy maybe even play his way up a little bit more H he had to add some weight he added about 15 lounds you know of of weight he's he's one of those guys that's fast but smooth like he doesn't look like he has to work really hard to get going he's just super smooth you can basically put a like like Jerry right you can put a couple 100% yeah exactly he he he's a glider and he's uh really really he's just he's been in the system a long time uh back toback thousand yard years but he's also really young too he just turned 21 so even though he's doing his fifth year he's a young guy which is one of the reasons why you know coming back didn't really hurt him he's also turned down you know nil transfer opportunities he could play just about anywhere um but you love to hear that that means he wants he absolutely wants to be a ram so yeah yeah and he's a guy that I think sees you know long term he he knows that you know yeah you can get payday right now but if you go and be a high NFL draft pick and play a long time in the league you know that that's the real Payday so um you know I think he's playing that long-term game he's uh he's basically everything you'd want really good student and everything so yeah Tori tor's a fun guy to watch also a really good punt returner nice well that's that's that's big too well fer Nicolosi is partner in crime um he is slated to be one of the best quarterbacks in the Mountain West or could lead the Mountain West you want to give us a little bit of an Insight on this dude yeah it's interesting you know this time a year ago um he was the backup uh Kay Millan was the star Kay millan's Florida is kind of just a depth quarterback uh first game it went sideways basically Fowler niosi comes in is really good in that game although he late as a blowout CSU weirdly had week two by and they ended up using that to make a change at quarterback fower Nicolosi starts the rest of the season at times pre-electric made some big plays uh you know kind of a gunslinger mentality he can really fling around but with that comes uh a Young quarterback with a gunslinger mentality which means some interception so he had some you know where you sort of bang your head against the wall of like where' that decision come from but you know that's a young guy so they're you know hoping expecting that he's you know made some big steps forward in learning you know what to do and not do you know sometimes the little check down is okay but really talented guy that you know he's another you know could have could have transferred but um you know in this offense he obviously has a chance to put up some big big yards big touchdowns and everything so they're hoping he's made a big step forward and and yeah can be one of those top guys in the West going to have some pretty good protection your offensive line returns three starters there you want to talk a little bit about that yeah they're old which yeah as we all know on an offensive line that's about the best Praise You can give is is an old veteran group Jacob Gardner at Center has started I think like 45 games conference too right Jacob g y All Conference he you know a couple years ago they had to move to tackle because their left tackle got hurt and they had a decent backup centers as sign he's moved around he's done everything you could ever ask um you know this staff thinks he could be an NFL player that's what I was gonna ask is is this duude to Sunday line yeah yeah I think he has a chance to be I mean the versatility pays off the experience should pay off so I think he has a chance for sure um you know Drew Moss has started a ton of games Savon Henderson at left T go started a ton uh so they're they're super veteran group um and they're pretty excited I think they're pretty optimistic about what they can do and you know we talked about the running game earlier I think that's gonna be part of it too of like yeah obviously in this offense you have to pass Pro really well but I think they want to be able to play you know some Mountain West Bowl ball up front at times um you know to to seal off some games what should we expect the I mean we know it's going to be an Air Raid Offense here but what should we expect the identity of the Rams should we are we going to see multiple formations multiple Personnel yeah definitely they'll um you know you'll obviously get a lot of white outs split out you know like you say it's the opposite of the Steve aazia you're not gonna have the two tight end sets and you know power eye or anything anything like that but I think they are going to try and you know be in that run game you know and I could see a way that early in this game at Texas that they try and hey let's see if we can put together a slow methodical Drive eat up some clock limit possessions you know obviously usually the the the beginning of the season is when you want to do that right that's when you can get the teams that are on that that are the stalwarts on your schedule right yep and you know let's be real too you don't you know it's going to be a big atmosphere you don't want to you know with a youngish quarterback get out there and get too jittery early on so I bet early you're going to see a lot that but it's gonna be you know it's C aade but there's gonna be some balance hey is this gonna be your first trip down to DKR yes for for a game so I've been down there sort of touristing and uh you walked around brisket and whatnot yeah exactly but never never had the full Taste of you know football game day so really excited to see all that and everything that comes with it Kevin I was listening to Jay Norville and U he was talking about with this Colorado State act actively recruits in Texas I they get a lot of kids I mean this group for example I think it's 19 19 players from Texas and then the coaching staff deeply rooted with Texas Roots uh it really sounds like there's a lot of anticipation just a homecoming for a lot of people uh for them to get down here into this atmosphere and and and feel what's going to be happening here Saturday afternoon totally there are a lot of people really excited like you say I think almost all the coaching staff has some type of tie whether they're from there or coach there at previous stop uh certainly they recruit down down there uh yeah there are a ton of players like James Mitchell a defensive tackle Duncanville High School guy I think he's going to have like 60 or 70 people like it's basically a family reunion uh and that's just one example I think there's a lot of those guys that uh yeah it's a it's a big opportunity and you know no doubt I think norell and staff are hoping that you know some of the guys that they're you know are talking to for potential future recruits will even if they're not there you know have the game on their TV and maybe like what they see abely abolutely um so what are your realistics expectations about Saturday moving forward of course it's it's probably one of the toughest teams on the schedule there for Colorado State um arguably the toughest team on the schedule here um talking to those recruiters that could be watching uh or those recruits that could be watching on the television or you know in attendance live what do you think that Colorado State wants to come out there with the realistic expectations to perform for them yeah I think the most realistic obviously you'd like to you know keep a game for a little bit you want to get blown out of the gates and have it game over 10 minutes in um but yeah realistically I think everyone understands what this is you know it's a college football playoff team at home in their opener against the Mountain West team you know that's hunting a bowl for the first time since 2017 everyone understands what it is if you're CSU I think you want you know be competitive show flashes of that offense like they expect to be a really good offense you know I think privately they're aiming you know to be a 35 Point a game team so if you want to be that even against Texas you you you want to show that you can move the ball a little bit I'm not saying it's going to be 35 this week right but but if you can move it a little bit you know get Tory Horton doing some big stuff have brain Fowler Nicolosi show some of his talent get the Run game going even a little bit I think those would be some positives you know get some points up and have the defense you know at least hang in as best you can you know that's going to be quite a challenge uh but be you know mildly competitive show some good things obviously health is is always important come out injury free 100% I think that's kind of a realistic you know thing to look for you know if you're a CSU or someone you know kind wondering about CSU look for those type of things now Kevin you spoke a little bit about the W or the running back room it is a loaded running back room should we you know expect any type of bcal running back to emerge from there so I think Justin Marshall will start and they'll I think they'll give him the chance to you know kind put his foot down say it is my job uh you know I need these carries so so I would bet he'll get a lot early but then depending on how it goes and certainly if the game gets lops side I would expect a lot of different guys uh but yeah I think they will give Marshall the chance to kind of stti that claim and you know it's one of those where in a game like this you get to challenge a young guy and say okay like you want to be the big dog go show it against Texas and and then yeah you you know if you do that you're our number one yeah I've seen Colorado State um selected as high as fourth maybe even third in terms of the Mountain West uh what are your expectations for conference run in this yeah the league is interesting I think you know Boise State's a pretty popular pick to be the group of five playoff participant and so therefore obviously uh favor in the Mountain West but they have a funky quarterback situation and a first year head coach so even they have you know some pre significant question marks and then the rest of the league it's been wild coaching changes all over the place you had two July coaching changes for for various reasons so I think it's a big question mark League I think honestly teams kind of three through eight roughly you know flip a coin you know one or two of them are going to Surge up and one or two of them are going to be worse than we expect you know so I think that's where Colorado State's like there's a path here you know I think the ramsfield you know they have seven home games they play all those almost all those you know new coaches saying you know hey we're a kind of a veteran team there could be a path here to make a run at this thing um so I think the Mountain West is very volatile and wide open this year which should be pretty fun and even you know New Mexico and Nevada were supposed to be the seller dwellers and especially Nevada I think showed pretty well zero week against SMU so it's one of those everyone's kind of was going to roll a little bit but yeah Nevada put up fight yeah so I think uh I think it's a very volatile league in a good way it should be really fun Kevin I think sorry go Kevin I think one of the one of the things that the coaching staff is is really looking to see Improvement or or what this group is going to do is run defense uh and and and it sounds like with this test here that um obviously I don't know if you can do do it for the entirety of the football game but I think that this is going to be a really good Benchmark to see how that run defense has progressed yeah I 100% think so you know that's a group that's had some turnover they have some injuries um and some kind of young and experienced guys on that defensive front so I think you're right that's going to be a big test to see how that goes you guys return seven on offense seven on defense I have seen you guys as high as three you just mentioned Boise State but Wyoming's in the conference too I think you guys can actually get teams like Wyoming uh you just mentioned Nevada Air Force boing state does seem the the team to play for here but there is another school on this schedule here in I know where you're going with this in week three here my guy um I sat there and said it in tongue and cheek that Texas could be the biggest team on the schedule here but is it the biggest game on the schedule for the Rams yeah I would say definitely not you know partially just because the expectations like I say realistically I think most CSU fans know you know they're probably not going to Austin to win whereas Colorado come to Fort Collins um it's a different vibe it's nasty I mean I think everyone saw that game last year all the chatter around it uh the Bad Blood definitely still persists uh cooler heads have not yet prevailed uh so so yeah I think for CSU fans def that is the most important game on the schedule like is Dion just seen as an absolute villain yeah I mean outside see you I mean you look at the chatter nationally it seems that um I feel like uh maybe I'm wrong you guys can tell me better but it feels like most kind of if you're a college football fan feel like uh most people probably aren't rooting for wins for that program water cooler man you and I we we're both drinking from the same water cooler my dude so yeah I mean obviously it's it's bad blood with how everything went down last year um you know they're the death threats after the game to to one of CSU players like it it's really nasty so yeah that I think is the most important game like don't get me wrong CCU fans would not pass on a win in Austin they wouldn't be mad about that but but yeah that the the CU game is cired on the calendar um as you know number one a most important game no matter what