FORT COLLINS — John Weber better work it. Could RuPaul make CSU fashionable again? Could Parker Schnabel, star of “Gold Rush,” hit the jackpot in FoCo?
There are two paths for Rams football to get the eyes, ears and purse strings of the folks who write the checks — network executives, corporate sponsors and private equity.
Either Weber, the Rams’ new athletic director, needs to hire a reality show star to coach his football team, and launch a circus to compete with CU’s, which keeps raking in the bucks with Deion Sanders despite middling results on the field, or …
He needs Jay Norvell to win. Like, now.
“We’re incredibly supportive of the team and culture that Coach Norvell has built here,” Weber told me during a sit-down inside the CSU administrative offices earlier this month. “He has demonstrated what he’s been able to accomplish in the last couple of years.
“And headed into this year, he’s got a couple of top recruiting classes that he’s brought in now for a couple of years. And we fully expect that that team is going to compete well this fall. So we are all really excited about where we’re headed.”
The Rams should’ve bowled last fall. Right? CSU’s roster featured the most exciting offensive weapon in the Mountain West (receiver Tory Horton), the scariest pass-rusher in the league (Mo Kamara) and an improved offensive line. Only karma turned its back on Norvell time and again, with four of seven losses over a 5-7 campaign coming by nine points or fewer.
Glass half-full? The Rams were right there with just about everybody on the dance card, save for that Week 1 stinker at home against Washington State. Going from three wins in ’22 to five showed a train moving forward, even if it came in fits and starts. Horton’s back, and so is young quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, despite allegations of poaching from other schools and NIL temptations.
So with a potential House vs. NCAA settlement adding to his bills and his budget, I asked Weber, a Rams alum who’s now Norvell’s boss, what’s a fair bar for Year 3. Six wins? A bowl?
“That certainly, I think, is a fair expectation as we go into the fall if we’re going to improve from where we were,” he replied.
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Source:: The Denver Post – Sports
