The 2022 Colorado State Rams football team represented

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

as a member of the Mountain Division of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

(MW) during the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by first-year head coach

Jay Norvell Merritt James Norvell III (born March 28, 1963) is an American college football coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the Colorado State Rams. Norvell served as the head football coach at University of Nevada, Reno from 2017 ...

, the Rams compiled an overall record of 3–9 with a mark of 3–5 in conference play, placing fifth in the MW's Mountain Division. Colorado State played home games at Sonny Lubick Field at Canvas Stadium in

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359 ...

Preseason

Incoming transfers

As of February 16, 2022, Colorado State has added 21 transfers prior to the 2022 season, per the '' Coloradoan'' and

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

. Eleven of those transfers signed as part of the 2022 early signing class, which consisted of 22 athletes — 11 transfers and 11 high school recruits.

Recruiting class of 2022

Colorado State football signed 11 recruits as part of their 2022 early signing class, per 247Sports.com. Star ratings vary by recruiting service; star ratings below are 247Sports Composite ratings, a composite average of ratings across major recruiting services provided by 247Sports.com. *= 247Sports Composite rating; ratings are out of 1.00. ''(five stars= 1.00–.98, four stars= .97–.90, three stars= .80–.89, two stars= .79–.70, no stars= <70)''
†=

National Signing Day National Signing Day has traditionally been the first day that a high school senior can sign a binding National Letter of Intent for a collegiate sport with a school that is a member of the United States National Collegiate Athletic Association ( ...

s for 2022 class: Early: ''December 15, 2021''. Regular: ''February 2, 2022''.
‡= Despite being rated as a four star recruit by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and 247Sports.com, Fox received a three star 247Sports Composite rating. The 2022 early recruiting class included three teammates at Inglewood High School — Louis Brown, Justus Ross-Simmons, and Marshon Oxley. The class was highlighted by multiple players who flipped commitments from

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

to Colorado State to stay with head coach

, as well as the class's highest rated recruit, Mekhi Fox, who flipped from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

to Colorado State. The class consisted of six recruits from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, two from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, and one from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. According to the '' Coloradoan'', four other players have committed to the team, but have not signed a

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. They may sign a NLI at a later date, join the team as a walk-on, or play elsewhere. Either way, these players were not considered part of the official signing class: *Logan Flinta, wide receiver Aledo High School (Aledo, TX) *Brannan Mannix, defensive back

Colleyville Heritage High School Colleyville Heritage High School (CHHS) is a public secondary school in Colleyville, Texas in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school is a part of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and serves freshmen through senior students i ...

(Colleyville, TX) *Brady Radz, long snapper

Cherry Creek High School Cherry Creek High School (commonly Cherry Creek, Creek, or CCHS) is the oldest of seven high schools in the Cherry Creek School District in the Denver metropolitan area. It is located in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and is one of the largest high s ...

(Greenwood Village, CO) *Trey Balsbaugh, kicker/punter

Bishop Gorman High School Bishop Gorman High School (also commonly referred to as Gorman High School or BGHS) is a private Roman Catholic preparatory school located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The school is administered by the Diocese of Las Vegas. The school opened in 1954. ...

(Las Vegas, NV)

Staff

Coaching changes

*Head coach: On December 2, 2021, Colorado State announced that they had fired head coach Steve Addazio after two seasons. Addazio posted a record of 4–12 in his two years as head coach of the Rams. Four days later, on December 6, 2021,

's head coach

was hired as Colorado State's next head coach. Norvell became the program's 24th head coach and the first Black head coach in school history. Addazio was later hired by

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

as an offensive line coach. *Offensive coordinator: Nevada's offensive coordinator

Matt Mumme Matthew Clay Mumme (born May 15, 1975) is an American college football coach who is currently the quarterbacks coach and associate head coach for the Colorado State Rams. He was head coach of the LaGrange Panthers from 2013 to 2016. Coaching ca ...

was hired as Colorado State's new offensive coordinator and associate head coach. He replaced former offensive coordinator Jon Budmayr after one season. *Defensive coordinator:

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

's defensive coordinator Freddie Banks was hired as Colorado State's new defensive coordinator. He replaced former defensive coordinator

Chuck Heater Chuck Heater (born October 10, 1952) is an American football coach and former player. He was a running back for the University of Michigan from 1972 to 1974 and finished his playing career as the fifth all-time leading rusher in Michigan Wolverin ...

after two seasons. Banks had worked with Norvell previously, serving as Nevada's cornerbacks coach in 2020. *Special teams coordinator: UTSA special teams coordinator Tommy Perry was hired to fill the team's special teams coordinator position that was left vacant during Addazio's tenure. *Running backs coach:

Jeremy Moses Jeremy Moses (born September 4, 1988) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for Stephen F. Austin. In his Stephen F. Austin career, Moses passed for 13,401 yards and 121 touchdowns; his 1,184 completions are an FCS ...

was hired as Colorado State's new running backs coach. He replaced former running backs coach Brian White. *Wide receivers coach: Nevada's wide receivers coach

Timmy Chang Timothy Kealii'okaaina Awa Chang (born October 9, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the head coach of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. During his playing career at Hawaii, he set several major college footba ...

was originally one of the many Nevada coaches planning to follow Norvell to Colorado State, but was later hired by

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

as their new head coach. Nevada's tight end coach Chad Savage took the job instead. *Tight ends coach: James Finley, the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at California high school Mater Dei, was hired as Colorado State's new tight ends coach. He replaced former tight ends coach Cody Booth. *Offensive line coach: Nevada's offensive line coach Bill Best was hired as Colorado State's new offensive line coach. He replaced former offensive line coach Louie Addazio, who was hired by Nevada. *Defensive line coach:

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

's defensive ends coach Buddha Williams was hired as Colorado State's new defensive line coach. He replaced former defensive line and assistant head coach Antoine Smith. *Cornerbacks coach: Marcus Patton was hired by CSU as their new cornerbacks coach. He was previously the defensive coordinator at Tarleton State. *Linebackers coach: Montana State's defensive line coach Adam Pilapil followed defensive coordinator Freddie Banks to Colorado State to become the team's new linebackers coach. He replaced former linebackers coach Sean Cronin. *Strength and conditioning coach: Nevada's head strength and conditioning coach Jordan Simmons was hired for the same job at Colorado State.

2022 coaching staff

Schedule

Game summaries

At No. 8 Michigan

Middle Tennessee State

At Washington State

No. 7 (FCS) Sacramento State

At Nevada

Utah State

Hawaii

At Boise State

At San Jose State

Wyoming

At Air Force

New Mexico

References

{{Colorado State Rams football navbox Colorado State Colorado State Rams football seasons

Colorado State Rams football The Colorado State Rams football program (established 1893) represents Colorado State University and is a member of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Mountain West Conference. Since joining the Mountain West, the Rams have be ...