Rams skew young; three freshman likely to start

FORT COLLINS» Colorado State football’s first depth chart shows the youth infusion that was expected, with three true freshmen listed as starters for the season opener at 5:30 p.m. Saturday against Hawaii at Canvas Stadium, with six others listed as backups.

Two are slated to start on defense — nose tackle Devin Phillips and cornerback Rashad Ajayi — while the other is longsnapper Ross Reiter. Offensively, receiver Nikko Hall, guard Ches Jackson and tight end Trey Mcbride are listed as reserves, while defensive end Brandon Derrow and safety Quinn Brinnon make the cut defensively.

As expected, grad transfer K.J. Cartasamuels is listed as the starter at quarterback, but the door is open for Collin Hill to be his backup, listed with an OR with Justice Mccoy. There has been no official word late in the week Hill has been fully cleared to play. Head coach Mike Bobo joked early in camp Hill would keep his long hair and beard until fully cleared, and at Friday’s practice, he still had both.

Fellow grad transfers V.J. Banks and T.J. Roundtree are on the depth chart, Banks as a starting corner, Roundtree a backup tackle.

Other players of note are Marcus Mcelroy, the sophomore who missed most all of last year and the entire spring with a bloodclot issues, will be Izzy Matthews’ backup at running back. Receiver Preston Williams is a starter and safety Braylin Scott are backups, both coming off team suspensions. Redshirt freshman Barry Wesley, who began camp as a walk-on, is listed as the starter at left tackle. Dajon Owens, a late arrival to the roster is a backup at corner.

Kicker Wyatt Bryan will have a new lineup in front of him, with punter Ryan Stonehouse taking over as the holder for Reiter’s snaps. Transitions have been made, and Bryan has been impressed.

“Now with a freshman snapper ... Luckily, Ross is a really hard worker and he gets a ton of snaps in and really cares about the location of the ball and the laces. He wants me to succeed, and he’ll do anything to make that happen.”

Stonehouse, on the Ray Guy Award watch list for his main duties as punter, has already started his campaign for a very under-the-radar award, the Mortell, for the best holder, leaving Bryan to quip: “He’s still gotta earn it. We’ve got to run a serious campaign here.”