Colorado State Football 2014 PreSeason - gilla's Dynasty

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Colorado State Football 2014 PreSeason

Posted on January 13, 2011 at 10:08 PM.

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Fort Collins Coloradoan Sports news-

Preseason analysis for the 2014 Colorado State Rams.

The Rams are ranked #37 in the preseason polls. The same rating as last year. This year they are given a B- Overall grade, with B- on Offense and Defense, and a C+ grade on Special Teams. Hopefully the Freshman Kicking team will be able to replace some of what Pete Kontodiakos did over the past two seasons. The Rams are predicted to finish third in the MWC behind #18 ranked Utah and TCU.

ESPN writer Pat Forde predicts that the Rams will finish 9-4 this year, with losses to Utah, TCU, Texas A&M and Florida State. He predicts a strong year for HB Gordon King on the ground, and thinks Orakpo and Harper will have an outstanding season for the defense. JuCo trasfer Brad Collins is the wild card for their offense as he'll be expected to replace McKnight's pressure on the QB

The out of conference schedule starts in Denver for the Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado on August 30th, followed by a home game against Hawaii in week 3 and a trip to Texas A&M in week 4, and they finish the season by welcoming Florida State to Hughes Field in week 13.

DE Brandon McKnight has made the preseason All-American team, however there has been news that he will be forced to sit out the season, as he suffered a torn ACL in off season practice.

The 1st Team All-MWC is represented by CSU with Jr WR Andrew Gill, DE McKnight, Jr DT Courtney McCarthy, Sr DT Trevor Murphy, Sr OLB Mike Orakpo and Jr SS Keith Harper. CSU members on the second team are: Sr WR Bernard Blake, Jr OLB David Wilson, MLB Dan McKenzie, and Jr CB TJ Brown. Word out of camp is that some of these players might not even crack the starting lineup this year, as others have spent the offseason conditioning and training and surpassed them.

A few of the changes on Offense are:
Sophmore Brandon Berg is the new starting QB.
Sophmore Gordon King is the starting HB with Soph Ryan Washington the speed threat out of the backfield.
Soph Dustin Thomas is the new starting FB.
Andrew Gill and Bernard Blake have changed spots on the offense, with Blake moving to the slot receiver while Gill moves to the outside.
Freshman Kelecki Atkins is in a battle with RS Fresh Brett Cooper for starting Tight End.
JuCo transfer Jr Brad Collins is in line for the starting LE position, however Freshman John McClain is right on his heels should he slip up any.
At DT Jr Maurice Means has put in a lot of hard work to overtake Sr Trevor Murphy on the depth chart.
Sr LB Charles Favors has moved into the starting lineup over Dan McKenzie at MLB, however McKenzie will still see decent playing time.

Coach Gill commented about all the new faces,"We've got a lot of new faces in the starting lineup this year. I don't think that necessarily bad, as a jolt of youth will spice things up, with the veterans who are right behind them should they slip up any. We will surely miss McKnight as he was a strong player on defense for us last year, but I know his hard work and determination, that he'll be back better then before next season."