Mountaintop View 8-31-22. Rams & Rebels recruiting, Air Raid, Future Games, POTW.

Week 1 is on the horizon and the official start of the college football season is almost upon us. Regardless, the content isn’t stopping on our site! Enjoy what we have for you today from around the conference and the college sports world in general.

How Colorado State is building a strong recruiting class.

Colorado State is off to a great start for its 2023 class. It’s better than the Rams have done in a while and even better than Coach Norvell did at Nevada. Recruiting coordinator Chad Savage speaks in general terms about how they are doing it. They look for players who fit the philosophy of Norvell at certain positions and do that through high school contacts, they rank every player they come across on a scale, and key traits at each position. The most common is multi-sport athletes and versatility on the field. It’s a great read.

UNLV not recruiting locally.

Looking at another team’s recruiting, and UNLV is staying away from the state of Nevada under Coach Arroyo, which is a bit puzzling. In fact, only 5 scholarship players are in state, and it’s not due to a lack of local talent (97 D1 football players the last 3 years). According to high school coaches, the Rebel coaches don’t communicate much or go to watch local games. It’s interesting to read some of the quotes in this one.

The Air Raid is here to stay.

What was once considered a fad now has concepts ingrained in most offenses in one way or another four decades later. Almost everyone runs their four basic concepts; however, very few teams run the pure and true offense, Mississippi State and Colorado State are the two that stick out. The article describes it as more process than playbook, trusting execution over matchups and specific players. It’s about keeping it simple and mastering one thing rather than being good at many things. It also discusses how it has evolved over the years as coaches tweak it.

Future Games

Soccer Players of the Week

On the horizon:

• Later today: Peak Perspective: 5 Reasons Utah State will repeat as conference champs and 5 reasons they won’t.
• Later today: Bowl Projections: Week 0
• Later today: SJSU Preview (a day early with the Thursday game!)
• Coming Thursday: Mountain Bets: Week 1
• Coming Thursday: Stats Corner
• Coming Thursday: Mountain West previews, including Hawaii, San Diego State
• Coming Friday: More previews!