Mountain West Football Weekly Recruiting Roundup: Colorado State’s big weekend

From the rocky Colorado mountains, to the sunny California beaches, recruiting never stops for MWC teams. You’re reading the inaugural edition of the MWC Weekly Recruiting Roundup, in which I try to catch you up on last week’s recruiting news from the Mountain West.

Colorado State

It was a busy weekend for head coach Mike Bobo and his staff, as the Rams offered scholarships to six recruits between Friday and Saturday. Here are the highlights:

Colorado State offered three-star Texas offensive tackle Jackson Kimble on Friday. Kimble, who is firmly committed to in-state recruiting powerhouse Baylor is unlikely to change his mind on his school choice, and if he does, Texas Tech, Houston, Minnesota, Arkansas, and Arizona State were in line before the Rams.

Also, the 65th best tackle in the nation pledged to the Bears only a week after he was offered by them in February, so he clearly didn’t need much time to ponder his collegiate future.

Cornerbacks coach Terry Fair and Receivers coach Alvis Whitted certainly spotted something in shifty three-star California speedster Billy Bowens that at least five other Mountain West schools saw as well: his explosive speed, among other dynamic qualities.

Boise State, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, and UNLV have all offered Bowens, and all signs point to even more teams leaping into his recruiting. Check out the class of 2018 wideout’s junior highlight reel:

The Rams went down south to find this recruit, Georgia receiver Jallah Zeze. On Friday, State became the most high profile non-Power Five school to offer the unranked Zeze, following behind Indiana, Purdue, and Wisconsin. The Central Gwinnett high school star is a member of the class of 2018.

Considered by Scout, 247Sports, and ESPN to be a three-star recruit and Rivals to be a four-star, Massachusetts guard Finn Dirstine is the consensus no. two recruit in the state of Massachusetts, and he announced his offer from Colorado State Friday afternoon.

Standing at 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, Dirstine is a force of nature that offensive line coach Will Friend would be happy to have. Miami (FL.), Boston College, Illinois, Syracuse, and UMass have offered, and Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Wisconsin are interested. While it should be pretty obvious by now, the Rams should not be considered a favorite for Dirstine’s commitment.

Continuing the trend of east coast offers, CSU extended an offer to unranked New Jersey quarterback Nick Patti, who has offers from close to 15 schools, including Boston College, Buffalo, Rutgers, Temple, Toledo, and Yale.

The 6'3," 195-pound junior threw for 210 yards and four touchdowns in his team's state championship victory in the 2016 season. He’s also a dual-threat quarterback, as he is very able to escape the pocket and gain yardage using his feet. Check out his tape:

On Saturday, I talked with the sixth player, Louisiana defensive end Terrance Charles about his offer from Colorado State. You can expect to read that story later on in the week.

Boise State

The Broncos offered two high profile recruits over the weekend, three-star Texas offensive tackle Mike Ruth of Coppell high school and four-star California receiver Khalil Shakir of Vista Murrieta high school.

Ruth, a 6’7,” 300-pound tackle has offers from Houston, Iowa State, Missouri, Memphis, Texas Tech, and Bowling Green, there’s a chance Boise State could compete to earn his commitment, although they are facing some pretty steep competition in the form of in-state recruiters Houston and Texas Tech.

Bryan Harsin and Boise State face steep competition in snagging Shakir in the form of Arizona, Arizona State, Illinois, UCLA, and Washington State, as well as from fellow Mountain West schools such as Hawaii, Nevada, and San Jose State vying for his pledge. Arizona State is considered the favorite. Look at Shakir’s explosive highlight tape here:

New Mexico

It was a quiet week in Albuquerque for recruiting, but they did welcome two visitors, Junior College offensive lineman Moroni Iniguez on Friday, and Indiana quarterback Zac Montgomery on Saturday.

Here’s a photo of Iniquez enjoying his visit alongside his wife:

Iniquez attends Snow College in central Utah, and is set to graduate in 2018. He holds offers from Louisiana-Monroe, UT Martin, Southeast Missouri State, Eastern Illinois, and Liberty, to name a few. During his visit, New Mexico and Head Coach Bob Davie also extended an offer to him:

Montgomery, on the other hand is a three-star dual-threat quarterback with offers from USF and FAU, who has visited Purdue and Indiana. Here he is on his visit:

Montgomery has a strong arm and has the achievements to show for it, throwing for 1,835 yards and 25 touchdowns on 230 attempts, while rushing for 200 yards and five touchtowns on 40 carries. Here’s his 2016 highlights:

Wyoming

The Cowboys welcomed upcoming Texas safety Joseph Mikulec on his visit to Laramie during a scrimmage on Saturday. The junior has taken visits to Missouri, Arkansas State, and North Colorado. Mikulec currently has no offers.