Spent Thursday up in Fort Collins with the CSU football team.

The first thing you notice is that there is not much to notice. New head coach Steve Fairchild has closed practices for the remainder of the week as his Rams prepare for the Rocky Mountain Showdown game with Colorado on Sunday, August 31st. So I spent day peering through an iron fence with the hope of catching a glimpse.

Once practice was over, things opened up a bit and I got more out of talking to the players than I probably could ever have by just watching them-----even if what I was watching, I wasn't supposed to be watching, and if by any reason, I was watching, what I was watching, was top secret stuff. Can I fit in the word "watching" once more in there?

Just watch me. Sorry, I'l move on.

Speaking of watching, one of the reasons, CSU lost nine games last season is because too many of their players spent the season watching. This year this team is healthy and hungry. Kory Sperry is back, so is Kyle Bell, and Klint Kubiak. If this team had a healthy Sperry and a fully confident Bell a season ago, do they struggle the way they did? Is Sonny Lubick still here? Is Steve Fairchild in Buffalo? Hard to say, but Fairchild is way better with those three than without them.

The quarterback spot is a big question with this team. The offensive background of Fairchild will help whoever is under center. For now, it is Billy Farris. The return of Sperry and Bell should make the adjustment for Farris a bit easier, but Fairchild himself has said the job is open. Farris has won it-----for now. Win at Invesco later this month and I think his grip on the position will get a little tighter. His main competition, though, was a redshirt freshman and a guy that emerged this summer.

That can lead to some fair questions. Did Farris merely being on the roster and his familiarity with the college game give him the edge? Did he win the spot or merely get it because nobody else could claim it? How tough was his competition? Is he the best fit to start the season at the quarterback position but not the guy the coaches want to end the season there? How tough could the position be to win if the number two quarterback wasn't even in the conversation in the spring and now is now one snap away from playing? Many questions there and in year one of any new coach's tenure, there are bound to plenty more as well.

-"z"