All in all, it hasn’t been a bad few weeks for Jay Norvell.

Despite losing his star tight end to the draft and one starter on offense and one on defense to the transfer portal, there’s going to be plenty of talent on the Colorado State roster in 2024.

The Rams found out they’ll be getting star wide receiver Tory Horton back for a fifth and final season, plus quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi announced his return amid claims from Norvell that he was offered $600,000 to enter the portal. CSU also added 19 high school players in what is the top recruiting class in the Mountain West, per 247sports.

Norvell is expecting some instant impact from the group.

“We don’t recruit players to sit on the bench and we never have,” Norvell said. “I probably learned that more at Oklahoma than anywhere. We want that mentality from players. We play freshmen. We’re not afraid to play freshmen. If a kid’s got talent and he can help us, we throw ‘em in there. We’ve got a lot of talented kids, especially these skill players. They’re gonna push our guys as soon as they show up on campus.”

The skill players are the headliners of the latest group of Ram signees.

Anaheim, Calif. native Jordan Ross is the second-highest rated recruit ever signed by CSU, per 247sports’ composite rankings. The standout wide receiver from Warren High School is joined by fellow Southern California native wide receivers Kory Hall and Landon Bell, both three-star prospects.

“All dynamic guys that kinda fit that role of what we love — young Tory Hortons,” Norvell said.

The ringleader of the group of SoCal kids might just be quarterback Darius Curry.

“Those guys play with each other in Southern California and they look up to Darius, they want to play with Darius,” Norvell said. “Jordan (Ross) and Darius were just throwing together last weekend, building chemistry. Once you start recruiting, kids recruit kids.”

At 5-foot-10, the Long Beach, Calif., native isn’t the towering QB that Norvell’s teams typically go after, but they were willing to make an exception given his talent.

“Darius is such an incredible playmaker,” Norvell said. “He’s an athlete, but he’s a passer. That’s where you have to really watch guys. Some guys run around. He is a guy that is incredibly talented as a passer, but he also has tremendous feet and he can get out of trouble.”

In total, CSU signed a whopping 12 players from California as Norvell and his staff seem to have made a real footprint in a state that is constantly churning out talented players.

“I think we have a really good plan on recruiting California,” Norvell said. “We’re invested in there. Our coaches know the area. The people know us. We’ve been back there year after year after year. Their players have success in our program, they know they’re going to get taken care of. I feel like we do as good a job in California as anybody in football, I really do.”

Arguably the coolest aspect of the class, though, is that there are two sons of former CSU stars that will now embark on their own journeys in Fort Collins — and they both hail from Colorado high schools.

Dagan Myers, son of legendary Ram defensive back and Jim Thorpe Award winner Greg Myers, and Jack Moran, son of All-America defensive lineman Sean Moran, both signed with the program on Wednesday.

“Sons of legacy players, they just grow up differently,” Norvell said. “My father was a college player and my earliest memory was seeing his Rose Bowl pennant. My whole life I aspired to do that. They’ve had the bar (set) pretty high their whole lives, but they also know the experience of playing here at Colorado State (and) how important it is for their family. Bringing that into our program is critical. It’s just so awesome to see their families on campus and how much it means to them.”

FULL CSU RAMS 2024 SIGNING DAY CLASS

DL Ed’Mari Binion (Lakewood, Calif.)

WR Landon Well (Newbury Park, Calif.)

QB Darius Curry (Long Beach, Calif.)

DB Chauncey Davis (Fontana, Calif.)

RB Jalen Dupree (Benton, Ark.)

OL Braden Hales (Olathe, Kan.)

WR Kory Hall (Northridge, Calif.)

DB Chance Harrison (Oxnard, Calif.)

OL John Holthaus (Portola Valley, Calif.)

LB Jaden Landrum (Fontana, Calif.)

OL Berlin Lillard (Oakland, Calif.)

DL Jack Moran (Ralston Valley High School, Arvada)

DB Dagan Myers (Chatfield High School, Morrison)

DB AJ Nolan (Tualatin, Ore.)

OL Phillip Ocon (South Pasadena, Calif.)

WR Jordan Ross (Anaheim, Calif.)

DL Keegan Shank (Scottsdale, Ariz.)

OL Zach Smith (ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch)

DL Tra’Jon Townsend (Hawthorne, Calif.)

Colorado State coach Jay Norvell walks onto the field before the team’s NCAA college football game against Hawaii, Saturday in Honolulu.

the associated press