Northern Colorado’s emphasis on recruiting Centennial State starting to pay dividends

FORT COLLINS — When Ed Lamb began one of the toughest rebuilding jobs in FCS football, he was sure the solution involved a whole lot of home cooking.

Lamb’s plan for Northern Colorado to find more competitive footing in the Big Sky, one of the two power conferences at the FCS level, focused on a heavy dose of in-state high school recruiting. The program hasn’t won more than three games since 2016, and not more than six in any season since joining the Big Sky in 2006.

It’s been a slow burn for Lamb with the Bears, but UNC is starting to see some of the benefits from this path forward.

“I feel very good about our players,” Lamb said ahead of his team’s clash Saturday with Colorado State. “They are still young. It takes some time to show up on the field when we talk about developmental high school players. Guys are generally going to start to compete on the field in their third year as redshirt sophomores or juniors, and we’ve got a lot more of those guys playing this year. They have a lot of belief in themselves and in the future here.”

UNC beat Chadron State, 17-3, in Week 1. It was Lamb’s second victory, and first at home, since taking over the program in 2023. The Bears upset Weber State in Ogden, Utah, last year after a winless 2023.

There are key contributors for the Bears on both sides of the ball who hail from the Centennial State, and several of them helped UNC start the season with a victory. Sophomore Mathias Price (Fountain-Fort Carson) led the ground game with 73 yards on 16 carries and should be a focal point of the offense all season.

The Bears’ top three wideouts are all Colorado kids. Juniors Carver Cheeks (Mesa Ridge) and Brayden Munroe (Chaparral) combined for five catches, 108 yards, and a touchdown last week.

Five of the team’s top 12 tacklers against Chadron State are homegrown products. Sophomore Cam Chapa (Eaglecrest) is a preseason all-conference safety after leading the Bears with 83 tackles as a true freshman. Sophomore defensive end Makur Abrahm (Thomas Jefferson) had a sack in his first start. Redshirt sophomore KJ Smedley (Palmer Ridge) had three tackles and should be a leader for the linebacker corps.

Lamb also noted that the left side of his offensive line — junior tackle Levi Johnson (The Classical Academy) and sophomore guard Lincoln Fa’apouli (Fountain Fort-Carson) — are local kids.

All told, the Bears have 57 former Colorado prep products on the roster.

“I’ve felt like that’s the only way we can be successful at UNC,” Lamb said. “To see those guys start to compete and compete well, and in many cases they still have two, three, even four years of eligibility left, it gives me nothing but confidence for the future.”

It can’t all be high school recruiting in this age of college football, and UNC’s lineup against the Rams will reflect that. Starting quarterback Peter Costelli was injured last week and could be out for the rest of the season. That means a first start this week for Eric Gibson Jr.,  who began his career at LSU before a stop at Monterey Peninsula, a junior college in Northern California.

The star for the defense against Chadron State was junior safety Darrell Bryant Jr., who had nine tackles and a sack. Bryant began his career at Western Colorado, one of several transfers up from the RMAC on the Bears’ roster.