Norvell Taking Strides to Bridge Past and Present

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The execution of the gesture is so simple. The impact was immense.

Before having coached a game for Colorado State, first-year football coach Jay Norvell has made multiple steps to make sure the past feels part of the present, and the most meaningful moment took place Friday night with the Ram Walk.

This one differs from game days, when the players stroll through the fans to the stadium. This is for players, past and present, only. The current team, along with nearly 100 Rams of the past, lined up at the north goal line, then linked arm and arm, walked to the other end zone. There they gathered and a few former players – Weston Richburg and Ricky Brewer – addressed the team.

This is something Norvell did at Nevada, and it was important for him to bring it with him to Colorado State. The team will do the same walk before every game, home and road.

"It's so important that our current players are connected and understand the stories of our former players. They've been playing football here for 130 years, there's been a lot of players who have played here before our guys have arrived here," Norvell said. "We have a saying, we want to make the jersey better than when we got it, so it's important our players know they're playing for something bigger than themselves. To hear the stories of these guys of when they played her and how much the school means to them and how much it meant playing for this university is just so important for our current players. When they take the field on Saturdays, they know they're representing the players who played here before."

The message definitely hit home for the current group. The alumni who returned came from all over and covered multiple decades. Before the walk took place, one of the eldest Rams joking asked, 'how far do I have to walk?' After it was finished, many of the current players spoke with the new friends they had just made.

For redshirt freshman defensive lineman Grady Kelly, it hit him harder than he would have expected.

"It was chills, honestly. Seeing so many people who have been here, gone through the same grind ... It's surreal, very surreal, to be honest," Kelly said. "When you're literally standing next to somebody who played here 30 years before you were born and they still have that same passion and fire for the program that you have right now, it makes you want to go out on the field and leave everything you've got knowing you're going to come back here and have that same fire in 30 years.

"It's crazy, but it feels so much bigger. Now it's immensely bigger."

The other half of the equation – which is just as important – is the alumni come back and feel they are still part of a program they helped build. Most of them never played in Canvas Stadium, but many of them were at Hughes Stadium in it's early years. They helped create some of the high moments and lived through some of the rough patches, but they're all apart of the program which still stands.

They are the foundation, and Norvell wants them to feel welcome. He wants them to come back and have it still feel like home. It's why he doesn't take part. He didn't play for Colorado State. This program, he has told them, is not his.

"This is pretty incredible. The new staff welcomed back all the players when they first got here for a happy hour at Lucky Joe's one night, and just hearing the new staff talk and Jay talk about how this is not his team, it's our team, the former players and the relationship he wants to cultivate with us is pretty incredible," said former offensive lineman Dane Stratton. "I walked out of that night with chills just thinking about how I've never heard a brand new coach come in and almost immediately turn the rings in to the former players. He's super proactive in opening the doors and rolling out the red carpet for us. I was pretty taken aback by it, just that feeling.

"Things like this that are going to occur weekly, and these guys are going to get the chance to hear one of us old hats talk. I've been living here the past 15 years and I've been working for the police force for 10 years. I'm one of the few who stuck around because I wanted to give back to this team and this town, so I stayed. Now I have a coaching staff who recognizes that. It's incredible."

Some of those who came for the walk had started to feel disconnected. They still watch games every week and they want the program to have success, but many of them felt they were part of an old picture fading away in a drawer.

Friday's simple gesture turned around a lot of those feelings, and many of them are already making plans to be here every time they are available. Trae Moxley, another former offensive linemen, wishes it had happened when he played.

"The last couple of coaches I had, I'm thankful for what they've done for me, but I wish they would have emphasized bringing back the alumni a little more," he said. "Mike Bobo did a really good job trying to bring people in to speak with us, but I really enjoy what Norvell is doing here. He's obviously trying to get connected back with us as alumni, and I think he's trying to establish what it is to be a Ram before he even knows what it means to be a Ram. I really appreciate that.

"It means everything. Honest to God. To be able to step back on this field, to see some of the old guys like Weston Richburg and catch up with them ... He flew in from Texas to be here tonight just for what we're doing tonight. I think it shows a lot. It shows people want to be back here and around this community again, even if you live across the state."

Before the walk took place, Norvell met with the alumni in the team room and stressed how vital he believes they are to the future success. The stories they can share can inspire. Their tales can bring to life all that took place to make possible what happens next.

In that room, some former teammates were able to get reacquainted, and for some, it felt like they were picking up friendships right where they left them. That's the way a team grows together, creating a deep bond which never leaves them.

It should feel like home, and Norvell wants to make sure the feeling never leaves any of them, no matter the decade a player wore the green and gold. A lot of steps were taken to reach one side to the other, but it was one grand stride toward bridging a divide Norvell doesn't want to ever exist again.

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