Colorado State University Athletics
Young Defensive Line Growing Up
9/30/2025 1:45:00 PM | Football
Experience starting to stack up after four weeks
Andrew Laurich had never started a game, nor had Kenyon Agurs. Both had played reserve roles, however. Jack Moran and Keegan Shank had never played a game. Period.
Now all four are helping man Colorado State's defensive front, and position coach Luke Johnson feels as a group and to a man they are improving each time out. They've learned on the go while being thrown to the fire and with pressure mounting with the loss of two veteran starters, Gabe Jones and Mukendi Wa-Kalonji.
I'm really proud of this group so far. Obviously, we try to preach humble and hungry. The results so far haven't been what we wanted in terms of the win column, but I'm really proud of how the guys have fought and come together and executed, Johnson said. It's a young group in terms of experience and reps. Obviously, we lost Gabe week one in the first half, and we lose Mukendi week three at UTSA just before halftime. Obviously, those were two guys that did have a lot of playing experience in college. Two older guys, two good players I was leaning on this year.
What I've loved about those two is they've stayed around, they've been great leaders, their intelligence, their experience to help these young guys, teach them how to do it has been awesome and been a huge help to me. But the other part I'm proud about is how this group isn't finished. It's been next man up, whether they've played 40 college football games or four, the expectation is the same in my eyes, and they know that. They've been up to the challenge, it's been awesome.
Partly because they planned ahead. Finding defensive linemen is tough in college football. The few coming out of high school who are plug-and-play are in power conferences. The demand, and price tag for them in the transfer portal, is a massive bidding war.
At this level, it's find guys who you feel will translate and grow eventually, sometimes a few years down the road. Jack Moran showed up at 240 pounds last year as a freshman. A year later, he's added 40 pounds to his frame, most of it lean muscle. Shank did much the same.
Be prepared. Increase a trio of combined lifts by 140 pounds, like Moran did. Or by 120 like Shank did. And get faster in the process, as both did.
This offseason, Keegan and I, definitely our plans were to gain a bunch of weight because it's hard in the trenches when you're light, Moran said, who has 13 tackles on the season. They wanted us getting bigger, faster, stronger, just all around better.
Where Laurich and Agurs had some past experiences to build from, Moran and Shank were coming in cold. They collected all the individual reps they had in practice, took their time on the scout teams seriously.
What they lacked was a point from which to relate. How an offensive lineman will move in the trenches, how an offensive line will work as one. As each game has been played, Moran feels the knowledge they carry forward is tremendously helpful.
Especially on the field. We have some great offensive linemen, so we talk all the time, and we're giving each other tips on what guys will do, Moran said. Even seeing it out there, it's definitely getting me more prepared for a game.
I feel like it definitely makes us closer too, and I feel like coming out together and learning it together, I feel like it makes us closer as a group, and we obviously play better together once we're closer, I think.
The losses via injury have opened more doors, particularly for Shank, but even Moran is seeing more time on the field even as a starter. The asks have been big, but the responses have been positive.
What Johnson has seen is improvement each week, which is all he can ask, and head coach Jay Norvell has been appreciative of the effort.
All of those guys have been really a pleasant surprise. You know, Jack Moran is a young guy, really has stepped in and been very physical, Norvell said. Andrew Laurich has not been 100 percent, and you're never going to be at that position, but he's in there battling and fighting like a ballroom brawl in there inside at nose guard. You know, that's been really a group that's come out and battled for us, and we're going to need that. Keegan Shank is going to play more, and we should see a lot more from him.
Johnson, who arrived just prior to the start of fall camp, is going to ask a bit more from the group moving forward. The numbers in the room will dictate the request, the desire to perform and win the motivator.
He's not afraid to do so because of the way they've responded to each previous request. And to a man, they are getting better, game days proving to be the ideal classroom.
There's no greater teacher than Saturday. You can watch as much film as you want, Johnson said. You can go through indie, block rack, hit the sled, talk about it, walk it, this, that, and the other. You've got to get in the game in a loud stadium when it's full speed on TV until you really know what it's going to be like.
This room has gotten better each week, and so that's been the challenge with these guys. They know with me it's never going to be good enough, and the great part about them as humans is they always want more, and they want better. That's the awesome part about the group is they're hungry, they don't care how much they've played, or what the logo is, or where we're traveling … They'll go play in the parking lot with me, too. That's why I enjoy this group and I'm really proud of them so far.
