Given the amount of production lost from last season’s 27-win team, with their top three scorers (forwards J.J. Avila and Stanton Kidd and guard/forward Daniel Bejarano) out of eligibility, Colorado State is expecting a lot from its incoming recruiting class. Wednesday it was reported that Larry Eustachy’s six-member recruiting haul has dropped to five, with three-star shooting guard C.J. Keyser reportedly headed to prep school this fall instead of Fort Collins.
News of Keyser’s decision was first reported by DMVElite.com, and it has yet to be decided where the Sunrise Christian Academy product will attend school in the fall. This move means that the Rams will only have two newcomers in its backcourt in guards Prentiss Nixon and Anthony Bonner.CSU coach Larry Eustachy was excited to add a player with the type of athletic ability that Keyser possesses.
Back in May, Eustachy told the Loveland Reporter-Herald that Kesyer “could be maybe the best talent that Colorado State has signed as a freshman in a long time, if it’s not one of the other guys we signed.”
While losing Keyser isn’t an ideal situation for Colorado State, how much this hurts their perimeter depth depend in part upon the status of guard Antwan Scott. Scott, who played in just four games last season due to injury, has applied for a hardship waiver that would result in another season of eligibility if granted according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald.
And it isn’t as if Colorado State lacks options on the perimeter either. The Rams return veterans John Gillon, Gian Clavell, Joe DeCiman and Fred Richardson to its perimeter from last season, with Clavell averaging 9.2 points per game in 2014-15 and DeCiman and Gillon adding 7.9 ppg apiece.
Add in Nixon and Bonner, and Eustachy and his staff have some players to work with as they look to reach the NCAA tournament after missing out in 2014-15. The issue comes in 2016-17, when three of the returning veterans (and Scott should he get an extra year) are out of eligibility.