The countdown to the Border War is officially on.
Early Wednesday morning in the shadow of Canvas Stadium, the Colorado State football team took to the practice field to open fall camp and begin preparing for the 2026 season, which starts Sept. 5 when the Rams host Wyoming at Canvas Stadium.
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The overall vibe during and following the 2 1/2-hour first workout was a combination of excitement and optimism as the team goes through its first fall camp under head coach Jim Mora.
“The anticipation for today was huge,” wide receiver Jackson Harper said. “I could barely sleep last night just thinking about it. Everyone was excited to be out here.”
Harper is one of 17 Rams who played for Mora at UConn last season.
Mora was excited to get started Wednesday as well, but added he gets excited any time he is on a football field.
“I like the first day,” Mora said. “Actually, I like every day I come out. I’m blessed to be able to do this. Every day I’m at football practice is a great day. It’s not always a great practice, but it’s a great day.”
Wednesday’s first practice of fall camp was far from the first time the players have worked together. Between spring practices and team-led offseason workouts, the players have spent hours getting acclimated with each other.
One of the focuses in the spring was to set standards and try to reach them. With one month until the first game, the goal remains the same. Wednesday, the steps toward reaching those standards picked up right where they left off in April.
“I don’t think we met every standard that we wanted to meet.” defensive lineman Jack Moran said. “But I think we all work together because we all know each other now. We’ve spent time with each other, and I think it was more cohesive than, let’s say, in the spring. So, I think we’re taking a big step forward.
“We’re always raising the bar, raising the standard. It’s just whether we can meet it now or later on.”
Mora’s assessment of the first practice was overall positive, although he knows the team has a lot of work to do between now and Sept. 5.
He was pleased with what the players were able to retain from the spring.
“I felt like we made some progress today,” Mora said. “I didn’t feel like we came out here and had any first-day jitters. We didn’t have offsides, false starts, things like that. I thought our guys were pretty locked in, but we have a million miles to go before we’re ready to go again.”
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Moran, a redshirt sophomore whose father played for CSU, was most encouraged by the team’s confidence following the first day of practice.
“I think we went out there and I think we’re becoming a more confident team, and that’s what I’d like to see,” he said. “I think that we’re definitely making our building blocks right now and we’re definitely taking steps up from that.”
Having played together during the spring, the team already knows what is expected of it. That was another thing Mora was pleased with Wednesday.
Now the details the team worked on in the spring can be used to better its execution this fall. However, those details will always be important.
“The fundamentals, the effort, the attention to detail, the intensity, the communication, the leverage, those things are much as important as what play you call and how you run it,” Mora said. “The execution is obviously important, but those are the things, the small things, the details that you’re winning. So we’ll never move away from emphasizing those things.”
Now, the excitement of the opening day of camp fades and the focus turns to building for the season, the team’s first in the Pac-12 Conference.
And although the first game is only a month away, the team doesn’t feel pressure leading up to it. They are embracing the challenge of being ready for it.
“Just living out here this summer, you can sort of sense (the excitement) in the community and what the team can bring this year,” Harper said. “The staff at Colorado State, they just all truly believe in coach Mora and all the players, we believe in coach Mora as well.
“I don’t think it’s daunting at all. We put in the work. We’re prepared. So, when we go out there, we’ve taken thousands and thousands of reps, so we just do what we do every day.”
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