CSU Rams’ run game led by former Mullen High standouts

FORT COLLINS — Colorado State moving backs A’Jon Vivens and Marcus McElroy Jr. stock competing dreadlocks and a committedness to each different that goes beyond being assemblage roommates and adjacent friends.

The Denver natives are much similar brothers with akin hair-style preferences and a zest competing astatine the aforesaid position.

The Rams’ apical rushers successful the four-game play that was 2020, Vivens and McElroy person a enslaved stemming from their aboriginal days astatine Mullen High.

“That’s my small member close there,” McElroy, a fifth-year postgraduate student, said portion pointing astatine Vivens, a redshirt junior, aft signifier connected Tuesday. “Just champion friends.”

Vivens, 5-foot-11, 200 pounds and McElroy, 6-0, 230 are some 21, but McElroy is astir 9 months older. They met during the 2013-14 schoolhouse twelvemonth erstwhile McElroy was a Mullen freshman and Vivens was an eighth-grader spending a shadiness time astatine the school.

They some had fledging dreadlocks astatine the time.

“It’s funny, I had my (long) hairsbreadth successful mediate school,” Vivens said. “He’s a twelvemonth older than me, truthful he’s already astatine Mullen and I came successful to shadiness and everybody thought we were brothers. I didn’t adjacent cognize who Marcus was. When we were yet introduced, we truly didn’t person a prime to beryllium friends. Everyone linked america together.”

McElroy became Mullen’s prima moving backmost and Vivens was the Mustangs’ standout receiver. They some were a National Football Foundation Colorado Chapter Scholar-Athlete, too.

“It’s decidedly been a choky bond,” Vivens said. “It’s been chill to spell done this process unneurotic and turn — not lone arsenic teammates but personally, and beryllium capable to enactment each other. We’ve gone done a batch of worldly together, a batch of idiosyncratic things. He’s idiosyncratic I tin beryllium connected erstwhile I request thing and vice versa.”

“Inseparable,” McElroy said of his narration with Vivens, who switched from receiver to moving backmost earlier past season. “When A’Jon archetypal started coming to practices (at Mullen) I messaged him connected Facebook, telling him if helium ever needed anything, hook maine up. Ever since past we’ve been champion friends.

“We rode to schoolhouse each time astatine Mullen each the mode up to the extremity of my elder year. We rode together, worked retired together, and adjacent erstwhile I was successful assemblage we would spell Christmas buying together. We’d walk weekends hanging out. He came up to sojourn for immoderate games.”

McElroy, however, said helium didn’t needfully assistance enlistee Vivens to CSU. But Vivens was sold connected the programme based connected the clip helium spent with McElroy erstwhile helium was a elder astatine Mullen — agelong earlier they began competing for the aforesaid position.

“We emotion competing against each other,” McElroy said. “I’m blessed for him whenever helium does thing good. He’s blessed for maine whenever I bash thing good. It’s ne'er thing negative, immoderate bashing connected each other. It’s ever positive.”

Vivens led the Rams with 49 carries, 210 yards and a 4.3-yard mean successful their 4 games past season. McElroy was 2nd successful carries (41) and yards (110 yards) and led the squad with 3 rushing touchdowns.

The duo has much contention for playing clip this twelvemonth with the summation of elder David Bailey, a transportation from Boston College. Bailey played nether second-year CSU manager Steve Addazio for 2 years astatine BC.

Bailey, 6-0, 240 pounds, led the Eagles with 127 carries for 503 yards and 7 touchdowns successful 10 games past season.

“I consciousness large astir bringing David in,” Vivens said. “The sanction of the crippled is contention astatine the extremity of the day. We’re each pushing each other, we’re each learning from each other. It’s amusive seeing antithetic radical marque plays. It’s going to propulsion us.”

“The 3 of america arsenic a portion — deadly,” McElroy said. “David coming successful was a large summation to the room. It gives america much confidence. It’s a three-headed monster.”

Added Addazio: “They’re a large group, a talented radical and a hard-working group. Thank God we person depth. And convey God we’ve got the guys that we have.”