Every day before practice, Colorado State transfer cornerback Isaiah Essissima tells head coach Jay Norvell that he is going to ‘Get him one’ — in reference to an interception.
Essissima, who was recruited by Norvell while he was at Nevada, said it again before Saturday’s Green and Gold spring game. And sure enough, he delivered on his word.
On the first offensive series for the World against CSU’s 1s defense, Essissima picked off a pass from quarterback Jackson Brousseau, providing another reason for the Rams’ coaching staff to be excited about one of their newest defensive backs.
“I’ve always loved Isaiah,” Norvell said of the former member of the Wolf Pack. “We recruited him at Nevada, just a real athletic guy, loves to play, has a great spirit for playing, a lot of confidence. One of the things about playing corner, you’ve got to have self-confidence, and Isaiah has that.”
One advantage Essissima had when he arrived on campus is that he already knew the defensive system and schemes after coming from Nevada.
During spring practices and in Saturday’s spring game, he has taken advantage of having that knowledge, saying that his IQ and his ball skills are the biggest assets he brings to the team.
“I actually ran this defense at Nevada with Norvell, so when I came in, it was just picking up the old pieces from a couple of years ago,” Essissima said. “I fit right in.”
Running backs and receivers
One area of focus in Saturday’s spring game was the play of the team’s running backs and receivers. Both rooms were shorthanded with players sitting out but also after one from each room entered the transfer portal in the past week.
Running back Vann Schield and receiver Justus Ross-Simmons both have opted to continue playing elsewhere, and that has opened up some opportunities for others.
At running back, veterans Avery Morrow and Kobe Johnson lead the room, but younger players Justin Marshall, Damian Henderson and Keegan Holles are also getting a chance to shine. Norvell has been pleased with what he has seen from all of them, including what he saw in Saturday’s spring game.
“I thought Justin had a really good spring,” Norvell said. “He got hurt. He got dinged. Damian is growing and coming on. Kobe and Avery are veteran guys and we are really excited about Keegan. He had a couple of really good scrimmages and he’s coming off that ACL injury with his knee. He’s starting to run like he used to run.”
At receiver, Horton is the leader, but transfers Donovan Ollie and Dylan Goffney expect to play bigger roles this season with the departures of Ross-Simmons and Louis Brown to the transfer portal as well as tight end Dallin Holker to the NFL draft. Caleb Goodie and Jamari Person also stood out in Saturday’s scrimmage.
Checking the boxes
Both Norvell and quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi felt like they accomplished what they needed to in the team’s 15 spring practices. Both had objectives and priorities going in, and both believe those were met.
“Going into the spring, we were coming off the season and we really wanted to work on specific things to help us be a better team.” Norvell said. “I mentioned the run defense and the run concepts on offense, and we really went back and really drilled the crap out of that, a lot more inside runs, a lot more pods, a lot more perimeter blocking. Really less plays in practice than we have in the past and really worked more on fundamentals and technique.”
For Fowler-Nicolosi, he knew the spring was his chance to mature and grow as a quarterback. Last spring, he was the No. 3 quarterback. After stepping into the starting role against Colorado last season, he enters the fall as the team’s No. 1.
He knows what is expected of him and he wants the chance to prove himself. He feels like he was successful in that during spring practices.
“The mental game was huge for me this spring,” Fowler-Nicolosi said. “Be smarter with the ball. Don’t panic and understand situations. So, understand when to take shots, stuff like that throughout this spring and I’ve done a pretty good job of eliminating those kinds of dumb decisions and taking care of the ball and all the mental aspects that come with that, have definitely progressed.”
