Colorado State finished the 2025 season with a brutal 2-9 record. They went just 1-6 in Mountain West play and finished dead last in the conference standings. Since then, It’s been a complete roster overhaul situation in Fort Collins, and now another player is looking for greener pastures. 6-foot-6, 260-pound edge rusher Ed’Mari Binion has entered the transfer portal after spending just one redshirt season with the program.

On3’s Pete Nakos broke the news this week. “Colorado State EDGE Ed’Mari Binion is entering the transfer portal, his rep @nxtsportsagency tells @PeteNakos. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound pass rusher is a former basketball player and has only played four years of organized football,” he posted.

That tweet shows what makes Ed’Mari Binion such an intriguing prospect despite his lack of production at Colorado State. He’s a massive, athletic edge defender who’s still learning the game. This means his ceiling is sky-high if the right program can develop him. The fact that he’s only been playing organized football for four years and is already 260 pounds with that length makes him exactly the type of developmental project that Power Four programs love.

What makes Binion’s story fascinating is his basketball background. He was a legitimate two-sport star in high school and won a CIF championship on the hardwood before committing to football full-time. At Millikan High School in Long Beach, California, he was known more for his hoops skills. And he’s got the frame and athleticism you’d expect from someone who played basketball at a high level. On the football field during his senior year, Binion flashed potential with 12 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in just six games. This earned him three-star recruit status and offers from Washington, UNLV, and Montana State before he chose Colorado State. 

But the thing about Binion’s time at Colorado State is that he barely saw the field. And when he did, he didn’t register a single stat. He redshirted his freshman season in 2024. Then in 2025, he appeared in just two games without recording a tackle, sack, or any meaningful contribution on the stat sheet. 

That’s not necessarily a knock on him. Plenty of freshmen edge rushers need time to develop, especially those who are still learning football fundamentals. But combine his lack of production with Colorado State’s dumpster fire of a season, and it’s clear why Binion would want to explore his options elsewhere. The Rams’ defense ranked in the lower half nationally in nearly every category. Binion probably looked at the situation and realized he wasn’t going to get the coaching or development he needed to reach his potential in Fort Collins.​

Mora doubles down on bold championship promise

Jim Mora knows he might’ve gotten a little ahead of himself at his Colorado State introductory press conference. He declared the Rams would win the Pac-12 championship, but he’s not backing down from it now.

 “Usually not prone to making big statements like that,” Mora admitted during his second press conference on December 7. But the 63-year-old former UCLA and NFL coach clearly meant what he said when he fired up the Moby Arena crowd at halftime of the men’s basketball game. He’s doubled down on it. “You know, our goal is to win the Pac-12. That’s our goal,” Mora said flatly. “I put it out there, so I’m going to just keep backing it up with the work we do every day.”

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He wanted to energize a fan base that just suffered through a 2-10 disaster. The work to get there is what matters most. That’s exactly where his focus is now as he rebuilds a program from the ground up.​

The early returns suggest Mora is serious about that work, too. He signed 26 high school players during the December 3-5 signing window, including a bunch of UConn commits who flipped to follow him to Fort Collins. The headliner is quarterback Carter Emanuel from Edgewater High School in Florida, a three-star who was committed to UConn before Mora bolted for CSU.  Emanuel and 14 other early enrollees will hit campus for spring practice. Mora is wasting zero time trying to make that Pac-12 championship talk more than just talk.​