Dee Hart leaving CSU early for NFL draft

Running back Dee Hart plans to skip his senior year of football at CSU to make himself eligible for the NFL draft, a school spokesman said Friday night.

Hart ran for 1,275 yards and 16 touchdowns in his only season at Colorado State University after joining the program in August as a transfer from Alabama, where he earned a bachelor's degree. He was taking classes toward a master's degree at CSU.

Hart couldn't be reached for comment Friday, and his name was not on the latest list of players who have declared themselves early entrants for the 2015 NFL draft. New CSU coach Mike Bobo also was not available for comment, athletic department spokesman Stuart Buchanan said while confirming Hart's decision.

"I'm going to declare for the draft," Hart told the Loveland Reporter-Herald. "It was just a dream I always had growing up, and it's an opportunity I have this season, so I want to take advantage of it."

Hart told the newspaper he had informed Bobo of his decision and sent in his paperwork for early entry to the NFL.

Hart was a second-team all-Mountain West selection this past season for the Rams, who went 10-3 overall and 6-2 in the MW.

He is the second CSU running back in as many years to leave school early in hopes of being selected in the NFL draft.

Kapri Bibbs, who ran for 1, 741 yards and 31 touchdowns, both school records, for the Rams as a sophomore in 2013 also left early. He wasn't selected in last year's draft, but signed a free-agent contract with the Denver Broncos and spent most of this season on the team's practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster for a few weeks in the middle of the season but was never activated to play.

Hart had hinted he might forego his senior season after coach Jim McElwain, who originally recruited him to Alabama, left CSU to become Florida's new coach earlier this month. Hart slipped out of the locker room without talking to reporters following the Rams' 45-10 loss to Utah in the Dec. 20 Las Vegas Bowl.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.