Kelly Lyell

kellylyell@coloradoan.com

Paul Thurston, a backup center at Nebraska the past two seasons, joined the CSU football program Wednesday as a graduate transfer and will be immediately eligible to play for the Rams, school officials said.

Thurston, 6-foot-5 and 295 pounds, has one season of eligibility remaining.

Thurston was an All-Colorado selection by The Denver Post as a senior in 2011 at Arvada West High School and was rated one of the top five prospects in the state by Rivals.com and 247Sports.com. The four-star recruit chose Nebraska over competing offers from Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Stanford, Colorado, Northwestern, Kansas State, UCLA and others, according to the two recruiting websites.

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CSU has a returning starter at center in junior Jake Bennett, who was named to a spring watch list Tuesday for the Rimington Trophy, given annually to the outstanding center in college football.

Thurston redshirted his first season at Nebraska in 2012 and did not play in 2013. He’s played primarily on special teams the past two seasons.

He received a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from Nebraska and will take graduate-level courses at CSU.

Thurston could not immediately be reached for comment.

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

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