FORT COLLINS — When Anthony Bonner was announced as a starter for Colorado State’s season opener, it raised a few eyebrows.

Forced into the rotation last season because the Rams were down to just seven scholarship players, Bonner didn’t exactly light it up. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 3.6 points on less than 40 percent shooting, 1.3 rebounds and had almost as many turnovers as assists.

Turns out, coach Larry Eustachy knew what he was doing.

It took some time for Bonner to find his groove, but over the past three weeks he’s emerged as one of the team’s most consistent contributors on both ends of the floor. Since scoring a career-high 17 points in a win over Texas State on Dec. 17, Bonner has averaged 10.3 points and 3.0 rebounds a game.

He’s shot 43.6 percent from the field during that stretch (44.8 percent from 3), despite going a combined 5 of 20 against Arkansas-Fort Smith and Long Beach State, bringing some much-needed shooting efficiency to the Rams’ backcourt.

Bonner has bulked up since coming to CSU as a 165-pound freshman from Lawrence, Kansas. He put on 20 pounds during his redshirt season a couple years ago but has had trouble keeping the weight on during the season. He still has work to do in the weight room, but the muscle he’s managed to keep on has certainly made a difference.

More than anything, though, becoming the player he always knew he could be has been all about the space between his ears.

“I feel like I was over-thinking out there and getting in my own head. The games where I started playing with confidence and not thinking, I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t as hard as I thought it was,'” he said. “I just try to tell myself before every game, ‘Whether you have zero points, five rebounds, three assists, or 10 points, whatever it is, give your team the best chance to win.'”

Frequently critical of his players’ defense early in their careers, Eustachy praised Bonner’s performance on that end while giving him a directive that every shooter dreams of hearing from their coach.

“He needs to get the ball more. He needs to be more selfish on offense and look to score,” Eustachy said. “Defensively he’s just been flawless really.”

Bonner is part of a 2015 recruiting class that is really starting to form the core of the program alongside fellow redshirt sophomore Nico Carvacho and junior Prentiss Nixon. All three have increased their scoring and rebounding each season under Eustachy and his staff, proving the program is as capable of developing prep recruits as it is relying on transfers.

“Our deal is getting guys and developing them — junior college, high school or transfer,” Eustachy said. “I think (Bonner) just falls in line with the J.J. (Avila)s and the Gian (Clavell)s. Gian didn’t start at the beginning. (Bonner) just falls in line with all of them.”

Growing up in Lawrence, Bonner was just like everyone else in a town, a huge Jayhawks fan. Not only did his father play football for Kansas, but his best friend, Justin Roberts — currently a sophomore playing hoops at Toledo — was able to hook up tickets to KU games because his dad, Norm Roberts, is an assistant coach under Bill Self.

Bonner is a Ram through and through, but he’ll never forget Mario Chalmers’ game-winner to beat Memphis in the national title game 10 years ago.

“Everyone went downtown on Mass Street — it’s like Old Town pretty much — and I was in fifth grade and it was just ridiculous,” Bonner remembers. “It was crazy to see the fans. That was probably my biggest memory of KU basketball was that national championship.

“Just growing up in that culture, going to KU games, it was just like, ‘yeah, I love basketball. This is what I want to do.'”

A year after the Jayhawks’ title, an older brother of one of Bonner’s friends signed a letter of intent to play at Colorado State. The recruit’s name: Dorian Green. Green went on to have an incredible career as a Ram, becoming the program’s all-time leader in games played while ranking in the top 10 in points, assists, 3-pointers and free throws.

Bonner and Green’s dads went to school together at Kansas, so their two families are close. Bonner said he never really felt the pressure to live up to Green’s career at CSU; rather Dorian served as a mentor to him as he made the transition from high school to college.

“He really helped me get here. He talked to me about the coaching staff, just Fort Collins as a whole, restaurants, all that stuff. He kinda got me here,” Bonner said. “I was like, if he can be successful here, I know I can be too. We still talk. We still text. He gives me advice and stuff. I definitely see him as a role model. Those are big shoes to fill. He had a great career here.”

For about as long as he remembers, it was all basketball all the time as a kid, whether that was perfecting his jumper in the backyard until dark or serving as the ball boy for his older brother’s team that was coached by his dad. There was another interest, however, that didn’t involve a hoop.

“I love music. I was in choir for four years in high school, so I really love music,” said Bonner, a huge Drake fan and staunch supporter of the artist on Twitter (@AyeBeeOne5).

Other than music, his hobbies outside of basketball are pretty typical for a college-aged kid: movies, talking trash to his friends and playing video games. “I’m the best Madden and 2K player on the team. No one can beat me.”

On the court, Eustachy says Bonner is exactly where he needs to at this point in his career, with plenty of room for improvement over the next year and a half. By the time he’s a senior, the coach said, he could easily see ‘AB’ becoming one of the conference’s best guards.

That would be quite the transformation but really not all that surprising considering how far he’s come not just this season but in his nearly three years in Fort Collins.

“AB has grown a lot since our redshirt year. He came here skinny, really skinny. He’s put in work in the weight room, got him some muscles,” said Carvacho, who lives with Bonner along with Nixon. “On the court, me and him have gone through some ups and downs this year, but he’s been able to fight it off.

“Since the break really until conference now, he’s been really consistent offensively and defensively. Being efficient scoring-wise, not trying to do too much. Just trying to play the role that we need him to play.”

Sean Star: sstar@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/seanvstar