FORT COLLINS — If a college football program wants to secure the best the state has to offer, it must get to know its homegrown talent and the people who nurture them.

Just as important is letting the state get to know the program and the staff that runs it, which is what first-year coach Mike Bobo is aiming to do this summer in a variety of ways.

Naturally, there will be camps on campus, a fertile recruiting ground for programs. The staples — individual and team camps — are in place, but the Rams will also branch out to two different sites away from Fort Collins. Like most programs, CSU is also hosting a ladies huddle on June 3 at Hughes Stadium.

To Bobo, all are a way to sell the university on multiple levels, and with this being a first-year staff, a quality first impression is vital. Because when Bobby Joe from Anywhere High comes to camp and is impressed, he goes back and tells his coach and friends.

“There’s no question camps are important. It’s the evaluation process as far as picking players,” he said. “I also do camps as a chance to help promote the CSU brand, Colorado State University as a whole. The message to my staff as we start camps is, obviously we’re looking for prospects, but we want everybody to have a great experience. We’re going to coach everybody the same way, whether they play here or never play again.

“Hopefully when they walk away, they feel like they learned something that helps them improve as a football player, and hopefully they feel good about Colorado State. Maybe they’ll attend one day even if they’re not a football player.”

The camp season starts for CSU on June 1-2 with a two-day youth camp for players in grades 3-8. There is an overnight option, as there will be five practices in two days. Two days later, the staff will head to Yuma for the first of two satellite camps. The one in Yuma covers grades 3-12; the Denver camp June 5 at Denver South is for grades 9-12.

The first skills camp at CSU is on June 6, with a two-day camp in July, as well as a specialists camp. A team camp will also be held in July, one that has expanded to nearly 900 athletes.

CSU director of football operations Tom Ehlers said each camp will offer a true look at a college practice, age appropriate, of course. He also said the new staff wanted to be as thorough as possible in offering choices this first summer.

The ladies huddle will also offer a look into the world of football, but with a personal touch.

“It’s nice to be able to connect with the fellow female Rams, and I think it’s an opportunity to get to know our staff on a more personal level and our staff’s wives as well, who will be very involved with it,” said Leah Knight, the assistant director of football operations. “I think it’s a chance for them

to see a different side than what you typically see in a football setting. When you’re not involved with football, sometimes you don’t know the sacrifices that are made, really the ins and outs from the family perspective. It’s more the family aspect. CSU football is definitely a family, and Coach Bobo is big on that.”

Those in attendance will be taught the game and run drills, but Bobo said while he was at Georgia, his wife took part in the proceedings, as did his children, with his daughters serving as his “assistant coaches.” To him, that offers a more detailed look for the fans, who will get to do a Q&A session with the wives.

“It’s a chance to meet our wives and hear how they deal with being coaches wives, and how they basically have to raise the family by themselves six months of the year and why they do it,” he said. “It was important to me when I took this job, I’m not just the head coach for these 120 guys, but I wanted to involve myself and my family in this community, in this university, in the city of Fort Collins. The only way we can do that as a family is being visible and being open.

“My wife gets to get out in front of these women, and they get a chance to see her, how special she is and how lucky I am that she married me.”

All information for the camps and the ladies huddle can be found through the CSU website at www.csurams.com.