FORT COLLINS — Shut up and play.

To get a football uniform from Colorado State coach Mike Bobo, a young athlete must surrender his First Amendment rights.

Seems a little harsh, doesn’t it?

Freshmen in the Rams program are to be seen but not heard. To raise men, Bobo begins by treating his players like little boys. During a recent 47-21 rout of Northern Colorado, 18-year-old CSU freshmen were the stars. Collin Hill threw for 315 yards, and Marvin Kinsey Jr. rushed for 99 yards. But neither player was allowed to talk about it after the game.

Why? The gag order is an official team rule. Bobo forbids first-year players from speaking to the media.

The silence of the Rams is deafening.

Hill and Kinsey are both old enough to vote for president. Or go to war. Bobo trusts them to keep him gainfully employed in his $1.45 million salary, but apparently doesn’t trust Kinsey or Hill to open their mouths without inserting a foot. I don’t get it. So, on Monday, I asked Bobo to explain his logic.

“Eighteen-year-olds, they’re off from home,” said Bobo, who believes freshmen are overwhelmed merely by learning the game plan and figuring out where class is every morning. “They don’t have mom waking them up or grandma waking them up. They got a lot of responsibility on their own. They’re seeing girls on campus. I want to limit the distractions. I can limit that one.”

Upsetting the media by doing so, Bobo said, “I can live with it.”

Girls! On a college campus! Wearing shorts! Oh my! In the name of eliminating distractions, maybe Bobo should also flush all the beer in Fort Collins down the toilet and ban Pokemon GO.

Colorado State is a wonderful academic institution that trains young minds in veterinary medicine and computer science. But maybe jocks are too dumb to think for themselves until the football coach puts select names on a list given the OK to speak with radio, television and internet websites. Related Articles September 18, 2016 Kiszla: Maybe Von Miller should start sending sympathy cards to NFL quarterbacks

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This silly rule was established in 2012 by former coach Jim McElwain. It should have been thrown in the trash with the rest of McElwain’s heavy-handed, brow-beating techniques when Bobo took over prior to last season.

“I always thought when I had a young guy and he was speaking to the media, I had more issues to deal with,” admitted Bobo, who paid his dues as a Georgia assistant for 14 seasons to earn the right to muzzle a young player. “So I said, ‘If I was ever going to be a head coach, he wasn’t going to talk.’ ”

Hmm, maybe the gag order isn’t about the welfare of the student-athlete so much as it’s just another football coach on a power trip.

Know this: Bobo is a good man when he’s not trying to be some combination of Nick Saban and Mary Poppins.

Bobo believes in the power of God’s grace, putting team before self and the American way. But freedom of speech? Not so much.