Nearly five months after landing in Fort Collins, K.J. Carta-Samuels has, as expected, been handed the keys to Colorado State’s offense.
On the depth chart released ahead of CSU’s opener against Hawaii Aug. 25, Carta-Samuels was listed as the Rams’ starting quarterback. Carta-Samuels’ backups are listed as Justice McCoy OR Collin Hill.
Hill suffered a torn ACL in mid-March playing a game of pickup basketball, but has been ahead of schedule in his rehab.
In early December of last year, Carta-Samuels announced that he would be leaving Chris Petersen‘s Washington football program. In January, it was reported that Carta-Samuels would transfer to UCLA, although he ended up at Colorado State two months later as a graduate transfer.
A four-star member of UW’s 2014 recruiting class, Carta-Samuels was rated as the No. 12 pro-style quarterback in the country and the No. 24 player at any position in the state of California. Budda Baker, a second-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft, was the only signee in the Huskies’ class that year rated higher than Carta-Samuels.
Carta-Samuels played in 25 games over the past three seasons. He ended the Huskies portion of his collegiate playing career with 310 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in completing 27-of-47 passes.