The Fort Lewis College football program is in a much different position than it was in last year’s offseason acquisitions article.
Last summer, the Skyhawks still had a 39-game losing streak and the coaching staff hadn’t proved to the players or their families that they could win football games in Division II and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
This summer, everything has improved. FLC is coming off a 3-8 overall record and a 2-7 record in the RMAC in 2024. It was its best season since 2019 and the first time any player on the roster had one a football game for the Skyhawks.
After this monumental season, the victories continued for the program. The college opened a $6 million sports performance center that will boost the program’s development.
Players must believe the good vibes will continue; only one player transferred out of the program after last season. Now, FLC head coach Johnny Cox is bringing in 57 freshmen who could keep the upward trajectory of the program.
“We’re excited,” Cox said. “Each year we get better classes. This class seems to have the potential to be a very big class as far as size; it feels athletic and big. We just got the brand new weight room so if these guys put in the time to be strong college football players with our strength coaches, in a few years, we’re going to be excellent.”
The 2025 recruiting class is likely the last of its kind at FLC for a while. With the addition of the 57 freshmen, the football program now has 143 players, a number Cox thinks could be the highest in program history.
Since there are so many players on the roster and the program has such a high retention rate, Cox thinks there could be classes of only 25 players in the future.
Cox and the coaching staff also plan on redshirting all 57 freshmen for a few reasons. One reason is it takes time for a player to prepare their body to play in the RMAC and at the Division II level. That’s where the new weight room comes in.
Another reason is the program’s high retention level. There are plenty of players coming back with more experience and better prepared to compete at the college level.
Arguably, the biggest reason the staff plans on redshirting all 57 freshmen is the updated redshirt rule. Freshmen can now play in up to four games and take a redshirt year, up from three games last year.
It’s an excellent way for Cox to get some freshmen, who show a lot of potential, limited game time and still get them a fifth year in the program. This strategy will help the program long term by keeping plenty of veterans on the roster.
“As long as you're transparent in the recruiting process, it lends for people to feel good about their process,” Cox said. “We're able to retain them because it's been preached how we do things. It's been a good process … it's the first year that we've recruited everybody on the team. So it feels really good as far as communication, knowing everybody's parents, and it feels like everybody's going in the same direction.”
All the freshmen's playing time during their redshirt year can be different. Cox plans out four games for some of the freshmen he thinks are good enough to be rotational players. He then lets their parents know what games they should expect to see their son play in. There are some freshmen who aren’t as developed that Cox will try to get in for a play or two.
The recent success of the program has helped elevate its recruiting. In past years, the coaching staff’s pitch on the program has been more of a vision. After last year, the coaches can point to tangible success that makes recruits feel more comfortable about the environment they’re going into, according to Cox.
Environment is a big part of what Cox looks for with recruits. He wants guys to come to FLC because they love Durango, want a good education and want to be a part of the journey. He believes FLC is one of the best five places in Division II to go to college.
FLC doesn’t have a full trophy room like other schools. The Skyhawks are hunters, not the hunted. Players can’t walk into the program and expect a 10-2 or 9-3 season. They have to be ready to work to lift the program and win games.
A lot of the work to lift the program will be done in the new weight room. Before the $6 million sports performance center, Cox would hide the old weight room from recruits. Now it’s the first thing he shows them.
“The weight room is a game changer,” Cox said. “Obviously, we had more success on the field, but the opening of the weight room during the recruiting season really improved our product here. The support of the administration to get that done to have a $6 million weight room. There is no official ranking, but it's the best in the RMAC … It shows that we have the support if someone's trying to maximize their college football experience.”
Despite the increased success last season, FLC’s recruiting areas haven’t changed very much. The coaching staff still hits Colorado Springs, the greater Denver area and the Phoenix area hard. One change is the staff have made its way into Salt Lake City.
Cox likes to stay within the region because the staff have built relationships in high schools and the high school coaches know them and the program.
The football staff is divided up into areas. Four coaches go down to Phoenix, two go to Salt Lake City, four go to Denver and one goes to Colorado Springs. Cox focuses on Denver where he sticks to a few high schools he knows well. He’ll pop down to Phoenix sporadically. But for the most part, coaches stick to the areas they know well and then all gather back at FLC to evaluate and rank the high school talent.
As the program progresses, recruiting may get easier and the Skyhawks might get talent that will push the football program to the top and will help graduate champions.
“We're super excited about continuing on this process,” Cox said. “We need to keep grinding. We have a lot of excitement, a lot of anticipation … We can't jump ahead to the season. We need to stay where our feet are and grind every day. If we prepare every day like we can, and every practice, then it's going to pay off when it when it's time to really get out there.”
This is the second installment of this series where The Durango Herald looks at the incoming class of transfers and freshmen for all of FLC’s fall teams.
The first part of this series was on FLC men’s soccer team and can be found here.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
