Last fall was surreal for Colorado State free safety Klint Kubiak.

He was sidelined after two games because of low blood pressure and a bleeding ulcer that forced him to be hospitalized before the Rams' game in Houston.

Kubiak, the son of Houston Texans head coach and former Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, missed the rest of the season - the first fall he could remember that he wasn't snapping his chin strap and donning football gear.

"I came in as a freshman and started playing," Kubiak said. "I didn't start playing as a safety, but I played on special teams. Last season was the first time I had not played since I was a little kid."

Kubiak, a Regis High School graduate whose younger brother Klay is a CSU freshman quarterback, was granted a medical hardship by the NCAA and will be a redshirt junior.

His season on the sideline taught him not to take practice or games for granted.

"You get a chance to sit back and kind of take in how it feels not to have football, and it was tough," Kubiak said. "It did give me an opportunity to get a little stronger, get in the weight room, study a lot more, break down film and, as far as that aspect goes, it made me better.

"I got to watch a lot more game film, because I didn't have to worry about the rigors of practice like everyone else did. I got to break down every team every week and I got to help coach (James) Ward a little bit. When the games came, I got to be a player-coach, talk to the guys, and even though I wasn't playing, I still kept my head in there and didn't miss anything mentally."

Kubiak, 6-foot and 200 pounds, was missed on the field last year by the Rams, whose defense ranked 107th nationally against the rush.

"He's just a good tackler and gives you a good safety that can play the run as well as sit back there on the hash and have some range," CSU coach Steve Fairchild said. "He's a good football player, and our defense is better when he's in there."

Kubiak led the team in tackles, with 90, and started all 12 games in 2006. He played in 11 of 12 games as a freshman, on special teams and as a backup safety.

As a youngster, he had ambitions to play football for Texas A&M, but Colorado State was the only school to show interest in the defensive back/wide receiver who was a Rocky All-Colorado selection as a senior.

"CSU was one of my only options," Kubiak said. "Coach (Sonny) Lubick and coach (Mick) Delaney gave me the opportunity, and I'll never forget it. I wouldn't look to be in any other place. It's great.

"It's like a piece of me that was missing is now back. I'm looking forward to this season. (Strong safety) Mike (Pagnotta) and I have been there before, but we have some young corners who, I think, are going to be big-time players - especially in Nick Oppenneer, who had a great spring, and we have some new defensive linemen who are going to be able to step up, too.

"Being young will be tough the first series of the first game, but once they get comfortable, it's just football."

And that's something Kubiak won't take for granted.