Colorado State might be the sweet spot of school spirit (I don’t think the football team is great, but there is a lot of spirit), manageable course load, great outdoor activities and outing club, kids that like to be active and a great college town. With his stats he’d probably get into the honors program which is really value added (early registration, smaller discussion-based interdisciplinary classes, honors/engineering dorm). It wasn’t originally in my son’s top 3, but after our visit he just couldn’t get it out of his mind. We went back a second time and it was a YES before we even left campus.
It’s probably worth a trip to CO if you can swing it to visit Mines, CU Boulder, and CSU. They all have very different vibes. The type of engineering he decides on will also rule in/out certain schools.