Monday Presser: Opportunities Leading to Production

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The way the season has played out for Colorado State, there have been plenty of opportunities come about for players who did not begin the season as starters. Heck, there have been opportunities for players who didn't start the year on the two-deep.

Recently, head coach Jay Norvell has seen more of those chances being cashed in with production.

"We have had a number of backup players who have had to play, and you have a responsibility to your teammates that when you get your opportunity that you're prepared, you know what to do and you can do your job," Norvell said as his weekly press conference Monday. "It's just important backup players understand that. We have a lot of guys who are backup players who are making a huge contribution."

Avery Morrow and George Miki-Han are Exhibits A1 and A2. Miki-Han was the starting center for the scout team when he was called upon and he's now anchored the offensive line the past three games, earning rave reviews from the coaches.

It's not easy to keep one's hopes up, but that's what Miki-Han did, and he feels his time on scout team is what had him prepared for his first action.

"I just tried staying positive and kept working and just stayed patient throughout it, and the next thing my named got called up," he said. "I just stayed prepared the whole way, and we're doing pretty good right now on the O-line, but we can improve every week."

Morrow didn't start at running back and was part of a timeshare the first four weeks, generating just 22 carries in total. His workload the past two games has exceeded that and with good reason. He produced his first 100-yard game in the win over Nevada, rushing for 168 on 24 carries, then came back with 116 on 27 totes last week. His 26-yard scoring run against the Aggies, the first on the ground for the team this year, was the result of pure will.

In a way, Norvell sees all the practice reps in the spring starting to take hold and lead to performance.

"We spent a lot of time investing reps in our 2s and 3s and 4s. Those kids that were here in the spring, they got a ton of repetitions and a lot of experience," Norvell said. "I think we're benefitting, especially on defense, from that right now. Offensively, we got a bunch of freshman who were at prom."

Ayden Hector started against Nevada for the first time, returning an interception for a touchdown. Dane Olson not only had his first career catch last week but blocked a punt. Louis Brown joined the starting lineup two weeks ago and finished the Utah State game with four catches for 52 yards.

It's not just the coaches who are celebrating.

"It's exciting, because obviously these guys worked extremely hard, just as hard as the people who didn't start of the season," cornerback Chigozie Anusiem said. "To see them play as well as they are is really exciting. As an older player, it's encouraging for me because I was once in those shoes as well."

Quarterback Rotation

The thing about a revolving door is it will eventually come back to the start. After starting a different quarterback in each of the past three weeks, Clay Millen is poised to return to the starting role he held the first four games of the season.

When he exited the Sacramento State game with an injury, he was 68-of-92 passing (73.9 percent), for 667 yards and five touchdowns. He'd also thrown four interceptions.

"I was excited to get Clay Millen back on the field. He's been banged up the last couple of weeks, had not practiced," Norvell said. "He was back on the field today, and I told our guys really the one area of our football team we need to be more detailed and more productive is our passing game. If we can add productive passing play with what we're doing on defense and what we're doing on special teams and with what we're doing in the running game, I think we can be a much more complete football team and be a much more dangerous football team.

"I'm excited about having Clay back. Clay's been with us for a couple of years now, has the most experience of all of our quarterback and understanding our offense. He was making some mistakes as a young player, but he was throwing for 70 percent, which shows great understanding of our offense and giving our playmakers ability to make plays and giving us production. Getting him back is a big plus for us."

Backing up Millen, Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and Giles Pooler combined to hit 28-of-69 passes for 338 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.

Back Half

One of Norvell's chats with the team prior to the season starting was just how bad the program has been the second half of the past five seasons. It was an established goal to change the narrative, and the new conversation starts this week.

With the team 1-5, there is plenty of room for advancement, but it hasn't been without some signs.

"I just reviewed some things with our football team, and I really challenged our team after our preseason when we started conference play just to really see how much improvement we could make week to week as a team," Norvell said. "I pointed a lot of those things out to them today. We've played two conference games and our defense has been outstanding in both games. I think we're second in the conference in points given up in conference play at 15. We're the leading punt return yardage team with Tory Horton and the things he's given us, a shot in the arm there. We got a blocked punt this last game. Avery Morrow is leading the conference in rushing as far a per game; he's at 148 the last two games.

"I really tried to point those positives out to our team and show them that if we can continue to improve, we can make a lot of gains as a football team as we go through these next six games."

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