Not the Record He Wants, But It's a Start

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Clay Millen's thoughts take him exactly where the fanbase goes.

To the record. To the points scored. Back to the record. A 2-9 campaign wasn't what he wanted or envisioned in his first season as Colorado State's starting quarterback. Definitely not an average of 12.8 points per game, last in the nation.

There are signs, for sure. Still, he's not happy. Not even close.

"The biggest thing as a quarterback is you want to win games and you want to score points. I know there have been some highlights and some good stuff in there, but overall, I'm the quarterback so my mindset doesn't matter," Millen said. "The completion percentage doesn't matter. I just want to score points and help the offense win games, and we haven't won a lot of games and we haven't been scoring the points we want. I also know it's a process, too. We have a lot of young guys out there, and I believe it's going to keep getting better with another offseason letting these guys develop. There's some good spots, but from my perspective, I just want to win games."

He and the Rams have one more shot to do so this Friday with New Mexico in town. Unless something extremely catastrophic happens, Millen is going to walk away with a record by the end of the afternoon. Currently, he ranks second nationally in completion percentage at 71.4 percent, trailing only Bo Nix of Oregon (72.2).

Pete Thomas holds the Colorado State single-season record, set back in 2010. Thomas was also a freshman when he completed 64.8 percent of his passes, throwing for 2,662 yards with 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. What makes Millen's mark even more impressive than the difference between the two percentages is the way he's accomplished it, by being able to throw the ball deep with accuracy.

Thomas didn't that season. His average per attempt was 6.8 yards. He had five games where his longest pass in the game was 20 yards or less. He started all 12 games, sacked 44 times.

Millen will play in his 10^th game this week and has already been sacked 51 times. His average per attempt of 8.1 ranks 31^st nationally, the same as last year's Heisman Trophy winner, Alabama's Bryce Young.

He's already completed more passes of 40 yards or more than Thomas did that year, the eight to Millen's credit leads the Mountain West and is only surpassed by 20 other quarterbacks in the country. His shortest long pass in a game is 27 yards, against Washington State. To quarterbacks coach Matt Mumme, there are a lot of signs in those numbers which point to an offensive turnaround.

To start with, the ability to not only be accurate, but to be accurate down the field.

"I think it is rare. I think it's a tribute to Clay because going into the season I was a little nervous about his deep ball," Mumme said. "We missed quite a few in camp. He's really done a nice job in all the looks he's gotten during the season to throw them. We need to throw more of them to be honest. They're giving us chances and opportunities, and Clay has been able to complete them.
"In our offense, to have a high competition percentage, when we do start trying to throw it deep a lot, that's a big deal."

Definitely a big deal because it's what head coach Jay Norvell wants from his offense. He wants the deep ball to be a tool, and not one used so rarely it gets lost in the box. To him, it has to be the first one you see when he opens the lid.

Millen has shown him he can take the top off a defense and as he improves and the players around him do as well, he wants Millen to look to it more often.

"Every quarterback has their own personality. We had a guy at Nevada, Carson Strong, he was a gunslinger, he wanted to throw every ball deep," Norvell said. "Clay's a little bit different, he's a little bit more cautious, which is a good thing. He can throw the ball very accurately down the field and deep, and that's a great quality to have. I think some of his carefulness has gotten him in trouble a little bit with the pass rush. He's taken a couple of sacks because he doesn't want to put the ball in danger. We've just got to work through that with him, but I just think he's off to a great start."

Not that the spring was any indication. It was the one area of concern for Mumme, which made it one for Millen. Summer workouts were already going to be important, but they had a bit more focus when they started.

By the end of fall, there was a different feeling, both mentally in his approach and physically in the delivery.

"I think I got a lot of work in on the offseason. I started trusting myself," Millen said. "I just threw it out there. In the spring I think I would kind of aim it almost. One of the biggest emphasises coming out of spring was I needed to improve my deep routes, and now go route is my favorite ball to throw. If I could throw it all day, I would. I love to throw it and let my guys go get it. I think it was the repetitions in the offseason and getting chemistry with those guys. When I first game in in the spring, I didn't have that. Once we got to the offseason, I was able to practice a bunch of deep balls and now I trust myself. I put it out there and they go get it."

Receiver Tory Horton took it a step further, noting Millen's penchant to study everything. The junior wideout said Millen has learned certain receivers run certain routes faster, be it a go or a post, and Horton fully believes Millen has spotted the patterns and has adjusted accordingly.

The final step was doing it in a game, and even though the trip to Michigan wasn't a bright starting point, it did show a glimmer of what Millen could do when he hit Horton in the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown.

That was the start. Millen has thrown just two red-zone touchdowns all year. Of the other six scoring tosses, the two shortest came against Air Force, covering 28 and 21 yards. To Horton, there's a difference between being accurate and throwing a really good ball, and it's the latter category where he puts Millen.

"We try to emphasize being accurate and consistent, and that's something he takes pride in at practice. When it comes to the game, his deep balls, he's worked on putting it on certain spots, on the outside shoulder, out in front and sometimes even in the back pocket, and you can tell he's worked a lot at it," Horton said. "There's improvement, and you can see it and it's coming together in the game.

"There's a difference between a good ball and a catchable ball, and Clay throws a very catchable ball and that makes it easier for us as receivers. He's putting in the basket. Jordon Williams' touchdown the other night, that ball was in a perfect spot, and it was like a suction cup. That's something a lot of quarterbacks don't have, and him improving on that with the accuracy he has, it helps us receivers a lot. He puts the ball in certain areas that allows us to keep moving at a full-throttle speed which is something that has made it to us in the receiver room, and we feel like Clay does a great job with that."

Getting the time to throw the route is an issue all to itself. In his mind, he wants to be a gunslinger. In his mind, he's still figuring out the where and when.

He's been hit a lot, even more than the 51 sacks he's absorbed. Some of them are on him, and he knows it, but it is an area where the coaches feel he's improved. Air Force collected seven sacks and Mumme said one was definitely on Millen, possibly another.

"I think it's continuing to learn. It's getting that clock in your head, and getting more game experience you get, you get that clock in your head and knowing when you can trust your progression and get to feel where you can to your third, fourth or fifth read," Millen said. "Sometimes it's a hard thing to balance. You have to trust it, but at the same time you have to have a sense where you see guys collapsing and I can only get to my first or second read and the ball has to be out. It's a feel thing. The more game reps you get, the more comfortable you get with that sense about it."

The sack against Sacramento State which knocked him out for two games is a prime example. It was a youngster trying to make a play when one wasn't available. It was a quick-game read, and when it wasn't there, he should have thrown it away. He didn't, was sacked and landed on his shoulder. While he was out, he was able to see things, saying it helped slow down the game for him.

It's not just a Millen issue, not even just an offensive line issue. But it has to be fixed, collectively. Still, his ability to absorb punishment and still be on target stands out to his position coach.

"If we were a little better up front, I think he would have thrown a lot more. Here we are late in the season, there were a couple in the Air Force game that I was like, you watch the rush a little bit he's been hit so much it gets to you," Mumme said. "For a quarterback to say it doesn't' get to you, you're wrong. That's not true. (Offensive line) coach Bill Best and I talk about it. He's all worried, and I'm like, 'coach, some of those are on Clay, and some are on the backs.' It's a collective effort to be better there.

"People have to realize we're a progression-oriented team. Its 1-2-3-4-5. If one and two aren't open, we have to go to three, that's going to take two or three seconds. We just have to be better altogether."

Mumme thought this would all come together much sooner. He said his expectations were grander, but he also didn't anticipate the receiver room to be cut in half with the departing crew including two starters. His estimation is that was a lot of development reps for Millen in practice were being taken up by guys he no longer throws the ball to in games.

Now, he has Horton, a 1,000-yard receiver, and true freshmen Louis Brown and Justus Ross-Simmons he's targeting most often in a game. While Horton has polish, the other two, like Millen, are very much growing game to game, practice to practice.

Something else which speaks of promise to the quarterback.

"All of those guys, the thing about freshmen is they'll become sophomores and juniors and seniors," Millen said. "A lot of the guys we've played against this year are sixth-year seniors. These guys just graduated from high school and they're going against guys who have been in college for six years. That's exciting, because they're just going to keep getting older, and when they're the older half, no one will be able to stop them. Tory is Tory; he's always open. JRoss, he's another young guy who gets open and he'll get better. All of them have had a steep curve, and they're just getting better."

A realization which is hard to accept at times. Millen will grab this record and it won't mean much to him because of the team's record and how few points the offense scored. Mumme is right there with him, but he also sees the signs. The yards per attempt and the completion percentage have him convinced better days are coming.

At some point, Mumme said the lightbulb is going to click on for the offense and they'll fully see the light. He's hoping it's this week.

Norvell sees the same things, too. Not happy with the record, not happy with the points, fully believing both are about to change, and Millen will be a big part of the equation.

"One of the reasons we love to throw the football and we can make the decision to throw it is because if he's completing at a 70-percent clip, most of the time when he lets it go something good is going to happen," Norvell said. "That's the way it was with Carson, so I think we've got a great start with him. He learned so much this year. He's gotten hurt, he's taken some shots, but he's always competed. He competed right down to the end Saturday, and now you can start to see your young playmakers start to make plays. Jordon Williams makes a big play, Louis Brown did some good things, Justus Ross-Simmons had a good game.

"Clay's on his way."

Deep down, the quarterback sees it too. The record is fine, just not the one which means the most to him. But understanding one can lead to the other is a step for a redshirt freshman still finding his way.

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