First Scrimmage Produces Desired Results

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Three weeks into spring, it was time to accelerate the competition with a scrimmage.

It was time to evaluate what has been learned by the Colorado State football team under fire, the reactions and the energy going full steam in full pads and just how deep the understanding runs. What head coach Jay Norvell has stressed when the team is on the Canvas Stadium turf is the environment should push the intensity.

And it did.

"I just think when we come in Canvas the switch has got to go off. It's a special thing to be in here, you've got to treat it that way and we want to play a special way when we walk into this building," Norvell said. "We do it in practice – that's where we get used to it. I was pleased with their effort today."

There was nothing complicated about the scrimmage, getting in more than 100 snaps from scrimmage with multiple units in front of more than 300 people on a perfect Colorado spring Saturday morning. With a new staff and systems and a host of new players, the goal was to see where things stood after eight practices of teaching behind them and six more remaining.

Norvell said the real focus was to get some plays run, but also make some plays. He wanted to see an understanding of the concepts, which he did. The bonus was there were very few penalties, which he somewhat expected the first time out. Overall, the Rams saw exactly what they hoped to see, which was effort and the ability to execute down the line. It was the right time and correlated with the desired results.

"It definitely did. It was like the ones didn't really get too many reps, so it was tough for us, because we're used to getting a lot of reps in practice, but just watching the young guys make plays and us make plays too, I think we did enough," transfer cornerback Chigozie Anusiem said. "We're not perfect yet, but we're getting there."

There's still plenty of time for that with the first game 147 days away. Still, there were bright spots throughout the scrimmage, highlighted by a sensational catch by Melquan Stovall on a deep ball from Clay Millen in the corner of the end zone.

Millen has taken every snap with the first team in spring, and while he's had a full year to learn the offense at Nevada, one must remember he's still a redshirt freshman with only two collegiate games played and two passes thrown – both against Colorado State in the final contest of 2021.

It's been since his time at Mount Si High School in Washington when he has been asked to be the leader of the offense and command the huddle, and so far, he's managed all being asked of him quite well.

"He takes advantage of every opportunity," Norvell said. "As a starter, you have to fight for every snap, and you've got to try to fight to execute every play, and he does that in practice. He takes advantage of every opportunity, and he's competitive now. He was out there today, he wanted to score every time he got the ball, and he wanted the offense to score, and that's what we want from that position."

Millen understands what's being asked of him and the expectations placed upon his young shoulders. He's not carrying any of it like it's a burden, rather like it is a privilege. On the field or on the sideline, he was talking with his teammates, especially his receivers, about what he's seeing and what they should look for themselves.

Every bit of his play Saturday suggested no one is going to have to ask him to take control of the huddle; he's already doing that.

"I feel super confident there," Millen said. "I feel like all of those guys, I trust in all of them, and I feel they trust in me too. I think we've just got a big connection, and everybody is really excited in that huddle. It's been really good."

There are a lot of moving pieces in this transition on both sides of the ball, each position group being a blend of old and new faces with new instructors in their ear. For Millen to be effective, he has to have time to throw the ball, which he did in the scrimmage. The group giving him time is no different than any other, with four transfers and a holdover – Brian Crespo-Jaquez – taking the first-team snaps.

Getting them all to be on the same page hasn't been as strenuous an assignment as one might think, newcomer Dontae Keys said.

"We kind of came together extremely quick. I've got a good amount of experience playing football and being around a different group of people, but this group is special," he said. "A lot of guys – Jacob Gardner, Brian Crespo-Jaquez – are helping us come together, helping us get the plays down and be that family we need to be."

The area which stood out to Norvell was the crispness with which the second- and third-team units played with on the day, which he attributes to the way they practice. Running two sessions on Tuesday and Thursday with the team split in half allows for more players to gain additional practice repetitions as opposed to all of them being on the field at once for two hours and the top of the depth chart dominating the playing time.

The reason they do it is to build depth, a development he felt was on full display with those offensive groups producing touchdowns and the defense's ability to make some plays. Even some newly installed systems – such as the 2-minute offense the Rams worked on for the first time Thursday – looked solid.

More than anything for the players, it was a chance to play at full speed again and have it on film to watch. The energy in practice has been pretty good but playing for real inside the stadium gave it a different feel, one they anticipated wash take over them.

Even better was the feeling on both sides of the ball improvement was made and was clear to see. It's a starting point, one the Rams have to continue to build upon.

"We got so much better. It was amazing to be out there," defensive end Mohamed Kamara said. "It's been a long season, last year, and just coming back here refreshed is just amazing. We were trying to get in all our base plays and regulate ourselves. We got a lot of things in work, but we have to keep the simple things simple."

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Chigozie Anusiem

Brian Crespo-Jaquez

Jacob Gardner

Mohamed Kamara

Dontae Keys

Clay Millen

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