For Offense, Spring is About the Long and Short of It

Matt Mumme said the approach to spring camp is one he's never seen, but he understands the why.

Every offseason, teams analyze what they did well and what they didn't. For the most part, Colorado State's offense clicked, ranking well in passing yardage and total offense. Scoring was below the standard. So was moving the chains and hitting big plays.

The normal approach is an all-encompassing route to spring. This year, the Rams are stressing two key parts of the offense, even though they amount to around 15 percent of the action. In camp, the Rams aren't working from A to Z, but they are covering the long and short of their performance.

"It's the sense of urgency is what it is. It's getting that stuff worked on," Mumme, the quarterbacks coach said. "You have two sessions to get ready for August 31. You have spring and you have camp. What Coach (Jay Norvell) is doing is looking at different things right now which we need to solidify by the time we finish on day 15 so we can get really good at it in camp."

Colorado State needs to throw the deep ball better, something Norvell wants to be a staple of his brand of Air Raid. The Rams also want to be more proficient in short-yardage situations. Those two areas are the primary focus and will eat up a lot of the reps.

Quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi will likely take a snap under center about one percent of the time in season. He's doing it a lot more this spring. When you don't do it often, there lacks a comfort level. This spring, they want to get one, as the Rams were not as proficient as they wanted to be in the run game on third- and fourth-and-short. On fourth-and-1, they only converted twice in six rushes.

"Spring is for opportunities and improvement. It's a good time to emphasize the things you need to work on and work on them over and over," Fowler-Nicolosi said. "We rep them against the defense every day, be it the vertical passing game and the short game we're adding new plays and little tweaks to get people open and make throws more available. Spring is definitely great.

"It's getting that familiarity with Jacob (Gardner) and that feel. Under center is all feel stuff, so once he gets used to my cadence and how we want the machine to be oiled … Just keep repping it and it will get smoother and smoother, so when those two or three times a game when we really need it during the season, we can say, 'oh yeah, spring we repped it a bunch,' and we feel comfortable with it."

Again, the situation doesn't come up much, but those are the plays which extend drives and keep the defense off the field. Overall on third down, the Rams ranked 51^st in the country, just a 41.1 percent success rate. On fourth, they ranked 104^th, converting 42.1 percent.

The plays matter, even if the situations don't appear regularly. When they arise, lineman Saveyon Henderson wants the offensive line to take charge with a revamped attitude. This camp gives them time to develop one.

"This is the perfect time. There's no better way or any other way I'd have it like right now," Henderson said. "It gives us the opportunity to get the feel of it, and as we keep working toward it, when fall camp comes we'll be better, and when the season comes we'll be perfect at it. I want us to be prideful about it. When it comes to third-and-1 or fourth-and-goal, I want us to come out the huddle knowing we've got that first down."

Same with the deep ball.

Colorado State would like to go vertical around six times a game. Mumme said hitting on just two attempts doesn't threaten a defense.

"I think we all know we've got to be better at throwing the deep ball. If we can do that, then all the stuff we do underneath is going to be exponentially better – all the quick game and screen game," Mumme said. "You're forcing defenses to play deep. Now, if you're a smart defensive coordinator against us, you'd rather take away the short and force us to throw deep because we're basically just throwing up haymakers. We're throwing up really a 40-60 ball. We've got to get to the point where we're better than 50 percent down the field."

All eyes turn to Fowler-Nicolosi, who started the final 11 games as a redshirt freshman. It's not entirely on him, Mumme noted, but a developed connection between the quarterback and the receivers. That requires reps, and last year Fowler-Nicolosi didn't exactly get them.

Mumme said he reminds folks all the time that last spring Fowler-Nicolosi was third on the depth chart those 15 practices and for the most part, third during fall camp. He didn't get to make those throws in practice.

In the spring, he will get most of those reps, but he's already taken a bunch as he and the wideouts have been working on timing since December. After watching film of his performance last year, he came away with a trio of working points.

"The three biggest things I took away were matching my footwork with my eyes, then putting balls out in front in a catchable area. I struggled with the distance last year," he said. "I think a lot of it was just nerves, honestly, but it was putting too much on it or not enough.

"Then working back shoulders. I think that's a huge part of my game, and I need to start utilizing it more. I'd like to say I'm solid at them, and Coach Mumme wants me to start utilizing it here more and more, and we're emphasizing that here in the spring."

The approach is different, but they want to make noise with the plays percentage wise they do less often. On the whole, the Rams averaged 26.1 points per game. That's below the target point. Points come off big plays. They are generated by long, sustained drives.

Those are the pressure points in games coaches say are dictated by the outcome of five or six of those moments. On a Saturday where a team will run up to 70 plays, it's not a lot, but they make the difference.

To be proficient requires time, and spring camp offers ample opportunity.

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