Mora Pleased with First Scrimmage of Fall

The day was designed to put a lot on the table, with Jim Mora and his coaching staff assessing how the team went about clearing the area. The goal was to make Canvas Stadium on Saturday mimic an actual game day, complete with opportunities to handle success and failure, how to communicate and execute and overcome adversity.

The veteran head coach called it a great step for the Rams.

"I look for organization, intensity. I look for focus," Mora said. "I look for guys being able to handle successes, overcome adversities, handle the chaos. You notice we had crowd noise the whole time. I want them to be able to tune that out. I want to see our operation be clean, which means our substitution always having 11 on the field, never 10, never 12.

"We did that. Clean in our substitution on special teams. We did that. Our communication between the press box and the sideline with the coaches. Communication to the players on the field with the coach communication system. If that's clean, it's really just a chance for us to do it for the first time."

Some players were held out to the bumps and bruises which develop during fall camp. It happens, but it also presents opportunities for others. By his eye, there were really good things, others which needed to be cleaned up. As always, he'll want to review the film to trust what he thought he witnessed.

Every player on the roster is out to achieve one thing: Work their way on the depth chart and earn a seat on the game charter. What they did as a unit was important, but so was what they did individually.

"It means a lot, man. I mean, being in the linebacker room, we've got a lot of talent," Antarron Turner said. "I mean, Jaseim (Mitchell) and Oumar (Diomande), being behind those guys and being able to coach them up and teach them the things I know and get them to teach me the things they know, and it's been coming together really good. I think our group is pretty close. We all treat each other like a brother and like we just grow and grow every day, honestly."

Offensively, while most eyes naturally gravitate to who is throwing the ball, the group of guys getting targeted has drawn attention, and even some praise from Mora, who feels a lot of depth is being created.

Proving one can be a playmaker is important. So is being able to aid the running game and an ability to make a touch catch to move the chains as well.
Lavon Brown, a veteran in the group and the program as whole, said the receivers went out and proved there is depth in the room, each of them trying to carve out their place in the offense and the game plan. He knows each and every chance is vital.

"I feel like it's very important for me because of the guy that I'm trying to be this year, just be a very big playmaker in this offense," said Brown, who did deliver a big catch down the sideline. "Hopefully, I come out with something at the end of the year. But I feel like it's just important so the defense can really know what they're going to have to worry about this upcoming fall."

Latest Addition

Mora was already pleased with the running back room. Not just the talent, but also the depth. This week, it gained another member with last year's Colorado high school player of the year Jayden Fox signed to the team.

Fox, out of Cherry Creek, had originally committed to Connecticut, then switched to UCLA. When that move didn't stick, he found a welcome mat at Colorado State. Adding him checked two big boxes for Mora.

Mora had kept his number. When he found out Fox was available, he called immediately and left a message. He said 15 seconds later, Fox called back. Past relationships matter.

"For one reason or another, he was available again, and it's just a great get for us. I think it's a really good fit for both of us," Mora said. "We want to recruit this state. We want the best players in this state to stay home. Now we've got the state player of the year from last year here at CSU, so we're really excited about that."

There's also the skillset. Fox rushed for 1,746 yards at Cherry Creek with 30 total touchdowns, helping the school win the 5A state championship, a game where he rushed for 258 yards and four touchdowns.

I Scream

After the scrimmage, the players went up the steps to the concourse for a post-workout treat, thanks to their coach's craving for his favorite treat – soft serve ice cream.

"I love soft serve. First of all, I love ice cream," Mora said. "In Fort Collins, in all the places I've ever lived, it has the best ice cream by far. It was so funny because Kathy and I used to have this routine in Connecticut. We had this place down the road called American Creamery. We'd go down there after games."

So he asked Chat GPT for the best soft serve in Fort Collins, only to get a response the city wasn't known for that variety. Then one day he was doing stairs in Canvas Stadium and noticed one of the concession stands sold it and worked with administration to have it opened after the scrimmage.

The players were all about it, happily making the trip up the stairs for dessert, choosing to have it first before having lunch.

Mora's choice: "Give me a chocolate and vanilla swirl about that tall on a cone, and I'm good to go."

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