Clay Millen shows off his arm talent with a four touchdown performance in the spring game

FORT COLLINS — Despite battling extremely windy conditions, Colorado State flashed its explosive potential in Saturday’s spring game. 

Redshirt freshman quarterback Clay Millen, who started and received the vast majority of the reps with the 1s in the exhibition, completed 22-of-33 pass attempts for 292 yards. He did throw an interception on his first drive, which was returned 70 yards the other way for a pick-six. Millen more than made up for it, though, with four touchdown passes to four different individuals over the course of about three quarters of action. 

Following the Green & Gold Game, Millen talked about the offense getting off to a slow start and that the responsibility ultimately falls on him to come out of the gate hotter. What was encouraging to him, though, was the way that the group was able to bounce back and respond. 

“I think I helped show that even after I make a bad play, I can bounce back and still stay level headed and still lead the team,” Millen said. “And overall the guys just played really well towards the end. We just picked it up and we got into a rhythm, and it was just easy from there. So overall, once we got past that little speed bump, the offense played really well.”

Millen’s most impressive throw of the day came early in the third quarter, when he dropped back close to mid-field and connected with wide receiver Tory Horton deep down the sideline for a 55-yard score. The play is a staple of the offense and something we’ve seen repeatedly in practice over the last month or so. But it demonstrates how lethal the offense can be when Millen is given enough time to stretch the field, his arm strength and touch on the deep ball is pretty incredible for such a young player. 

55 yards against the wind. I think Clay Millen & Tory Horton are going to be pretty good. pic.twitter.com/tnp6XYg4dL

— Justin Michael (@JustinTMichael) April 23, 2022

“The wind was a factor that I was thinking about the entire time,” Millen said. “There they showed some man looks and obviously when it’s man, we like to throw some go routes and fades… On the one to Tory, I had a little bit of wind in my back, so my mindset was literally just trying to underthrow it by like two yards and let the wind try and push it a little bit. So that happened to work out really well.”

Millen knows he still has a long way to go — he said himself that he hasn’t arrived yet or anything like that. But after learning under Carson Strong at Nevada last season, and now getting his first spring ball in as the leader of the offense, Millen said that he’s feeling really comfortable in his role. The goal now is to just build off of the progress he’s been able to make with the coaching staff and with his teammates. 

Jay Norvell on Clay Millen 

Head coach Jay Norvell talked about Millen on Saturday, explaining that the big thing with him is that he has a deeper understanding of what the offense is trying to accomplish. 

“I think Clay is a really smart player,” Norvell said. “He’s kind of your thinking man’s quarterback. He understands how to use the offense and he’s just really starting to feel comfortable playing.”

Norvell continued, adding that as Millen gets more reps with each of the receivers and everyone gets more comfortable with each other in general, the chemistry is going to improve and so will the consistency. 

“S​​o much of our playing in our system is knowing where your playmakers are. And that comes from repetition.” 

Fortunately for Millen, there is still plenty of time between now and September to continue developing rapport with his skill players. It’s going to be on him to continue to do the right things and further cement his status as a leader on this team, though. 

“He really gets to show his leadership now,” Norvell said. “You know, summertime, there’s a lot of things that need to get done. And our players have to show that leadership — to be the ring leaders, go grab guys, go throw and catch. Our guys got really good at Nevada, because I could show up on most Sundays in the summertime at our stadium, and our kids would be there throwing. And that’s how they get good at it, Clay is no exception.”

What should be encouraging for Ram fans is that Norvell also said that Millen is a “gym rat” and a guy that always seems to be hanging around the facility, as is Giles Pooler, who received praise from his coach too. 

“That’s how you improve,” Norvell said. “And so he’s got a good start, but he’s still got a long way to go before we start playing games.”