Gallup providing plenty of giddy-up for Rams’ offense

FORT COLLINS – You’d be hard-pressed to pick someone other than Michael Gallup to be Colorado State’s most valuable player on offense through eight games. But the journey for the junior from Monroe, Georgia hasn’t been easy.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder held offers in high school from Kentucky, Missouri and North Carolina, just to name a few. But he wound up at Butler Country Community College in Kansas where he totaled 780 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns as a freshman in 2014.

The following year, Gallup was limited to just four games because of an ankle injury. But his committment to CSU for 2016 turned out to be a great decision.

“I’m pretty positive I made the right choice coming to CSU,” said Gallup. “Bobo coached at Georgia and put A.J. Green in the same spot I’m in. I looked at that and said ‘He got the ball a lot, I like to get the ball a lot,’ so it was a good move for me.”

The go-to receiver for the Rams enters Saturday with 570 receiving yards and five touchdowns. In the last three games, he’s averaged 107 yards per game and scored a touchdown in each one.

Offensive coordinator Will Friend may have said it best as to how Gallup turned into such a weapon on the outside.

“Number one, he’s made plays with the ball in his hands after he makes the catch,” said Friend. “It’s hard as an offense to go 10, 12-play drives on a consistent basis. I think he’s a guy that can make plays in a hurry for you offensively.”

So what’s Gallup thinking when he hauls in a reception?

“Regardless of where I catch it, I’m trying to score,” said Gallup. “Clearly if it’s in one-minute, I’m going to get out-of-bounds. But other than that, I’m trying to score.”

Not surprisingly, Gallup is starting to remind folks of a former playmaking receiver from CSU, now with the Cleveland Browns. Friend mentioned that he sees a little bit of Rashard Higgins in Gallup.

Robert Ruiz, a teammate of Higgins, sees similarities as well.

“Definitely the playmaking ability,” Ruiz said. “You send Mike on a post or a shot play that we’re expecting to score, you have 100 percent confidence that he’s going to make that play, so similar in that aspect.”

Ruiz explained that while Gallup may not say much, he still likes to poke fun with teammates.

“Overall, he’s pretty quiet,” said Ruiz. “But when he does talk, he tends to be like a little jokester, throwing a joke in here and there, making everybody laugh. And then he’s back to his quiet self.”

Something else to consider is how seamless Gallup made the transition catching passes from Stevens, then Faton Bauta, then Collin Hill and now Stevens again. Receivers thrive on a quarterback’s timing and the fact that Gallup and the other Rams’ receivers were forced to deal with the quarterback carousel was a challenge, to say the least.

“It was a little bit tricky,” Gallup said. “All of the quarterbacks have a different type of arm strength, so you had to know if he was going to throw it all the way up or just throw a back-shoulder ball to you. But I think we’ve come a long way and Nick’s doing a great job for us.”

You can bet that Gallup will continue to be a force on offense that the Rams need to be effective the rest of the way. And it’s comforting for Stevens to know that he’s got a dynamic target who’s a touchdown waiting to happen on any play.

“He’s able to make plays with the ball in the air and also once he gets the ball,” said Stevens. “He probably has an insane amount of yards after the catch and yards after contact. You’ll see him spinning and jumping over guys and stuff like that. That explosiveness, but also dependability. You can rely on him to go catch a ball on third down, just past the sticks. You can just drop it down to him and can depend on him to get the first down.”