Scrimmage Takeaways: Melquan Stovall stole the show

FORT COLLINS — Another day in the books for the Colorado State Rams. 

In front of a small gathering of supporters at Canvas Stadium on Saturday, the Green & Gold held the first “scrimmage” of the spring period. 

While it was not necessarily the most complex of exhibitions — Jay Norvell even said they were really just trying to successfully run some plays — the chance to watch the Rams go 11-on-11 is always intriguing. 

According to Norvell the execution in the scrimmage was “pretty clean” overall. But the real purpose of it, much like in the split practice sessions, was to help build depth by giving the twos and threes enough reps to have a chance to improve. The difference on Saturday was that they were live reps and full-contact. 

Ultimately Norvell was satisfied with how the live reps went. He was also happy with some of the Red Zone work that they got in. And he said that the 2-minute drill went particularly well considering it was only installed 48 hours prior. 

Here are a couple of takeaways from Saturday. 

Clay Millen is progressing well 

Clay Millen has impressed consistently over the first three weeks of practice and he looked sharp once again in the scrimmage. 

Millen showed off his touch and ability to place the football where it needs to be against quality coverage. He stretched the field with the deep ball too — something that the fans in the stands loved to see. 

“I think both sides of the ball made a lot of great plays,” Millen said afterwards. He credited players on offense and defense for “balling out”. And he said that overall it was a “really good scrimmage”. 

Norvell had good things to say about his redshirt freshman quarterback as well, crediting Millen for taking advantage of every opportunity that’s been presented to him this spring. Norvell explained that Millen obviously had the advantage of being in the system for a year but this was the first time that he truly had to be the leader in the huddle on a daily basis. And to Millen’s credit, according to Norvell, the young gunslinger has risen to the occasion. 

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

As far as improvement goes, similarly to what associate head coach/QBs coach Matt Mumme told DNVR two weeks ago, Norvell wants Millen to just continue to grow and continue to show improvement. He explained that the entire team gains confidence when the guy under center isn’t out there making catastrophic mistakes. When the QB takes care of the ball, handles things at the line of scrimmage, etc., it gives the offense a chance to succeed. And really, that’s all anyone can ask for. 

“Your teammates learn to have confidence in you when you do that,” Norvell said. “That’s where guys learn to love having you in the game. Clay has been doing that. He had a good day today. He took care of the ball, executed well, made plays, drove the offense and scored — so I thought that was a really good start for him.”

Clay Millen with a 40-yard dime to Melquan Stovall. Great throw & a phenomenal grab. pic.twitter.com/TvjmaZ4ke6

— Justin Michael (@JustinTMichael) April 9, 2022

Melquan Stovall is a playmaker 

Along with the arm talent of the quarterback group as a whole, the play-making abilities of the wide receiving corps was on display. 

Tory Horton, Dante Wright and Ty McCullouch all made plays at various points on Saturday. The guy that really stole the show, though, was Melquan Stovall. The 5-foot-8, 190-pound receiver had the highlight play of the day when he ‘Mossed’ defensive back Tywan Francis on a phenomenal 40-yard touchdown grab. He broke off a couple of big punt returns too. 

“I think he showed some of his play-making ability today,” Norvell said of Stovall. “He’s one of our veteran guys. You know, we’ve had him for a couple of years. He’s a return man, he can run those lateral plays, and he made a big play down the field. He’s having a really good spring. We’re really happy to have him.”