For the third game in a row, the Colorado State football team will start a different quarterback Saturday when it hosts Utah State.
The third man up is Giles Pooler, who replaces a banged-up Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, who was replacing Clay Millen, who started the Rams’ first four games before injuring his shoulder against Sacramento State. All three quarterbacks are redshirt freshmen.
“Clay is probably still another week away,” CSU head coach Jay Norvell said. “Brayden got banged up in (the Nevada) game….. . We knew we were going to go through this. We have young quarterbacks, and we are just going have to find a way to overcome.”
Pooler is from Fort Collins, where he played his sophomore and junior seasons at Rocky Mountain High School before moving and playing his senior season at Saint Xavier High School in Kentucky. He passed for 4,600 yards in his high school career, including 1,500 as a senior.
Millen began the season as the Rams’ starting quarterback and played into the team’s fourth game of the season against Sacramento State. He left before halftime with a shoulder injury. Fowler-Nicolosi came in and completed 6-of-15 passes for 116 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown to Tory Horton. Two weeks later, in the Rams’ Mountain West opener against Nevada, he went 11-of-22 for only 78 yards and two interceptions.
However, he did complete some big passes to Horton on the Rams’ final drive that ended with the game-winning field goal in CSU’s 17-14 victory over the Wolf Pack.
With Millen still at least a week away from being ready to return and Fowler-Nicolosi banged up, the Rams turn to Giles, who has been listed at No. 2 on their depth chart all season.
“We’re going to give Giles an opportunity to start,” Norvell said. “Brayden’s going to be ready to play if we need him. Itap Giles’ turn. He’s earned the right. He’s really studied extremely hard.”
In other news, fifth-year senior defensive lineman Devin Phillips has left the team. He came into the season having started all 36 games he played in for the Rams in four seasons. He started 10 games his freshman year, 12 his sophomore year, two in his junior year — which was the pandemic-shortened season — and 12 last season.
Phillips had 33 tackles and 2.5 sacks a year ago and was expected to be one of the leaders on defense this season. He missed the Rams’ season opener at Michigan for disciplinary reasons before bouncing back with a five-tackle, 1.5-tackle for loss game against Middle Tennesse.
But in the Rams’ next three games, he had only two tackles.
By leaving now, after playing in only four games, he can redshirt and have one more season of eligibility somewhere else.
