No one’s stock rising faster than Mount Si junior QB Clay Millen’s
Mount Si quarterback Clay Millen received his first college football scholarship offer before he had even played a varsity snap.
He played in a 7-on-7 tournament the summer before his sophomore year, leading his team to the tournament title and in the process catching the attention of then-offensive coordinator of the Oregon Ducks (and now UNLV head coach) Marcus Arroyo.
“(Arroyo) called me the next day and offered me,” Millen said. “That was a surprise, considering I had never played varsity.”
It’s something that Mount Si coach Charlie Kinnune said he’s never seen before in his years coaching high school football. But whatever Arroyo saw at that tournament that made him confident enough to extend an offer to Millen, plenty of others are now seeing, too.
Millen, son of former UW quarterback Hugh Millen — who also played in the NFL from 1987 to 1996 and is currently a regular contributor and football analyst on Seattle-based radio station 950 KJR — actually didn’t get his chance to be the varsity starter until his junior season in 2019.
That’s not to say he wasn’t ready. He was just stuck behind his older brother, Cale, also a big-time high school recruit and now a quarterback at the University of Oregon. But Clay had won championships at every level of youth football.
“We felt like Clay was as ready as an inexperienced junior could be,” said Hugh Millen, also Mount Si’s passing-game coordinator. “He could’ve started for most teams as a sophomore — there was that feeling. Probably for a couple teams as a freshman.”
But the younger Millen made the most of his time serving as his brother’s backup, even if he felt like he was ready to play, also.
“My sophomore year, I felt like it wasn’t ideal for me to be on the sidelines,” said Millen, who headlines a list of underclassmen and future Northwest Nuggets. “But watching film with him and my dad, it helped me prepare for the mental side of it. If Cale got hurt, I was mentally prepared to play. Living with him, you could see his mindset and how competitive he was. My junior year, a lot of my success came from backing him up before.”
Once Millen did get the chance to play, he played about as well as any first-year starter possibly could, putting together a phenomenal junior campaign. He threw for 2,974 yards, 33 touchdowns and just one interception, leading Mount Si to the Class 4A state tournament semifinals with a 46-21 win over Chiawana and a 24-22 win over Lake Stevens in the quarterfinals, against a Vikings team that had been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll most of the year.
“The nucleus of the football team had all played with Clay,” Hugh Millen said. “I think they believed in him. There’s no question in my mind that they believed he could play well.”
For Clay, he was eager to finally get on the field and show what he was capable of.
“We knew we had a solid group, but I don’t think anyone knew we had the kind of talent to make it to the semifinals,” Millen said. “I felt like we got better every single day. It was pretty crazy to see in practice. We went weeks without having a bad practice. It just showed up in the games.”
Perhaps no one in the 2021 class has seen their stock rise as much as Millen’s had following his junior season. His recruitment has taken off since the fall, as he now holds offers from Oregon, Arizona, Oregon State and has been talking with coaches from Washington State, UCLA, Cal and Utah.
“It’s been good,” Millen said. “It’s not really something I focus on. I just focus on getting better as a player each day. Whether it’s working out, throwing, mental preparation, my recruitment process will handle itself. Coaches will reach out if I reach my best potential.”
Millen, who stands at 6-foot-3, has all the tools to be a successful college quarterback.
“He’s just under 6-4, has big hands, long legs,” Kinnune said. “He’s strong. He’s got the physical skills and the mental skills. He doesn’t get flustered. He actually becomes more determined in tough situations. … He gives confidence to the people around him, including his coaches.”
As far as his skillset, Millen’s accuracy is the first thing that jumps out.
“The execution part, his timing and accuracy are just impeccable,” Kinnune said. “And he’s not throwing to Division-I receivers, so that forces him to throw the ball with great accuracy. He’s very precise. … He’s confident in his ability, confident in his preparation. He’s confident in his ability to grasp new things and learn new things.”
Hugh Millen said his youngest son has a keen understanding of what defenses are trying to do in coverage and, consequently, how to attack them.
“He’s a voracious audible-izer,” Millen said of Clay. “With Cale, he wanted to attack scheme more. Clay is attacking scheme and personnel.”
Like when Clay audibled to a double move on a 3rd and 6 in the quarterfinal game against Lake Stevens, instead of opting to play conservative and try to get seven yards. That decision paid off, with Millen delivering a touchdown pass on the double move.
“He’s always looking at alignment,” Hugh Millen said.
Hugh, who played for UW, said he’ll happily support whatever college decision Clay winds up making.
“He has no capacity to disappoint me,” Millen said. “People will ask me, ‘How could you let your son go to Oregon?’ The word that always hits me on that is the word ‘let.’ You’re using the word ‘let.’ Are you going to ‘let’ your 12-year old go to an R-rated movie? That’s an appropriate use of the word ‘let.’ I’m not going to tell my son, ‘Because of my nostalgia for my alma mater, I don’t want you to go to the school you’ve determined is best.’”
Millen is taking his time with the process and seeing how it all plays out. He certainly has no shortage of qualified family members to lean on for help whenever he needs it.
“I want to go to a school that feels like home,” Millen said. “Where the coaches want me the most — whichever school is recruiting me the hardest. And their style of offense, how much they throw the ball and how effective they’ve been.”
NUGGETS-IN-WAITING — CLASS OF 2021
DT J.T. Tuimoloau, Eastside Catholic (Sammamish, Wash.)
ATH Emeka Egbuka, Steilacoom (Steilacoom, Wash.)
QB Sam Huard, Kennedy Catholic (Burien, Wash.)
ATH Julien Simon, Lincoln (Tacoma, Wash.)
WR Jabez Tinae, Kennedy Catholic (Burien, Wash.)
OL Owen Prentice, O’Dea (Seattle, Wash.)
ATH Will Latu, Bethel (Spanaway, Wash.)
WR Junior Alexander, Kennedy Catholic (Burien, Wash.)
QB Clay Millen, Mount Si (Snoqualmie, Wash.)
LB Keith Brown, Lebanon (Lebanon, Ore.)
RB Damir Collins, Jefferson (Portland, Ore.)
DE Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge, Jefferson (Portland, Ore.)
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 5:01 AM.
