During his postseason press conference two days after his Bobcats ended the 2016 season with a 24-17 win over rival Montana, Montana State head coach Jeff Choate acknowledged his team would experience roster attrition during the upcoming off-season.
“I think attrition will happen,” Choate said on November 21. “You go through that initial phase and it’s pretty easy. The guys who maybe weren’t 100 percent in and had doubts they wanted to be here, it was pretty easy to see that. Then there was some guys who were still on the fence. They are compliant and they are hanging in there but they go through a season and maybe the playing time wasn’t what they want. Maybe the environment didn’t turn out what they wanted it to be. I think that’s a natural progression. I think it takes 18 to 24 months to full ingrain the culture and the system in any place and some of that attrition is part of that process.”
Throughout finals week on the Montana State campus, the process continued.
Coming out of Montana State’s bye week, Choate announced the retirement of junior linebacker Blake Braun due to concussion issues. Following the season, redshirt freshman safety Sidney Holmes asked for his scholarship release.
MSU fullback Keegan Bray (47)
On Wednesday, sophomore cornerback Tre’Von Strong left the program. On Thursday, Choate announced the removal of four other players from the roster.
During post-season meetings this week, the following players indicated to Choate they are leaving the Bobcat football program: redshirt freshman fullback Keegan Bray (Spokane), freshman Luke Channer (Corvallis) ,redshirt freshman fullback BJ Ojo (Houston), redshirt freshman offensive lineman Kash Perry ( Utica). Each has been removed from the MSU roster.
“We appreciate the contributions these young men made to the program, and wish them the best going forward,” Choate said in an MSU press release.
Bray joined MSU as a preferred walk-on with the class of 2015 and played defensive end his first year at MSU. Ojo came to Montana State as a linebacker, which he played in 2015. He switched to defensive end last spring and to fullback in the fall. He is the only full scholarship player among those removed from the roster this week.
Perry came to MSU as a preferred walk-on under former head coach Rob Ash. He was recruited by former Montana State offensive line coach Jason McEndoo months before McEndoo left for Oklahoma State. Channer was a preferred walk-on who came to MSU last summer.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
