Big Sky Conference

INSIDE OUT: Kidder thrives after changing positions entering senior year

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The loss was bad enough, but the 250 rushing yards North Dakota State gained showed the Montana’s coaching staff that the Griz needed a change. A new defense would come with the promotion of Jason Semore to coordinator, but Montana, yearning to return to the top of the FCS, needed something more. They needed more players. More toughness. More whatever North Dakota State had.

It wasn’t going to be easy considering at the very end of that game, a 37-6 Bison win in the second round of the 2015 FCS playoffs, Tyrone Holmes was leaving the program. Holmes, the latest defensive end to carry on the legacy of a storied UM position, would win FCS Defensive Player of the Year and then sign with the Cleveland Browns. He ate up blockers and forced double teams at Montana. He was the focus of every offensive game plan. But at that moment in Fargo, Holmes suddenly was no longer part of Montana’s plans.

The Grizzlies looked inside as they searched for answers.

Caleb Kidder pass rushCoaches knew they needed more effective players along the defensive line. They signed two junior college transfers. But they still needed more and they needed it quickly. So shortly after the Grizzlies returned to Missoula, one of the coaches got an idea: Why not push Caleb Kidder, the 6-foot-5, 280-pound first-team All-Big Sky defensive tackle to the outside?

Kidder was big — obviously. But he wasn’t big in a Vince Wilfork kind of way. He was big in a how can a guy be that big and have so little fat on him kind of way. He was quick and powerful. And he had an athleticism rarely found in defensive tackles. Maybe it stemmed from his days growing up on the slopes as a downhill ski racer. Maybe it came from his parents, who were both athletes. Wherever it came from it was obvious to anybody who watched Kidder for even a few minutes. He tormented opposing offensive linemen — even the ones on his own team.

“He’s just got a drive in him and a force that is unmatched,” said Montana guard Devon Dietrich, who had his fair share of battles against Kidder as the progressed through their college careers. “And obviously he’s huge — he’s a big guy.”

caleb Kidder GrizBefore spring practice began, Montana decided Kidder would leave his spot inside Montana’s defensive line, for a spot on the outside. He was asked to drop weight. Coaches wanted him to trim some of the pounds off his frame so he could add speed and explosion. He was asked to learn new techniques, to learn how to play without being in the middle of everything where he had grown comfortable and nearly indefensible. In three years as a defensive tackle, a time period interrupted by a season-ending injury in 2014, he racked up 18.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. He was so productive and so respected that he was chosen as a junior to wear the legendary No. 37 jersey, passed down from one Montana native Griz defender to another.

While this would seem like a difficult thing to ask of a senior, this was nothing new for Kidder. Following his senior year at Helena Capital, Montana recruited Kidder as a defensive end. That would have required a move from tackle. The fact that he was playing defensive tackle as a senior was because he volunteered to add the position to his duties as a dominant offensive guard.By the end of that season, Kidder was a three-time first-team All-State selection; his sophomore and junior years at offensive guard and his senior year on both sides of the line.

“We’ve had two kids in the history of this school make first-team All-State for three years in a row and he was one of them,” remembers former Capital coach Pat Murphy, who coached the Bruins to four state titles including one in 2011 during Kidder’s senior year. “Coming from a football powerhouse like Capital that’s pretty rare, elite company.”

Caleb Kidder tunnel run with flag #2“I think he really was my decision to go to Capital,” said redshirt defensive end Cole Rosling, who followed Kidder from being a Bruin to a Grizzly. “Going to the games and see Kidder tear it up was awe inspiring.”

Kidder showed up to his first day of practice at Capital as a tall and lanky kid. At least that’s how Murphy remembers it. Despite the frame, Kidder was already strong, having started lifting weights in the eighth grade. And he an obvious athlete, one Murphy thought would fit in nicely along the offensive line. In order to operate his Wing-T offense successfully, Murphy was going to need an offensive lineman who control the opposition, but be athletic enough to trap and pull to create the holes for guys like Gunnar Brekke to run through. So he placed Kidder in the middle and watched as a commitment to the weight room molded the tall, lanky kid into a stout and agile offensive lineman.

As Kidder’s senior year was approaching, it was becoming apparent to Murphy that Capital’s defensive line might not have enough players to be as effective as he needed it to be. Those concerns didn’t last long. Kidder volunteered to add a new position to his responsibilities and he flourished.

“That’s when he really blossomed,” Murphy remembers. “He really dominated on both sides.”

Caleb Kidder arm around neck

by Jason Bacaj

Colleges came calling. Boise State offered a scholarship. Several Pac-12 schools showed interest. But Kidder knew where he wanted to go. He remembers having one discussion with Montana State, but it was never really a question where he was going to end up. He was asked earlier this week what his memories of Cat-Griz were.

“They’re pretty good,” he responded, “The Griz always won.”

Five years later when his coaches asked him to make one more position change, Kidder obliged and then he went to work. He was going to have to cut about 20 pounds before the season began. His workouts didn’t change. He approached those with the same intensity he always had. Murphy said Kidder was a real nice kid to be around, but when he stepped on the field or into the gym he went into “beast mode”. That helped Kidder in his final offseason as a college football player. He added more running into his training, running 60- and 70-yard sprints instead of the 40 that were once asked of him.

It was actually away from the field where Kidder made his biggest adjustment. “The thing I changed most was my diet. I was conscientious of what I was eating,” Kidder said.

Caleb Kidder embraces crowd pre gameKidder’s new position coach, Brian Hendricks, said the former tackle smoothed things out in the spring and then really started to make strides during fall camp. This was at a time when STATS was naming Kidder a preseason All-American. By Week 2, Kidder, named the preseason Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, was taking down quarterbacks again. In Week 5, a 68-7 win over Sacramento, Kidder picked up 2.5 sacks, once or twice meeting fellow defensive end Ryan Johnson at Hornets quarterback Nate Ketteringham, eventually knocking him from the game. He started forcing teams to game  \plan, running away from him, which is fine for Hendricks with Johnson on the other side.

“He’s come a long way,” Hendricks said. “Now he’s playing at a very high level there.”

It seems, if you talk to the people from Kidder’s past, that his adaptation shouldn’t come as a surprise. He showed up to Capital skinny, not the description you’d expect of an offensive lineman. That changed quickly because it needed to. He developed into a an offensive lineman that made the Bruins offense work. He then flipped to the other side of the line, producing 13 sacks and six forced fumbles. He had to do it. So he did.

Caleb Kidder Gunnar Brekke talking“I’m proud of Kidder, man,” said Brekke, the former teammate now running Montana State. “It’s cool to see him wear that number. He deserves it. He’s always been mean and he’s a hard worker. He embodies what that number means. At the end of the day, he’s another Capital kid.”

Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved. 

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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