Football

Off-season Q&A with the assistants: Cody Kempt

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Cody Kempt had his mettle tested right away.

Kempt was hired to take over for Brian Von Bergen coaching Montana State’s wide receivers just before spring drills began last year. He inherited a short-handed group with most of its contributors on the shelf.

By fall camp, seniors Brian Flotkoetter and David Dash were back in the fold but not for long. Dash tore his ACL the second day of the session while Flotkoetter lasted just two games before an injury cost him his season.

By the mid-point of the Big Sky Conference campaign, Kempt was without five upper-classmen. Unproven players like redshirt freshman Jayshawn Gates and true freshmen Mitchell Herbert and Justin Paige were thrust into action.

The Bobcats did not miss a beat. With a by-committee attitude, Kempt’s group produced all fall. The freshmen trio combined to catch 53 passes for 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns. Out of the slot, Mitch Griebel emerged as MSU’s most reliable pass catcher, snaring a team-high 45 passes for 445 yards.

Now Kempt has the opposite situation on his hands. Montana State brought 12 receivers to spring drills. During last Saturday’s Triangle Classic spring game in Great Falls, the top six did not participate as MSU searches for the seventh and eighth players for its diverse rotation.

Kempt, a former Montana State quarterback, enters his second year with changes amongst his group — the addition of Baylor transfer Brandon Brown being the most striking — and to his personal life. Kempt and his wife, Jessie, have welcomed a pair of daughters into the world during Cody’s first few years as a full-time position coach.

In March, Kempt sat down with Bobcat Beat to discuss his coaching philosophy, the future of his group and the pride he has in being a Bobcat. Full audio for the interview can be found here.

Bobcat Beat: You went to Colorado with the offense for professional development this off-season. What did you learn down in Boulder?

Kempt: “The biggest thing is focusing on and looking at a program that is able to take maybe lesser talent and mold it into a successful product. Even though they might have won two games last year, they are definitely headed in the right direction versus going to a school like Oregon where, I mean, we have to be realistic and go to schools that are closer to us skill-wise.

“To go study at Oregon would be silly because we can put in those same schemes but we don’t have the same caliber of athletes to run those schemes. I think we felt that Colorado was similar skill level. We were really impressed with the structure and organization of their football and how Coach (Mike) MacIntyre did things very professional. Everything was detailed down to the seconds.

“We took a lot of positives from practice that we can incorporate into our practice. As you’ve noticed up on the scoreboard, we’ve used the time and the periods. We took that away from Colorado. The emphasis on music, even it’s quiet, just have music constantly flowing at practice to keep players engaged. In the 21st century, you have to be able to adapt and adjust to your players and that’s what players want today. That’s why more and more schools are going to music.

“We picked up a couple of good things schematically. I was able to have some good conversations with the receivers coach, Coach Walters. I picked up some stuff from him as well. Overall, we felt like it was a positive trip.”

BB: Do you think the guys are responding to the new practice format? And coaches too, knowing how long the periods are, having to work through with the timer up there?

Kempt: “As a coach, it makes your life a lot easier because now you have basically a guideline. You have the ability to look up at the scoreboard and know you have 30 seconds left in this drill, I probably need to cut it off, get the guys some water, get into the transition into the next drill. It’s able to keep the flow of practice constantly moving. We are able to be more efficient with our time as well and we are trying to increase or maintain the tempo we practice at.

“As for players, they haven’t complained about it so typically you have to think that’s a positive. For them, I don’t know if they’ve even noticed it to be honest with you. It’s more so for a management perspective. It gives us a huge advantage as coaches, as equipment managers. It just allows practice to flow.”

BB: Do you think they like the music part of it?

Kempt: “I know the players love the music part of it. If they could have it there way, they’d have it on all practice.”

BB: That’s what Coach Ash said too. It’s funny, like you said, it’s a different generation.

Kempt: “If you think about it, when you are walking around campus or you are in the library, a lot of kids, what are they doing? How are they studying? They are using music kind of as their background noise. They are not even listening to the words. It’s just more something to have on in the background.”

BB: Spring ball so far, you have a lot more guys to work with than last year. From a pure numbers perspective, do you think you’re getting a lot out of the guys since there are more guys taking reps?

Kempt: “We are. Spring is a time to develop your skill. Coach Ash talks about we evaluate our scheme, we evaluate skill. As a receivers coach, you have to evaluate and develop the skill during the spring. Having 11 guys really right now to work with is a lot different than last year when I had about four or five with all those injuries.

“In a sense, it’s almost been harder because you have a larger pool to develop. I script every practice. I script every single rep of every single receiver, so I’m up late at night thinking of who needs to be in, who needs a rep at this spot, who needs to be in to run this play, to run this route. It puts a lot more on the coach but the players are able to get a lot more rest in between so they are able to fully maximize each rep. Last spring, guys were getting 50 to 60 snaps and they were gassed where as now they can take each rep full gas, full effort, full steam knowing that if they were to get tired, we have someone to come in. A big modo of ours is fresh equals fast so having that depth now allows us to play fresh and fast the entire time.

“Taking this depth into the season is going to be a huge advantage as well because we should constantly have fresh guys on the field so we should be able to constantly play at a faster pace all season long.”

BB: I know last year you said you wanted to play eight or nine. Do you think you have 11 you can play this year?

Kempt: “I mean, right now, not including the incoming freshmen (Cam Sutton, Keon Stephens), there is at least 10 that I would feel comfortable putting in the game next fall.”

BB: From a schematic standpoint, do you feel that you are ahead of the curve from last spring ball because you have so much back offensively and the staff has another year in this offense?

Kempt: “I feel there is a night and day different. No. 1, the continuity of staff, we’ve only had to bring on Coach  Eck who’s done a phenomenal job picking up terminology and scheme, adjusting and working with what we are doing on offense. Secondly, the veteran nature of the group, we don’t have to do as much teaching of the scheme because we already know it. Now it’s getting into the fine details of manipulating the scheme or changing little nuances or techniques here and there. We are really able to focus more on the fundamentals and techniques of the scheme rather than having to teach the actual scheme itself so now you can become even more sophisticated within the scheme. You kind of start to evolve and tweak things and make things better whereas last spring, it was pretty brand new to a lot of guys so you have to keep it simple. We are able to be more sophisticated this spring.”

BB: Coming out of last season, how would you evaluate the overall performance of your group particularly given all the adversity you faced early? And what is maybe the biggest point of emphasis this spring?

Kempt: “Going into last season, I told the unit that we are basically a unit of no names.  We had very low expectations. A lot of people probably saw us as the weak link to the offense. We went into the season with a chip on our shoulder and we saw it as a challenge. It was always going to be in the back of our minds, but our mentality was we were going to try to get better every single day and be the best we can possibly be.

“The injuries, we saw the injuries as opportunities for people to step in and our mantra is next man up. Those injuries to key senior players really didn’t affect us or bother us. We knew that the guys underneath them were working just as hard as the starter so we knew and trusted that they were going to step in and contribute and be successful.

“The other thing too, as a coach, your job is to develop your players. Just because you have four or five guys playing doesn’t mean you only focus on those four or five guys. You need to develop every single player in your room. I think we did a really good job of developing Justin Paige and Mitchell Herbert from the time they got on campus in July to the time that they ended up starting for us midway through the season. The fact that those guys can continue to develop and improve and got better allowed us to play them and put them in situations to be successful and help us win football games. I think at the end of the season, you’d look back and saw we might have exceeded the expectations of a lot of people.

“Now as a coach, I have very high expectations for the room but I was pleased with how they handled the situation that occurred. There was times when we could only play four or five guys because of injuries and those guys never complained. They always rose to the occasion. I do believe there were games when the receivers helped us win. They made some critical plays in some critical situations so I was very happy with the way they responded. I was very happy with their progression. They continued to get better throughout the season. I don’t feel like they plateaued.

I really believe now that they’ve taken that and they’ve actually one to a whole another level. From South Dakota State until now, every single guy I’ve seen improvement in and this spring, we are adding some new and different fundamentals and techniques that are actually helping us improve our game even more. I see the same trend. The guys are staying consistent and they are gradually continuing to rise. That’s what we want as an entire team.

“We talk about consistency is the hallmark of a champion. We talk about trying to stay a flat line but on that flat line, trying to gradually climb it versus being high and low like a roller coaster. We want those guys to stay consistent so we talk a lot about that in our room, as a unit and as a team to help them with the mental side of the game to remember that. But I really like where they are at right now. It obviously helps too having a year under their belts. The quarterbacks right now are throwing the ball extremely well. That makes our jobs as receivers a lot easier too when they are putting it in the right spots. As long as we as receivers do our jobs and create separation, we should be in a position to catch the ball. I’m happy with how they are progressing right now.”

BB: When you are grading these guys out and evaluating them, being that this is a diverse offense where so many guys are going to get touches — I mean, last year I think you didn’t have a guy with 40 catches but you had 10 or 11 with at least 10 — when you are grading them out, what’s your main points of emphasis? There’s guys who might not catch a ball during a game but they play 55 or 60 snaps. What are you looking for beyond catches and yards?

Kempt: “There’s three things I tell them that they must do to help us win football games. It’s catch the ball, secure the ball and block. When we are great at film, we are also looking at their assignment, their technique and their execution and also a couple of miscellaneous categories are effort and loafs. A loaf is a lack of finish. Effort is playing with an unbelievable, unrestrained effort, making that additional, extra play to help us in a situation even if it’s just sprinting to the ball.

“I put a huge emphasis on the blocking aspect. We are firm believers that the perimeter blocking, we are going to help turn six-yard gains into 60-yard touchdowns. We spend just as much time talking about blocking techniques and showing clips on film of the run game to the receivers as we do talking about our releases and our route breaks to create separation.

“Even if you didn’t have a catch in a game, we are looking at the complete play of the receiver. It’s not only graded on how many catches you had. It’s about did you get lined up correctly? Did I burst off the ball and make every play look the same? How was my technique when I was blocking? Did I play with unbelievable effort? Was I able to maintain my block the entire time? Did I sprint from the back side to the front side and put myself in a position for good things to happen because I ran to the football? I’m even looking at what kind of release did he use. Even if the ball wasn’t thrown to him, how was his release? Did he scrape and stack and finish? Did he create separation? Was he at his right depth? Did he use the right release? Did he have the right split? Is he working to the right guy in the run game? All those little things we are working for and when we are grading it, it goes much further beyond did they catch the ball, how many catches, how many yards? Those are more so stats for that you look for in the box score.

“The first stat that anyone looks for when they look at the box score is whether that team won or lost. The next thing is statistics. In our eyes, we are doing everything we can in our power to help the team win. We are not focused on our individual statistics. Those will come later on when the team wins. We are not worried about those. When we are worried about those, then we make sure we call that player out or he is going to learn in a hurry that that is not how we operate as a unit. We are a selfless unit and he’s probably not going to be playing or he’s going to have to figure it out or he’s going to have to get out.”

BB: This offense, you use so many guys so when you do become short-handed, how much does that hinder you guys? When you think back to the Sac State and UC Davis road trip, you guys had pretty much everybody healthy so you had 20-plus options as far as getting guys the ball. When that 20-plus goes down to 10, how much does that hinder this offense?

Kempt: “I still think when you cut it from 20 to 10, that’s still a lot of options for a defense to worry about. Even if you have five options, that’s five more options they have to prepare for each and every week. I think it puts more stress on the coaching staff to create a game plan to put your best players in the best situations to be successful. When you are not, you don’t have as many cookies in the cookie jar, you’ll have to be more creative with that game plan when you are scheming up defenses to make sure you are getting the right pieces in the right part.

“I’m a firm believer that our offense is like the cotton gin. It’s an offense of interchangeable parts. There were times last year when we had running backs playing slot receiver or we put slot receivers in the backfield. There are a number of different ways we can utilize whoever we have for weapons in our offense. It doesn’t matter who is healthy and who is banged up. We will find and create ways to get the playmakers the ball in their hands. When you are limited, I think it comes back to the offensive coaches being creative and creating opportunities for guys to get the ball in space and create one on one matchups.”

BB: You mentioned the continuity of the staff you have. Does that help in terms of diversifying the game plan and putting a guy in a position to succeed based on his own skill set? Is it easier to communicate that with the continuity you have on the offensive staff?

Kempt: “It does because we have five great minds on this side of the ball and all five minds contribute to the game plan. When you are creating a game plan from five different areas, you are going to be able to put those five areas together and have a master piece at the end. This coach is not going to see things like this coach so you are able to see the game from five different vantage points and you are able to put those five vantage points together. It’s very nice too when you have that open continuity in the room so everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas. That’s a huge benefit for our offensive staff to have that continuity and that openness and that free will and free reign to throw ideas out there.”

BB: That’s a hugely underrated part of football. That’s the brilliance of the New England Patriots. Everyone is talking about this guy’s system, that guy’s system and they don’t even have a system. They create a system out of whatever they’ve got.

Kempt: “Exactly. And that’s what coaching is. You find your best 11 and you create a scheme to put those 11 in a situation to be successful. It’s the coaches that become egotistical and believe they have a system and we are only going to run this system and this system is going to work. I disagree with that. You have to play to your best 11. One season, you may be under center running Pro-I, iso, two-back power, play-action. The next year, you may be in the gun running zone read. It all depends on who your personnel is, 100 percent. It has to. It has to come down to personnel.

BB: Absolutely. Well, first year as a full-time coach, what were some of the things you took away learning under Coach Cramsey?

Kempt: “Biggest thing as a full-time coach is you are operating your own position so you are having to prepare for your position meetings and you are having to prepare and teach your own unit for the game. It’s very similar to being a teacher where you are giving them the lesson plan throughout the week and you are constantly giving them quizzes and continuing to correct their mistakes and then come Saturday, that’s when the test is. That’s really when you as a coach are being graded and evaluated because that’s when your players are on the stage.”

BB: From a personal prospective, was the grind of coaching hard? I know you are a new dad.

Kempt: “The grind of coaching is not difficult because prior to this full-time job I was a graduate assistant for three years. I have an appreciation for the term grind. I have been doing it my entire coaching career. I would say comparing it to being a GA, it’s not as much of a grind. It’s a different grind because it’s not as much busy work.

“This work I’m doing has a lot more meaning because I’m basically in charge of 13 to 16 men and they are a reflection of me. The product they put out on the field or the product they put out in the classroom or in the community is a direct reflection of me and that’s a direct reflection of Coach Ash. You have a lot more pressure on you when you are a full-time coach. The results, you have to have results. It’s a lot more result-oriented when you get into that position.

“As a graduate assistant, you do a lot of work but you are never going to be in a position when it can fall back on you and you have to take the grunt of it. You can take the positive or the negative from it. You are just that minion in the back working 24 hours a day. I guess you can say it’s a different kind of a grind and it’s definitely more of a mental grind because you have to be constantly thinking about your personnel on top of studying your opponent on top of creating a game plan. So  I think it’s just a different kind of grind.”

BB: In the times we’ve sat down and talked, your love of the game really comes out. Has that been able to keep growing?

Kempt: “Honestly, my passion for the game has continued to grow each and every year. I fall more and more in love with the game, especially now because as a full-time coach, your opinions and thoughts matter and you are able to express them. As a GA, no one really listens to what you have to say. You can give your two cents but they are not going to respect what you have to say. All the ideas and thoughts, now you can actually contribute to the staff and you can actually help make the staff better, you can help make the offense better, you can help make the program better, you can help your players make a positive difference in their lives. The fact that you are able to do that, really I feel that forces your love of the game to continue to grow because you are seeing positive results from it. As a GA, you are just work, work, work, work, work and what results are you seeing? Not a whole lot. You are hoping the next step is to earn a full-time job. It’s a whole lot different when you are a full-time coach.”

BB: Being that you are a guy that has a whole bunch of pride in this place, transitioning from when you were a player here to a coach, how have you seen the culture around here, the expectations change?

Kempt: “I think, because Montana State is one of the premier programs in the entire United States of America, our fans always have extremely high expectations for us. If anything, those expectations have become even higher since I was a player until now as a coach because I was in that transitional period where in 2010, we won the Big Sky Conference championship and we made it to the second round of the playoffs. In 2011, I was a GA and we won the conference again and we made it to the quarterfinals. In 2012, we won a third straight conference championship and we made it to the quarterfinals again for two consecutive years in a row.

“I think the expectations are even higher now when every year we go into the season and I believe that the expectations should be this: We should win the conference and we should be playing for a national championship every year. Those are the expectations that we should have. I’m appreciative of the Bobcat Nation having those expectations because that forces us as a program to want to constantly work hard every single day knowing that those are the expectations that we are trying to meet.

“I definitely feel that the Bobcat Nation has always had great pride for the football program. That’s never going to change no matter what year it is. If anything, it’s just continued to get stronger. I definitely feel the support of the fans and I feel the camaraderie of the team, the tight-knit, close family of the team. That’s something that Coach Ash has developed in his program around here at Montana State. That’s something that makes us different than a lot of programs is the family atmosphere we have and how close our team is to one another. We don’t really have many selfish players on our team. Our team is made of selfless guys who are in it for each other and they understand the importance of winning and having fun winning.

“If anything, the program has just continued to rise and improve and get better from the time that I was a player to now as a coach. We are right there, right there on the cusp of being in a position where every single year we are winning the conference and making a deep run into the playoffs and get into that game in Frisco, Texas.”

BB: Well let’s talk about your guys. It looks like you are trying out a lot of guys in a lot of different spots. There’s been a whole bunch of guys getting reps with the first and second teams. Who’s primarily playing X for you right now?

Kempt: “Primarily playing the X position, obviously Mitchell Herbert, but he’s out right now. Manny Kalfell has been dabbling at X. Conner Sullivan has been dabbling at X. Will Krolick and Johnny D’Agostino have all been dabbling at the X position.”

BB: Then in the slot, D’Agostino has been working in with Mitch Griebel and Jayshawn Gates.

Kempt: “At the F, it’s been Griebel, Gates and Johnny D. At the Z, it’s been Brandon Brown, Justin Paige, Tanner Roderick with the ability to put Manny over there and Will over there.”

BB: Are you going to get Brandon Brown some reps in the slot, too?

Kempt: “With how we run our offense formationally, we can create positions where he can be in the slot. We’ve already done that a few times this spring. With our depth at the F position, I don’t think we need to put him at the F. We are going to be able to formation it and personnel it where we can take advantage of his speed inside the slot when we need to.”

BB: He’s the one new guy. You lose Flotkoetter and David Dash from last year. He’s the one new guy battling for a spot in the rotation. How’s he fitting into the room so far?

Kempt: “Brandon Brown is doing a great job so far. He’s a very hard worker. He doesn’t have a whole lot to say. He just puts his head down and he grinds. He’s coming from that same background as Dakota. They are just going to work extremely hard and they love the game of football. He fits well into the room. He meshes nicely, gels. There’s been no issues whatsoever and the thing that we love about Brandon is he now creates another element of a threat of going over the top of the coverage. Now you can say that we have three very, very fast guys on our offense. That’s just one more vertical threat that we’ve added to our arsenal of weapons. He’s a very savvy and football intelligent player. He has a great feel for the game. He’s able to do things that you don’t have to spend a lot of time coaching. You tell him to do it and he does it. He incorporates it and does a really good job of it. Adding him has definitely elevated our corps immensely.

“The other thing about spring is we don’t go into the spring or really training camp with any starters in mind. All we are trying to do is trying to develop the skill. In our offense, by the time you are done playing, you need to know every single position. That’s why you see so many guys in so many different positions because we are trying to get them to learn the entire offense and when they can learn every position, that’s going to No. 1 allow them a great opportunity to get on the field because now they become more versatile and secondly, if we are faced with injuries, now if you are a receiver and you know all three spots, if that guy goes down, we can fit you right in. If you’ve been playing X the whole time but you also know the Z and the Z goes down, we can move you over to the Z and we have no issues.

“Whenever we install or whenever we talk ball, I’m not directly talking to one guy. When I’m talking, I’m talking to all of you in the room because our expectation is that you know every single position on the field. Right now for spring, it’s fine if we are moving guys around because it’s spring. We are not counting wins or losses right now. We are trying to develop the skill of those players. That’s why you are seeing all the different changes and movements. To us, ones and twos, I just script. I don’t say who’s with the ones or the twos. I just say, ‘This guy has three and this guy has three’. It just so happens that he’s running with the ones and the twos.”

BB: (Redshirt freshman) Conner Sullivan is an intriguing guy with his transition from 8-man football at Ennis. Geez, he’s big. He’s huge. He would be one of your biggest linebackers let alone receivers. Just watching him do special teams drills, he’s not scared to hit people either. The added element of that on the outside, does he have a chance to break in and get a little playing time just because of his physicality standpoint, the way he can block and the way he can hit?

Kempt: “Conner Sullivan has made tremendous strides from the time he came here last July until now. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with his progression this spring. His understanding of the offense and also the understanding and the ability to take what we talk about in this room and apply it to the receiver position. The great thing about Conner too is he still has a very high ceiling of potential. He hasn’t even tapped his full potential yet, which is scary seeing what he is doing as already as a redshirt freshman out there.

“The X position looks good right now. Herbert, big body. Kalfell is a big body. Sullivan is a big body. You saw last year that Herbert made a lot of hay on that back-shoulder throw. Now Sullivan brings another element like that to the game. He brings another element in that he brings a competitive fury on the perimeter, meaning that it’s now a bigger body like a Tanner Bleskin who is going to constantly pound and beat up that DB, that defensive back, frustrate and annoy just like a nat and get under his skin and inside his head using his strengths for the good of the game. A bigger body receiver, I love it when he’s physical and get his hands on and he drives a DB five yards back and takes him to the ground. I told him a lot that he needs to study Tanner Bleskin and he needs to craft a lot of his game after him. I know Conner could be the next up and coming Tanner, another great in-state prodigy to do that. I definitely think that he will see some action this year. We obviously have a lot of depth, which is a great thing but he should be able to get some snaps on the field and be a part of the rotation as long as he continues to improve and get better like he’s been showing. I’m really pleased with his progression from 8-man football to 11-man football and the thing about it is he wants to be a good football player and he wants to help the team win and he cares about it and he’s passionate about it and if you get on him, he’s going to make sure he cleans up that mistake and improves it.”

BB: Say he does earn a spot on kick teams. A linebacker or any other defensive guy going down there and hitting someone seems a natural transition. Is that a harder transition for a receiver?

Kempt: “I think when you look at a football team, especially in the recruiting process, you are looking for bodies that are going to do multiple types of movements and be placed in multiple different situations. I think it goes back to when you are a full scholarship player at an elite program, you are going to be expected to and recruited to come in and make those types of movements and do those types of things. The other thing too is we are constantly working on it every single day during the special teams periods so he’s going to get plenty of repetitions in practice.

“Whether you are running down on kickoffs as a receiver or you are catching punts as a defensive back, I do believe you can learn the skill and you learn about it through repetition. You hear about it then you see it then you go and do it and then you see it again. That’s a lot of how you learn. A lot of it has to do with natural ability but if you rep it enough, it becomes second nature to you. The more reps, the more natural it becomes. A guy like Conner should be able to run down, break down and make tackles.”

BB: He’s so little removed from high school anyways. He was a great defensive player in high school. I thought he was as good on defense as he was on offense. Him and Noah James have been the two guys that, when you are doing those special teams individual drills, that have stood out. They are both tough.

In the slot, Mitch is a proven commodity. Jayshawn last year, his numbers are just ridiculous. Very few catches but when he did catch the ball it was like a 45 or 50-yard touchdowns. What’s the next step for him in maybe being more than a speed guy?

Kempt: “The next step for him is being able to — which he’s done and shown — but just catching the short ball and being able to make a few guys miss and take a two-yard pass play and make a 15-yard gain and continue to improve the intermediate side of the game, the digs and things of that nature.

“But you know, Griebel was so consistent and so steady and so savvy that Jayshawn may not have received as many opportunities as he probably could’ve in a lot of other programs. I think it’s a byproduct of playing behind another really good football player because Jayshawn has made immaculate strides. If Griebel wasn’t the player he was, Jayshawn could easily be playing as much as well. Jayshawn is a special football player. He does a lot of things that not a lot of people can do based on natural, God-given talent and ability. We are definitely going to try to open up and create a larger role for him this season and get him in the game more.

“Last year, it was a slow progression for him where at times, he was maybe a little uncertain about what he was supposed to do or what he had on this play. Being in the offense another year, I anticipate him having no question what he’s doing and that will allow us as coaches the certainty and the knowledge of knowing we can put him in any situation. Sometimes, if he was a little uncertain, we’d have Griebel go in because Griebel knew it all and did it 100 percent confidently. That’s our main goal is making sure Jayshawn is 100 percent confident in everything he’s doing. He can do everything that Griebel does. He can do everything we ask the F to do. I anticipate us feeding him the ball more in different situations and roles and expanding him a little bit.”

BB: D’Agostino, a guy who goes from not even a varsity guy when he was a junior in high school to a state champion to all of a sudden, he’s your scout team player of the year. I’ve watched him since high school but his development, what’s been the key to his rapid acceleration?

Kempt: “I think his willingness in wanting to get better and improve every single day, take what we teach him in this room and apply it to the field. He has that blue-collar work ethic mentality that his father also had when he played for the ‘Cats back in the mid-1980s.

“Johnny does everything the right way. Johnny catches everything that comes his way. He’s always in the right spot at the right time and he makes the play. I see him as a clone of Griebel. He’s just taller and longer. Johnny has the ability now with his frame where we can play him inside and we can play him outside. That’s why you’ve seen him in and out.

“I definitely see him as being the next Mitch Griebel of our offense. He is another guy who stays consistent and continues to develop and get better. He’s another guy with a high ceiling of potential and growth. He’s another guy where if we need him this year, we obviously have a lot of depth, but he’s a guy I can definitely see getting into the game and getting some snaps for us as well. We have some young guys right now that are very talented. Once some of these older guys graduate, they will step right in and we are not going to miss a beat from where we left off when some of these older guys leave. That’s very encouraging and promising as a coach knowing that you have some really good, young players that are developing that you don’t necessarily have to play right now. They are there if you need them but they are going to continue to grow and get better. That’s a good problem to have.”

BB: Coach Ash after the scrimmage on Saturday said that he thought the most improved guy from last fall to this spring on offense was Justin Paige. You can see it in the work he’s putting in beforehand and afterwards. He seems to want to be great but he also isn’t the guy who wants everyone to watch him grind. He’s just doing it because he loves it. What’s it been like to watch him blossom?

Kempt: “It’s been really neat. The analogy I use is at the level of the FCS in regards to recruiting, we are not able to recruit turn-key houses so if you look at the Power 5 conference, they are able to recruit turn-key houses where the kid steps on campus and he’s fully developed and he’s ready to go. Put him in the game and he makes plays, right? We are more in the business of recruiting those fixer uppers where we understand that when they come into the program, we are going to have to develop them and continue to improve their skill. They have great skill but maybe they were under-developed in high school or too short to play in the Power 5 or too small or too slow. We are able to take those fixer uppers and we are able to turn them into Power 5-like players.

“That’s what you’ve seen with Justin. He came in here and was just a fast guy. He was a weapon we used to take the top off of coverage. We sat down and had a heart to heart and I told him he needs to continue to improve to turn into a complete wide receiver and be able to run intermediate routes, be able to catch smoke screens and make a guy miss. He has to be able to consistently block on the perimeter. He’s done a great job of that as we can all see. The biggest thing he needed to adjust and the thing I harped on was body control, to be able to naturally and smoothly turn your body in mid-air and make things look easy and not be as robotical. He did a great job this season of improving those areas and it’s showing up this spring. It’s encouraging to see when you tell a kid to do something and he actually went back and worked on those things and he actually improved on those things and he got a lot better.

“Justin is a very quiet kid, very too himself a lot of times and a lot of times in his own little world. Whether 10,000 people or zero people were watching him, he really wouldn’t know the difference when he’s out there spending extra time and working. He just loves the game of football and he just wants to be the best player you can possibly be. He’s a pleasure to work with and he isn’t anywhere near his full potential either.”

BB: I like that kid. He’s a good kid. Last guy, Roderick. He’s dealt with a lot from the position switch to injuries to the spotlight of Bozeman being upon him. But now here it is, this is it for him. I know Cramsey is hard on him and I know you get after him quite a bit. How do you hope that he responds and has the season many people expect out of him?

Kempt: “With who we have at the Z position right now, the intention was the competition should bring out the best in everybody. With where we are at right now, the competition alone should place him in a position where he senses or has a sense of urgency about the need to basically be on his A game every single day because he knows he’s competing with other great players. Competition should bring out the best in everybody. You are either going to rise to the top or fizzle to the bottom. He’s making progress right now and strides and it’s still early in spring. Obviously, he has experience and he has repetition. He has that going for him going into next season. He continues to need to develop that skill and he’s doing a good job but some other guys have some natural ability that right now I know he has, but it’s not translating out onto the field.

“But I anticipate him having a phenomenal summer where he is going to get back to the Tanner that we have all seen and we all know. I’m not too worried about him right now because I know he’s going to come along and there’s a lot of things that people don’t see that he’s improving, a lot of little things he’s improving that are taking him in the right direction he needs to go. That’s going to translate onto the field. I know Tanner is going to help us win football games next year. He’s going to find a role in the receiver room and the competition he is facing right now should elevate his game and he is going to come back in August and I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people.

“He’s kind of the dark horse that people can’t forget about or sleep on because he’s going to come out and surprise a lot of people next season and he’s going to help us win a lot of football games.”

BB: Being out there in the Northwest recruiting, what’s the hardest part? It’s a place where you guys don’t have as big a pipeline as Texas or California. When you are doing that I-5 corridor from Seattle to Portland, what are the challenges you’ve faced?

Kempt: “The challenge of recruiting the Northwest is that you are competing against Eastern Washington and you are competing against the University of Montana. You have the three best teams in the conference going at it to get these recruits.

“I learned that it’s very difficult to pull a kid out of the state of Washington and beat an Eastern Washington because they’ve established themselves in that state. And let’s face it, a lot of kids want to stay in state so their families can watch them play for the next four or five years. Eastern does a really good job of winning the state of Washington. At times, I kind of forget that. I kind of forgot that Eastern Washington was in the state of Washington (laughs.) I’d get frustrated because the kid was not giving us an opportunity but then I forgot that it makes sense. He’s an in-state kid. I stayed in state when I first initially made my decision.

“Going against the University of Montana, that’s a really good football program as well so battling those two schools was a great challenge. Getting a kid to leave that region to come out here is a lot harder than you would think just because of the choices that they have around the Northwest region to choose from. It’s different because the schools in Texas and the schools in California, the kids we are recruiting out there, we aren’t really competing against the Big Sky for those kids. The in-state Big Sky Conference schools in the state of California, say what you want but I think those kids and it showed this year, that they are going to choose Montana State. It’s a lot different than having to compete against Eastern and Montana.

“The coaches in Texas are competing against the Southland Conference. They don’t have any competition against the Big Sky and I think that makes a big difference as well.”

BB: One guy you guys did get was Riley Griffiths out of Skyline High in Sammamish. What did you like out of him? He seems like a guys with the baseline size you want and he seems to have a lot of potential to grow it seems like.

Kempt: I think Riley fits who we are as a football program. He’s a blue-collar kid who’s going to work extremely hard and he’s going to turn himself into a great football player. In my eyes, I think he’s a steal because he’s going to play with a high motor and he’s going to play with high energy and he’s going t give high effort on the defensive line. He’s going to work himself into his spot at sometime in his career. I really do think that. He’s a phenomenal kid, great attitude.

“He wants to do film so rest in peace Conner Firstman, we are going to have another guy in the football department who is going to be trying to get a degree in film, which I think is awesome. Riley comes from a great family and he’s very humble. He’s going to come in and work extremely hard and he’s always going to have a smile on his face and I think he’s going to be a very positive influence on our football team.”

BB: He told me the other day that he’s put on weight while lowering his body fat already so you know he’s already working.

Last thing on recruiting: the two guys you are going to add to your room, Cam Sutton and Keon Stephens, both guys that could have been FBS guys, Stephens even a Pac 12 guy if things work out for him. Circumstances and a good recruiting job by you guys helps those guys fall to you. Are those two guys going to challenge for playing time in the fall?

Kempt: “If they come in here in the summer time and they do a great job and they pick up the offense and they make plays when given opportunities come August, if there is a spot for them to play or they earn a spot or we feel like they have surpassed some other guys or we feel like they are better than guys we have now, then yes. We are going to play the best 11 whether it’s a fifth-year senior or a true freshman or an eighth grader in middle school. If you are one of the 11 that has earned the right to play, you are going to get on the field. If you are going to help us win a national championship, you are going to be playing for us. Every player is going to have an equal opportunity earn the right to play.”

BB: Last thing for you. Given that you have a proven commodity coming back in Dakota Prukop at quarterback, pretty much all your top receivers back, pretty much all your running backs back and four senior offensive linemen, what is the sense of urgency amongst this offensive staff and the staff in general in terms of your expectations for yourself?

Kempt: “I think nothing changes. We approach every day the same. We are trying to attack every single day and we are trying to get a little bit better today than we did the prior day. We are trying to be the best possible player and unit and offense that we can possibly be.

“Mentality, mindset, all of that, nothing changes. We are still going to play a faceless opponent where we are going to focus on ourselves. We are not focused on the media. We are not focused on anybody else. We are focused on ourselves and how we can improve every single day to be the best we can possibly be. Mentality-wise, nothing changes. We are just focused on the process and the end result. We want to get better every single day.”

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.