Montana State started preseason camp knowing All-American running back Isaiah Ifanse would be “month-to-month” as head coach Brent Vigen put it. An ominous way of wording the situation as most fans are used to hearing day-to-day and week-to-week.
Vigen, knowing Ifanse’s, as well as reserve Jaharie Martin’s, availability for 2022 was in question, went out and grabbed very capable San Diego State graduate transfer Kaegun Williams to fill the void. Problem solved, right? Yes, up until Williams became unavailable for the first game with neck stiffness. That status changed dramatically when it was announced Monday morning that Williams is now out for the season.
The Bobcats seemed to again have the issue solved after the performance of Lane Sumner in MSU’s 40-17 win over McNeese State in the Gold Rush game. Sumner rushed for 176 yards on 24 carries to open a lot of eyes about just how good he can be after missing most of 2022 with nagging injuries. Not so fast, however, as the Huntley Project product injured his elbow performing a drill the day before Saturday’s win over Morehead State. He missed last Saturday’s game and is not listed on the two-deep depth chart this week as MSU prepares to play Oregon State of the Pac 12 in Portland.
Enter Jared White. All the true freshman did in his debut against McNeese was run for 89 yards on seven carries. Surely, with Sumner out, he’d be able to take care of business against a struggling Morehead State defense. His first carry went for four yards, but White was writhing in pain after the play and grabbing his leg. It would be his last play of the day.
“Jared’s is a lower leg injury that’s fairly serious,” Vigen said during his Monday morning press conference. “He’ll be out for at least a couple months.
“Lane is recovering, but he won’t be available to us this week. (redshirt freshman) Garrett Coon will be in some fashion. He was out there practicing today for the first time, so that was good to see.”
Ifanse’s 2021 backup Elijah Elliott was already dinged up and Vigen was reluctant to use him much in the first game where he had just one carry and lost a yard in so doing. Without any other running backs available, Elliott took the field, albeit sparingly, in MSU’s 63-13 win over Morehead State. He gained 32 yards on just four carries, but the Bobcats had all kinds of rushing offense going as backup quarterback Sean Chambers, primarily used as a runner in MSU’s offense, went off for 127 yards on a mere seven carries and wide receiver Marqui Johnson ran a quartet of sweeps for 61 yards. Both Chambers and Johnson ran for a pair of touchdowns.
The only running back not to set foot on the field this year is Coon. Coon is a Gatorade Player of the Year out of Wyoming, but his time since preseason has been limited. He will be the backup to Elliott this Saturday when MSU travels to Portland to take on the Beavers of the Pac 12, a squad coming off wins over Mountain West foes Boise State and Fresno State.
Considering MSU’s recent luck with injuries at the position and assuming Elliott isn’t 100 percent and Coon has yet to get on the field, their appearances on the depth chart, let alone the field, is somewhat tenuous.
“I think we have to be really creative,” Vigen said of the plan coming up against Oregon State. “Just because we handed it off to one running back (Ifanse last season) a lot of times, doesn’t mean it has to look exactly the same way. The good thing is we have some other guys that can run the football. That’s our quarterbacks and receivers. We have to find a way to rush the football and we’re going to have to utilize all our weapons. We’ll just have to see how it presents itself.”
“We gotta figure out a way to run the football and you want to get your guys out there that are capable of making plays,” Vigen said immediately after the Morehead State game. “I think (Chambers) is certainly one of them. (Receivers) Marqui (Johnson), Taco (Dowler), Clevan (Thomas), Jr., Willie (Patterson) for that matter. So, we can spread some things out. We’re going to have to be creative as far as that goes. It’s unfortunate the situation we’re in, but that’s what we’re in and we gotta find a way to deal with it. You just can’t put your head in the sand.”
The Bobcats faced a similar situation late in the 2022 campaign when Ifanse, Elliott, and Sumner were all dealing with injuries.
“I do think we have an offensive group better suited to spreading the ball around than we had at that point in time last season,” Vigen said. “I feel that we have more guys worthy of having the ball thrown to them this year than last. That was our aim. We gave the ball a lot to Isaiah and we threw the ball a lot to Lance (McCutcheon) and there was a big disparity after that. I think we’re a harder team to defend if those gaps between who’s touching the ball are smaller.
Also looming on the horizon is a conference game in Cheney against Eastern Washington to open up Big Sky Conference play on September 24. The Bobcat coaches are apt to be keeping an eye on the bigger picture and in so doing may want to do what they can to protect their squad from becoming even more affected by the injury bug.
“We gotta go out there with a good mindset and a good plan, and I think our guys are prepared to do that,” Vigen said. “You can’t go out there as a player and say well now we’re going to try harder, we’re gonna prepare more. A mature team, a team that ultimately brings a consistent approach each week does so by performing at its highest level every week.
“I thought last week we grew. You have to go out and prepare and recognize that we have things to improve upon, so this week the challenge is much greater. We have to attack and get better because we’re going to be getting into conference play. No matter what a team’s ranking or record is, we gotta approach them all the same way. We have to go about our business is the biggest thing.”
The Bobcats (2-0) play the Beavers (2-0) at Providence Park in Portland. Game time is set for 6:00 Mountain Time.
