At the completion of the 2022 season, players for the Montana State University football team knew they needed to perform better if they were to get to the FCS championship game as it had in 2021.
Players figured out the need to get ‘bigger, faster, stronger’ as they’ve repeated continuously since then. Defensively, they also were hit with graduations of Ty Okada, Callahan O’Reilly, James Campbell and Jeffrey Manning with Okada, Campbell and Manning all playing in the secondary.
Just replacing those players is a tall order, but improving at those positions compounds the problem.
The Bobcats have gotten a huge boost early in 2023 from an unexpected source in sophomore free safety Dru Polidore. The 6-2, 186-pounder transferred from the Air Force Academy prep school, but his move from cornerback to his new position over the offseason has grabbed attention over the first three games.
“The adjustment’s been fun,” Polidore said. “Still learning a lot, still getting a feel for the position. I’ve played three games at free safety.
“I feel we lost a valuable player in Jeff last year. I wanted to come in and fill that void for him. I feel like I can exhibit my athleticism a lot more. Being able to show how aggressive I can play. Make plays that I couldn’t make at corner.”
Polidore has rattled each of the starting quarterbacks MSU has faced this season by blitzing off the edge. He’s picked up quarterback hurries early in each game to set the tone for the pass rush. His athleticism makes him an easy player to follow as he’s regularly in on and around plays.
Polidore’s cohort at strong safety Rylan Ortt isn’t at a loss for words when it comes to describing the Texan’s skills.
“He’s just such a physical specimen,” Ortt said. “He can run, he can jump, he can cover. He can do everything. He tackles really well and the thing I like the most from him is his aggressiveness. Coming downhill, fitting a run up. If you cut the tape he’s always hitting somebody, he’s flying over piles and it just feels really good to have a guy like that back there with you.
“Dru worked really hard all offseason making the transition from corner to free safety. He learned the defense.”
To go along with his team high three quarterback hurries, Polidore also has eight tackles.
“I think he’s allowed us to do a few more things at that position and now we have, within our defense, the flexibility to do different things coverage-wise and blitzing-wise based on the abilities of our nickel, our free and our strong,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said.
“Growing up my dad told me in the first grade when hitting, hit with bad intentions,” Polidore said. “Be the hammer, not the nail. That’s what I still play by today.”
The Bobcats finished the 2022 season ranked seventh in the Big Sky Conference in pass defense efficiency with a 137.1 rating. This year that number has dropped through three games to just 114.3 – a number that may be slightly inflated due to MSU having huge leads over Utah Tech and Stetson that allowed it to substitute freely in the second halves of those games.
MSU was holding the nation’s top quarterback on the nation’s top team – Mark Gronowski of South Dakota State – to just 11 of 20 passing for 109 yards over the first 58 minutes of the narrow 20-16 loss before the junior hit back-to-back daggers for 75 yards and the eventual game-winning touchdown.
“With Dru at free I know we can do more at that position,” Vigen said. “That’s a credit to his ability more than its anything about Jeff (Manning). We tried to play to Jeff’s strengths the best we could and we’re trying to do the same with Dru, who it just so happens his skills are more wide-ranging. That’ll continue to prove out over time. He’s played three games. He’s done some impactful things in these three games but ask me what I think a couple months down the road. I think we’re on the right track with Dru to really impact games from that spot. We gotta continue to find ways to put him in position to do so.”
Polidore came out of high school ranked as the No. 154 cornerback in the country. He was a first team, all-district selection his junior and senior seasons grabbing five interceptions over that time.
The Bobcats are tasked with opening their Big Sky season on the road at perennial league power and FCS playoff mainstay Weber State. The Wildcats are a team Polidore, despite being at MSU for just over a season, knows well.
“They’re a good three-phase team,” Polidore said. “They’re very powerful on special teams and that puts them in good position on offense and defense. I’ve played with (running back Damon) Bankston since I was kid in fifth grade on a select team out of Katy, Texas. We have a lot of 4 and 5-star players out there playing college football right now. Running back Adrian Cormier I met at a few camps, and he was a really cool kid. We got a lot of respect for them. We know it’s going to be a dog fight out there.”
The Wildcats perhaps present an even bigger challenge in that they lost a pair of tough games against MSU last season. WSU fell 43-35 in a crazy, rain-soaked game that saw numerous wild plays, including four safeties by WSU off bad punt snaps, a kickoff return and punt return touchdown – both in the first quarter – also by the Wildcats, and Bobcat’ long snapper Tommy Sullivan recovering a fumbled punt return. They had to return to Bozeman for a second round playoff game and lost that one 33-25.
“Mindset definitely changes,” Polidore says of the start of league play. “We know these games moving forward are for the rings. Knowing that we beat them twice last year, they have a bitter taste in their mouth and are gonna give us a test.
“We want to be the most physical team, of course. They do a lot of unbalanced stuff to make it hard to see our keys. At the end of the day, we need to execute, do our jobs and tackle well. Keep our offense out there as much as we can.”
Outside of football, Polidore finds himself adjusting well to making the moves from Texas to Colorado and now to Montana.
“Life in Montana is actually something I’m starting to get used to,” Polidore said. “I thought it would be farmland and fields. However, there is a nice city, lots to do and great people. I’ve taken up fishing lately and I have a girlfriend here now. It’s become a second home. My girlfriend is actually who introduced me to fishing. Both of her parents are from Montana State University. She knew the ropes a lot more than I did. She’s the one who gave me the lessons on fishing out here at first. Trout U, yes sir.”
Polidore is certainly hoping he’s got what he needs in his tackle box this Saturday at 6:00 in Ogden, Utah where the Bobcats hope to reel in their first Big Sky win.
