Like a great many teams in the country, Montana State gets to break the monotony of fall camp by opening its season this weekend. But unlike most teams around college football, the Bobcats dive right back into battling one another after Thursday’s debut.
The No. 11 Bobcats begin their season on Thursday night under the Bobcat Stadium lights for their annual “Gold Rush”, a contest against Division II Fort Lewis. Instead of rolling to an easy win and rolling into the flow of the season, the Bobcats have their bye in Week 2. Between Thursday’s opener and MSU’s September 19 showdown with No. 6 Eastern Washington, Montana State has 16 days to kill.
Rob Ash
“We intentionally shortened our camp this year because of the way our schedule broke out and having the bye after our first game, basically we get another camp after the first game before we play our second game,” Montana State ninth-year head coach Rob Ash said during Monday’s meeting with the media. “We didn’t take all the allotted practices that we were allowed to take. Part of that was really good. We felt like we were able to save legs and not wear our guys down at all during this preseason so that was positive. We just really need to play a game. I’m not looking forward to the second camp we are going to have to go to but we will cross that bridge after we play this first game.”
Montana State’s “first” fall camp was one filled with offensive players testing their comfort zones and defensive players battling for starting positions. The Montana State offense, by definition, is a spread attack employing a triple option elements, so when starting quarterback Dakota Prukop is wearing a red non-contact jersey, it’s hard for the look to be true. On the defensive side of the ball, the personnel battled for playing time as the unit tried to master new defensive coordinator Kane Ioane’s scheme. And key position battles for starting spots at middle and outside linebacker along with one cornerback spot and both safety spots proved to be among the key storylines of camp.
“We had a lot of things to settle on the defensive side of the ball with our personnel and I think we are beginning to get an idea of what our lineup is going to be and how the players that play last year are going to fit in, how the guys who weren’t here in the spring fit in,” Ash said. “There was so much unsettled on that side and I think that was priority No. 1 and I feel like we are really close to getting some answers there.”
Each position battle earned clarity, at least for the first game, after suspensions were announced on Saturday. Sophomore Blake Braun, who was battling for the Will linebacker job, and sophomore safety Khari Garcia, who was the front-runner for the starting job at free safety, were suspended along with slated backup corner true freshman Tre’Von Strong. At the Will spot, junior Fletcher Collins is the starter against Fort Lewis. He was battling redshirt freshman Grant Collins for the starting job at Mike, a position Grant has now secured. Sophomore Marcus Tappan was Braun’s main competition at Will before Fletcher’s position switch.
Chad Newell
At safety, redshirt freshman DeMonte King will get the start despite missing more of fall camp with turf toe. Sophomore West Wilson will be his backup. In lieu of Strong’s suspension, sophomore cornerback will serve as the backup for Bryson Keeton and Trace Timmer, both seniors.
The position battles were a key element of the first developmental session. Continuity and chemistry were the key intangible the Bobcats focused on.
“The main thing is we built a team and that was our main goal going into fall camp and that’s the biggest positive we took away from it,” MSU junior captain running back Chad Newell said. “We are one unit now and that was our goal and we accomplished that.”
Defensively, the Bobcats spent a great deal of time installing Ioane’s multiple front, diverse, aggressive defense and deciding who were the best men to run it. Offensively, the Bobcats worked on sharpening the tools that helped them gash opponents for nearly 40 points and 500 yards per game last season.
“Our goal going into fall camp was to come out firing on all cylinders with the offense,” said Prukop, a newly anointed team captain after totaling 31 touchdowns last season. “I think we did that.”
Tim Cramsey enters his third season coordinating the offense. In 2013, MSU averaged 33 points per game and 70 plays per outing. Last season, MSU put up 39 points per game and 68 plays per game. All off-season, MSU tried to improve on its already speedy tempo.
Tim Cramsey
“The tempo we played with the best thing we improved this spring,” Cramsey said. “I thought the tempo got better in Year 3 in our system. We got the plays off quick, lined up quick, snapped the ball quick and we played fast.”
Montana State opens up its season with a game the Bobcats are expected to win handily. Last fall, UC Davis defeated Fort Lewis 57-10. Later in the season, MSU defeated UC Davis 77-37.
Montana State doesn’t have a true test for almost a month. MSU is still trying to evaluate if seven defensive transfers deserve time in the rotation. Offensviely, the offense continues to diversify as the personnel ads multiple players to the arsenal. Fort Lewis is picked to finish eighth in the 10-team Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, a middle of the road league in Division II. When asked if MSU would try to limit the game plan in an effort to not put too much on film for future opponents, Cramsey was direct.
“Never,” Cramsey said. “We have to do enough to win this football game and to do that, we have to have every bullet in the gun. If we don’t need to pull all the bullets out, then we don’t. But at the same time, we are going in to play a football game and try to beat these guys soundly.”
Photo by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
