Whenever given an opportunity last season, Mike Kramer let it be known what the most important position in the Big Sky Conference is.
In the offensively elite league, quarterbacks like Justin Arias, Idaho State’s Walter Payton Award finalist in 2014, certainly can help a program take the next step. Pass rushing dynamos like Montana’s Tyrone Holmes, the 2015 FCS Defensive Player of the Year, can certainly help spark a playoff push.
But in the opinion of the Godfather of Big Sky football coaches, the most important position in a league filled with prominent offensive playmakers is on the back end of the defense.
“In this conference at this level, if you have two Jesses at safety, I mean two dogs who can really play, they can cover up inadequacies in the front, range to balls in the air and you will win a lot of games,” Kramer, Idaho State’s head coach and the former head coach at Eastern Washington and Montana State, said last November. “No one in this conference has a fleet of defensive linemen so the better you are at safety, the better chance you have to force the other team off the infraction. This conference has never been about premier defensive fronts as much as it has been about premier safety play.”
MSU secondary coach Gerald Alexander coaches Khari Garcia during the Sonny Holland spring game
Montana State gave up yards and points in bunches last season. The Bobcats were seemingly vulnerable to either choice in the run-pass option for the duration of a frustrating 5-6 campaign. Much of those struggles can be pinned on the struggles of Montana State’s safeties as the Bobcats were unable to cover the pass if they played an extra player in the box and unable to stop the run without safety help.
MSU’s underachieving finish last fall caused for a coaching change. Jeff Choate took over in December and revamped the MSU coaching staff, hiring former NFL safety Gerald Alexander to coach the secondary. The Boise State All-America has taken to rebuilding the Bobcats’ fundamentals on the back end.
“There’s a huge emphasis in technique and a huge difference with how we play man to man, bump and run at the line, bail technique, where our safeties are playing, their eyes, their footwork,” Choate said. “There’s a lot of communication that has to take place in the coverage world. Incremental progress. Very pleased with the work Gerald is doing in the back end. Guys like Khari, Bryson bring a little edge to them.”
MSU safety Khari Garcia
MSU loses safety Desman Carter, a fifth-year transfer from UAB who played just one season in Bozeamn after the Blazers eliminated their football program last off-season. The rest of MSU’s safeties, including juniors Khari Garcia and Bryson McCabe return to a secondary that is starting from scratch.
“We work from the ground up, teaching those guys to get in a good proper stance to be able to move efficiently,” Alexander said. “We detail what we need to do to backpedal efficiently so you can put yourself in the best position to be able to transition whether it’s forward or backwards. That’s been really good for those guys to really be able to hear those repetitive coaching points throughout the time we’ve been working together. It’s ultimately going to lay the foundation for how we move.”
Like Montana State’s cornerbacks, the safeties will be a group devoid of a senior in 2016. McCabe, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound former transfer from Iowa Western by way of South Dakota State, started four games, notched 27 tackles and broke up five passes last season as a sophomore before injuries cut the campaign short six games in. The hard hitter from Spirit Lake, Iowa is currently listed as the starter at strong safety for MSU.
Garcia has contributed each of the last two seasons for the Bobcats. The 5-foot-10, 195-pound junior has length, good closing ability and a knack for the big hit — he blasted senior Will Krolick during the Sonny Holland Classic spring game for what Choate called the hit of the scrimmage — but his first two years in Bozeman have been riddled with inconsistencies.
MSU safety Bryson McCabe sheds a block in 2-on-1 drill
“Those guys are picking up some things,” Alexander said. “We are making mistakes but everything is new. One thing those safeties are doing is they are giving tremendous effort. I can coach off that, we can win with that. They’ve done a good job of really buying in, mastering the techniques. The next step for them and everybody is understanding the big picture. Not just what your responsibility it but understanding how and why we are doing the things we are doing so they can play faster.”
The rest of the group is made up of players with no Division I experience. Zach Stern, a senior who came to MSU from Santa Monica Community College as a linebacker, moved to cornerback last season and is now Garcia’s backup at free safety. He’s had a few highlight reel hits this spring. Redshirt freshman Sidney Holmes, a player former MSU recruiting coordinator Bo Beck touted as one of the gems of the 2015 recruiting class, has moved from cornerback to free safety.
At the strong safety spot, junior West Wilson was McCabe’s projected backup before suffering a spiral fracture in his leg that ended his spring. Brayden Konkol, a physically imposing 6-foot-2, 205-pound redshirt freshman from Belgrade, has made a strong impact this spring with his ability to fill in run support and his athletic length in coverage.
MSU safety Brayden Konkol
“That kid, he’s got something,” Choate said. “One of the reasons I’d like to see us get some more depth on the back end is I think that kid can slide up front and be something special in the future. So we want him to play in the back end right now. It’s not going to hurt him to play back there. He will develop better footwork. But at some point, he’ll be a front seven guy if I had to guess. And he’ll be a really good one.”
Tanner Hoff and Ty Robbie, a pair of redshirt freshmen walk-ons from Montana, are also on the depth chart at safety currently.
Choate has not hesitated to say that Montana State hit the transfer market now that spring drills are finished. He identified the interior defensive line and the defensive secondary as major points of emphasis.
“We are in the business of getting better,” Alexander said. “We are going to identify who we have and who can help us that may not be a part of this team just yet. We want to get better and we feel we need to get better in order to do the special things we think we can get done.”
MSU safety Bryson McCabe
Alexander’s formidable talents are on display at each MSU practice. The former second round NFL draft pick was a first-team All-WAC selection who helped lead Boise State to a win in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder wears football cleats to each MSU practice and puts the drills on full display with his own technique. The 32-year-old still looks like he could play at a high level today. Choate hopes his clout and wisdom will resonate with a rebuilding group.
“I know those guys are going to get better,” Choate said. “I know what kind of coach Gerald is. I’ve talked to these kids enough to know they’ve bought into him, believe in him. It’s just a matter of those guys continuing to work throughout the summer and continuing to embrace the mentality we want to have back there.”
