BOZEMAN — At the end of a 75-play scrimmage on a day that started snowy and ended blanketed in sunshine, the Bobcats lined up on the sideline to finish the session with wind sprints.
As the defensive players in white jerseys hit the West sideline their offensive teammates in blue stood preparing for their turn to jog down and back, Troy Andersen hit the line, turned to the East and left the rest of Montana State’s defensive players in his tracks.
The sophomore phenom from Dillon didn’t appear to labor whatsoever while he won four different sideline-to-sideline sprints by at least half a dozen strides each during yet another uncanny display of his supreme athleticism.
The legend of the reigning Big Sky Freshman of the Year continues to grow.
“He is big, he is strong, he is fast and he has unbelievable lower body strength for a guy still in his first year in college,” MSU third-year defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Ty Gregorak said the final week of March. “I think the sky is the limit for the young man. I think he is very special.
“We are a long way and we are far from perfect but he takes it very seriously. His demeanor and the way he goes about his business is all pointing very, very upward for this kid. He’s special.”
A season ago, a kid from Southwest Montana’s small school football factory who played quarterback and safety for the Class A state champions came to Montana State and took the Big Sky by storm playing two completely different positions.
After enduring a shoulder stinger suffered in a narrow home loss to No. 3 South Dakota State and seeing limited carries at running back, Andersen returned the next week to flatten North Dakota. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound former state champion sprinter powered his way to 131 yards and two touchdowns in MSU’s 49-21 shellacking of the defending league champions in Grand Forks.
By mid-October, Andersen had completely stopped practicing with the offense yet still receiving seven to 10 offensive touches every Saturday. Instead, he worked with the defense, learning under first-team All-Big Sky and All-American outside linebacker Mac Bignell.
“It was different playing running back,” Andersen said last week. “I’d never done it before but it was fun. I was fortunate to be able to help the team however I could and also get the best of both worlds, sit behind Mac and learn from him, one of the greats.
“I was surprised but I was open to it. They told me I could come in and potentially help the team out so I was happy to do it. I just did whatever told me and tried to do it to the best of my abilities.
By the end of the year, Andersen had amassed 651 yards from scrimmage and scored seven touchdowns while also notching nine tackles, including one behind the line of scrimmage while playing 10 to 15 snaps a game on defense. His two-touchdown performance in MSU’s 31-23 win over rival Montana likely helped boost him past Griz quarterback Gresch Jensen for the league’s top freshman accolade. Andersen also landed on the Hero Sports Freshman All-American team as an all-purpose player.
“I think he can be a really special player for us on defense but we also have the luxury of if we have some injuries or our depth chart isn’t where we want it to be, he can fill in and do some things at running back as well,” MSU third-year head coach Jeff Choate said the final day of February with the start of the current spring session starting in a few days.
DeNarius McGhee, Montana State’s new running backs coach after spending last season coaching quarterbacks, still talks like he expects Andersen to be used in the offensive game plan occasionally next fall. Gregorak has said twice this spring that he is not only open to Andersen continuing to play offense but encouraging it.
Yet this spring, Andersen is wearing a white jersey and practicing exclusively with the defense. He has the unenviable ask of replacing Bignell, a three-time All-Big Sky selection who finished his career as the Bobcats’ all-time leader in forced fumbles and one of its most prolific tacklers behind the line of scrimmage.
Lining up at the Sam outside linebacker spot in Gregorak’s defense accentuates Anderson’s length, speed and ability to bend the edge while rushing the passer. He also looks like a natural in pass coverage, not a surprise considering he was an All-USA Montana first-team selection and the organization’s Montana Defensive Player of the Year.
“Now it’s about fine-tuning it,” Gregorak said. “He’s doing it full-time now, which is awesome. He’s just such a gifted athlete in space, attached to the box pass rush-wise. He’s just such a big, fluid athlete. I joke not joke he could play a lot of different positions on this team.”
The 6-foot-3, now 222-pound Andersen is part of fledging linebacker group all learning together with its two most productive veterans either out or limited this spring. Junior inside linebacker Josh Hill dressed out and took a few reps during Saturday’s scrimmage before giving way to sophomore Michael Jobman for most of the competition at Mike linebacker. Junior Brayden Konkol is out this spring after having off-season shoulder surgery. In Konkol’s spot at Will, sophomore Chad Kanow has taken the majority of starter reps with redshirt freshman Tadan Gillman showing no fear at the inside spot on the No. 2 defense.
The 6-foot-3 Kanow and the 6-foot-4 Jobman paired with the tall, lean Andersen gives MSU a trio of linebackers with the length Gregorak desires at the positions. Andersen’s speed and reactive quickness have grabbed the attention of his teammates as well.
“His athleticism and his speed are the biggest thing and how smart he is,” Jobman said. “He is an all-around player. He will be a huge impact for us. He can play on both sides of the ball no problem and be excellent at both positions.”
Andersen’s introduction to college football came at Martin Stadium in MSU’s season-opening 31-0 loss at No. 24 Washington State. He admitted to being nervous before playing in front of 30,000 people, a far different experience than playing a high school game at Memorial Stadium in his 4,000-resident hometown. But once he absorbed contact from Washington State’s hard-hitting defense a few times, he settled right in.
By the second half of his first season of college football, Andersen was the rarest of rare, a two-way player who might’ve been a two-way starter if not for the presence of Bignell, himself a former small-school quarterback who prepped at Class C powerhouse Drummond before walking on to carry his family’s deep legacy forward.
The valedictorian of Dillon High, has already formed a reputation acknowledged by Choate and Gregorak as a keen observer, a spunge who Choate calls a “one-rep guy” because of his ability to learn so efficiently. The example set by Bignell served as a roadmap that Andersen is now devoting all his football time to following.
“Mac is a really great player,” Andersen said. “He’s attentive to details, deliberate at practice, making sure you know what your assignments are. And he can read and react off of what the offense is doing rapidly and on the fly. That’s what I learned most from Mac, that and how hard he works in the weight room and in practice.”
Andersen made several standout plays, including tracking down quarterback Chris Murray, no easy task considering the lightning fast junior is one of the league’s most elusive players. The Bobcat defense notched 10 sacks Saturday but only senior Zach Wright and Andersen tagged down Murray.
Choate has only been working with for eight months, yet he’s been asked about his diverse, dangerous weapon weekly since the opening of fall camp last August. These days, MSU’s head coach can’t help but make a joke or let out a chuckle when asked to once again evaluate progress.
“Well, what do you think? He seems to look pretty good, don’t you think,” Choate asked a reporter Saturday before giving his real opinion for the next in what will be an endless over the next three years.
“No, he’s obviously a good player. He’s a guy who has such good athleticism and speed and this has been really good for him to just sink into that position and not have to worry about going back and forth and just own that.
“There’s a lot more to learning how to fit into a scheme with 10 other guys than when you are just getting the ball and making plays. For him to be able to work on those things in spring ball will be very beneficial for us.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
