Editor’s Note: this is one installment in a three-part series about the quarterback position in the Big Sky Conference. Montana State, Montana, Idaho, Weber State and Southern Utah are all on the verge of upcoming quarterback battles during fall camp while Eastern Washington senior Gage Gubrud, Northern Arizona junior Case Cookus and UC Davis junior Jake Maier are three of the most prolific passers in the Football Championship Subdivision. This installment addresses Montana State’s upcoming competition to replace two-year starter Chris Murray.
BOZEMAN — Following the Sonny Holland spring game at Bobcat Stadium, Jeff Choate stood on the turf expressing his thoughts on Montana State’s recently completed spring practices. MSU’s third-year head football coach liked the emergence of some young playmakers and the continued solidification of his defense.
He also acknowledged in a 15-practice session that resulted in just two quarterbacks taking snaps because of a number of factors, junior Chris Murray had clearly separated himself from redshirt freshman Tucker Rovig. But Choate did not even approach anointing Murray the starter despite his streak of 16 straight starts under center entering the 2018 season.
“I think we have one guy who has clearly separated himself from the other,” Choate said following the Sonny Holland spring game. “I think we will have to have (junior) Travis Jonsen come in and compete, (true freshman) Casey Bauman come in and compete and Tucker Rovig will have to take the next step.”
Choate, new passing game coordinator Bob Cole and the rest of MSU’s offensive staff did not get a look from Jonsen, a 6-foot-4 athletic dual-threat who started his career at Oregon. The Riverside Community College transfer slipped on the ice on Montana State’s campus shortly after arriving in Bozeman, breaking the same foot that cost him his freshman season as a starter for the Ducks, the same injury that ultimately resulted in the Anaheim native’s move from the Pac 12.
Just days before the Big Sky Kickoff media conference in Spokane, Montana State shocked the rest of the league with a decision that thrusts Jonsen, Rovig, Bauman and fellow incoming freshman Ruben Beltran one rung up the quarterback ladder. Murray will sit out 2018 season to focus on his academics.
Big Sky Breakdown: Montana State head coach Jeff Choate on Chris Murray missing 2018 season
Troy Andersen, the 2017 Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year as a running back and linebacker, is listed with an “OR” for the No. 2 spot with Rovig on the first depth chart of the fall released at the Big Sky Kickoff. Choate said he would like to have a starter by MSU’s 2018 opener on August 28 at home against Western Illinois.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Choate said. “That would be the ideal situation but there may be some multiple quarterback sets, some sharing of the load if we don’t find that clarity we want.
“The young man who ends up being our quarterback this year will be the young man who our team has the most confidence in, our coaches have the most confidence in and provides the best leadership for that unit.”
The electric and sporadic teenager from Inglewood, California rushed for 2,024 yards and 22 touchdowns over the last two seasons but struggled to complete half his passes while posting a 7-9 record at the helm. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Murray was handed the starting job halfway into his true freshman season after the decided struggles of Tyler Bruggman, a former 4-star recruit who made stops at Washington State, Louisville and Scottsdale CC before landing at MSU.
Choate re-opened the quarterback competition in the spring of 2017. Bruggman pushed Murray, ultimately not earning a guaranteed nod. He graduated from MSU and graduate transferred to Texas A&M last off-season.
“Tyler Bruggman was basically handed the job when he got here,” Choate said. “Chris assumed that mantle halfway through his true freshman year and Chris was the defacto starter going into fall camp last season because Tyler left in the spring.
“Now we have a situation where we are going to have three or four guys that are getting after it, competing and the best man, not just the guy who is the best option but the best option for our team and our system will end up being our quarterback.”
The other intriguing factor is the presence of Andersen on the quarterback portion of MSU’s depth chart. The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder from Dillon earned top freshman honors last season after rushing for 515 yards and five touchdowns while also notching nine tackles as All-American Mac Bignell’s backup at Sam outside linebacker.
Andersen spent the entire spring at Sam. But Choate said when Murray’s impending absence became official that Andersen would “become a full-time offensive player” this season. Andersen led Dillon to two state titles as a quarterback with decent throwing skills and deft ball skills while operating zone read and inside zone plays.
He will compete with Rovig, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound former 3-star recruit out of Mountain View High in Meridian, Idaho; Bauman, a 6-foot-6, 225-pounder with a cannon for an arm out of Nooksack Valley, Washington; Beltran, a 6-foot, 180-pound dual-threat with impressive elusiveness who led Centennial (Peoria) High to the Arizona 5A state title last fall; and Jonsen, the former No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the country out of Servite High in Anaheim, a distinction that earned him dozens of offers from the premier schools in the country.
“I’m extremely excited,” Choate said when asked about the quarterback position. “In a strange way, this might be a good thing not only for Bobcat football but for Chris Murray. It’s always darkest before the dawn. A lot of people in Bobcat Nation are probably going ‘woe is me’.
“I can tell you this: teams around the league, our opponents, our haters – I tell our team this all the time that nobody cares about your problems and most people are happy you have them – and that’s what we expect from the outside.
“I’m telling you right now that not just at quarterback but at every position on the field, I think for the first time since I’ve been here that we are going to have some knock down, drag out competitions in fall camp and the best man is going to win and that means the Bobcats are going to be better.”
Montana State’s quarterback uncertainty stems back to the position battle to replace program pillar DeNarius McGhee in the spring of 2014. The two-time Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year led Montana State to three straight Big Sky titles in his four seasons as a record-setting starter. Four worthy candidates battled for the right to be the triggerman in former offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey’s spread option offense.
Eventually, dual-threat Dakota Prukop emerged as the winner, outlasting prototypical gunslinger Jake Bleskin, ultra athletic Pistol offense specialist Tanner Roderick and strong-armed, smooth upstart Quinn McQueary.
Initially, Prukop lit up the league. During a two-week jaunt through California, Prukop totaled more than 1,000 yards of total offense and accounted for 13 total touchdowns as MSU scored 59 and 77 points, respectively, in consecutive wins over Sac State and UC Davis.
That 2014 season resulted in a playoff berth, although the Bobcats limped into the postseason partially because of a knee injury suffered by Prukop in MSU’s ninth game. A hobbled Prukop led the Bobcat offense to 40 points in the first round of the playoffs at home but MSU still fell by a touchdown to South Dakota State.
Offensive explosions remained commonplace in 2015 but so did defensive breakdowns. Opponents consistently exploited Montana State’s defense, spurring a 5-6 finish that resulted in the abrupt firing of former head coach Rob Ash, the school’s all-time leader in victories.
Despite earning FCS All-American honors, Prukop declared his intention to graduate transfer to Oregon less than two weeks after Choat was hired that December. In the spring of 2016, Choate brought in Bruggman but lost dual-threat Jordan Hoy, a Texas product who came to Bozeman specifically to operate Cramsey’s offense.
The dominoes have continued falling, from Bruggman leaving the program after the spring of 2017 to Kamden Brown leaving the program following last season to Brady McChesney retiring because of medical concerns in the midst of MSU’s most recent spring practices. MSU also moved former Whitefish state champion Luke May from under center to safety and former Bozeman High quarterback Callahan O’Reilly to middle linebacker.
When McChesney stepped away, it left just Murray and Rovig to help Montana State navigate the final 11 of its 15 spring practices. With Murray out and no player on the roster who has taken a game snap, MSU’s camp beginning the first week of August is going to be a crucial one, Choate said.
“By design, we did not do a lot in spring football,” Choate said. “But I told our team the day they arrived back for summer workouts that, ‘Hey, fall camp is going to be a grind.’ We are going to have to use a lot of team reps. We are going to have to throw some live bullets at these guys.”
The battle begins with no leg up for any of its participants.
Can Jonsen find the form that helped him earn a position as the front-runner to start at Oregon during his true freshman year before a foot injury derailed him? Will he be as explosive running the ball after slipping on the ice and breaking his foot shortly after arriving in Bozeman.
Can Rovig recapture the ability that earned him a scholarship after one day at Montana State’s individual camp in June of 2016? Can he shake his spring struggles with mechanical adjustments made by Cole in April?
Will Bauman’s stock continue to rise? Can the former 2-star recruit who morphed into one of Washington state’s most heralded quarterback recruits fulfill his formidable potential?
Can Beltran prove right the recruiting pitch from Cole that he can compete for MSU’s starting job despite not signing with the Bobcats until May?
With the mystique and mythology of the seemingly flawless Andersen melt into the quarterback competition during the heat of summer? Choate can’t wait to find out the answers.
“You knew what Chris’ skill set was and while he’s a spectacular athlete, he has his limitations, certainly,” Choate said. “We will be different no matter who that person is because they are not going to be Chris. But I do think it opens up some opportunities for us because we are going to be playing to the strengths of somebody else and maybe those strengths will mesh with our offense in another way, too.
“It will be compelling to watch it play out.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
Montana State starting QB Murray will miss 2018 season for academic reasons
