Mac Bignell looks around the locker room and sees a collection of faces that are only now becoming familiar. Some of the freshmen, teenagers who will leaned on heavily in 2017, have been in Bignell’s presence for a matter of weeks.
When he goes into the Montana State football coaches’ headquarters, he now walks into the corner office occupied by second-year defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak. For his first four years in Bozeman, Bignell would take a right down the hall to longtime linebackers’ coach Kane Ioane’s office.
Much has changed for the senior Bobcat. Since walking on to MSU out of Drummond, the youngest son of former MSU Hall of Fame tight end Joe Bignell has individually thrived. But he’s also seen his beloved Bobcats fall from among the Big Sky’s best to a team trying to snap a streak of two straight losing seasons.
Bignell himself has carved out a niche as one of the league’s top playmakers, using his quickness and elusive nature to repeatedly fly into opponents’ backfields. Bignell has 35 tackles for loss over the last two seasons and enters his final campaign as a preseason All-Big Sky selection despite moving positions from Sam linebacker to Will linebacker in the spring. The 6-foot, 218-pounder is also MSU’s all-time leader in career forced fumbles.
MSU linebacker Mac Bignell (49) records a tackle for loss vs. Cal Poly and running back Kori Garcia (24) in 2016
But Bignell has stood out on defenses that have struggled to find its stride. MSU gave up points and yards in bunches during 2015, Rob Ash’s last season at the helm. Last season, the ‘Cats made good progress in their first year running Gregorak’s odd-man front defense. A turnover-plagued offense and a team searched for consistency resulted in a 4-7 record in head coach Jeff Choate’s first season
Over the last 18 months, Choate has overhauled the roster, signing nearly 50 new players and nearly completing a total turnover in personnel despite his short tenure. That being said, Bignell is now surrounded by a relatively new and largely youthful group entering his final season. Of the 18 players MSU signed in 2013, just safety Khari Garcia, kicker Luke Daly, safety Ben Folsom, left tackle Dylan Mahoney and Bignell lasted five years in the program.
The coaching staff is almost completely different as well. Ioane, a stalwart who starred at linebacker for MSU from 2000 until 2003 before serving as an assistant on three coaching staffs over the next 12 seasons, is now a defensive analyst at Washington.
Despite all the changes, Bignell is excited about the culture change Choate is attempting to cultivate.
“The chemistry is the best it’s ever been since I’ve been here,” Bignell said at the Big Sky Kickoff media event in Park City, Utah earlier this month. “It’s the first time we have been 100 percent during summer workouts and that’s a really good feeling. Now you know everyone is bought into the program. You see all the numbers, you see all the people who have gone. The people that are in Bozeman, those guys are going to give everything for the program. It builds confidence because we all know each other are 100 percent bought in and we have each other’s backs. We are going to give each other everything.”
Choate, an assistant in the FCS for more than a decade before taking his first non-high school head coaching job, endured a trying first season. Through three games, Montana State led the country in turnover margin, had two home wins and nearly a third that instead was a narrow 20-17 loss at FBS Idaho. MSU sat at 2-1 heading into its Big Sky opener.
Eventual Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Cole Reyes stuffed Chad Newell on a two-point conversion attempt that served as the deciding play in Montana State’s 17-15 loss to North Dakota to open conference competition. Journeyman quarterback Tyler Bruggman, first became afflicted by the interception bug in the fourth quarter of that loss, throwing three picks to spark a trend.
MSU quarterback Chris Murray (8) vs UC Davis in 2016
Over the next six games, Montana State would turn the ball over 24 times and lose Choate’s first six Big Sky contests. Bruggman got the hook in favor of true freshman Chris Murray, an electric athlete who could never seem to find his flow throwing the football.
MSU ended 2016 on an upswing, beating UC Davis 27-13 in its home finale before stunning rival Montana in Missoula 24-17 to cap the campaign. That team returns many headliners, from Murray to Bignell, defensive tackles Zach Wright and Tucker Yates to All-Big Sky safety Bryson McCabe. But Montana State also loses its leadership core with the graduation of All-American offensive lineman J.P. Flynn, the emotional Newell and fellow hard-nosed running back Gunnar Brekke.
“Obviously, we are a young team and I think very much this is a building year,” Choate saidin Park City. “I had someone tell me this when I got the job: ‘When you get a new job, it’s like opening a present and you are not quite sure what is in the box. But I promise you it’s never exactly what you think it’s going to be.’ That first year was really just a feeling out period. I felt very fortunate to have young men like J.P. and Gunnar and Chad who were glue guys for us a year ago. Now we look at it and say, ‘Where do we go from here?’
“It’s a very different roster than it was a year ago and we have a lot of young and new players that we have to indoctrinate into our program and we are going to be counting on those guys. We are going to have some young men who redshirted a year ago or played limited roles a year ago that will have to step into significant roles now. A lot of unknowns and a very, very challenging schedule.”
Where Montana State goes in Choate’s second season will depend on a collection of factors, from Bignell’s continued playmaking to Murray and the Bobcat defense’s continued improvement to MSU’s gumption in navigating a challenging all Division I schedule.
MSU head coach Jeff Choate in 2016
The Bobcats open at FBS preseason Top 25 team Washington State before playing South Dakota State, the reigning Missouri Valley Conference champions, in Bozeman the following week. MSU has road games at co-Big Sky champions Eastern Washington and North Dakota plus a home date with Weber State, a 2016 playoff team, all before mid-October.
“I think we will be tested early and often and I think our season is going to come down to a handful of things,” Choate said. “One of those is going to be how we handle the adversity that is going to come our way.
“I want improvement every week. Our mantra is compete and improve. That’s what we have to do. It’s a nameless, faceless opponent. Yes, you can roll through all the playoff teams and the rankings and all that. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. We have to go out and execute and control what we can control. I’m looking forward to seeing where these guys are at.”
Bignell said Murray’s development throughout the summer has been noticeable. Other young offensive talents like redshirt freshman running back Jake Roper and sophomore receivers Keon Stephens and Kevin Kassis have turned heads at player-run practices, Bignell said.
Montana State was picked to finish No. 8 in the Big Sky preseason polls voted on by the coaches and the affiliated media. The Bobcats should be strong on the offensive front, deeper than a year ago on the defensive front and more sound operating Gregorak’s scheme overall. Many believe the promotion of Brian Armstrong to offensive coordinator and the addition of former Big Sky MVP DeNarius McGhee as quarterbacks’ coach will pay big dividends.
But MSU will need to improve significantly and surprise several opponents if Choate’s first winning season is in the cards. Bignell and his Bobcat teammates are dreaming much bigger than simply inching to 6-5.
“We expect to go win it,” Bignell said. “It’s not going to be easy. But just like (former Big Sky MVP and Kickoff keynote speaker) James Cowser just said – (Southern Utah) was 3-9 and they turned it around and won it. I know we have the guys in the locker room to do it and we believe in each other enough to go and do it so those are our expectations: to go out and win the Big Sky.”
