After the 2021 season, Montana State lost all but one offensive lineman and still had a relatively new coaching staff that had inherited all but one of the starters up front that season. To say the media and Bobcat fans were questioning how successful that lineup was going to be would be immeasurable understating things.
The lone returner – center Justus Perkins – had just one season under his belt to feed the anxiety around the situation. Media and fans thought head coach Brent Vigen’s comment during spring ball that he ‘was happy with the line’ and that it ‘would be a strength in 2022’ was met with the same reaction as a young boy bragging about his big brother. Yeah, sure.
The Bobcats went on to prove Vigen right and stunned everyone with the most prolific running game in the school’s history. They were equally astonishing in 2023 and despite the fact that they’ll go into their season opener with the now wily veteran and All-Big Sky performer, Perkins out, All-America tackle Marcus Wehr forced to move to guard, Titan Fleischman making his first collegiate start in Wehr’s spot, oft-injured Cole Sain replacing Perkins at center, guard JT Reed nursing a hand injury, we’re not hearing much more than a peep out of fans or media. Conner Moore is the lone lineman playing his position from a year ago heading into MSU’s season opener Saturday.
Throw in that leading running back Julius Davis is listed as out for MSU’s game at New Mexico and it’s still crickets. MSU will go with sophomore Scottre Humphrey, but as usual MSU will have a whole host of backs at its disposal with freshman Adam Jones backing up Humphrey and Elijah Elliott, Colson Coon and Jared White available.
MSU is also going with a new tight end/fullback combo with Rohan Jones (FB) and Ryan Lonergan (TE) taking over for the seemingly never-ending run at those spots by Derryk Snell and Treyton Pickering. Tight end Hunter Provience, who got some reps late in the 2023 season, is also expected to get in the game.
Only quarterback Tommy Mellott, wide receiver Ty McCullouch, and Moore are where they were when 2023 started, and Mellott was splitting time with Sean Chambers.
In 2022, the Bobcats introduced Wehr, Sain, Reed and Rush Reimer to the nation, along with Perkins. Those four replaced Lewis Kidd, who is still bouncing around the NFL, Zach Redd, All-Big Sky lineman Taylor Tuiasosopo, TJ Session, who transferred to Cal and Connor Wood, who transferred to Missouri.
That nearly all-new 2022 unit produced a rushing offense that gained 4,351 yards in 14 games (a jump of over 1,000 yards over 2021 (3,313) despite playing one less game) and averaged 6.5 yards per carry (2021 came in at 5.2). The next season MSU rumbled for 3,509 in just 12 games, good for an average carry of 7.3 yards.
Davis and Chambers accounted for 1,389 of MSU’s rushing yards last season, but even without them the legs in the MSU run game are formidable.
The movement seems significant, but Sain has gotten quite a few reps at center over the years. He was being groomed to be Perkins’ backup as long as two years ago, but injuries kept him from seeing any game time there and he was severely limited at his natural guard spot. Wehr has actually seen game time at guard in his career and Reed started nearly every game at guard in 2022.
That leaves Fleischman, who was highly regarded coming out of high school and played numerous reps in the first five games last season, as the lone player without considerable playing time. The 6-4, 300-pounder from Pocatello, ID was a first-team All-State player for Century High School and started there all four years.
The running back corps saw then true freshman Humphrey jump off the page with three rushing touchdowns against Utah Tech last year in the season opening Gold Rush game. While Jones was used sparingly last season, he has been very impressive in the spring and preseason camps to move ahead of White and Elliott on the depth chart. White was fourth on the team – behind Davis, Chambers and Mellott – with 524 yards and Elliott gained 272 yards. Humphrey, White and Elliott all averaged 8.0 yards or better per carry in 2023. Jones had just three carries for 52 yards, but one of those was for 49 yards and a touchdown on his first career carry.
Defensively, the Bobcats are headed into Saturday’s game against New Mexico pretty much as expected. The lone player that won’t be on the field is promising safety Dru Polidore, who, like Davis, isn’t expected back for a few weeks. Blake Stillwell starts in his place. Washington State transfer Alex Eckert jumped into the starting spot at tackle over the last week, allowing Paul Brott to rotate at the other tackle spot with Blake Schmidt. Bryce Grebe has been impressive throughout both camps and the freshman, who is the younger brother of star defensive end Brody Grebe, is now a backup linebacker behind McCade O’Reilly.
The clock continues to tick down as MSU’s season opener against the Lobos is on for this Saturday at 2:00 in Albuquerque.
