Matt Miller has experienced success almost exclusively during his standout athletic career.
The former Helena Capital star was the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year in football and a first-team Class AA all-state selection in basketball during his prep days. After crafting one of the most impressive high school resumes in the Treasure State of the modern generation, Miller went on to start for four years as a record-setting wide receiver at Boise State.
The 6-foot-3, 213-pounder caught 62 passes and nine touchdowns in earning Freshman All-America honors in 2011. In 2013, Miller caught 88 passes for 1,140 yards and 12 touchdowns, helping him build buzz as a true NFL prospect entering his senior year. He caught 28 passes in five games as a senior, giving him 244 receptions in his career, the most in the history of BSU. But a devastating ankle injury that required season-ending surgery effectively ended his football career.
Miller spent a year as a graduate assistant at Boise State before weighing his options. He contemplated moving to eastern Montana to become a real life cowboy. Instead, he elected to stick with coaching, joining Jeff Choate’s first staff at Montana State in January of 2016.
Miller was a state champion in football and basketball at Capital. Boise State went 43-9 during Miller’s four-year career, including 4-0 in bowl games. In other words, losing is a foreign concept to the 25-year-old.
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Last season, Montana State sputtered to a 4-7 record that included six straight Big Sky Conference losses before Choate’s first league victory in November. The Bobcats struggled all season to throw the ball, averaging just 155 passing yards per game.
Quarterbacks junior Tyler Bruggman and true freshman Chris Murray combined to throw 14 interceptions as MSU turned the ball over 24 times during the six-game losing streak. The gunslingers took a brunt of the heat externally. As Montana State looks to turn a corner throwing the football during its current spring football practices, Miller wants his group to shoulder a certain level of accountability as well.
“We were not up to the standard last season and everyone knows that in our room,” Miller said after MSU’s second Saturday practice of the five-week session. “We have to make plays for our quarterback. Every pass isn’t going to be the perfect ball. We have to go make those 50/50 catches and win those one-on-one battles.”
When Choate first searched for a wide receivers coach, Miller was among the first names that popped into his head despite Miller’s youth and lack of full-time experience. Choate, who coached on Chris Petersen’s staff at Boise State from 2006 until 2010, remembered the man the Broncos called “Montana Matt” as a fearless competitor with a quiet toughness. So it’s no surprise to Choate that the 2016 season disappointed his young coach.
“We weren’t up to par as an offense and the wide receivers are a piece of it,” Choate said. “The thing about Matt is he’s a very prideful guy and he is going to want his group to be the best on the field. That’s what I love about him. He’s a competitive guy and it bleeds into that group. I can see more of an edge with those guys right now, the urgency he is coaching them with.”
The Bobcat wide receivers return most of their key components from a season ago. Brandon Brown, a former walk-on at Baylor who played his last two years at MSU, and Will Krolick, a walk-on to MSU from Anchorage, Alaska both graduated. Seniors Mitch Herbert and Justin Paige, junior Johnny D’Agostino, third-year sophomores Keon Stephens and Cam Sutton and rising true sophomore Kevin Kassis all return. Karl Tucker II played mostly on special teams as a true freshman last season as well, but suffered a foot injury that required surgery and ended his spring participation.
While the group may be experienced — Herbert has been a starter for four years and Paige has been in and out of the starting lineup since his true freshman season — the production was severely lacking a season ago. The group managed 73 catches, 1,020 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2016.
“We take most of the blame,” said Kassis, who broke into the starting lineup and caught nine passes as a rookie. “In the stands, people just see (the quarterbacks) not being able to get the ball out or being flushed. That’s on us as well. That’s going to come from better route running, coverage recognition and improving as a group.”
Herbert, a 6-foot-4, 205-pounder from Eugene, Oregon, saw the most significant drop off. After a breakout freshman season during MSU’s run to the playoffs in 2014, Herbert earned All-Big Sky honors by catching eight touchdowns as a sophomore. Last season, he led the Bobcats in catches (26), yards (476) and touchdowns (3) but the numbers were the lowest of his career.
“The biggest struggle was not winning games,” Herbert said. “Football is a lot more fun if you win. As a receiver, we want to catch passes but if we have to block all game, as long as we win, we will be happy.”
Herbert’s struggles stemmed partially from the transfer of All-American quarterback and close friend Dakota Prukop to Oregon before last season and partially due to Herbert’s sudden propensity for dropping balls.
Choate frequently praised former offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham “dialing up shots” down the field at the right time last season but lamented his receivers, for dropping the opportunities. Without a player to take the top off defenses, opponents constantly played press coverage on the outside, hindering MSU’s offense as the Bobcats struggled to move the ball for most of the season.
The slippery fingers have carried over into spring drills. On Saturday in Great Falls for the annual Triangle Classic spring scrimmage, Kassis had a perfectly thrown dart by Bruggman on a deep out patter go right through his hands. Herbert dropped a sure touchdown in the far corner of the end-zone on a nicely thrown ball by Murray.
“I would like to think we are not going to drop balls like we did today,” Choate said. “That was the frustrating part. That was probably the one thing that shows up the most.”
Despite the recent struggles connecting with quarterbacks, Miller and the MSU coaches know Herbert is a proven commodity with undeniable talent. He enters his senior season with 15 touchdowns, just six touchdowns shy of breaking Kelly Davis’ career record at Montana State.
“We have to put Mitch in the right spots to be successful in terms of this offense,” Miller said. “Some scheme stuff, and teaching him some things in terms of route running and being able to win those 50/50 balls down the field because he’s a sure-handed wideout. If we just get him the ball, he’s going to make us look good.”
Miller said the last two weeks of spring ball will be dedicated to details both in terms of scheme and individual fundamentals. Miller said he uses the underachievement of last season as a motivating factor with his group, something he will continue to push as MSU winds toward the Sonny Holland spring game, the finale of spring football on April 22.
“I do use it on certain days,” Miller said. “When those guys need a little extra juice, a little reminder, we can talk about us not making plays last year and that lights a fire underneath them.”
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Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
