As his team entered the final period of its Good Friday practice on a picturesque Bozeman morning, Jeff Choate was unsatisfied with his Bobcats.
Montana State’s first-year head coach blew the whistle, shut off the variety-filled playlist blaring from the Bobcat Stadium speakers and ripped into his team. Choate told his players that he wanted 16 plays filled with effort before giving them Easter weekend off as MSU wrapped up its second of five weeks of spring football.
[restrict paid=”true”]After getting dressed down from their endlessly energetic new coach, the Bobcats responded with a pad-popping final period to wrap up the session.
“I thought it was too casual on both sides,” Choate said as the sunny, warm morning gave way to a flurry of afternoon snow. “They needed to know that. I was pleased with how we finished. You could see the intensity level on both sides at the end. Sometimes, we just need a little friendly reminder. The one thing we did talk about is we aren’t going to get a redo on Saturdays. We have to bring that intensity each and every time we get on the field.”
During the final team session, junior quarterback Tyler Bruggman completed a nice pass in a cover-3 window to sophomore John D’Agostino for a 20-yard touchdown. Behind bulldozing blocks from sophomore center Alex Neale, senior Gunnar Brekke and sophomore Logan Jones each scored short touchdowns. Defensively, sophomore cornerback Tre’Von Strong nearly had his second interception of the week, junior Tyrone Fa’anono notched a touch sack and the whole unit continued to show flashes as it learns defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak’s team-oriented defense.
“It was a great exchange but I hate getting scored on,” said Gregorak, who spent 12 of the last 13 seasons as a coach for the rival Montana Grizzlies, including UM’s defensive coordinator the last four as UM’s defensive coordinator. “But you start in the red-zone and you get enough cracks at it, that’s usually how it ends up. The boys are working and they want to be coached hard.
“Before he stopped it, it was gooey. There wasn’t enough pop. It was just ok. There was no way we were going to go into a weekend, give the kids a few days off with showing them it is acceptable to be ok. We needed to pick it up and be great. And I thought we did.”
Gregorak inherits a unit that struggled mightily in 2015. The Bobcats were gashed on the ground and in the air by almost every Big Sky Conference opponent they faced, resulting in the first losing season at MSU since 2001. The 5-6 mark resulted in Rob Ash and most of his staff being let go.
Through two weeks of spring drills, the change in regimen is noticeable in the continuity and competitiveness among the players. During a 7-on-7 drill on Friday, redshirt freshman linebacker Walker Cozzie snared an interception, only to find himself at the bottom of a pile of more than a dozen defensive teammates celebrating. After Neale bulldozed senior defensive tackle Joe Naotala and junior defensive tackle Matt Brownlow on a single play and Brekke lowered his shoulder to score a touchdown, the observing players erupted, the offense with pride, the defense with a desire to get another crack.
“After last season, if I’m being completely honest, I sat down and I looked myself in the mirror and I didn’t love football anymore. I really didn’t,” said Brekke, a former Gatorade Player of the Year and, like Cozzie, a product of Helena Capital. “I was at a crossroads of, ‘What the heck is going on?’ This game has given me everything I’ve ever gotten in my life.
“As soon as Coach Choate stepped in here and that first day of winter conditioning, I loved it. I have a whole new love for football, and it’s even more than I used to have. He’s done a great job. I can’t even begin to find the words to say what he’s done, but he’s done an awesome job.”
Although the offense scored four touchdowns during the red-zone team period, Gregorak likes the way his unit is developing. Fa’anono has been a starter since his true freshman season, while the linebacker group of All-Big Sky junior Mac Bignell and the senior inside pair of Blake Braun and Fletcher Collins all have starting experience. Strong and junior Bryce Alley took their lumps as young starters at cornerback last season but have made progress physically.
The rest of the defense is a work in progress but Gregorak likes the coachability of his players and the way the team as a whole is responding to a change in leadership.
“We have to continue to develop depth and foster leadership and toughness and a physical style of play,” Gregorak said. “We are coming. We have a long way to go but I like the fact that we get a couple more weeks of practice. We need every day and every rep until September 1 to get better.”
Monte Folsom, a junior who is a front-runner to challenge for a starting spot at offensive guard, sat out of practice for the third time this week with an injury. Senior All-America candidate J.P. Flynn, a two-time first-team All-Big Sky selection at guard, is out for the spring after tearing his ACL in MSU’s final game of 2015. Senior Doug Hanson is also out for the spring after having off-season shoulder surgery. The offensive line loses four senior starters all told.
Neale has already cemented himself as the man in the middle. Juniors Dylan Mahoney and Caleb Gillis played extensively as Kyle Godecke and Alex Eekhoff battled injuries last fall. Sophomore Wade Webster took first-team reps at left guard and redshirt freshman Mitch Brott played opposite Mahoney at right tackle for the first-team line unit on Friday.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had a few nicks that keep that continuity from starting to happen but I do think there are some guys who are taking some leadership roles and emerging,” Choate said. “Alex Neale has done a nice job stepping in at center. For us, guys like Dylan Mahoney and Caleb Gillis, they have started to emerge a little bit. We have not seen the level of consistency we want yet but that’s what spring ball is for.”
After completing the team portion of the practice, Choate rallied his team in the middle of the field. In the north end zone, a person dressed in a giant Easter bunny suit stood with director of football operations Brittney Johnson and several wives of the coaching staff, including Choate’s wife, Janet and running backs coach Michael Pitre’s wife, Tara.
After brief instructions, the Bobcats engaged in an Easter egg hunt as the ladies hid plastic eggs containing prizes under blocking pads. The eggs contained prizes ranging from T-shirts to Pickle Barrel sandwiches to movie tickets to Q’doba gift certificates to a dinner at Choate’s home. It’s all a part of Choate’s plan to build a united team as his team continues the process of resurrection.
“You can look at it and think this is kind of corny or you can embrace it and think it’s fun,” Choate said with a smile. “By and large, they have embraced it and they think it’s fun. It keeps them engaged and it keeps them coming.
“Family is an important part of what we are trying to develop around here and one thing I talked to these guys about is to love our players and the players’ job is to love each other. From time to time, we have to remember that these are 18 to 22 year old kids and a lot of them are away from home. We have to give that semblance of family. It’s one of the most important parts of our jobs.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
