As Johnny D’Agostino settled into the soft spot in the defense’s zone coverage, Tyler Bruggman fired a strike to the Montana State junior slot receiver. Talented transfer cornerback Darren Gardenhire broke on the ball, exploding and nearly breaking up another pass during an already productive set of spring practices at MSU.
D’Agostino secured the pass, one of just a few the offense was able to complete on a beautiful Bozeman afternoon on Saturday as the Bobcats continue to struggle throwing the ball. Meanwhile, Gardenhire got up off the Bobcat Stadium turf and limped to the sideline, seeking out a trainer instantly after tweaking his right ankle.
As Gardenhire had his right ankle taped, Montana State senior safety Bryson McCabe muttered, “We are dropping like flies out here today, boys.” So goes the first day of full contact during head coach Jeff Choate’s second year of spring football at Montana State.
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“We are six practices in and this was really the first day we did anything that was live,” Choate said following the first fully open practice of what will be a five-week spring sessions.
“I thought it was a really good exchange today. I thought you saw some really good things from the offense, pushing the ball down the field. Once (quarterback) Chris (Murray) gets in the open field, I blow the whistle. I’m not sure anyone on our team can really tackle him but I don’t want to find out either. I thought Tyler had a good day, some very accurate passes as well.”
Gardenhire’s ankle tweak was one of a collection of ankle ailments from Saturday’s session. Sophomore safety Ben Folsom, sophomore wide receiver Karl Tucker II, sophomore defensive tackle Riley Griffiths, and senior Caleb Gillis all exited practice after suffering some form of ankle injury. All were treated, wrapped and iced; none of the injuries seemed serious.
Those minor injuries removed even more bodies from a roster that has a collection of players sitting out after off-season surgeries. Cornerbacks junior Naijiel Hale (knee) and sophomore Chris Harris (undisclosed), senior safety Khari Garcia (shoulder), junior running back Logan Jones (undisclosed), redshirt freshman offensive lineman Taylor Tuiasosopo (shoulder), redshirt freshman offensive lineman Conner Floden (knee), junior wide receiver Hunter Mahlum (shoulder), junior defensive tackle Tucker Yates (shoulder/knee) and senior defensive end/tight end Devin Jeffries (knee) are all out for the spring.
Sophomore wide receiver Dalton Daum (back) is being limited in practice and wearing a red non-contact jersey. Sophomore wide receiver Keon Stephens (undisclosed) has been in and out of practice and did not participate on Saturday. True freshman defensive lineman Stephen Omorogbe (undisclosed) has been in practice the last two weeks but was in sweats on Saturday.
“I like where we are at. A good, even exchange,” Choate said. “You are mixing and matching personnel, trying to get everyone reps in the spring. It’s hard to find continuity at times with guys tweaking ankles and stuff but you want to find who your playmakers are and continue to develop fundamentals.”
The standout play of the day during the team portion of practice came early during 11-on-11. MSU junior running back Noah James, a special teams standout and short-yardage player his first three years in Bozeman, took a handoff and ripped off a touchdown of more than 50 yards to the glee of his offensive teammates.
Running back is a position Montana State is searching for answers this spring. MSU graduates All-Big Sky bruiser Chad Newell and program stalwart Gunnar Brekke from a backfield that helped the Bobcats average 212 rushing yards per game during last fall’s 4-7 campaign.
James, a former walk-on from Kalispell Glacier, is in the mix along with senior Nick LaSane and redshirt freshman Jake Roper, a Boise State transfer. The group will also add Jones when he returns from injury and Edward Vander if he can earn academic eligibility at Saddleback Community College this semester.
“Noah is a guy who has physically changed his body,” MSU running backs coach Michael Pitre said earlier this week. “He was lighter than I wanted last year but now he’s up to 217, 218, which is where he needs to be to be an efficient back.
“Jake Roper brings a great skill set to our room, Anthony (Pegues) has shown good flashes. Nick Van Horssen from Day 1 to Day 5 has shown really good flashes as well. I’m really excited for this group.”
The running backs operated behind an offensive line that is missing right guard Monte Folsom. The senior from Dillon retired because of chronic back problems last week. The starting unit featured sophomore Jake McFetridge (6-foot-5, 295) playing left guard and redshirt freshman Colin Hammock (6-3, 230) playing right guard alongside returning starters senior left tackle Dylan Mahoney (6-6, 275), sophomore right tackle Mitch Brott (6-6, 290) and junior center Alex Neale (6-3, 290). Redshirt freshman Jake Sessions (6-5, 276) and junior Wade Webster (6-5, 290) also took turns with the first offensive line as well as with the second unit.
Junior Wilson Brott (6-5, 265) played left tackle with the backup offensive front. Redshirt freshman Lewis Kidd (6-6, 275), a converted defensive lineman, played right tackle with the second unit. Walk-on redshirt freshman Denver Krone (6-2, 240), also a converted defensive lineman, is working as the second-team center.
Montana State’s defense returns eight starters, including All-Big Sky senior safety Bryson McCabe and All-Big Sky senior linebacker Mac Bignell. The unit also will feature Yates once healthy along with Buck end Grant Collins, a junior Choate said he knows will be one of the Bobcats’ playmakers defensively.
The Bobcat defense was hit hard by injuries last season, particularly at defensive end. Jeffries, senior Tyrone Fa’anono and senior Shiloh LaBoy all missed last season with severe injuries. Jeffries is still recovering from the torn ACL. LaBoy was forced to retire because of a chronic neck injury. Fa’anono is back from his season-ending foot injury and is “making an immediate impact”, Choate said.
The first-team defense Saturday featured Fa’anono at end, Collins at Buck, Bignell at Will linebacker and McCabe at safety. The rest of the unit included sophomore Damien Washington and senior Bryce Alley at cornerback, sophomore Brayden Konkol at the other safety spot, Josh Hill at middle linebacker, a rotation of redshirt freshmen Balue Chapman and Jacob Hadley at Sam linebacker, junior Zach Wright at defensive tackle and senior Brandon Hayashi at nose tackle in place of Yates.
Choate identified sophomore quarterback Chris Murray, sophomore wide receiver Kevin Kassis, senior wide receiver Mitch Herbert, LaSane and Roper as the players he expects to be the team’s “go-to playmakers” on offense. A season ago, the Bobcats proved they could run the ball as the dual-threat Murray ripped off 890 yards and scored 12 touchdowns despite starting just five games. But the passing game left something to be desired.
While many pinned those problems on the quarterback struggles shared between Murray and Bruggman, MSU wide receivers coach Matt Miller said after Saturday’s practice that a good deal of the accountability should be heaped upon his group as well.
“They are working hard but we have a lot of work yet to be done,” Miller said. “Our goal from the first day of spring is to be consistent. We had some consistently good days and some consistently bad days. We want to be consistently good so we will continue working on that.”
Last season, the Bobcats completed just 127 passes in 732 offensive snaps. MSU threw for just 155 yards per game. Spring ball so far has featured highly competitive sessions between the Bobcat wide receivers and defensive backs as MSU strives to improve its stagnant passing attack.
“We’ve come a long ways since our last game in November,” said Herbert, an All-Big Sky performer as a sophomore in 2015 who caught 26 passes last season. “We’ve thrown three times a week starting as soon as we got back from break. We are trying to continue that through spring practice, the summer and the fall.”
“Chris has matured a lot. He has a better idea of the quarterback position.”
The Saturday session ended with Choate putting on shoulder pads, a helmet and a red jersey and standing in the middle of Bobcat Stadium. He allowed members of the offense and the defense to fire golf balls at him with irons, although the Bobcats posed no real harm to MSU’s second-year head coach. Assistant secondary coach Kyle Riesinger was the only person to even get a golf shot near Choate as the Bobcats wrapped up their second week of spring football.
“We were trying to have a little bit of fun and it was less fun that I thought it was going to be because nobody came even close to hitting me except for one of the coaches,” Choate said. “I didn’t need the protective equipment. I’ll go out there with no helmet and shoulder pads next time (laughs). But just trying to break things up a little bit and keep us having fun.”
Montana State will practice on Monday and Wednesday mornings of the first week of April in preparation for next Saturday’s Triangle Classic spring game in Great Falls. The banquet on Friday night will feature Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas as its guest speaker. The Buffalo Bills great will present instead of Hall of Fame safety Rod Woodson, who had to back out because of a conflict with the Oakland Raiders, his current employer.
The Triangle Classic Banquet begins at 6 p.m. on Friday at the Four Seasons Arena in Montana Expo Park. Cost of admission is $800 for a table (includes prime rib dinners for 10) or $85 for a single dinner ticket.
The MSU football team will conduct a limited scrimmage at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 8, at Memorial Stadium. MSU will also hold football and spirit squad clinics on the Great Falls practice fields at 9 a.m.
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Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
