Editor’s Note: This is the third installment of a five-part series recapping Montana State’s 2016 season and previewing MSU off-season as Jeff Choate and his staff prepare for their second season together. Part I Part II
Ty Gregorak called the doldrums of a six-game losing streak “pure hell”. Jeff Choate showed visible frustration as the Big Sky Conference losses mounted. Veteran leaders like Gunnar Brekke and Chad Newell lamented the disappointments while trying to spin the heartache into a positive about the lesson that life can sometimes be unfair.
Throughout the 2016 football season, the Montana State Bobcats seemed to bounce back no matter how far they fell. A six-game conference losing streak put MSU at 2-7 entering the final two games of the season, the only two victories home wins over mismatched clubs from Bryant and Western Oregon during MSU’s non-conference schedule. The 0-6 start to league play marked the worst to a conference slate since 2000 for MSU.
But the Bobcats ended the season as a suddenly surging football team. Montana State found its offensive identity after a quarterback carousel clouded the intentions of Choate and offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham during their first season together. Once true freshman quarterback Chris Murray mastered a simple, run-heavy package behind an improving offensive line, the Bobcats ripped off two straight wins thanks to a dominant ground game.
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In a 27-14 win over UC Davis in Bozeman, MSU rushed for 263 yards, including a career-high 132 for Newell on the senior running back’s final performance at Bobcat Stadium. Murray rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown.
A week later, MSU employed a similar approach, using counter runs, full-house backfields and an array of quarterback draw plays to rush for 368 yards in a 24-17 upset of the Montana Grizzlies in Missoula. Murray rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns, his virtuoso performance in his rivalry debut not one soon to be forgotten.
The victory marked the sixth time since 2002 Montana State has defeated Montana, including the third win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in four trips since 2010. The win gives Montana State momentum going into the off-season, both for the training regimen Choate hopes his young team dedicates themselves to and in the recruiting battles, both in-state and across the Big Sky Conference.
Yet Choate refuses to let that one game define his program to this point. The Bobcat head coach has preached, “Beat the Sky, own the state” since taking over in December of 2015. He took the first step in winning his first Cat-Griz showdown. But in reality, MSU finished in 10th place in the Big Sky, meaning one win does not cure the disappointments of a tough season in Bozeman.
“The reality is we have a lot of work to do and what we can’t do is to allow one game to cloud the vision of what we need to do moving forward to improve,” Choate said during his post-season press conference on November 21 in Bozeman. “That’s where my soul focus is now: what are the next steps to make sure these young men finish really well in the classroom, making sure our seniors finish what they need to do to move forward with their lives, planning our off-season program, spring ball, staff development, doing our self scout, really examining where we are at as a program and changing the things we need to be better. That’s my focus right now.”
Choate said the months of December and January will be dedicated to wrapping up his staff’s second recruiting class. MSU already has verbal commitments from 14 prep players plus junior college transfer running back Edward Vander. Montana State graduates 14 seniors off last season’s roster.
MSU will have to replace players like Newell, Brekke and offensive guard J.P. Flynn, the last three true holdovers who contributed on MSU’s 2014 playoff team.
“I’m very appreciative of these seniors who are leaving our program,” Choate said. “We will miss them between the white lines but I know they are going to be Bobcats forever. They are a great group of young men. From the outside looking in, you probably don’t fully appreciate some of the things they do in a transition to help things out. I think those guys were guys who were very positive voices for what we were trying to accomplish in the locker room and certainly were great examples.”
Montana State’s offensive line loses Flynn, a four-time All-Big Sky performer who earned first-team accolades in 2014 and 2016. But the Bobcats return left tackle Dylan Mahoney and right guard Monte Folsom for their senior years, center Alex Neale for his junior year and Mitch Brott for his sophomore season after all four started the bulk of MSU’s games this past fall.
“Often, the run game is really driven by your o-line,” said Messingham, MSU’s offensive coordinator, on November 21. “It’s going to really hurt losing J.P. Great leader and a senior that has started 40-some odd games in a row. But now you have a bunch of guys coming back that have played a bunch of football as a group and played pretty darn well as a cohesive group. That will really determine how good the running backs are is those guys staying healthy, those guys continuing to improve.”
Newell and Brekke combined to rush for 1,177 yards and nine touchdowns last season. The duo rushed for more than 3,369 yards and scored 43 total touchdowns combine since teaming up in Montana State’s backfield in 2013.
“The biggest thing we are going to lose with those two guys graduating is their leadership and their toughness and their ride for the brand mentality,” Messingham said.
Montana State’s running backs group includes Nick LaSane, a 5-foot-11, 220-pounder who rushed for 263 yards and averaged 7.5 carries per game as a junior. The running backs also return Logan Jones, a third-year junior from Kalispell Glacier, who played in seven games but averaged 6.5 yards per carry while also ripping off a 65-yard catch and run against Sac State. Jones also averaged 25.1 yards per kick return.
In the days leading up to Thanksgiving break, MSU third-year running backs coach Michael Pitre gathered his returning running backs for a meeting. He challenged each player in the group that also includes junior-to-be Noah James and sophomore-to-be Anthony Pegues. Vander, a transfer from Saddleback Junior College with four years to play three seasons, will also be in the mix for a spot in the rotation.
“In our meeting, one of the things I emphasized in the running back room was that 95 percent of our production over the last two years just walked out of the door,” Pitre said. “There’s a lot of unproven guys here, a lot of question marks. As a person, not in a bad way, but you should take it personal and try to prove people wrong.
“I want them to understand that the only way we are going to get to where we need to be is by out-working everybody every single day and competing against each other on a daily basis, working harder and making this the most uncomfortable off-season they’ve ever had.
The Bobcats is young across the board, particularly defensively. A unit that saw sizeable improvements in every statistical category between 2015 and 2016 returns the bulk of its production. The gained experience in 2016 will pay off, particularly in the trenches as the Bobcats will get defensive Tyrone Fa’anono back after the junior missed the season with a foot injury. Junior Shiloh LaBoy will also return to the fold after missing all of 2016 while Devin Jeffries’ status remains up in the air after tearing his ACL in fall camp.
Sophomore Grant Collins started all 11 games at Buck end after moving from middle linebacker, where he started 11 games as a redshirt freshman in 2015. Defensive tackles Zach Wright, an honorable mention All-Big Sky selection in his first season after moving from defensive end, and Tucker Yates will return for their junior seasons on the interior of MSU’s defensive line. Marcus Ferriter started most of the season as a redshirt freshman and true freshman Derek Marks earned the starting nod opposite Collins for the last month of the season.
“We have to develop pass rushers,” Montana State defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak said. “We have to develop pass rushers up front and add a few more pieces on the back end to be able to cover and play some of these spread outfits in the conference.
“This year, we didn’t do a good enough job of getting out of the quarterback.”
Youth permeated the Bobcat defense on all three levels. MSU must replace middle linebacker Fletcher Collins and boundary cornerback John Walker. But outside linebacker Mac Bignell and strong safety Bryson McCabe are back for their final seasons after second-team All-Big Sky junior years. Josh Hill showed flashes of his potential while starting all 11 games at Will linebacker as a redshirt freshman.
In the secondary, Walker’s presence will be missed but Brayden Konkol seemed to be an improvement in his three games in the starting lineup as a redshirt freshman next to McCabe at safety. Bryce Alley, Tre’Von Strong, Damien Washington and maybe even incoming freshmen Tyrel Thomas and Jalen Cole will be in the mix to start in the secondary.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth,” Gregorak said. “You can go down the line and you can see a pretty good youth movement right now. I thought we’ve matured a lot. That month-plus of not being able to eek out a victory or come away with that breakthrough moment or not being able to get takeaways killed us, it killed us as a team.”
Montana State signed 16 prep players last February. Kicker Gabe Peppenger and punter Jered Padmos started all 11 games as true freshmen for MSU. Murray and defensive end Derek Marks started for part of their true freshman seasons. Wide receivers Kevin Kassis and Karl Tucker II, running back Anthony Pegues, cornerback Damien Washington and safety Jacob Hadley all played, although Hadley may earn a redshirt because he had to have wrist surgery before Big Sky play began.
Other players who redshirted during 2016 like linebacker Balue Chapman and defensive ends Kyle Finch and Michael Jobman have received high praise for their practice and lifting habits during their redshirt seasons.
“Some of these players who redshirted this year, you will see them on the field next year, I promise you that,” Gregorak said. “You guys thought we were young in spots this year? We will be young in spots next year but they will have a year under their belt. They don’t need to be battle tested on Saturdays because they will be battle tested in winter conditioning and spring ball and summer conditioning. It’s going to be really fun.”
Choate added 34 new players to his roster during his first off-season. MSU is slated to return at least 21 juniors with suspended kicker Luke Daly’s status for 2017 unknown. Choate has at least two more scholarships outside of those vacated by the 14 seniors with the medical retirement of linebacker Blake Braun (concussion) and the transfer request from redshirt freshman safety Sidney Holmes.
Pitre, in his second season as MSU’s recruiting coordinator, said last week Montana State has no set number it will sign in February. Choate acknowledged two days after the Cat-Griz win that more than the 16 vacated spots from last year’s team could be filled by new faces by fall camp next August.
“I think attrition will happen,” Choate said. “You go through that initial phase and it’s pretty easy. The guys who maybe weren’t 100 percent in and had doubts they wanted to be here, it was pretty easy to see that. Then there was some guys who were still on the fence. They are compliant and they are hanging in there but they go through a season and maybe the playing time wasn’t what they want. Maybe the environment didn’t turn out what they wanted it to be. I think that’s a natural progression. I think it takes 18 to 24 months to full engrain the culture and the system in any place and some of that attrition is part of that process.”
For Choate himself, his first season as a head coach since 2000 (Post Falls High School) and his first time ever as a college head coach was a learning experience. He said he plans to spend the next months “streamlining and defining” his philosophies and tactics. He wants to “clean up” his method of teaching to help his young players accelerate more rapidly.
“I learned that you have to step back sometimes before you make decisions,” Choate said. “I think sometimes it’s easy to react out of emotion, especially when that has been your calling card. I’m the fiery guy. That’s been something I worked on. There was games where I didn’t have the high level of poise I probably needed to have.
“I think there were other games where I did a good job of maintaining my poise and being thoughtful about what the next step is and being a sounding board instead of demanding to the coordinators. You are always going to have your moments but it’s something I’ve learned. It’s not just the football part of it. If a kid makes a poor decision or you don’t get your way, sometimes, you have to be able to step back and think of how to make it work and try to be thoughtful about it and be respectful of other people. I’ve learned some patience for sure.”
“You have to inspect what you expect as a head coach. I think it’s very important to have your pulse on the locker room and what those guys are thinking and feeling.”
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Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
