Editor’s Note: This is the third installment in Skyline Sports’ ELEVATED EXPECTATIONS series profiling Bobcat football players and position groups likely to see elevated roles this season for Montana State.
BOZEMAN, Montana – Matt McKay had never been on a flight by himself until he boarded plane to a foreign part of the country to explore an opportunity presented to him by one of the greatest Bobcats of them all.
McKay hasn’t played in an actually Division I game since October of 2019. He’s spent more than 20 months in Bozeman, Montana nearly 2,200 miles from his home in North Carolina. Yet he is expected to be the man who helps Montana State return to the ranks of the Big Sky’s elite at the quarterback position.
Flash back to August 31 of 2019. On that final day of this month two years ago, McKay made his first collegiate start – leading North Caroline State to a 34-6 win over East Carolina. McKay threw for 308 yards, making him the third quarterback in NC State history to throw for more than 300 yards in his debut. He also ran for two touchdowns that day.
The 6-foot-4, 208-pounder from Raleigh threw for 200 yards and the Wolfpack beat West Carolina 41-0 the following week. McKay completed 40 of his next 78 passes (51 percent) for 382 yards, one touchdown and one pick while struggling to compete balls down the field or find space to run in the open field the following two games.
Still, NC State lost to West Virginia 44-27 and beat Ball State 34-23 as McKay, a former Scout Team Player of the Year, started 3-1 as the Wolfpack starter during his third year in the program.
The entire team struggled in a 31-13 loss to Florida State in which Bailey Hockman earned more of the quarterback snaps. The following week, Hockman led NC State to a 16-10 win over Syracuse.
The quarterback carousel continued. But it did not include McKay Devin Leary started the following week, a 45-24 loss to Boston College. That defeat sparked an six-game losing streak to finish the season that included just 100 total points scored. McKay saw no action following the Syracuse game.
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More than a decade ago, DeNarius McGhee, like McKay, was a hot-shot recruit from a metropolitan area (Euless in the Dallas-Fort Worth MetroPlex) taking a shot at revitalizing MSU’s quarterback position. After leading MSU to three consecutive Big Sky Conference championships and winning Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2010 and 2011, McGhee spent a few seasons in the CFL before getting into coaching.
He spent the 2014 season with former MSU offensive coordinator Brian Wright at Florida Atlantic. McGhee then spent 2015 and 2016 at North Carolina State. That’s where McGhee first learned of McKay, the tall, athletic dual threat who threw for 5,932 yards and 58 touchdowns while rushing for 2,386 yard and 39 touchdowns at local Wakefield High in Raleigh.
McGhee got the job at Montana State’s quarterbacks coach in 2017 but had already been in contact with Mckay. The two kept talking. And when things went south at NC State, McKay was more open to new adventures.
“But I told (DeNarius), ‘I don’t even know where Montana is, I’m not sure I want to do it,’ (laughs),” McKay said on August 5 of this year. “Like two days later, I hit him up. I’d been praying about it and I said I would take an official visit.”
So that prompted McKay to board a plane by himself for the first time in his young life to fly from his hometown (NC State is in Raleigh) to the heart of the Gallatin Valley. After one visit, McKay knew he would stay.
“I truly love this place because people are a lot nicer here than where I’m from,” McKay said. “That was something really different. The weather is really different. In the winters, it’s really cold. I have never been that cold before, especially driving in it with the ice and stuff. But I really enjoy this place a lot.”
McKay has had plenty of time to acclimate to his new home; he enrolled at Montana State in January of 2020.
“Being here a year and a half, Covid happened, the cancelled season happened, and that was rough but the whole team is just excited to go out there, put the pads on and play some football,” McKay said.
Montana State has ebbed and flowed at the quarterback position throughout the 21st century. Travis Lulay abolished almost 20 years of dormancy at the position when he burst onto the scene as a true freshman in 2002, beating the Montana Grizzlies and snapping “The Streak” to spark a legendary career.
MSU’s quarterback struggles returned following Mike Kramer’s controversial firing in 2006 only to see the pendulum swing back toward excellence when McGhee won league MVP in 2010.
McGhee gave way to Dakota Prukop, a first-team All-American who ultimately transferred to Oregon after his defense couldn’t stop anybody, resulting in his head coach, Rob Ash, getting fired.
And for the last four seasons leading up to 2019’s historic run to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs, Montana State’s quarterbacks have had little influence in guiding MSU to victory, at least in the passing game. To be fair, Chris Murray and Troy Andersen proved to be two of the most prolific running quarterbacks in the history of the Big Sky Conference from 2016 to 2018.
Enter McKay, McGhee’s parting gift to his alma mater (he’s worked for the Houston Texans the last two seasons) and the man tasked with making Montana State function again in the passing game.
The challenge is accentuated by the fact that McKay, while coming from a pedigree (4-star recruit from a huge East Coast city), still has to beat out two quarterbacks — junior Tucker Rovig and sophomore Casey Bauman — who have each already started games at MSU.
“(McKay) from a physical standpoint has size and can throw and can run,” first-year MSU head coach Brent Vigen said on August 5. “He’s extremely competitive and he loves the game of football. He’s as in tune and immersed as anyone on our team.
“What I’ve noticed is you never question how hard he was working,” Vigen continued on August 19. “His situation was unique and hard at NC State. He came in here back in the beginning part of 2020 as the presumed starter jumping ahead of two guys who started games in 2019 while not getting a chance through that calendar year to prove himself.
“What Matt did was he put his head down and he worked.”
Saturday, McKay got his first dress rehearsal before he is expected to be the fifth different opening-game starter at quarterback in the last five seasons for the Bobcats. He didn’t play a ton of snaps during MSU’s completely closed scrimmage, but Montana State sport information indicated that McKay completed four of seven passes for 40 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown to sophomore tight end Derryk Snell.
Vigen has said since taking over the head job in February that the quarterback competition “is a clean slate” and that, although McKay ended spring as the No. 1 signal caller on the depth chart, the competition was far from over.
Still, for Montana State to ascend to another level beyond the success they reached under Choate, competent and perhaps good quarterback play will be required. McKay’s talent, athleticism, pedigree, cool demeanor and love of the game all make him the man many Bobcats are expecting to have ELEVATED EXPECTATIONS in 2021.
“As a team, we want to win,” McKay said. “Our goal as a team is to win every game and win a national championship. Each day, we are going to do everything we have to do to accomplish that.”
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