The enthusiasm Jeff Choate has for the game of football permeates from him, whether he is on the practice field hollering ‘No walking on the grass’ at his players or addressing the media with in depth, educational answers to questions about the game he holds a deep passion for.
Choate’s competitive nature and energetic attitude were on full display during Montana State’s physically demanding recently completed fall camp. During the session, the Bobcats got back to basics as MSU’s first-year head coach rebuilt the foundation of fundamentals among the team, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
On almost a daily basis, Choate would explode, challenging his team to give him more, whether “the more” came in the categories of effort, toughness, focus or energy. Choate’s fiery demeanor is impossible to miss.
MSU head coach Jeff Choate addresses a Bobcat defense
Montana State opens the Jeff Choate era with its 2016 season opener at the Kibbie Dome against the Idaho Vandals in Moscow on Thursday night. One subplot to monitor might reside on the sideline as the longtime position coach engages in his first game as a college head coach in a venue he grew up visiting as a youth in St. Maries, Idaho.
“Wait until you see Choate on game day,” Portland State head coach Bruce Barnum, who first got to know Choate while he was an assistant at Idaho State and Choate was at Utah State, said at the Big Sky Conference Kickoff in July. “He will be talking to the yard marker and not even the guy holding it. He’ll be talking to the referee’s hat. He’ll be bouncing all over. Brawl of the Wild (against Montana), he’ll be on (Bob Stitt) Stitty’s side for Christ sake. He’ll be all over the stadium. He’ll meet people at the top of Bobcat Stadium or wherever right before halftime just to say hi. You talk about high energy, holy. He’s the catfish.”
While observing Choate would indicate that he might be a fire and brimstone lunatic during Saturdays in the fall, Choate has a slew of head coaching experience, albeit underneath the Friday Night Lights. Choate served as a high school head coach throughout Idaho for almost a decade, with stops in Challis (1994-1995), Twin Falls (1996) and Post Falls (1997-2001) before joining Mick Dennehy’s staff at Utah State in 2002.
Running back Chad Newell (17)
“The one thing you might find interesting about me is that I don’t really get too juiced on game day,” Choate said in the midst of Montana State’s fall camp in August. “I’m a pretty calm guy on game day by and large. That’s been a learned trait. As a special teams guy or having a big group, whether it was linebackers or d-line, there’s a lot going on. You lose your composure and your emotions get the best of you, that doesn’t help you on the next call. I try to encourage these guys the same way.”
Montana State is coming off its first losing season in 14, a disappointing year that began with MSU picked to win the Big Sky Conference by the league’s coaches and affiliated media and ended with a seventh loss to rival Montana in nine years under Rob Ash. After the 54-35 defeat in Bozeman — a loss that dropped MSU to 0-5 at home under Ash against the Griz — the winniest coach in Montana State history was let go.
Since Choate took over in December, the Bobcats have received a complete overhaul, from new offensive and defensive schemes under coordinators Courtney Messingham and Ty Gregorak to a roster that added 36 new players between the end of last season and the beginning of fall camp.
“I think we will find out how they’ve adjusted when we hit adversity,” Choate said. “I think everything is good right now. By and large, I really feel strongly that these kids have embraced what we’ve asked them to do. I don’t think there are a lot of kids who are sitting on the fence anymore. I think a lot of those kids have gone elsewhere. For us, we are in a good spot but the true test of that will be if we lose a couple of ball games. Is the locker room, the naysayers still there? I don’t know if we will have a full picture of that, a full understanding of that until we get into those spots.”
MSU quarterback Tyler Bruggman
Although uncertainty remains, most of Montana State’s leaders — particularly captains senior running backc Chad Newell and Gunnar Brekke, senior offensive lineman JP Flynn, senior linebacker Fletcher Collins, junior linebacker Mac Bignell and junior safeties Khari Garcia and Bryson McCabe — have taken to Choate’s coaching style. In fact, most of the Bobcats’ leaders have been dying for coaches like Choate, Gregorak, secondary coach Gerald Alexander and the reinvigoration of retained coaches Michael Pitre (running backs) and Kane Ioane (linebackers) for most of their careers.
“We have a tough mindset, a mindset we haven’t had since I’ve been here,” Brekke said during Montana State’s media day last week. “We all know there is going to have some adversity at some point this year. But now we have the mindset, the mental capacity to really hammer that adversity and better ourselves from it instead of shying away from it.”
“We are a lot tougher,” added Bignell, a Drummond product who notched 20.5 tackles during an All-Big Sky junior season last fall. “I know we are a tough team and that’s different than in the past. Hopefully, our toughness wins us ball games even if our talent level doesn’t match our opponents. We want to out-physical them and dominate them on the line of scrimmage.”
On Thursday night, Montana State encounters a Vandals team filled with veterans and hoping for its firs successful season under Paul Petrino. The Butte native and former Carroll College quarterback took over Idaho in 2013 when the Vandals were an FBS independent. That season, the Vandals played seven road games, including trips to Wyoming, Washington State, No. 23 Fresno State, Ole Miss and No. 2 Florida State. UI went 1-11. The following season included one win in 11 games.
MSU buck end Grant Collins
Behind strong-armed sophomore quarterback Matt Linehan, Idaho went 4-8 last fall and had chances in losses to New Mexico State (55-48 loss in overtime) and South Alabama (52-45 loss). Those two wins would’ve made the Vandals bowl eligible. Montana State counters with an offense led by Tyler Bruggman, a junior on his fourth school making his first Division I start behind an offensive line replacing four starters.
“How are we going to respond in a competitive environment,” Choate said. “We have not been in a game situation with this group of young men before. The enemy you know is better than the enemy you don’t know sometimes, so I will be interested to see how we compete in a competitive environment.”
While unknowns remain until Choate coaches a game for the Bobcats or MSU puts its newfound culture into action, the players are plenty confident as they hit the highway to Moscow to face their former and future Big Sky rival.
“We are going down there to win,” Bignell said. “We have to play great in order to beat them. They are a good team. It will be a good physical matchup between us and them. We respect them but are never intimidated by anyone.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
