Fall Camp

After uncertain off-season, Hutchins adjusting well

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 Zach Hutchins was stuck in limbo.

The Montana State junior showed flashes as a pass rush specialist in his first year of extended action in 2014. He notched a pair of sacks, including one against Montana, in spot duty.

But when the season ended, Montana State head coach Rob Ash knew something must be done to remedy his spiraling defense. The Bobcats scored 40 points in a driving Bozeman snowstorm in the first round of the playoffs and lost. MSU scored more than 40 points on seven occasions but lost a pair of the games (the other to Eastern Washington at home) and won another by just a field goal (59-56) at Sacramento State.

So Ash rearranged his defensive staff, namely promoting Kane Ioane to defensive coordinator. Between the end of the Bobcats’ season in December and National Signing Day in February, Ioane and the other Bobcat defensive assistants were still up in the air about what the revamped scheme would look like. With MSU’s linebacker corps set to lose five seniors, the coaches told the 6-foot-3 Hutchins to lose weight as he was projected for a move to outside linebacker.

“Coming into winter conditioning, I thought I was a linebacker so I was leaning out and that kind of thing,” Hutchins said following Monday’s practice, MSU’s second of the 2015 fall camp. “I got down under 215 pounds.”

On Signing Day, MSU inked six linebackers, including transfers Marcus Tappan (Cincinnati) and Zach Stern (Santa Monica JC). Leading up to Signing Day, Ioane and defensive line coach Bo Beck spent a few weeks in Los Angeles learning a brand new scheme from Southern Cal defensive coordinator Justin WilcoxThe duo returned with a new strategy to revitalize MSU’s once-proud defense.

Zach Hutchins running copy“One of the reasons we changed the scheme was to try to adapt to our personnel,” said Beck, who has been integral in implementing multiple rotations with his defensive linemen to play in both even and odd-man fronts in Ioane’s scheme. “Zach was a guy who we had to adapt to figure out a little bit because he is so athletic. He was like that at Bishop Gorman (in Las Vegas). He played some linebacker, dropped. He’s got a knack for it. He can really run too, now. And he’s physical too. We kind of screwed him because we were going to move him to linebacker so we told him to lose a bunch of weight. But when we decided on this scheme, I decided I needed Hutch back.”

Hutchins’ weight is still listed at 215 pounds, making him MSU’s lightest non-freshman defensive lineman by more than 30 pounds. But his new role at the Bandit end of MSU’s defense emphasizes his quickness, burst and craftiness with his hands and body. In the scheme, Hutchins finds himself standing up a great deal of the time. He can drop into coverage or he can linger outside. He’s thriving.

“It definitely fits me better,” Hutchins said with a smile. “I don’t have to line up inside tight ends anymore. I get to line up outside of everybody. It’s a cool spot. We will go odd and I’ll drop back almost like a linebacker with pass coverage responsibility. I get to do what’s most fun with defensive line and that’s pass rush. I love it.”

Hutchins and sophomore Devin Jeffries have proven to be the most viable options at the new Bandit end. With Jeffries on the shelf with a minor hamstring pull, Beck tried 6-foot-4, 260-pound junior college transfer Shiloh LaBoy at the spot on Tuesday. Beck said he would also try JC transfer Jessie Clark (pending his eligibility approval) and injured junior Robert Wilcox (knee) at both end spots if each receives clearance during camp.

Jeffries goes 6-foot-1 and 255 pounds. He’s shown surprising speed in pursuit and a decent ability to cover people in space. LaBoy showed mixed results in relief on Tuesday. But it’s Hutchins that already seems to be solidifying his spot as the revised version of a position that’s produced two Buck Buchanan winners.

“Zach is so smart and he’s got it down,” MSU senior captain defensive tackle Taylor Sheridan said. “He is perfect for dropping and he can set an edge. I know a lot of people have questioned that with his size but I think he’s proven to us now that if someone is going to run at him, he’ll fill it. When (2013 Buck Buchanan winner) Brad Daly was younger, people questioned if he would be big enough too. He turned out ok.”

 

 

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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