The whispers turned into audible chatter during the first week of fall camp at Dyche Field on the Montana State campus last August.
Who is No. 85? Is that a veteran Bobcat receiver with a new jersey? Or could it be Dalton Daum, a talented Butte product who transferred from rival Montana to Montana State in the off-season?
His cuts were described by his coaches as sudden, his routes as crisp as a freshly picked apple, his hands as sure as a seasoned pass catcher.
Kevin Kassis popped the day he stepped on the MSU campus. One of two true freshman added to Montana State’s wide receivers group stood out from his first fall practice, the detailed nature in which he operates apparent instantly.
[restrict paid=”true”]
“When you watch him catch, his eyes are focused on the crosshairs of the football,” MSU second-year wide receivers coach Matt Miller says now as MSU nears the end of its third week of spring football. “That’s something I preach all day every day. I think that’s something that sets Kevin apart.”
The 5-foot-11, 178-pounder joined a Montana State wide receivers group coached by a local legend in Miller, a star from Helena Capital who was a four-year starter at Boise State before taking his first full-time coaching gig at MSU. Kassis walked into a room with three players — Mitch Herbert, Justin Paige and Jayshawn Gates — who were juniors entering their third seasons as starters. The Bobcat wide receivers also featured seasoned seniors like Will Krolick and Brandon Brown along with physically imposing targets like 6-foot-6 Cameron Sutton and 6-2 Keon Stephens.
All Kassis did was steal the show. The quick, deceptive slot receiver proved he could play any of Montana State’s wide receiver spots as a rookie. He played in his first game during MSU’s home opener, a 27-24 win over Bryant. He earned his first touch the following week with a four-yard rush in MSU’s 55-0 win over Division II Western Oregon.
In the first Big Sky Conference game under Jeff Choate, Kassis gave Montana State a chance late against North Dakota, the eventual league champions. With MSU trailing 17-9 following Brady Oliveira’s backbreaking 60-yard touchdown run with two minutes, 27 seconds left, Kassis answered back.
On a third down with eight yards to go, Kassis broke off fellow freshman cornerback Torrey Hunt with a sweet comeback route. Tyler Bruggman fired a strike, Kassis put his foot in the ground, made one move and sprinted from MSU’s 42-yard line for 55 yards to the UND 3 before Zach Arnell tracked him down. Senior Chad Newell scored on the next play to cut the lead to two, 17-15.
Newell would be stuffed on the two-point conversion attempt by eventual Big Sky Defensive MVP Cole Reyes to preserve the narrow win, the first of eight straight league victories for North Dakota. But Kassis’ breakout game — he finished with four catches for 103 yards — put the rest of the Big Sky on notice.
“To me, it was really surprising I played early,” Kassis said last week. “In the back of my head, I always knew I could contribute at this level but I just wanted to come in and help the team, whether that be on scout team or if I was lucky enough to help on Saturdays.
“Probably about midway through fall camp was when I realized I might be able to (play). I’m not going to lie, those first couple of practices were really intimidating. I kind of got the flow of it and got more confidence as the season went on.”
As Bruggman struggled to the point of being benched in favor of true freshman Chris Murray less than a month later, Montana State’s passing game took a nosedive. Kassis caught just five more passes for 48 more yards the rest of the season. But his highlight reel had one more clip to add in November.
With Montana State mired in a six-game losing streak, the Bobcats readjusted their offense to emphasize the power run game and let their defense win them their final two contests. In MSU’s home finale against UC Davis, Kassis took a wide receiver reverse and fired a 23-yard touchdown to Sutton to give MSU a 17-10 lead with 26 seconds left before halftime. Newell and the ground game would dominate from there as MSU posted a 27-13 win, the Big Sky victory of the season.
“He’s all over, can play in the slot, can play outside, can throw the ball as well,” Herbert said last week. “He brings another dimension in the receiver room. He’s quick, not a lot of guys can keep up with him. And he’s the best route runner on the team.”
Courtney Messingham left after one season as Montana State’s offensive coordinator to take the same position at North Dakota State. Brian Armstrong, MSU’s offensive line coach in 2016, took over and has installed his similar system Kassis has been a focal point already, playing all three wide receiver spots prevalently.
“The more you know of this offense, the more we can move you around and get you the ball,” Miller said. “That’s one thing I’ve challenged him with is learning this offense quickly and being able to play at multiple positions.”
MSU’s wide receivers return largely in tact, although Brown, a former walk-on at Baylor who played his last two years at MSU, and Krolick, a walk-on to MSU from Anchorage, Alaska both graduated. The speedy but enigmatic Gates is not longer with the program.
Herbert, Paige, junior Johnny D’Agostino, Stephens, Sutton, Kassis and sophomore Karl Tucker II all return from a group that managed just 73 catches, 1,020 yards and 11 touchdowns for a team that threw for just 155.9 yards per outing last season.
“Personally, I left a lot of plays out there and as a group, we did as well,” Kassis said. “Leaving those plays out there results 4-7. We know as a unit, if we make those plays, we can turn that around and improve our record.”
Herbert, a 6-foot-4, 205-pounder, was an All-Big Sky selection as a sophomore under MSU’s last coaching staff. But his production fell off, partially because of MSU’s lackluster quarterback play and partially because of missed opportunities. He finished his junior season with 26 grabs for 476 yards and eight touchdowns.
Paige was one of the league’s best big-play threats, averaging more than 33 yards per catch his first two seasons but falling to 12.7 yards per reception on 15 grabs a year ago.
D’Agostino, a Bozeman native and former walk-on, beat out Gates in the slot and was MSU’s most sure-handed target before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He finished with 19 catches for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
Sutton caught a pair of touchdowns, including the scoring toss from Kassis, while Stephens proved he could get over the top, evidence in his 45-yard catch in a blowout loss at Weber State.
While Kassis’ breakout rookie season was a bright spot during MSU’s otherwise disappointing campaign, the El Dorado Hills, California native refused to rest on his laurels this off-season. In fact, Choate said Kassis did the opposite.
“He’s been certainly one of the hardest workers we’ve had in the program,” Choate said. “Coach Miller has his 10,000-catch deal, and he’s some ridiculous number of catches in front of everybody else out there. You just know he’s going to be a player.”
Herbert said when Kassis first joined the group, he came in “real quiet,” joking he did not hear Kassis speak his first week on campus. Now Kassis is noticeably more muscular physically and seems like a natural leader in a group full of veterans.
“He’s had a great off-season in the weight room, got a little bigger, a little stronger and to me, he looks a little faster,” Miller said. “That’s a testament him putting the work in, catching a lot of jugs, some lobs from the tennis ball machine.”
For Montana State to rectify its streak of two straight losing seasons after posting 14 straight winning campaigns, the passing game must improve. The development of Murray will be crucial but so will MSU’s ability to make plays on the outside. With a year under his belt, Kassis understands that as well as Bobcat.
“The more time you get out there on Saturdays, it definitely pays off,” Kassis said. “Now I’m just trying to be a leader. Obviously, 4-7 is not acceptable and we know that. We want to change that around here and get back to winning ways.”
[/restrict]
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
