With Montana State beginning its first fall camp under Jeff Choate this week, Skyline Sports will break down MSU’s roster by highlighting prominent battles for playing time in each position group.
Today’s position: Mike linebacker
[restrict paid=”true”]The players: Fletcher Collins (a 6-foot-2, 216-pound fifth-year senior senior), Lukas McCarthy (a 6-foot-1, 225-pound junior college transfer), and Jakob McCarthy (a 6-foot-2, 235-pound junior college transfer).
What’s at stake: In 2012, Na’a Moeakiola earned All-Big Sky Conference accolades at middle linebacker. The following year, Moeakiola tore his labrum and missed the entire season. He returned for the 2014 season but was a shell of himself. Montana State has been searching for a solid option in the middle ever since.
Last season, Collins was a front-runner for the starting Mike position throughout fall camp before the rise of redshirt freshman Grant Collins. When the Bozeman High product earned the Mike spot, Fletcher switched to Will linebacker and started. But a broken hand four games into the season cost him his starting position and Blake Braun started the rest of the way.
Fletcher Collins had among the best springs of any Bobcat. New head coach Jeff Choate proclaimed he would be hard to displace. But the Bobcats added the McCarthys, a pair of 23-year-old twin brothers who stood out at Fullerton (California) College last year.
Collins is listed as the starter on the initial depth chart while the McCarthys will have to work their way up from a co-No. 2 spots. Jakob is listed as an OR behind redshirt freshman Walker Cozzie at Mike while Lukas is an OR behind redshirt freshman Josh Hill at Will. Jakob has not gained academic clearance yet but is in attendance at MSU fall camp. Lukas has played Mike during the first three practice sessions. Each McCarthy would play either Mike or Will.
How they fared in 2015: Collins piled up 21 tackles and half a tackle for loss in starts against Fort Lewis, Eastern Washington and Cal Poly at Will linebacker. But he sported a giant cast on his left hand during the Northern Arizona road trip and never returned to the lineup.
Braun stepped in to the starting lineup and finished fourth on the team with 47 tackles, including 29 solos and one tackle for loss.
Lukas McCarthy, who stood out during Saturday’s fall camp opening practice, notched 54 tackles, 30 solo tackles, seven tackles for loss and four sacks last fall at Fullerton College.
Jakob, who sat out of practice on Saturday as he tries to secure his academic eligibility, totaled 65 tackles, 32 solo tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks while forcing three fumbles last fall.
The case for Collins: Collins toiled in obscurity for most of his first three years in Bozeman. Before last season, he started living and training with former Montana State defensive tackle Taylor Sheridan, a two-time All-Big Sky selection. Collins transformed his body and used his sharp mind — he’s studying cell biology and neuroscience in hopes of attending medical school — to battle for starting positions at two different spots before an injury essentially ended his junior season. Collins returned in the spring and was one of MSU’s standouts during Choate’s first session with his new team.
“I think Fletcher is going to be very hard to displace at Mike,” Choate said in an interview in June. “If he can build on the spring he had —I think he’s a really smart guy who played with a better pad level and more physicality than I had noticed on film playing with. If he can build on that, his maturity will allow him to play.”
Defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak said he sees leadership skills within Collins, skills he wants to cultivate.
“Today is a perfect example of guys needing to step up,” Gregorak said following Monday’s practice. “Fletcher Collins is a leader. I told him I need more from him. He’s our middle linebacker. I think if you asked our offensive players, they would tell you Fletcher Collins is a leader. Now I have to get more out of him. He is a leader and a good one but on days like today where there might be a lull, I have to get something from him and get it out of him. That’s coaching.”
The case for Lukas McCarthy: McCarthy was one of the standouts the first day of fall camp as he played the Mike spot exclusively. He ran with the second and third strings and made a few plays on the ball. More than anything, his chiseled physique and smooth, explosive running ability turned heads. It remains to be seen if he can endure the rigors of his first Division I fall camp so smoothly but Saturday was a nice start. He has a long way to catch up to Collins from a mental aspect.
The case for Jakob McCarthy: The other McCarthy twin was forced to just watch during MSU’s first practice on Saturday but he looks the part just as much as his brother. Jakob was the more productive twin a year ago and has greater size than his brother. Each twin will push Collins and Braun for the duration of fall camp.
What they must accomplish during fall camp: Arguably Montana State’s three biggest points of concern in Choate’s first camp lie in the middle of the defense. MSU has unproven players and a total of four transfers between the interior defensive line and inside linebacker spots. MSU also has had issues at safety for most of the last two seasons. The pass coverage improving will help the pass rush make strides, while having a serviceable pass defense will help take the burden off the interior players in the run game. But finding good tackles who can take the pressure off the inside linebackers and finding aggressive inside linebackers who can win at the point of attack will be crucial if Montana State wants to shore up its ailing defense. Collins emerging as a leader of a unit desperately searching for one will also be a key in camp.
Also on the roster: Cozzie (5-11, 210) is the second name listed under the Mike position on the depth chart followed by an OR and then Jakob MCarthy so Cozzie’s progress made in the spring is being rewarded, for the moment at least. Hill (5-11, 210), the Class AA Defensive MVP as a senior on Kalispell Glacier’s 2014 state title team, has the same distinction in front of Lukas McCarthy. Koni Dole, a sophomore walk-on from Huntley project who continues to blaze trails while playing on a Cheetah Blade prosthetic leg, is the fourth player at the Will. Montana State also signed Balue Chapman, the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year out of Bozeman High. Chapman’s position is yet to be determined.
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
