If 2020 went as planned, Montana State would be opening up Big Sky Conference play this weekend at Bobcat Stadium against Portland State.
Instead, the Bobcats and the rest of the Big Sky stand pat, practicing lightly and waiting to hear what a spring season might look like. According to sources and multiple reports, the league is expected to release an eight-game, nine-week schedule in early October.
This week would normally serve as a time when fifth-year head coach Jeff Choate was locking in his two-deep to prepare for a run at the program’s first conference championship since 2012. MSU was supposed to have 20 seniors on its roster this season. With the blanket waiver passed by the NCAA that states that any games played this fall or next spring would not count toward eligibility, MSU is slated to have 44 seniors in the fall of 2021.
Montana State’s roster remains in transition, a reality in today’s college football world. When comparing the 2019 and 2020 roster, the following players are no longer on the roster:
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Running back Karl Tucker II (transferred to Montana Western), defensive backs Ty’Rese and Ty’Rhae Gibson, nickelback Jalen Cole, safeties Keaton Anderson, Elijah King and Brian Campbell (graduated), defensive tackle Seer Deines, offensive linemen Ethan Ormes, Hudson Klundt and Ryan Barkley and fullback Jack Galt.
Here’s an update on the rest of Montana State’s current roster and the differences from last season. Numbers with no changes are not included but stay tuned for a three-part “Bobcats by the Numbers” podcast with analysis of every Bobcat.
Bobcats by the Numbers – 0-50
No. 0 — Now belongs to senior cornerback Tyrel Thomas. The native of Compton, California should be an honors candidate during his fourth season as a starter, whenever that may come.
No. 1 — Still worn by talented wide receiver Jahmad “Peanut” Monroe, who lost 15 pounds to enter his redshirt freshman season at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds.
No. 2 — Shared by sophomore defensive back Eric Zambrano as well as redshirt freshman running back DeMareus Hosey, who wore it while taking 24 carries but still preserving his redshirt last season. Zambrano played in 14 of MSU’s 15 games, making 10 tackles and advancing to his sophomore year.
No. 4 — Shared by incoming freshman quarterback Tommy Mellott, Montana’s Gatorade Player of the Year last season, and James Campbell, who has moved to cornerback from wide receiver entering his junior year.
No. 5 — Shared by Charles Brown, the first early enrollee in program history and a true freshman wide receiver expected to push for playing time as a rookie and Jeffrey Manning, a 6-foot-1, 192-pound junior transfer from Oregon State expected to a be a front-runner to start at safety in the MSU secondary.
No. 6 — Tyrone, Marshall, a former junior college transfer wide receiver who was a dangerous weapon taking jet sweep handoffs in his first season with the Bobcats. Marshall most notably scored a 29-yard touchdown in MSU’s 48-14 decimation of rival Montana yet the 6-foot-1, 198-pounder still maintained his redshirt last season by playing in four games.
No. 7 — Now belongs to Ty Okada, a former walk-on from Minnesota who enters his junior year in a good position to start in an MSU secondary looking to replace three safeties who exhausted their eligibility last fall. Okada shares No. 7 with Casey Bauman, a 6-foot-7 sophomore quarterback who started the first two games of last season for MSU.
No. 8 — Shared by Matt McKay, a junior transfer quarterback who once started at North Carolina State, and Level Price Jr., a sophomore cornerback who went to St. John Bosco Prep in Southern California like Thomas and is up to 190 pounds. The number is most notably not worn by Cole, a highly recruited and highly regarded defensive back who suffered what amounted to a career-ending head/kneck injury in the 2018 Cat-Griz game in Missoula.
No. 9 — Still worn by Jacob Hadley, a former linebacker and defensive end who made the move to tight end last season. He is now 6-foot-6, 231 pounds and still listed as a junior because of a career marred by injuries so far. Hadley played in Choate’s first-ever game as MSU’s head coach in September of 2016.
No. 10 — Shared by Tylor Bohannon, a cornerback who played in a few games but also battled an injury and eventually ended up taking a redshirt along with Naequan Parker, a junior transfer wide receiver who played last season at American River College.
No. 11 — Shared by Willie Patterson, a talented wide receiver who’s battled injuries yet enters the next season as a true junior, and Jash Allen, a graduate transfer linebacker from Colorado who was a former four-star recruit before joining the Buffs.
No. 13 — Chacho Olluao, a 5-foot-11, 200-pound safety who is a graduate transfer who spent the last four years at Arizona. He is expected to push for a starting job.
No. 15 — Remains Troy Andersen, MSU’s superstar multi-position senior, and is now shared with Brody Grebe, a player with several similarities to what Andersen was when he came out of Beaverhead County High in Dillon. Grebe, like Andersen one of the top multi-sport athletes in the state two years ago at Melstone, spent last year at Choate Prep in Connecticut, helping him earn a full ride with the Bobcats. Grebe reports to MSU at 6-foot-2, 232 pounds.
No. 16 — Shared by Luke May, a senior safety who was once won a state javelin championship at Whitefish and competed in the event in the Big Ten at Minnesota, along with Tanner Trafton, a wide receiver from Lewistown who is up to 230 pounds. That 37-pound gain by the redshirt freshman is the biggest gain on the Bobcats this off-season.
No. 17 is again worn by junior linebacker Tadan Gillman, a Kalispell Glacier product who will battle for reps, and Jaden Smith, a 6-foot-6 wide receiver who caught a touchdown yet retained his redshirt las season and managed to put on 11 pounds in the off-season to get up to 206.
No. 18 — Blake Thelen, a redshirt freshman quarterback out of Great Falls and John Knight, like Thelen a former walk-on quarterback who is a 6-foot-1, 191-pounder who is playing safety, now shares the number with Thelen.
No. 19 — Remains Jaharie Martin, a 5-foot-11, 232-pound ball of muscle who came to Montana State as a linebacker. Martin is still a running back as he enters his redshirt freshman year; he maintained the redshirt despite appearing in four games and notching 10 carries last season.
No. 28 — Now worn by Davine Tullis, a former transfer from Hawaii who will play running back after playing wide receiver and wearing No. 20 the last two seasons at MSU, along with Jake D’Agostino, an incoming freshman safety who quarterbacked Bozeman to the Class AA state title last fall.
No. 29 — Still junior running back Shane Perry, but he’s up 10 pounds to get up to 180.
No. 40 — Now Alex Johnson, a linebacker from Helena who wore 45 and put on 17 pounds to get up to 207 for his redshirt freshman year.
No. 41 — A number that Choate hopes to make into one steeped in tradition. The state of Montana was admitted to the Union in November of 1889 as the 41st state in the United States. Strong safety and captain Brayden Konkol, a native of Belgrade, took the number over from former middle linebacker Grant Collins last season. Konkol passed the number on to Chase Benson, a 6-foot-4, 290-pounder who earned third-team All-Big Sky honors last season as a defensive tackle.
No. 46 — Remains Sal Aguilar, a linebacker who walked on to MSU out of Mater Dei High in Southern California but the change comes in that he enters his junior year up 10 pounds to 210.
No. 48 — Ryan Davis, a tight end who gained 15 pounds, comes into his senior year at 265 pounds.
No. 49 — Now Cole Oster, a redshirt freshman who was recruited as a linebacker but converted to running back last fall and wore 39 during his redshirt season.
New freshmen numbers
5 – Charles Brown, wide receiver
13 – Elijah Elliott, running back
14 – Peyton Thornton, tight end
15 – Brody Grebe, outside linebacker
20 – Minaya Olivo, running back
23 – Aidan Parks, outside linebacker
27 – Connor Ryan, defensive back
28 – Jake D’Agostino, safety
30 – Danny Uluilakepa, linebacker
31 – Miles Jackson, defensive back
35 – Luke Pawlak, kicker
37 – Bryce Leighton, punter
38 – Garrett Coon, running back
39 – Blake Glessner, kicker
43 – McCade O’Reilly, linebacker
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