Editor’s note: Montana State welcomed nine high school prospects to campus the final recruiting weekend of the winter the first weekend of February. Almost every single one of those recruits ended up signing National Letters of Intent less than a week later. Over the next three weeks, Skyline Sports will print a series of stories about each of the late commitments to Montana State. This is the first installment of that series featuring Eastside Catholic (Washington) 3-star safety Malik Putney.
Malik Putney waited as long as he possibly could for an offer that never came. When the Tacoma native realized the Pac 12 was not in the cards, he did not forget who showed him the most loyalty during his recruiting process.
During his second off-season as Montana State’s head coach, Jeff Choate wanted to plant an MSU flag in Western Washington. The former University of Washington defensive line coach wanted to reestablish Montana State’s recruiting presence in the Northwest. Within a week of National Signing Day, Choate extended a collection of offers to some of the best high school players in the region.
Many of the prospects quickly rose through the recruiting ranks, fielding bigger offers than the FCS Bobcats. Putney, a 3-star safety who earned first-team all-league honors three straight seasons at Seattle-area powerhouse Eastside Catholic High, was one of those seemingly out of reach prospects that heard from Choate and his staff a full year before the Class of 2018 would sign.
During Eastside Catholic’s rise to the No. 1 team in Washington 3A, Putney’s stock was fortified with FBS offers from Air Force, Army, Hawaii and Idaho. The 6-foot, 205-pounder also fielded an offer from Eastern Washington, the Big Sky Conference’s premier program this decade after claiming five league titles in a seven-season stretch.
Putney wanted to play for the Dawgs. He hoped Washington would extend an offer. But that offer never came.
All the while, Choate, MSU secondary coach Mark Orphey and MSU defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak kept in constant contact with Putney. Less than a week before signing day, Putney came on an official visit to Bozeman with a collection of other coveted prospects. The fact that Montana State had always made him a top priority resonated with Putney. He returned home verbally committed to the Bobcats. He signed with Montana State days later, putting the cherry on top of an impressive haul from the Pacific Northwest for MSU.
“I feel like I’m one of the most underrated players in the 2018 class, and I’m talking about around the country,” Putney said in an interview the second week of May. “Montana State was my first offer. I always knew there was a connection between me and Coach Choate and Coach Orphey and Coach Ty. We’ve always had that good bond throughout the process.
“Going into my senior year, when I released my film, the plan was to get a high major offer. I talked to a ton of Pac 12 schools, Big Ten schools. I was waiting for a big school to pull the trigger. I was talking to UW a lot, other Pac 12 schools like Arizona and Oregon State. I was waiting for one but I didn’t have any leverage because I came into my senior year with no BCS offers.
“I took my officials to Air Force, Eastern Washington and Montana State. When I came to Montana, I told Coach Choate, if I didn’t get a Power 5 offer, I was coming to Montana State. When I was there, everything felt like home. The coach were welcoming and the players eat, drink, sleep and live football. That’s what I want. I thought this is the place I can be the most successful.”
Washington Gatorade Player of the Year Isaiah Ifanse out of Bellevue High, Garfield High receiver Mekhi Metcalf and Connell defensive tackle Seer Dienes joined Putney as the top recruits from the Evergreen State that signed with the Bobcats in February. All four made official visits to Bozeman less than a week before signing day.
Putney, who played for former MSU assistants Jeremy Thielbahr (Eastside Catholic head coach) and Rob Christoff (Eastside defensive coordinator), said the “big-time football atmosphere” provided by Bobcat Stadium was a main selling point on convincing him to become a Bobcat.
“It reminds me of Eastside being a predominantly a football school and the fans, it’s all football culture and everybody in the town comes out for the football team,” Putney said. “That’s the same kind of vibe you get at Eastside from the boosters, the fans, all the people who come and support the games. It gave me that sense of a home feeling, what I’m used to seeing in high school. And this is translating it to the college level but instead of playing in front of 1,000 people, you are playing in front of 20,000 people.”
Eastside Catholic’s staff also includes offensive line and stretch and conditioning coach Dom Daste, a former assistant at Montana and UNLV under Bobby Hauck. That’s not Putney’s only connection to Missoula; his cousin, Ahmaad Rorie, is an All-Big Sky point guard for UM’s league champion men’s basketball team.
“I’m going wherever Ahmaad goes as far as support and that’s how it will always be,” said Putney, who mentioned Montana recruited him but that the attention fell off during UM’s off-season coaching change. “But now that I’m going to Montana State, I don’t like the Griz.”
The official visit to Bozeman the first weekend of February marked the first of two visits Putney made to the Treasure State. He also came to Bozeman to observe Montana State’s spring football game.
“I feel like I can definitely make an impact as a true freshman,” Putney said. “I talk to Coach Orphey, Coach Kyle (Risinger), Coach Ty all the time about what I want to do with my life. They say the opportunity is there. I’m going to start out at free safety and I know they have a returning veteran there who has experience in the program. But I’m a competitor and I don’t plan on coming in and sitting on the sideline. I plan on coming in and making an immediate impact as a freshman.”
On the back end, Montana State returns the experienced trio of junior Damien Washington and sophomores Jalen Cole and Tyrel Thomas at cornerback. The Bobcats will have to find a replacement for two-time All-Big Sky safety Bryson McCabe. Junior JoJo Henderson and senior Dre Jackson are the front-runners to start at MSU’s safety positions while sophomore Luke May, a converted quarterback, and Shawn Borgess, a redshirt freshman walk-on from Hawaii, also saw substantial reps during the spring.
Putney thinks his time playing for one of the top football programs in the state of Washington has him prepared from a mental standpoint to hit the ground running when he starts competing for the Bobcats.
“Most importantly is the understanding of the game,” Putney said. “Set aside your athletic ability, your God-given talents. Eastside taught me more than just football. It taught me how to understand football, how to make football easier for you, pre read formations, watching film, doing all the little intangibles that eventually adds up to take your game to another level.
“Coming from the inner city of Tacoma, you just throw athletes out there and let them go be themselves but at Eastside, it’s constructive. You are in a college system in high school that gives you an advantage over other kids who are coming in to play in college still having to learn a system.”
Since the end of Eastside Catholic’s football season, Putney has been training at the Ford Performance Center with renowned trainer Tracy Ford. The savvy safety has NFL dreams someday, but will pursue business marketing at MSU in the meantime. If his football playing career doesn’t work out, Putney sees himself getting into college coaching. Before any of that, he is trying to make an impact on the field for the team that stuck with him throughout the recruiting process.
“It was definitely a sense of relief,” Putney said. “When I signed, I started visualizing what life was going to be like the next couple of years, seeing my life change from high school to graduating to first day on campus. I’m fortunate enough to say I’m going to college, fortunate enough to say I can continue my football career at the next level. From here, it’s the next step.”
Photos contributed by Putney. All Rights Reserved.
