Chris Murray’s shouts of encouragement resonated through a Bobcat Stadium with snow pushed to its edges but a bright sun shining high in the sky. The electric sophomore signal caller hollered encouragement as he marched the Montana State offenses up and down the field, his yells simultaneously verbally jousting his defensive teammates.
Time and again, any of the smattering of fans in attendance could hear Murray yell, “Boys, they can’t stop us!”
During Friday morning’s 72-play scrimmage, the only thing that could stop MSU’s first and second-string offenses was themselves. Murray, senior Tyler Bruggman and backup quarterback candidates sophomore Brady McChesney and redshirt freshman Kamden Brown moved the offenses up and down the field efficiently, combining to complete more than 70 percent of their passes.
MSU wide receiver Justin Paige (3) runs a route on defensive back Damien Washington (27)
Senior Justin Paige ripped by sophomore Damien Washington with a slick double move before Bruggman hit him for a 61-yard gain into the red zone. But he threw an interception to Washington two plays later. Murray, operating with the No. 2 offense for the first time during Montana State’s fourth of a five-week spring ball schedule, completed 5-of-5 passes on a single drive, including a 44-yard gain to sophomore Cam Sutton to set up his 14-yard touchdown strike to senior Mitch Herbert.
But Murray also had a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage land in sophomore middle linebacker Josh Hill’s hands and lucked out when his errant option pitch to redshirt freshman Jake Roper went out of bounds during Murray’s turns with the starting offense.
When the No. 1 defense stopped the No. 1 offense for the second time on fourth down at midfield, MSU head coach Jeff Choate stopped the scrimmage and said, “I need the offense around me, NOW!”
After the breakdown, the first team offense played with great tempo, rotating Murray and Bruggman fluidly to set up a booming 47-yard field goal by senior Luke Daly that would’ve been good from 60. The next possession, Murray’s legs and Bruggman’s rocket arm led the Bobcats on a 12-play, 70-yard drive that included a 16-yard strike from Bruggman to Paige and was capped by a 10-yard touchdown run on an option keeper by Murray.
“There’s two things that stood out to me: No. 1, offensively, I think you can see what kind of explosiveness we can have,” Choate said after the final practice of the week. “What was discouraging was, in critical situations there were two third down penalties that put us from third and manageable to third and long. We can’t do that. Those are money downs for us. Once we got in the red zone, we had two red-zone turnovers — one was in a two-minute drill just trying to get a chance at the end, but there were a couple of situations, some drops and lack of focus in the red zone that still I think is an area where we have to mature as a team.”
The quarterback position has been under scrutiny at Montana State since Dakota Prukop elected to forego his senior year with the Bobcats to play his fifth season with the Oregon Ducks. Bruggman was solid in a narrow 20-17 loss at Idaho and wins over Bryant and Division II Western Oregon. He threw three intereptions in a 19-17 home loss to North Dakota, a performance that opened the door for Murray.
MSU quarterback Chris Murray (8) breaks loose against corner back Damien Washington (27)
The eventual Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year was spectacular at times, disastrous at others last fall. Murray rushed for more than 800 yards and 12 touchdowns, his 142-yard, two-touchdown performance in a 24-17 win over rival Montana in Missoula as the signature moment. But he was a key culprit in MSU turning the ball over 24 times during a six-game losing streak to start league play.
Murray showed his greatest strides as a thrower on Friday, completing 8-of-13 passes for 98 yards and the touchdown to Herbert, all the while showing the retooled mechanics he’s been honing under new quarterback coach DeNarius McGhee. He found Sutton three times for 53 yards, taking advantage of a favorable matchup for the No. 2 offense with redshirt freshman walk-on converted safety Will Martel guarding the 6-foot-6 sophomore. Murray also found Herbert twice for 22 yards while hitting sophomores Keon Stephens and Kevin Kassis with first down strikes.
“I think we did well,” the Inglewood, California native said. “Definitely better than last week. We were able to drive the ball efficiently every time, but that doesn’t matter if we’re not finishing.
“I believe I’ve made some strides. There’s some balls that I’ve hit better this time than I did last year during the season. You can never stop, though. Once you hit a level, there’s always something else you have to attack and another level to reach. That’s the quarterback’s mentality.”
Bruggman finished 4-of-5 for 95 yards, his one incompletion the interception right into Washington’s bread basket. Washington showed his resilience early on, getting burned by Paige, then getting called for pass interference on the very next play. Two plays later came the Charter Oak Academy product’s interception.
“It’s just the next-play mentality,” MSU senior cornerback Bryce Alley said. “We’re on the island out there, man, and there ain’t too many people that can do our job. Each play, good or bad, you just go to the next one and he made up for it. That’s the best thing you can do at that moment in time. He erased that whole drive.”
MSU RS freshman Jake Roper bobbles errant Chris Murray option pitch
During the 12-play drive, Murray ran the ball five times while Bruggman had two nice completions. Last season, the quarterback pair rotated series often but rarely could MSU switch quarterbacks within one series and still play at a fast tempo. Friday, the Bobcats moved efficiently and the offensive play calling looked much more succinct under first-year coordinator Brian Armstrong than it ever did under former OC Courtney Messingham.
“Honestly, we take care of our business up front, it doesn’t matter who is back there,” MSU fifth-year senior left tackle Dylan Mahoney said. “We dictate what’s going on. I thought they both played pretty well today, showed some really good stuff. They are both going to help us be very successful next year and we aren’t going to skip a beat up front I don’t think.”
“I thought we moved the ball really well between the 20s but we were shooting ourselves in the foot in the red zone a little bit,” Mahoney said. “We did a lot of good things today. We put in a few new packages, a few new plays. I think that put the defense in a little bit of a bind and we executed pretty well. But we just have to finish. We didn’t finish very well in the red-zone and that’s something we did pretty well last year. Last year is last year so we just have to keep improving and learn how to finish in the red zone.”
After the second fourth down stop, Choate huddled the offense around him and challenged the group voluminously. He demanded the unit “tighten things up”. He said he thought his team responded well. Choate said he also challenged Armstrong to use two quarterbacks on a singular drive while playing with tempo.
“I was like, ‘let’s say hypothetically we’re in a game and we want to get into a situation where those guys are going back and forth a little bit and see what they can both do well.’ It was kind of fun to see that mix,” Choate said.
“Eight (Murray), when he gets on the edge, I wouldn’t want to defend him. He’s a problem. If he can continue to evolve as a passer… I thought he made one bad decision with the ball, in the red zone. That’s what got us in trouble a year ago. We’ve got good kickers. We’ll take three. There’s nothing wrong with that and go play defense. If he can continue to mature as a decision-maker, he’s got a big upside.”
MSU wide receiver Mitch Herbert (82) catches a touchdown vs cornerback Braelen Evans (5)
While the passing game looked sharp – MSU’s quarterbacks completed 17-of-24 passes overall, including Brown connecting on all four of his – the Bobcat run defense played with physicality. With redshirt freshman Sam linebacker Jacob Hadley out with an illness, MSU defensive coordinator flipped senior Mac Bignell from his new spot at Will to his two-time All-Big Sky position and inserted senior Lukas McCarthy at Will.
The top two defenses let Murray run for 65 yards on 12 carries, but with a red non-contact jersey and a quick whistle from Choate, those yards are up for debate.
“I’ve been doing that since I’ve been here,” Alley said with a laugh when asked about chasing around mobile quarterbacks like Murray. “Dakota used to run a lot and I played against (Eastern Washington BSC MVP) Vernon (Adams) my freshman year, so I’m kind of used to it by now. We’ll tag Chris five yards in the backfield and he’ll still get 10 yards, but it’s all good because it’s just going to make us better. When we play a quarterback that scrambles, we’ll be good.”
With each scramble, Murray would shake his head with a smile on his face and give verbal jabs to the MSU defense – “That’s just the confidence I have. I don’t know, I don’t think they’ll catch me,” Murray said with an endearing smile – while the defensive sideline would hoot and holler about how Murray was tagged well before the play was blown dead.
“It is (frustrating), but I do understand where (Choate is) coming from. He’s got to protect his quarterbacks, but at the same time, I can’t really do what I want to do if it’s just a little tag and that’s it,” Murray said.
Overall, the defenses allowed the offense to rush for 120 yards on 38 carries, a number hindered by sacks by sophomore defensive end Derek Marks, redshirt freshman outside linebacker Balue Chapman and sophomore safety Ty Robbie. Bignell, Marks (2), Robbie, sophomore defensive end Marcus Ferriter, junior Buck end Grant Collins and redshirt freshman middle linebacker Sean Opland all had tackles for loss to bite into the total as well.
“It was the first time besides last week that we have really gone live in tackling so I think Coach Ty (Gregorak) put it pretty well: it looks like we haven’t played live a lot this whole spring,” said Hill, a starter at Will last year and MSU’s starting Mike currently who has shown a knack for clutch interceptions. “Mostly because of injury prevention, offense and defense, we’ve had a bunch of guys get sick with the flu and what not so we are just trying to keep people healthy. I do think it showed today.”
MSU head coach Jeff Choate
Montana State now enters its final week of spring ball. Choate confirmed Hadley’s sickness along with the ineligibility of sophomore tight end Woody Brandom, who dropped a class, dropping him below 12 credits and rendering him out for the rest of spring. Murray and Mahoney both emphasized eliminating penalties and turnovers, particularly in the red zone, as points of emphasis the next two practices leading up to the Sonny Holland spring game next Saturday at 12:05 p.m. Choate agreed.
“I thought it was a good exchange,” Choate said. “I thought it was a step forward form what we did last Saturday in Great Falls and I know the kids are excited to take the last step next week with the Sonny Holland game.”
Montana State spring scrimmage stats
SCORING PLAYS
Mitch Herbert 14-yard touchdown catch from Chris Murray to cap six-play, 70-yard drive. Murray was 6-6 for 73 yards on the drive.
Luke Daly 47-yard field goal
Gabe Peppenger 42-yard field goal
Rushing (38-120) — Noah James 5-11; Chris Murray 12-65, TD; Nick LaSane 4-8; Jake Roper 6-22; Tyler Bruggman 2-1; Anthony Pegues – 6-31; Brady McChesney 1-2; Kamden Brown 1-(-9); Kevin Kassis 1-7
Passing — Tyler Bruggman 4-5, 94, INT
Chris Murray 8-13, 98, TD, INT
Brady McChesney 1-2, 31
Kamden Brown 4-4, 20
Receiving — Keon Stephens 1-10
Mitch Herbert 2-22, TD
Cam Sutton 3-53
Kevin Kassis – 2-13
Justin Paige 2-77
Clark Judisch – 3-41
Jered Padmos – 2-10
Dylan Stenseth – 1-7
Connor Sullivan – 1-10
Sacks — Derek Marks, Balue Chapman, Ty Robbie
Interceptions — Josh Hill, Damien Washington
Tackles for loss — Mac Bignell, Grant Collins, Derek Marks (2), Sean Opland, Ty Robbie, Marcus Ferriter
Pass breakups — Derek Marks
Photos by Colter Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
