As Montana State’s offense took the field to begin Saturday’s game at Weber State, the Bobcat offense featured a slew of teenagers.
At quarterback, true freshman Chris Murray made his first career start with varying results. Montana State employed a redshirt freshman at left tackle in Mitch Brott with Dylan Mahoney on the shelf. Redshirt freshman Cam Sutton and true freshman Karl Tucker II started at wide receiver in Montana State’s heavy package.
As a rash of injuries continues to spread throughout the Bobcat roster and Montana State still searches for its first Big Sky Conference victory, more and more young players are tested each Saturday.
[restrict paid=”true”]Murray piled up 330 yards of total offense and threw three touchdowns but also turned the ball over three times. Of Murray’s 10 completions, two went to redshirt freshman Keon Stephens for the first two catches of his Bobcat career, including a 45-yarder to set up Chad Newell’s third quarter touchdown run. Another went to true freshman Kevin Kassis, who also had a 45-yard punt return in the final 30 seconds of MSU’s 45-27 loss. Kassis’ return set up a 27-yard touchdown pass from Murray to Sutton, the first catch and score of the 6-foot-5 youngster’s career.
“Offensively, there was some moments where you were going, ‘We have a chance to be really good here’, especially with the element Chris adds with his ability to escape the pocket,” MSU head coach Jeff Choate said after his team’s fourth straight loss. “Thing break down, he can take off. He’s faster than any defensive lineman in this league. When he gets on the edge, he can create some problems for people. I did like him pushing the ball down the field vertically.
“I thought it was nice to see Keon step up and make a play. I think that is going to give him some confidence and we can build on that. And at the end of the game, Cam goes up and makes a play. He’s another guy we have been trying to work into some of these roles and their practice habits have improved to the point now where you have some confidence in them as coaches.”
Murray showed flashes of brilliance in his first start, rushing for 131 yards and becoming the first Bobcat quarterback since 1990 to throw three touchdowns in his debut. But Murray’s botched pitch on a speed option play on MSU’s second possession of the game helped Weber roll up 21 points in the game’s first 10 minutes. His interception in the second quarter thwarted MSU’s rally — the Bobcats trailed 28-14 at the time — and Weber assumed a 42-14 lead by intermission. His interception in the fourth quarter killed any attempt at a comeback.
“I thought Chris handled himself extremely well and he’s got a lot of composure,” Montana State first-year offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham said. “I don’t think the moment or the opportunity to be a starter really threw him. But he has to do a better job of taking care of the football. He puts the ball on the ground on a speed option play and he’s got to do a better job making sure he gets a better pitch to the tailback so we can go get a big play out of that. That hurt us from a momentum standpoint.
When Dakota Prukop transferred to Oregon just weeks into Choate’s tenure at MSU, the Bobcats’ first-year head coach tapped into an old connection, bringing former four-star quarterback Tyler Bruggman to campus. Bruggman started MSU’s first six games but completed just 38 percent of his passes against Big Sky competition in three league starts. On Saturday, Choate elected to go with the rookie from Lawndale High who grew up in Inglewood, California.
“There are four to seven plays a game where you are like, ‘what in the world are you thinking?’ I’m 46 years old and I played linebacker and I can tell that’s where I am supposed to go with the ball. And then there’s four to 10 plays a game where you’re like, ‘I’m glad he’s out there because I don’t know if I can get a first down if his legs don’t get it for you,” Choate said on Monday. “The more he plays, the fewer of those what are you thinking plays happen and the more of those pretty awesome plays happen.”
MSU quarterback Chris Murray (8)
Stephens and Sutton were both highly regarded coming out of high school. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Stephens received Pac 12 interest as a junior in high school. He turned 18 early on in his senior year and had to move out of his mother’s home, forcing him to relocate to Etiwanda (California) High. He played in eight games as a senior, catching 39 passes for 701 yards to earn all-league honors but Montana State was his only offer.
Sutton had some Pac 12 interest himself as a senior at Norco (California) High and chose Montana State over Montana. He also redshirted last season, playing exclusively on the scout team.
“Both those young men redshirted a year ago so neither one was used to game week preparation,” Choate said. “It was ‘read a card and go make plays.’ Heck, if we could bring cards into the huddle, we’d probably be better off.
“One of the things that have helped those guys is as Chris has emerged, we have had to shrink some of our drop back passing concepts and I think that has benefited us as a team because we have simplified some things. Those guys are in position right now as young players where simple is better for them. They do have some natural skills. I think both of those guys have bright futures here. We have been able to streamline some things and to their credit, they are taking more accountability in terms of how they are preparing.”
Messingham noted improved practice habits helping the duo get on the field.
“Keon has really done a great job of competing lately and Cam’s attitude in general has been to tell him what we want him to do and ask him anything and he will go do it,” he said. “That’s a better mindset than either of those guys have had in the time I’ve been here and that’s why they are seeing more and more playing time.”
The duo’s playing time has also been elevated because of a potentially season-ending knee injury suffered in practice last week. Injuries have ravaged MSU across the board, from season-ending injuries to senior defensive lineman Robert Wilcox, junior defensive ends Tyrone Fa’anono and Devin Jeffries and senior wide receiver Brandon Brown. Sophomore nose tackle Tucker Yates is out until at least after MSU’s bye week next week, as is left tackle Dylan Mahoney. Sophomore wide receiver John D’Agostino suffered a knee injury during practice last week that may cost him the rest of the season.
In Mahoney’s absence, Brott has moved from the right side to the left side.
“The biggest thing is — everyone just assumes playing o-line is playing o-line — but the biggest thing is sliding over from right tackle to left tackle is so different,” Messingham said. “Shoot, just your alignment is different. How you kick slide is different. It’s all backward. He’s done a nice job.”
Brott said playing next to All-American left guard J.P. Flynn has “made a huge difference.” Mahoney has been coaching Brott whenever he can, giving him pointers on playing on the left side.
“It’s kind of a big difference but playing basketball (at Billings West High), having to know your foot work and everything has helped,” Brott said. “It’s definitely a new challenge but I feel like I’m up to it but I feel like I’m performing pretty well for the competition I’m going against.”
Brott, Stephens, Sutton and Tucker are part of an offensive unit that has also seen sophomore tight end Connor Sullivan, sophomore center Alex Neale, D’Agostino before his injury, and Kassis see significant snaps with Murray. Defensively, redshirt freshmen Marcus Ferriter and Woody Brandom, a converted tight end, an true freshman Derek Marks have split time at the decimated defensive end spot. Redshirt freshman Josh Hill is starting at outside linebacker while Yates, defensive tackle Zach Wright, Buck end Grant Collins and cornerback Tre’von Strong are starters defensively as sophomore.
“It sets a new standard for competition and I feel in the next couple of years, we are going to be an amazing team having all this experience with everyone getting in there early,” Brott said. “We don’t have a different mindset but we want to change our culture. We want to emphasize toughness. The more experience we have, the better we are going to get.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
