Before Chris Murray stepped in front of the cameras and put the microphone to his face for the first time as a Bobcat, Montana State head coach Jeff Choate put his arm around his young gunslinger.
“If they ask you anything you don’t know or don’t understand or don’t want to answer, just tell them to ask me,” Choate said with a hearty laugh.
One thing is certain: Murray is no longer the 17-year-old freshman who made his first career start under center at Weber State last October. Rather, the electric 6-foot-2, 185-pound quarterback will be a marked man in the Big Sky Conference.
[restrict paid=”true”]Last season, the explosive athlete took the league by surprise, sprinting his way to 860 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns — the latter the second-most of any player in the league — in earning Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors. Murray rushed for more than 100 yards on four occasions throughout the season, including three times in five starts as MSU posted a 2-3 record.
Montana State does not allow its true freshmen to conduct interviews with the media. With the opening of spring drills in Bozeman on Wednesday morning at 7 a.m., the school anticipated the slew of inquiries the up and coming signal caller would surely garner. So after Choate reassured Murray, he stepped in front of the cameras for the first of what is sure to be many meetings with the press.
“This feels great to be back out here,” Murray said with a smile. ”It feels great to actually have a full year with the full team so we can develop our chemistry better.
The Inglewood, California native etched his name in the freshman-laden lore of Bobcat quarterbacks by rushing for 142 yards and scoring two touchdowns — including a signature scores in which he flipped into the south end-zone at Washington-Grizzly Stadium — in leading Montana State to a 24-17 upset of rival Montana in Missoula last November.
Murray’s breakout performance, while spectacular, marked the latest in a long line of stellar rookie or debut seasons by Bobcat quarterbacks. Dave Alt led Montana State to the NAIA national championship as a freshman in 1956. Travis Lulay helped MSU snap a string of 16 straight losses to the Griz in his rivalry game debut with a 10-7 win in Missoula as a true freshman in 2002. DeNarius McGhee, MSU’s new quarterbacks coach and the man tasked with accelerating Murray’s throwing ability, earned Big Sky Offensive MVP honors as a redshirt freshman by leading the Bobcats to the league title in 2010.
The long-striding deceptive Murray burst onto the scene by ripping off a pair of 60-yard touchdowns, scoring three times on the ground and totaling 187 rushing yards in a 41-38 loss at Sac State. He sat behind junior Tyler Bruggman for one more game before nearly leading a second-half comeback in a 20-14 loss to Northern Arizona at home. Murray’s first start, he threw for 199 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 131 more but turnovers killed MSU in a 45-27 loss at Weber.
He was up and down in losses to Eastern Washington and Southern Utah, running for a 70-yard touchdown but turning the ball over three times against EWU and totaling 265 yards of offense and three touchdowns in a loss at SUU.
Then Murray turned the corner. The Bobcats did not turn the ball over against UC Davis or Montana, instead running the ball with authority to finish Choate’s first season with a crescendo. Murray rushed for 98 of MSU’s 258 rushing yards and ran in a touchdown in the 27-14 win over Davis. He rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns, including the flipping score and an equally memorable 48-yard rip on a quarterback draw play to help MSU to its third win in Missoula since 2010.
“Now he’s got some street cred,” Choate said of Murray’s growth as a leader since the calendar turned to November last year and in the five months since. “Really, Chris, even though he has a quiet demeanor, I really do think he is a good leader between the white lines. I think he would be the first one to say he has some growing to do, some maturing to do before he can be the face of the program. But when he gets out between the white lines, that’s his comfort level.”
More than a decade ago, Lulay did not rest on his laurels, instead posting three wins over the Griz and leading MSU to three shares of Big Sky titles. McGhee would win a second Big Sky MVP in 2012, the same season Montana State capped its third straight league title with McGhee’s second straight win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Murray wants to follow a similar path and not rest on the late successes of his rookie season.
“Honestly, I didn’t let that go to my head,” Murray said. “My job is to get us to the playoffs so that’s all I’m focused on.
“That was the best game I’ve ever been a part of, the atmosphere. I couldn’t hear myself talk at times. It was a great experience, boosted our confidence going into the off-season. But even though we have that confidence, we still have that chip on our shoulder as a team.”
The Cat-Griz win capped a two-game winning streak to end an otherwise dismal campaign in Choate’s first season at the helm. Before the mid-November spurt, the Bobcats lost six straight Big Sky games as Murray struggled to grasp former offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham’s offense and struggled equally as much to take care of the football.
MSU turned the ball over 24 times during the six-game losing streak. Once Murray grasped the importance of taking care of the football and felt comfort in the offensive scheme, the Bobcats changed the narrative entering the off-season for a young team.
Despite his starting position, Murray worked out with his fellow freshmen, participating in the early-morning lifting sessions with the redshirts. During the off-season, he worked on his strength, particularly in his core, as well as his intangible skills ranging from his snap cadence to his overall command of the team.
“His body language was better today, his verbal command of the offense at the line of scrimmage was better,” MSU first-year offensive coordinator Brian Armstrong said after Wednesday’s practice. “Coach McGhee will improve that a ton. That has been a focus of his.
“His command on the field was much better. We still have a long way to go. But something as simple as the snap count, we could all hear him. That’s improvement. I’ve been really impressed this whole off-season with his football IQ. He’s a pretty savvy guy.”
From the day he stepped on Montana State’s campus, McGhee’s presence could be felt (and heard) by anyone who crossed paths with the charismatic, dynamic Bobcat legend. One of only 14 quarterbacks in the history of college football to throw for 10,000 yards and rush for 1,000 led MSU to 37 wins and three league titles in his four years under center.
After exhausting his eligibility in 2013, he spent a season with former MSU offensive coordinator Brian Wright as a graduate assistant at Florida International. He spent the last two seasons as a graduate assistant on Dave Doeren’s staff at North Carolina State.
“It’s obvious why that guy was a part of three conference championships,” Choate said. “He’s focused, he goes about his business, he’s a high-energy guy, a young man of high integrity, he’s a leader, he does not accept average, he holds guys accountable.”
Choate hired McGhee to specifically provide mentorship for Murray in an effort to accelerate his development. McGhee said Wednesday that getting to see Murray’s release and fundamentals live for the first time gave him a baseline of what to help his first pupil improve on.
McGhee identified one flaw early on: when Murray would get to “the top of his drop in the pocket”, he would “fire his feet instead of pushing back up into the pocket and sliding his feet” in an effort to help him build momentum when throwing the ball. McGhee said he will also prioritize Murray’s footwork so he can get “his third camera”— or his ability to make his third read in his pass progression — and be able to follow through on his throws. He does not want Murray to “angle his back toe” on his plant foot because that “locks his hips out and prevents him from getting his throwing arm all the way through his target.”
“If we can get him to break that habit, it will create more velocity because he will be using his lower body instead of his arm.”
McGhee also wants to help Murray simplify his decision-making by helping the teenager grasp the offense in its full capacity. Armstrong said the offensive staff has simplified the verbiage and given Murray instructions to get through three reads as fast as possible, know exactly where he is going to deliver the football and, if no Bobcat teammate is open, then use his explosive legs.
“The more confidence I had on the field, the more I knew what I was doing, the more I could take command of the guys around me,” McGhee said. “When you don’t know exactly what you are doing…when you are exactly sure of your reads and then you are making plays, then you can step up and truly lead. There’s nothing worse than a guy trying to command that doesn’t even know his own job and is not efficient or excellent at his own craft. If he perfects his craft, he will command this team.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
