The strength of the opponent may have been lacking, but Montana State coaches insist the young Bobcat defense made strides again on Saturday.
Montana State held Sacramento State to 142 second-half yards and three second-half points as the Bobcats took a 14-10 game and turned it into a 35-13 victory thanks in part to a more consistent defensive effort. MSU jolted out to a 14-0 lead in the game’s first four minutes before the offense went stagnant for a good amount of the first half. Montana State, a team that leads the Big Sky Conference in scoring at 43.5 points per game, punted on four consecutive possessions.
The MSU defense gave up a 23-yard touchdown pass from Kolney Cassel to Nnamdi Agude and it looked like the Bobcat struggles against downfield passing attacks would continue. But MSU consistently put pressure on Cassel, eventually taking him out of the game with a separated shoulder suffered in the third quarter during Sac’s last scoring drive.
MSU defensive tackle Tucker Yates
“Something we talk about as a defense all the time is playing physical and that’s what we want our identity to be,” MSU first-year defensive coordinator Kane Ioane said. “You are going to pay the price when you play against us. By no means does that mean that we want to hurt people but that’s the cost of playing a physical defense is you are going to feel us.”
Over the last three weeks, Montana State’s starting lineup defensively have seen some young players emerge. Redshirt freshman Grant Collins has retained his position at Mike linebacker despite being pushed by junior Fletcher Collins and sophomore Blake Braun during the off-season.
In MSU’s 45-28 win over Cal Poly, redshirt freshman Tucker Yates broke into the starting lineup at nose tackle in an interior linemen group that includes three seniors.
With Fletcher Collins out with an undisclosed right hand injury, Braun will be the starter at Will linebacker for a second straight week. Montana State plays at Portland State on Saturday.
And true freshman Tre’Von Strong continues to find his way starting opposite senior Bryson Keeton at cornerback.
Against Sacramento State of the young players performed in fashion indicative of the strides each has made in 2015. Collins made his post-snap reads with more certainty and tackled with similar assuredness.
MSU middle linebacker Grant Collins
“It’s easy to forget because he’s so physically good, mature looking, very aggressive but he is still a freshman,” MSU head coach Rob Ash said of the 6-foot-4, 227-pound Bozeman native. “This is his first go-around. I see him getting better every single week. His reads are better. He’s more decisive. He’s in the right place. He’s tackling with more certainty. He’s getting better every week.”
The 2013 Montana Class AA Defensive Player of the Year finished with nine tackles. His hit of slot receiver Isiah Hennie in the flat forced a fumble that went out of bounds. Collins broke his facemask on the collision.
“Game by game, practice by practice, rep by rep he gets more and more confident and in turn, he is playing that much faster and you can really see his natural ability and physical talents on full display now that he is able to play loose and play football,” Ioane said. “Early in the season, he was thinking quite a bit and he was making some freshman mistakes and he wasn’t playing as fast. Now he has four or five games under his belt and he’s playing fast and physical.”
Like Collins, Yates will be leaned on to anchor the middle against another powerful offense on Saturday. Yates helped MSU stifle Cal Poly’s triple option attack two weeks ago. This week, he will face a Portland State interior offensive line including 6-foot-4, 325-pound junior right guard honors candidate Cam Keizur and 6-foot-3, 295-opund sophomore Chad Bach.
Yates has 16 tackles this season, including his official first tackle for loss against Sac State. But his ability to hold the point of attack and free up Collins and whoever is playing MSU’s Will linebacker spot to run more freely.
MSU defensive tackle Tucker Yates
“Strength. Girth and strength,” Ash said when asked what Yates brings the MSU defensive line. “His wrestling background really shows up. He is really good in one-on-one situations where he is trying to defend a block, get off a block and stay on his feet. I’ve always loved having wrestlers play in the defensive line.”
Yates, a 6-foot, 305-pounder from Colstrip, captured three Class B heavyweight wrestling titles in high school. His ability to use leverage and almost never get knocked back off of the line of scrimmage has made him a valuable asset on an interior that also features senior captain Taylor Sheridan along with Kalispell product Connor Thomas and Drummond native Nate Bignell.
“Tucker is fun to watch on film,” Ioane said. “You talk about a physical football player, now. That guy is like a wrestling match every single snap. He does a great job of getting his hands inside and where he excels is getting off blocks, getting to the football.”
Both Collins and Yates have played in five Division I games. Collins was a highly recruited local product who had a preferred walk on offer to play at USC. Yates was a small-school prospect with elite strength but not a prototype build. He has risen faster than most expect an interior lineman on a half scholarship might.
“It doesn’t really feel different to me,” Yates said. “I just go out and play. I’ve been starting my whole life, all through high school. I was young starting then too. The change doesn’t affect me I don’t think.
“I have adjusted pretty well. Eastern (Washington) kind of shocked me a little bit. We played Fort Lewis and I played fine and we get to Eastern and I was like, Ok, these guys are better. I’ve caught up just fine since then.”
MSU linebacker Blake Braun
Braun battled sophomore Marcus Tappan, a transfer from Cincinnati, for the starting Will spot while Fletcher Collins battled Grant Collins at Mike. The last week of fall camp, Ioane and assistant linebackers coach Joday Owens elected to move Fletcher Collins to Will. The junior started there for the first four games. But he suffered a hand injury and Braun made the start against Sac.
Braun notched six solo tackles in his first start. He and Desman Carter teamed up to push Sac State freshman quarterback Nate Kettingham out of bounds at the Bobcat 2-yard line on a fourth down scramble to help MSU cap the victory.
“His desire to get to the football, he flies around and he pops out on film because he runs sideline to sideline trying to get in on every single play,” Ioane said. “He is assignment-sound now because he is studying film. It allows him to get to the ball that much quicker. That was a huge play for our team all the way around defensively and it was great to see him being the one making that play.”
Ash called the goal line stop a “huge morale booster” for his team even though MSU had a three-score lead at the time. Ioane said Braun will continue to rotate with Tappan against Portland State. Ioane also said junior Wyatt Christensen is close to breaking into the rotation as Grant Collins’ backup at Mike with Fletcher on the shelf.
“That’s why you rotate guys early in the season, get guys reps, get guys playing experience so when you do have those unfortunate injuries that are a part of football, you have those guys ready to roll,” Ioane said.
MSU cornerback Tre’Von Strong
Since breaking into the starting lineup two weeks ago against Northern Arizona, Strong has had his feet held to the fire. The Billings Skyview product gave up a 28-yard touchdown to NAU senior Dezjon Walker on the second series of the game. Strong later gave up a 43-yard reception to senior Alex Holmes. He bounced back to break up a pass. He had a pass breakup in the endzone against Sac State as well.
“Ups and downs are expected for a true freshman,” Ioane said last week. “We like the progress he is making.”
The same can be said for the rest of Montana State’s defense, a unit that also features sophomore starters in outside linebacker Mac Bignell, defensive end Tyrone Fa’anono and safety Khari Garcia.
Now Montana State’s defense must prove it can perform on the road. MSU is giving up 52 points per game away from Bozeman.
“They rebounded from a lackluster performance against Northern Arizona and came out and played very well,” Ash said. “I like the improvement we are starting to see in our defense. We had a lot of young and inexperienced players and now I feel like they are growing up.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
