Patrick Carroll was out of his element when the fear started to set in.
Carroll and a collection of his new teammates at Montana State went on a floating and camping trip on the Bighorn River this summer. Fishing and sleeping under the stars for the first time were enough to push Carroll’s comfort zone. Then the lightning storm began.
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“’I’ve never seen bigger lighting in my life,” the graduate transfer from Nevada-Las Vegas said following practice during his first week of fall camp at Montana State. “It started a forest fire. All of a sudden, we are floating down the river right by a forest fire and I’m thinking, ‘This is a whole new experience for me. First time fishing, first time doing anything like this and you have a lightning strike that almost lights us on fire’. I was terrified. It was amazing. This certainly isn’t Las Vegas. I never thought I’d be here.”
Acclimating to life in the Treasure State has been a part of the challenge for Carroll, a 6-foot-5, 330-pound offensive tackle. But Carroll’s biggest challenge — quiet literally — may reside in 6-foot-6, 285-pound offensive tackle Mitch Brott. Montana State brought in Carroll, one of 10 transfers on the roster for Jeff Choate’s first camp, following spring drills to help solidify a spot on an offensive line searching for four new starters.
“I don’t necessarily see a bunch of difference right now between Mitch and Patrick,” MSU first-year offensive line coach Brian Armstrong said. “I think we have two solid players there right now. We have to take one of those guys and get reps over there on the other side too. Consistency will make the difference.”
A dozen practices into camp, Carroll has looked solid, working primarily with the second-team offense. He is also taking some repetitions at left tackle. Brott took the bulk of the reps with the starting offense at right tackle during spring drills and has carried that experience into fall camp. He has taking the majority of the starter reps as Montana State prepares for its first day off of the session thus far on Tuesday.
“Competition is good, everything is still undecided, hoping for the best,” the soft-spoken Brott said last week. “Better communication and better chemistry with the unit will be the key to winning it.”
Montana State’s 2015 offensive line featured All-America left tackle John Weidenaar, All-Big Sky Conference center Joel Horn along with guard Kyle Godecke and tackle Alex Eekhoff, each starters for parts of three seasons themselves. The only returner in 2016 is J.P. Flynn, a fifth-year senior with three All-Big Sky accolades to his credit already.
During spring drills, Alex Neale — himself a UNLV transfer — solidified himself as Montana State’s No. 1 center. Flynn, a 6-foot-6, 317-pounder from Bettendorf, Iowa, did not participate in spring after suffering a torn patella tendon in his right knee in the final game of the 2015 season. Eight days into fall camp, Flynn does not seem to be suffering any side effects from the off-season surgery. Because Godecke and Eekhoff struggled with their health last season, Dylan Mahoney saw about 40 offensive snaps per game as a sort of sixth man who could play either guard or tackle. Now the 6-foot-6, 285-pound Great Falls C.M. Russell product is entrenched as the first man to start at left tackle for the Bobcats since Weidenaar won the spot before the 2012 season.
Carroll and Brott are not the only linemen fighting for a starting spot. At right guard, a duo of Dillon products are battling for a spot. Monte Folsom and Caleb Gillis, a pair of juniors who double as the best of friends are in a heated competition at right guard.
“You have a young guy in Mitch Brott who brings a lot of athleticism, that pop, that kind of explosive play as an offensive lineman. You have a guy like Pat Carroll who brings the experience factor to the table. Then you have Caleb Gillis and Monte Folsom who are neck and neck, both have played the same amount of games, the same thing in their pasts. It’s going to be a fun competition for those guys and I hope they are ready for it because one guy slips up, that’s the end of it for them,” said Flynn, a third-team All-Big Sky selection at tackle as a freshman in 2013, a first-team pick at guard in 2014 and a third-team selection last season at guard.
Folsom has played basically every position on the field dating back to his high school days with the Beavers. During a standout prep career that included earning 2010 Class A Defensive MVP honors as a middle linebacker, Folsom also played quarterback, slot receiver, offensive guard and offensive tackle. He signed with MSU in February of 2011 before embarking on an LDS mission.
The 6-foot-2, 295-pounder returned to MSU in 2013 and played various defensive positions during his redshirt season. In 2014, he moved from linebacker to defensive tackle partway through the season. Before last fall camp, Folsom moved from defensive tackle to offensive guard.
“My high school career is a reflection of my college career so far,” Folsom said with a chuckle. “The only place I’ve never played is the secondary. I’ve always been a little too big for that.”
Folsom left for a mission a 6-foot-2, 245-pound hammer of a middle linebacker, a downhill player with excellent sideline-to-sideline pursuit. He returned a 285-pounder with a body type fit for the trenches.
“It’s been a journey,” Folsom said. “Taking two years off to serve the Lord, the church, it’s a blessing. I feel like I’m more mature mentally and physically than if I would’ve been here two years earlier. It was tough getting back. Not working out for two years was a journey too. It was rough but starting last year, I started to get back to where everything was moving more smoothly.”
In 2015, Folsom saw significant playing time in Montana State’s win at Idaho State, going heads up with future NFL defensive tackle Tyler Kuder on several dozen plays and holding his own. Gillis made his first career start in the ISU game as well, the next step in what has been an odyssey for the one-time walk-on from Glenn, Montana.
Once upon a time, Gillis was a spindly 6-foot-6, 210-pounder trying to do anything and everything to gain the mass needed to compete along the offensive line in Division I. Today, he’s up around 295 pounds and his full, thick beard belies a young man in his early 20s. Gillis has position versatility with his ability to play tackle as well.
“Monte and I are great friends and this doesn’t come between us or anything,” Gillis said. “We both understand and respect that the coaches will play the guy who gives us the best chance to win football games.
“We aren’t just battling to earn the spot, we are just trying to make this a better football team.”
When Choate first went to work on breaking down film from MSU’s 2015 season, he didn’t last long watching his own offense. For one, dual-threat quarterback Dakota Prukop’s elite skill set had already transferred to Oregon. Secondly, the players on film up front were not going to be available during the 15 spring practices Choate and the Bobcats used to lay the foundation for 2016.
Choate said his main goal was to not look through a lens of if his respective returners could play at places like Washington and Florida, the most recent places Choate worked before taking his first college head coaching job. Instead, Choate watched film of teams from around the Big Sky and evaluated their personnel before comparing some of the standout talent from the other 12 teams in the league to the talent he has on his own roster.
After going through the process, Choate thinks Folsom is “a crafty, intelligent kid who can be a good interior offensive lineman in this league.” He thinks the 6-foot-3, 290-pound Neale could be “an elite player in this league, right there with any center in the Big Sky.” Choate thinks Flynn is one of the top talents in the league, period. He likes the toughness and versatility shown by Mahoney, the size that Gillis and Carroll bring to the table respectively, and the potential of redshirt freshman interior lineman Jake McFetridge.
“I think we are going to be better up front than most people think,” Choate said. “But we have to be.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
