BOZEMAN — Jeff Choate wanted more linebackers that looked like Ty Gregorak.
During his playing days at Colorado University, the 6-foot-3 ½ Gregorak tipped the scales at 245 pounds. The West Valley (Spokane) High product starred for the Buffs as a tall, physical middle linebacker until injuries cut his career short going into his senior season in 2000.
When Choate took over as Montana State’s head coach in December of 2015, perhaps his biggest coup was swooping up Gregorak from the rival Montana Grizzlies. Gregorak spent 2003 until 2009 and 2012 until 2015 first coaching linebackers for Bobby Hauck, then coordinating defenses for Mick Delaney and Bob Stitt at UM.
Soon after hiring the man he wanted to run the Bobcat defense, Choate consistently talked about wanting to revamp a roster short on length into a team, particularly in the front seven defensively, with long-levered athletes. Now when Choate and Gregorak look out over their first defensive unit, the group fits the eye test.
“We are very much starting to look the part,” Gregorak said in an interview on August 6. “We have some pretty dudes out there, there’s no question.”
The current No. 1 defensive unit employs Bryce Sterk on the edge. At 6-foot-5, 260 pounds with speed that helped him win multiple championships in prep track, the Buck end has the potential to be one of the most physically gifted players in the Big Sky Conference next season.
Sterk’s slated backup at Buck is Colorado transfer Dante Sparaco, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound man child who has found his way onto the field at the same time as Sterk in certain situations a week into MSU’s third fall camp under Choate.
Montana State’s linebackers unit features six linebackers 6-foot-3 or taller, including 6-foot-4 sophomore Michael Jobman as the current No. 1 Mike linebacker, although 6-foot-4 senior Mike linebacker Grant Collins has been taking scheduled days off this camp as he recovers from shoulder surgery.
Chad Kanow, a true sophomore taking the top reps at Will linebacker, is 6-foot-3. Jacob Hadley, a 6-foot-5 Billings Central product who came to MSU as an athlete, has already played game snaps in his career at safety, Buck and now is the front-runner to start at Sam linebacker, although sophomore Balue Chapman, a 6-foot-1 Bozeman product, will have something to say about that before the end of camp.
Siskiyous College transfer Daniel Hardy, MSU’s third Sam linebacker, along with converted quarterback Callahan O’Reilly each stand 6-foot-3. Kyle Finch, a sophomore from Dillon who is the third Buck, stands 6-foot-4.
“We have wanted to get longer and faster and we started with longer,” Choate said following his team’s August 3 practice. “I think we are there. There is a lot of length on our defense, especially on the edges but even interiorly.
“If you put Jobman and Kanow out there, that’s not what most Big Sky linebackers look like. They are big, long, rangy dudes. That’s not to say you have to be that guy because (6-foot-1 freshman) Nolan Askelson and (six-foot junior) Walker Cozzie…(5-foot-11 injured junior) Josh Hill, good football players come in all shapes and sizes.
“But clearly, we are recruiting to a model that we want to follow. In an odd defense, 3-4 base, that’s what you want: you want length.”
With the exception of Collins, all the length on Montana State’s front seven has been recruited by Choate, Gregorak and the Bobcat staff. The unit will also feature one of the toughest defensive lines in the league, a unit anchored by less long players like 6-foot-2, 270-pound senior strong end Tyrone Fa’anono, 6-foot-1, 250-pound end Derek Marks, 6-foot, 285-pound nose tackle Tucker Yates and 6-foot-2, 265-pound defensive tackle Zach Wright, each of them recruited under former head coach Rob Ash.
“Our defense is really good,” sophomore Troy Andersen, a candidate to be MSU’s starting quarterback after earning Big Sky Freshman of the Year as a running back and linebacker, said. “The front seven is loaded, a lot of big guys in there who have had a lot of playing time.
“Our defense should be ready to roll this year.”
Because of the development of young players like Jobman, Kanow and Hadley, junior Brayden Konkol has been able to move from Will linebacker back to his more natural position of strong safety, giving the Bobcats three 6-foot-2 options at safety including Virginia Tech transfer Jahque Alleyne and former junior college transfer JoJo Henderson.
MSU has even added length at cornerback in the form of junior college transfer Greg Filer and true freshmen twins Ty’Rae and Ty’Rese Gibson, all three who measured in at 6-foot-1.
“The defense has evolved in the sense that we are wanting to emphasize getting the ball away and our length helps that,” Marks said. “Our primary goals on defense are to get the ball back or score. I think that’s huge, something we haven’t necessarily done the last two years but it’s something we are trying to accomplish.”
Choate inherited a team coming off two straight unprecedented years of offensive production that resulted in just a 13-11 record because of a defense that had trouble even forcing punts, let along turnovers. Montana State ranked second in the league in scoring defense each of the last two seasons.
Although the physical improvements at MSU are noticeable and undeniable, the execution of a variety of key factors is still an unfulfilled goal for Gregorak. During his time at Montana, he coached nearly 40 linebackers to first-team All-Big Sky honors, helping players like Caleb McSurdy, Brock Coyle, Jordan Tripp, Zack Wagenmann and Tyrone Holmes reach the NFL under his tutelage or in his scheme.
In other words, Gregorak has been a part of some elite defenses that were driving forces during UM’s run to seven straight Big Sky titles under Hauck and playoff appearances in 2013 and 2014 under Delaney. He knows his unit has improved but Gregorak is not ready to proclaim this Bobcat defense as world-beaters yet.
“This has been a process, a heck of a process actually,” Gregorak said. “From a cultural standpoint and a leadership standpoint…the first night of fall camp, I had a reality check and I called it that to the guys.
“We can’t be in the top 3 in the league in some categories and in the bottom three in others. We can’t be really good one game and really average to poor the next game. Even within a game, we can’t go have a great half and then give up some big chunk plays.
“It boils down to consistency. If we can become a consistent defense, get heat on the quarterback and play some tighter coverage, I think those takeaway numbers and third downs, things we have been poor at, I think we will see improvement this year.”
Marks, Wright and several other MSU veterans all talked unprompted about the lecture Gregorak gave to open fall camp. Gregorak pointed out that 2016 Big Sky champion North Dakota and 2017 Big Sky champion Weber State each led the league in two specific categories: takeaways and scoring defense.
“Coach says it and I love it when he says it: stats are for losers but there are certain statistics, any way you cut it, they help you win ball games,” Gregorak said. “We have lofty goals. I’m not worried about national rankings. I want to be the best in our conference. If we can do some of those things in our conference, we will have an opportunity as we get into November that we can start talking about.”
The progress the program has made since Choate’s first season — a campaign in which MSU lost its first six conference games consecutively as turnovers plagued the offense during a 4-7 finish — is visible. Because so many of the expected key contributors are either transfers or have never played in Big Sky games, question marks, especially externally, remain.
Despite winning seven of their last 10 Big Sky games under Choate, including narrow losses to Weber State and Northern Arizona, the Big Sky’s other head coaches and affiliated media picked MSU to finish eighth in the preseason polls.
“With what I’ve seen, I’m very impressed,” Alleyne said. “…I feel this year, we will be a problem. Being picked No. 8 in the Big Sky is a good thing, definitely a good thing. When I saw that, I was like, ‘Yeah, you are all in for a treat.’”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
