Jeff Choate, Ty Gregorak and Montana State’s defensive coaching staff have had nearly 10 months to break down and rebuild Montana State’s much-maligned defense. On Thursday, the revamped Bobcat defense will be tested right away as MSU opens up the Choate era in Moscow, Idaho.
[restrict paid=”true”]The Idaho Vandals return a veteran offensive line in front of quarterback Matt Linehan, a strong-armed 6-foot-3, 213-pound junior entering his third year as UI’s starter under center. Idaho features a skilled and talented receiving corps led by speedy outside threat Callen Hightower and one of the most productive pairs of tight ends in the FBS in Deon Watson and Trent “Buck” Cowan.
A season ago, the Vandals averaged more than 30 points per game and UI’s 426.4 yards per game were among the top 25 averages in the country. Hightower’s 57 catches for 749 yards and two touchdowns and enters his senior year as a second-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection. The 6-foot-3, 224-pound Cowan caught 48 passes, the fourth-highest among FBS tight ends, for 624 yards and four touchdowns. Watson had 42 caches for 551 yards and team-high seven touchdowns.
“What stands out to me is their efficiency on offense,” said Choate, a longtime assistant who will serve as a college head coach for the first time on Thursday. “They averaged more than 30 points per game, top 25 in total yards of offense per game in the FBS. Veteran quarterback, veteran O-line. Their playmakers are their tight ends. The Hightower kid, No. 6, they can stretch the field with him. They have a lot of options in the passing game in particular.”
Idaho’s offensive success will again hinge on Linehan’s right arm. The son of Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan is a second-generation Vandal — Scott threw for more than 7,000 yards as UI’s bridge between All-America quarterbacks Ken Hobart and John Friesz in the mid-1980s— and his proficiency shows up on film.
“The quarterback is a coach’s kid who has been through the fire,” said Gregorak, Montana State’s defensive coordinator who spent 12 of the last 12 seasons coaching at the University of Montana in Missoula. “He throws the ball hard. He can spin it pretty good. Watching film, he’s hit some pretty tight windows. You watch him on film against the likes of USC and Auburn and you are like, ‘Dang, ok.’ They lost those ball games but they did some stuff offensively that make you look twice. They really turned it on offensively the second half of the season. They are scary in certain respects but I’m fired up for the challenge.”
Linehan posted two of the most productive seasons as a freshman and sophomore by any quarterback in school history. As a freshman, Linehan threw for 2,540 yards and 11 touchdowns. His 381 yards against Ohio served as a single-game UI record for a freshman. Last season, Linehan finished 21st in the FBS with 293 yards of total offense per game. He completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 2,972 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also rushed for 234 yards and scored five times on the ground. His yardage total was the fourth highest in the FBS era for an Idaho quarterback. He is a preseason second-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection.
“He’s very poise,” Choate said. “He takes what the defense gives him. He doesn’t force the ball a lot. He’s mobile, more mobile than most people think for a big, tall quarterback. He does some great things within the offense to keep them out of trouble.”
Linehan threw at least 35 passes in five separate games in fourth-year head coach Paul Petrino’s up-tempo spread offense. He threw for more than 300 yards against Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State, Texas State and South Alabama. Linehan’s 5,512 career passing yards already rank eighth in school history, just 1,506 behind his father for sixth in school history and more than half-way to Doug Nussmeier’s school record of 10,824 set between 1990 and 1993.
“He’s really taken another step mentally,” said Petrino, the offensive coordinator at Louisville, Arkansas and Illinois before coming to UI. “At the quarterback position, there’s really nothing more valuable than experience. The more you play, the more the game slows down. I think he sees the defense so much better now and really understands how people are trying to attack him.”
A season ago, Montana State led the Big Sky Conference in scoring and total offense only to finish 5-6 partially because of a defensive propensity for surrendering big plays. MSU’s secondary featured a pair of seniors — cornerback Bryson Keeton and strong safety Desman Carter — along with a barage of sophomores and freshmen who took their lumps.
In the off-season, one of Choate’s primary recruiting goals was to upgrade the secondary, both in talent and in instruction. Choate hired Gerald Alexander, a former All-WAC safety who was a second-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft before spending five seasons in the league. Choate also hit the transfer market, picking up graduate transfer cornerback John Walker from Colorado and Naijiel Hale, a former four-star recruit who played extensively as a true freshman at Washington in 2014.
Before Hale and Walker arrived, Montana State’s secondary was a makeshift unit. During the first spring ball under Choate, Gregorak and Alexander, the Bobcats often used a “ghost” cornerback because numbers were so fleeting due to injuries and class conflicts.
During 15 spring practices and three and a half weeks of fall camp, Montana State’s cornerbacks engaged in a heated competition after an influx of talent and development jolted the group. The first week of August, MSU officially added Walker, Hale and true freshman Damien Washington. The Bobcats saw further development of sophomore Tre’Von Strong, a starter for eight games as a true freshman out of Billings Skyview and junior Bryce Alley, a starter for parts of the last two seasons and essentially MSU’s next man up at cornerback. Sophomore Tavon Dodd, a converted running back and Braelen Evans, a sophomore who has spent his first two years in Bozeman battling various knee ailments, also made strides under Alexander’s tutelage.
“I think the corners are doing a great job,” Gregorak said. “(Sophomore) Tre’Von Strong, for a kid who got thrown to the fire as a true freshman, is a kid who could end up having a very good career here. He’s a long, big, physical looking corner. He carries that chip on his shoulder from last year a little bit. And we are very fortunate to get John Walker out of Colorado. He was looking for a home. He played corner and nickel at CU and man he had a great camp. Doesn’t say much. Comes to work every day. We are very fortunate to get him.”
The backend pair of junior safeties, Khari Garcia and Bryson McCabe, has acclimated to the coaching change as well as any Bobcats. Both were named team captains last week and are expected to be key elements if MSU is to correct the defensive woes that have plagued the team for the past two seasons.
“Our two safeties, with health, could be two of the best safeties in this league,” Gregorak said. “I love the way Bryson McCabe comes to work every day. He’s exactly what I want in a strong safety. You have to tell him to ease off sometimes. He wants to hit you whenever he can. Khari is a little lighter, less physically imposing but Khari will come smack you.”
The physicality employed by the safety duo helped MSU set the tone each day in fall camp. It’s something Choate, Gregorak and Alexander harp on day in and day out.
“Coach GA says if we aren’t a physical secondary, we won’t be playing,” McCabe said. “The whole defense, we need some more dogs out there, be more physical. I mean, it’s football. We have to smack them, not let them smack us. Now we need to do it against somebody else.”
Thursday night’s game kicks off at 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time in the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
