BOZEMAN — Tyrel Thomas and Jalen Cole shared several similarities before arriving at the same time in Bozeman, Montana to become Bobcats.
Both are competitive, physical cornerbacks who make up for their lack of size with the ability to agitate and dominant their competition. Both prepped in the Trinity League, Southern California’s top prep school league. Both earned praise from recruiters and scouts but missed out on FBS offers because of their small stature.
Both were recruited by Gerald Alexander, a former Boise State and NFL standout who spent a single season coaching cornerbacks at Montana State before moving on to the same position on Justin Wilcox’s staff at Cal. Thomas and Cole came to Montana State with the intention to play right away and both did during the 2017 season.
And both would agree, the hardest thing they have had to do since moving to the Treasure State has nothing to do with playing football.
“I struggled with the winter,” said Thomas, a Compton native who went to high school at St. John Boscoe Prep in Bellflower. “The winter was the one that really got to me. Walking from the dorms, early morning, when it’s cold outside…No. No way.”
“The snow was the hardest part for me,” said Cole, a Carson native who prepped at Mater Dei, currently the No. 1 ranked high school football team in the country. “It was just freezing cold and out of nowhere and it was EVERY DAY. That was a hard adjustment.
“It was bad. Coach (Jeff) Choate still tells us that it was the worst winter around here in a long time. I hope it’s not like that this winter because I don’t know how I’m going to get through it again (laughs).”
Coming from Southern California and having to endure a Gallatin Valley winter with record snowfall has been a shock to the system for many Bobcats in past years. Enduring 6 a.m. spring football practices when it was still snowing in April certainly was trying for Cole, Thomas and their Bobcat teammates.
But the toughest task the cornerback duo Choate deemed “the Thunder Cats” last season might come Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Stadium. Gage Gubrud and the juggernaut that is the Eastern Washington offense are in town for a crucial Big Sky Conference showdown.
“One of the things they do, they use tempo, multiple formations, multiple personnel groups,” Choate said. “They will run some option, they will run some Q run game, Q power. They make you defend a whole lot. And the one thing you don’t want to do is you don’t want to blitz because now you are one-on-one with all these great receivers they have down the field.
“I talk about the red-zone – they are going to get their yards. That’s who they are. What we have to do is we have to play really, really good red-zone defense and try to limit them to field goal opportunities when they are down there.”
Although EWU is leading the Big Sky Conference through four games with an average of 291 rushing yards per game — a number inflated by last week’s 441-yard effort in a 70-17 win over Cal Poly — the key for Montana State fulfilling Choate’s goal and buckling down in the red-zone will fall on the revamped secondary of the Bobcats.
“Our unit has improved a lot,” Thomas said in an interview in August. “There’s a lot more physicality. Everyone is getting better, everyone is competing with each other, everybody is here helping each other.”
The coaching staff shuffled Montana State’s depth chart entering the Eastern Washington week of preparation. Jahque Alleyne, a Virginia Tech transfer who has two interceptions this season, is back as the starter at free safety next to junior strong safety Brayden Konkol.
Greg “Munchie Filer III, a transfer from Compton College in the off-season, is slated to get his first start at field corner opposite Thomas. Cole is listed as Thomas’ backup at boundary cornerback but is also MSU’s starter at nickel back. Damien Washington, the starter for the first three games at field corner, is listed as Filer’s backup this week.
“Competition has been great,” said Washington, a product of Charter Oak Academy in Covina, California who as a junior in his third year in the program is the veteran of the Bobcat secondary. “The young guys are great. They bring a lot of smack talking to the receivers, a lot of edge to them. They are a good addition and they help us be a better team.”
Because of the continued steadiness of Washington, the addition of Filer and the progression of Cole and Thomas, Montana State is a rare Big Sky team featuring four press corners who do not shy away from physical play or, as Choate likes to say, “verbal combat”, also known as trash talking.
“Now everybody is talking,” Cole said. “I love it. It fuels us. We have people with the same interests all working for the same goal. It’s fun when you have a group like that. Look out for us this year and in years coming.”
Montana State’s pass rush has already equaled its sack total of 11 from last season. A portion of that increase in production is a credit to Sterk, a 6-foot-5, 255-pound monster who leads the league through four games with five sacks.
But a part of it goes to the secondary and their ability to cover for longer periods of time.
With the Eagles as MSU’s next opponent, the Bobcats will face their latest test in what has been a trying season already in terms of opposing offensive talent.
The Bobcats faced All-Missouri Valley Football Conference quarterback Sean McGuire, a fifth-year senior, in their season-opening 26-23 win over Western Illinois. The strong-armed veteran threw for 164 yards, two touchdowns and two second-quarter interceptions.
The following week, South Dakota State senior Taryn Christion did whatever he wanted, throwing for 319 yards and four touchdowns in the No. 3 Jackrabbits’ 45-14 rout of MSU.
Last week in MSU’s Big Sky opener, Portland State sophomore Davis Alexander provided more headaches than expected in piling up 283 yards of total offense in MSU’s 43-23 victory.
Thomas is the leading tackler through four games among the four cornerbacks with 16 stops to go with three pass breakups, also the best number among the quartet. Filer is next with seven tackles, followed by Washington who has six and Cole, who has four, including the only tackle for loss from the group.
MSU cornerbacks coach Mark Orphey praises Washington for his versatility — “He can literally play any position from corner to nickel to safety and he doesn’t miss a best,” Orphey said — and his rising sophomores for their improvements mentally and physically. Orphey said last year the coaches threw Cole and Thomas in the fire because neither one “really understood football”.
After a full year on campus and a full season and off-season to prepare for this campaign, the aptitude has grown.
“They play a lot faster now,” Orphey said. “The fact that they understand the defense and what it actually means, that helps them out. They will end up being a lot better than they were last year because of that mental improvement.”
That improvement will be put to the test on Saturday in one of the biggest Big Sky games of the Choate era.
“As a secondary, I feel like we could be the best secondary in the Big Sky,” Cole said. “We are going to get picks for sure. We are going to be clamps.”
That quest begins this weekend against Gubrud and the Eagles.
