The son of an old friend was among the first names that popped into Jeff Choate’s head when he was first hired as Montana State’s head football coach.
Choate played his college football at Montana Western before a devastating car accident abruptly ended the linebacker’s career in the early 1990s. During his time in Dillon, Choate played with Art Roper, who has gone on to become one of Idaho’s most revered high school offensive line coaches at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian right outside of Boise.
When Choate landed his first head coaching job at MSU in December of 2015, he instantly thought of Roper and his son, Jake, a stud running back for the Grizzlies. Choate immediately reached out to his old friend and wanted to offer Jake a scholarship. When Choate began to dig into his roster three weeks after his hiring — Choate stayed on staff through December to help coach Washington through its 2015 bowl game — MSU’s new head coach quickly realized his backfield was overcrowded.
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“I wanted to bring him in a year ago and I talked to Art, told him, “I want Jake, that would be awesome’, then I get here and we have nine running backs on scholarship,” Choate said last week. “I had to call back and say, ‘pump the breaks a little bit.’ That was not a comfortable conversation to have with an old friend.”
Choate had to scramble, quickly rescinding his offer from a stud tailback that had just rushed for 308 yards in the Idaho 5A state title game to help the school to its first-ever state championship. Roper piled up 1,454 yards and scored 20 touchdowns all told his senior year, numbers good enough to earn him a preferred walk-on offer to Boise State, his hometown team.
After one fall on the scout team in Boise, Art Roper contacted Choate to inquire if there might be room for Jake after the 5-foot-11, 193-pounder with the Bobcats. Choate had two open scholarships with the graduation of Chad Newell and Gunnar Brekke off of last season’s 4-7 Bobcat team.
Choate was noncommittal at first, not wanting to make the same mistake and lead the Ropers on. Saddleback Community College running back Edward Vander didn’t qualify academically to be a mid-year transfer to MSU, further opening up room for another body.Once Choate and running backs coach Michael Pitre, also MSU’s recruiting coordinator, realized there would be room on the roster, Choate considered bringing Roper in.
Then Choate reached out to Washington offensive line coach Scott Huff, who spent nearly 20 years at Boise State as a player or a coach before joining Chris Petersen’s staff at UW earlier this year.
“Scott Huff, who’s opinion I value greatly, called me and said (Roper) is a stud,” Choate said. “He goes, ‘This guy would probably be one of our guys next year. He’s looking for a little bit of money and an opportunity.’ So I called Jake.”
Without ever stepping foot in Bozeman or on the MSU campus, Roper committed to transfer to Montana State last December. He joined the Bobcats for the beginning of the spring semester in January. He is currently battling senior Nick LaSane and junior Noah James the right to replace the 246 carries lost by Newell and Brekke’s departure.
“I went to Boise State, had a great learning experience,” Jake Roper said following an MSU spring football practice last week. “I will always be a Bronco. I love my brothers over there. They have a great coaching staff. But money was a little tight, I asked for a release and I wound up here. I feel like this is exactly where I was supposed to be all along.”
Art told Jake about Bozeman before Jake transferred to MSU. Roper thought the Gallatin Valley sounded a lot like the Treasure Valley he grew up in, just less populated. Jake liked the reputation of Montana State academically as well- he is pursuing a pre-med undergraduate degree. Once he talked to Choate, he knew he wanted to become a Bobcat.
“I talked to Choate and I was like, ‘I like this guy, I like this head coach, he’s a real dude’,” Roper said. “He called me and said, ‘Are you ready to go?’ I said, ‘Yep,’ and I packed up and moved in like two weeks.”
Roper brings a different element to Pitre’s group. LaSane is both strong and explosive, a power back with big play ability. James is a workhorse, a 218-pound former walk-on who has contributed mostly on special teams thus far in his career. While Roper does not possess the size of his two primary competitors, Pitre said he loves Roper’s ability to catch balls out of the backfield or contribute as a pass blocker as well.
“He is very dynamic, can hurt you in the pass game and the run game,” MSU senior left tackle Dylan Mahoney said. “He’s a very good kid, nice kid who is fitting in. He’s a great athlete with great vision, good running back.”
When taking handoffs, Roper has already displayed noticeable patience and field vision in letting blocks develop and holes open up.
“That’s his greatest strength,” said Pitre, who enters his fourth season this fall mentoring MSU’s tailbacks. “He’s not a blazer, a 4.3, 4.4 guy but he’s — and I’m careful to say this — but he’s a poor man’s (Stanford Heisman Trophy finalist) Christian McCafferey with his ability to press the hole, understand what is going on, see something cross his face and be able to get behind. I’m careful to say that because McCaffrey is a big time player. Hopefully, we can get Jake to be that productive. But when you turn on the film and see their ability to do things, you see a lot of similarities in their games.”
If Montana State can get even a portion of the production out of Roper that McCaffrey put up at Stanford, Roper will be a recruiting steal. As a sophomore, McCaffrey broke Barry Sanders’ NCAA record of 3,250 all-purpose yards as he became the first Stanford running back to rush for more than 2,000 yards. McCaffrey rushed for 2,019 yards and eight touchdowns on 337 carries while catching 45 passes for 645 yards and five more touchdowns as a sophomore. He also scored one touchdown each on punt and kick returns.
As a junior, the 5-foot-11, 203-pound son of former NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver Ed McCaffrey rushed for 1,603 yards and 13 touchdowns while catching 37 passes for 310 yards and three more scores before turning pro.
“Jake is a really smart kid, great balance, excellent hands out of the backfield, low maintenance, high production,” Choate said. “That’s what you want as a football player. I’m very excited to have him here. You never know how your connections in life will benefit you down the road and this is mutually beneficial for us both.
Roper is likely in the same position he would’ve been in had he signed with MSU in February of 2016. He is coming off a redshirt year and will have four years of eligibility remaining. He said his semester at Boise State made him a better football player, although he acknowledged that the talent gap is not as much as one might perceive between the Mountain West and the Big Sky. He said many of Montana State’s players could compete for the Broncos. Roper himself is just glad to be competing for the Bobcats.
“I think I’m fitting in great,” Roper said. “I love catching passes out of the backfield and we seem to be doing a lot of that. I love the energy that we are bringing. I think we are going to be good.”
“My main goal is just to get better, get more experience and master the offense here. I’m competing for reps and it would be awesome to get an opportunity to play.”
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Photos by noted – Brooks and Colter Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
