As the Montana State roster continues to evolve entering Jeff Choate’s second season, the Bobcats continue to mine the junior college ranks to fill in the blanks.
MSU’s 54-35 loss to rival Montana in Bozeman to cap the 2015 season, Montana State’s first losing campaign since 2001, sent the roster turnover into overdrive. Two days after the loss, Rob Ash and most of his staff were fired. That contest capped the final game for 18 Montana State seniors. Choate was hired the first week of December that same year and since then, the roster has seen a complete transformation.
Since the departure of 18 seniors following the 2015 season, a total of 47 players have been removed from the MSU roster, including 14 seniors from last fall’s 4-7 team.
Former Montana State quarterback Dakota Prukop
transferred to Oregon weeks after Jeff Choate was hired at MSU/ by Brooks Nuanez
Veterans like Devin Jeffries, Shiloh LaBoy, Monte Folsom, Dalton Daum and Tyler Bruggman chose to retire. Naijiel Hale, Choate’s most prestigious recruit to date — the former 4-star recruit starred at prep national champion St. John Boscoe Prep before playing as a true freshman cornerback at Washington — earned himself a quick exit from Bozeman because of legal trouble. Highly regarded recruits like Dakota Prukop, Jayshawn Gates, Chris Harris, Cam Sutton, Woody Brandom, Sidney Holmes and Jordan Hoy made a mutual decision to split ties with the Bobcats before exhausting their eligibility.
The recent decisions of players like Sutton, Daum, and Brandom coupled with the spring-time retirement of the aforementioned gave Montana State some flexibility as the Bobcats try secure the 94 players they will bring to Choate’s second fall camp in August.
Choate signed 27 players in his most recent recruiting class in February, meaning at least 61 of Montana State’s players who report for camp in two months will be his recruits. That total includes three recent junior college signees: Snow JC defensive back JoJo Henderson, American River College wide receiver Jabarri Johnson and Venture College cornerback Dre Carter.
Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound junior who will have two years of eligibility remaining, seems like a suitable replacement for the 6-foot-6 Sutton, at least in build. Last season, the Elk Grove, California native caught 19 passes for 298 yards and two touchdowns in nine games at American River.
Johnson earned first-team All-Delta Valley honors as a senior at Elk Grove’s Franklin High School in 2013, catching 38 passes for 692 yards and 10 touchdowns. He hails from the same high school as Benson Osayande, a senior to be on MSU’s men’s basketball team.
Snow College cornerback JoJo Henderson signed a National Letter of Intent with Montana State on Thursday/ contributed
“Jabarri has experience at the college level and he has good size and is an excellent blocker away from the ball,” Choate said in an MSU press release. “He’s a very good student who was attracted to MSU for the right reasons. He’s an excellent addition to our program.
“Jabarri is a big-bodied receiver who is a good red zone target, and he creates more depth and competition at the receiver position.”
Henderson, a 6-foot-2, 195-pounder from Salt Lake City, was one of Montana State’s top DB recruits as a senior at Olympus High. After playing in the Blue-Grey All-America Bowl in Tampa in 2015, Henderson held an offer from MSU but elected to sign with Lamar, where he flirted with playing time as a true freshman safety in the fall of 2015.
He transferred to Snow College and played cornerback last fall, registering 54 tackles and 10 pass breakups in eight games as a freshman.
“JoJo is an extremely driven, highly competitive, very intelligent young man,” Choate said. “He’s an outstanding student with high character who was a very, very productive player for an excellent junior college program at Snow. I’m excited to add him to our program.”
Henderson was recruited by Montana State out of high school. At the time of his signing, he held offers from MSU’s Big Sky Conference rivals, North Dakota and Northern Arizona.
Carter, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound cornerback with three years left to play two seasons, is the latest JC signing by Choate’s staff. The native of Atlanta signed with Montana State earlier this week, marking the seventh junior college recruit of the Choate era, including the third this month.
Montana State secondary coach Mark Orphey coaches transfer CB Darren Gardenhire/ by Colter Nuanez
Last season, Carter notched 21 tackles, including 16 solo stops and two for a loss. He broke up a pass against Cerritos and registered a season-high seven tackles in the team’s season-closing game at Fullerton. He joins a position group that loses All-Big Sky cornerback John Walker to graduation, Harris to departure, Hale and fellow Washington transfer Darren Gardenhire to legal issues, although Gardenhire could still return to the active roster come August.
“Dre is an excellent student who we expect to compete right away,” Choate said in a press release. “He is a cornerback who gives us better depth and competition, and I’m excited that Dre is joining us.”
At Central Gwinnett High in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Carter earned a two-star rating as a cornerback.
Montana State’s players are expected to be in full attendance for the summer workout program beginning in late June.
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