BOZEMAN — Jeff Choate has made no secret about the fact that the Montana State football coaching staff was well aware of Chris Murray’s academic struggles.
Toward the end of spring drills in Bozeman, in April, the Bobcats shifted to giving redshirt freshman Tucker Rovig the majority of the starter snaps at quarterback despite the fact that Murray entered 2018 with 16 straight starts under his belt. Rovig, a 6-foot-5, 205-pounder out of Mountain View High in Meridian, Idaho just outside of Boise, did not rise to the occasion. Instead, Rovig struggled with his footwork, his accuracy, his arm strength, and most of all his confidence.
“Spring for me was a really rough period of practice and this summer, even this fall, I’ve tried to improve on my leadership and my confidence,” Rovig said during an interview after the first Sunday session of MSU’s fall camp here. “I feel like with the confidence that it’s helped me believe in myself more, trust myself more and with that confidence, it’s helped my leadership because I can talk to people and be so vocal.”
“Looking back at it, I don’t really have a good idea of why I struggled. I just know after the whole spring was done looking back, the one thing I could point to that I struggled with the whole spring with was confidence. I just realized that and made it my focus throughout the off-season.”
During the first few days of Montana State’s heated quarterback competition — a race that features Rovig, transfer Travis Jonsen, converted stud running back Troy Andersen and incoming freshmen Casey Bauman and Ruben Beltran — Rovig again appeared unsure of himself. But Sunday, he turned the corner and earned Choate’s praise.
As MSU enters the second half of a seven-day slog to reach Saturday’s first scrimmage, Andersen appears adequate talent-wise and solid in terms of the operations portion of playing quarterback. Bauman has unquestionably the strongest arm on the team. All the other quarterbacks are quick to admit it. Jonsen has shown flashes of leadership and has made good throws but has also worked in at receiver more frequently as the dog days march on.
But it’s Rovig who has reestablished himself as a real candidate for the starting position despite his struggles in the spring.
“I don’t think it was any mystery with us; we knew there were going to be issues eventually with Chris,” Choate said on Monday. “Really toward the tail end of spring ball, he took all the reps with the 1s. It was an opportunity for him to establish himself as the guy coming into summer, us knowing that issue with Chris was on the horizon. For whatever reason, he did not step forward and assert himself.
“Now he knows that as a golden opportunity that (he) let pass by because now he’s in a quarterback competition. Had it been the other way around, he would’ve been the clear No. 1 and I would’ve preferred that.
“But I think he understands hey, that didn’t work for me and I’ve got to take a different approach and I see him really taking charge and transforming into a leadership role. Now he’s got to assert himself with this team. That’s what I think…I’m looking for somebody in that group to emerge in that role.”
The public announcement Murray would sit out the 2018 season came in July but the MSU coaching staff alerted the players in May, Rovig said. Because of Murray’s return to his hometown of Los Angeles to get his grades in order, the responsibilities of running the player-run practices that now highlight the summer for college football programs across the country fell to the incumbent: Rovig.
“I saw it as an opportunity,” Rovig said. “My foot was in the door, take advantage of it and do the best I can.”
“Definitely made me step it up a notch. Last year coming in, I was one of the youngest kids on the roster and knew the least when it came to the play books. Now looking at it, I’ve been here the longest of all the QBs on the roster. I’ve not only stepped up my game but I’ve been trying to teach the other QBs.”
A season ago, even with Murray the front-runner to start again after earning 2016 Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors, cerebral quarterback Brady McChesney was the guy running the PRPs, Choate said. McChesney retired abruptly in the spring because of injury. Rovig organizing the practices helped boost his confidence.
“He did a tremendous job this summer because he was the go-to guy,” Choate said. “It all fell to Tucker this summer. I thought he did an awesome job of being the point man. I saw that step take place.”
In the off-season, Choate held leadership training meetings and Rovig attended most of them. Rovig is open and articulate about his struggles throughout his career as a competitive athlete. He said he used to question his leadership but that the lectures from Choate helped him feel much more comfortable in being vocal.
“It’s my standard line when it comes to what I want out of a quarterback: No. 1, a great decision maker, somebody who is going to take care of the football and put us in a position to be successful,” Choate said. “No. 2 is accuracy. They have to be able to spot the ball and not make every catch a tough catch. Put the ball somewhere where a guy can get yards after the catch. And No. 3 is leadership, being able to command the offense and people have trust, feel like that guy can get the job done.
“At the end of the day, what’s this about? It’s about production. Consistently producing at a high level. If your teammates see that and they trust you, you’ll be the guy because the coaches will see the same things. That’s the next step for Tucker and really all these guys: go consistently product. That’s what is going to separate these guys.”
Choate has said frequently throughout the first week of camp that he hopes to have the quarterback battle paired down to two candidates. Rovig, in his self-aware fashion, knows he needs to keep fighting if he wants to be one of those two.
“I need to be more consistent,” Rovig said. “Whoever wins this QB competition, that’s how it will end up: whoever is the best leader and the most consistent. I feel like it’s a better three days than I’ve had in the spring but I still need to get more consistent. I will keep working on it.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
