Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a series breaking down the Montana State Bobcats following the third spring under head coach Jeff Choate and his staff. Today’s installment addresses former wide receiver Karl Tucker II moving to running back this spring.
FIRST INSTALLMENT: Bobcats still searching for Murray’s main competitor
SECOND INSTALLMENT: McGhee acclimating quickly to coaching MSU running backs
BOZEMAN — As he put his foot in the ground and cut up field sharply, Karl Tucker II looked like he had been running angle routes out of the backfield his entire career.
As the stout 6-foot-1, 205-pounder cut back after taking a handoff on an inside zone read option play during Montana State’s recently completed spring football session, he looked like a natural.
If you didn’t know any better, you’d never know that Tucker spent his first two seasons playing wide receiver for the Bobcats. The Great Falls C.M. Russell High product was one of the standouts of spring for MSU playing running back for the first time.
“He’s been a real pleasant surprise,” MSU first-year passing game coordinator Bob Cole said in April. “He’s a very instinctual runner. That’s stuff you can’t coach. He’s just going to bring that to the table. He’s done a really good job for us in the spring.”
Tucker’s move from the perimeter to the backfield came out of fit as well as necessity this spring. The Bobcat backfield graduated Nick LaSane, saw Noah James retire and saw Edward Vander transfer. Troy Andersen, the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the
Year last fall while splitting time between running back and linebacker, spent the spring exclusively practicing with the defense.
Tyrel Burgess, a standout as a kick returner who received sparse carries from tailback as a true freshman last season, spent the spring playing inside receiver. Sophomore Anthony Pegues left the program following spring football.
With all those changes plus the departure of running backs coach Michael Pitre to Oregon State, Montana State’s backfield has been in flux since 2018 began. Senior Logan Jones (28 carries, 106 yards, TD in 2017) is the only real experienced ball carrier that returns, although Montana State head coach Jeff Choate and second-year offensive coordinator Brian Armstrong have both said Andersen will receive a fair amount of offensive touches even if he’s primarily playing linebacker.
To remedy the depth issue for the immediate spring, the Bobcats brought in Indiana transfer Tyler Natee and added Tucker to the backfield. In the fall, Montana State will add a group of talented freshmen — Isaiah Ifanse of Bellevue (Washington), Justin Caulley of Los Angeles, Sherod White of the Inland Empire in California and Lane Sumner of Huntley Project. But until then, MSU needed an extra ball carrier for spring and Tucker fit a need.
“He was a very steady guy who we could count on at wideout but because some of the guys in front of him, he’s never really gotten
his turn,” Armstrong said. “Now with a need at running back, let’s throw him over there and see what we can do.”
One winter afternoon in the MSU locker room, Armstrong and Tucker had a conversation about Tucker potentially taking some turns in the backfield. Tucker, who played some Wildcat quarterback his senior year at CMR and rushed for nearly 450 yards that season, was very receptive to the opportunity. He dabbled at running back as a true freshman but mostly spent his first two seasons as a perimeter blocker and a special teams standout.
“The coaches have done a good job of making it a smooth transition for me,” Tucker said. “A lot of film, a lot of footwork working with me.
“It’s way different than playing receiver, a whole other world, a whole other mindset.”
Tucker acclimated to the position right away, showing sharp field vision, good patience through the hole and toughness at the point of attack.
“I’ve always thought he looks more like a running back than a wide receiver and he moves more like a running back,” third-year head coach Jeff Choate said following MSU’s second spring scrimmage. “As he gets more and more reps at running back, I feel better about that decision. I think he’s a guy who has good vision and balance, good lower body strength and I think it suits him better. I think it will be better for him and our team in the long run if we can just keep him there.”
During Montana State’s three full contact scrimmages, Tucker looked like a natural fit taking hand offs and catching passes out of the backfield. His transition has been accompanied by DeNarius McGhee’s transition from coaching quarterbacks to coaching running backs. McGhee has a largely new group — a dynamic that will be emphasized with the addition of the freshmen in August — and the young coach has been impressed thus far with Tucker’s progression.
“He’s an extremely intelligent kid so picking up protections, he’s gotten better and better and better over the spring,” McGhee said. “I only remember him missing one protection over the spring. Now he’s getting his eyes in the right spot and getting the job done.
“Karl being a receiver, he has good change of direction, good hips and for a receiver, he has a natural knack and really good vision because he’s been in the open field a lot setting up blocks on the perimeter. He’s carried that over setting up blocks in between the tackles. He just knows he doesn’t have that much space to make a guy miss.”
Of all the new skills Tucker has honed over the 15 spring practices playing his new position, it’s his most familiar skill he is most excited to employ: catching the ball out of the backfield. In a short interview with Skyline Sports, the humble, quiet Tucker said he thinks he can take advantage of one-on-one matchups in space with linebackers when incumbent MSU quarterback Chris Murray throws him the ball, whether it’s on a check down or as part of a designed play. Murray, for one, has been impressed with Tucker’s emergence as a new backfield weapon during spring drills.
“I love him out of the back field,” Murray said. “He can run the ball, catch it, a real dual-threat running back. That’s something I want and something we need.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
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