Over the last three seasons, Jeff Choate has coached some of the most freakishly gifted athletes in all of college football.
During his one season on Will Muschamp’s staff at Florida in 2013, Choate mentored Buck ends Dante Fowler and Ronald Powell. The 6-foot-3, 265-pound Fowler went on to become the No. 3 overall selection in the 2015 NFL Draft while the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Powell went in the fifth round.
During his time coaching defensive line during the 2014 and 2015 seasons at the University of Washington, Choate mentored the likes of Hau’oli Kikaha, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound hybrid pass rusher who led college football with 19 sacks in 2014, and Danny Shelton, a 6-foot-2, 339-pound mountain who became the No. 12 overall selection in last season’s NFL Draft.
So when the longtime defensive position coach — Choate coached linebackers at Boise State and Washington State before heading to the SEC — took over as the head coach at Montana State last December, he had to look at his new defensive linemen through a completely different lens.
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“Just the physical measurements is what stands out the most,” Choate said in a post-fall camp practice last week. “You are so much longer at places like Washington, Florida. You can recruit and say we aren’t taking an interior defensive lineman unless he’s 6-foot-3 or taller and you can probably find that guy. Here, you are going to have some modifications of that. You are going to have some squatty bodies but they have to be productive players and be able to hold up against double teams. That’s probably the biggest difference.”
From Gary Gustafson in the 1960s to Bill Kollar and Lester Leininger in the 70s to Mark Fellows in the 1980s to Neal Smith and Corey Widmer in the 1990s to Dane Fletcher, Caleb Schreibeis and Brad Daly of the last 10 years, Montana State’s defensive line lineage runs deep. Montana State averaged 36 sacks per season between 2010 and 2012, a stretch that produced three straight Big Sky titles for the first time in school history. Despite Daly’s Buck Buchanan Award winning senior season in 2013, the sack number fell to 28. Over the last two seasons, MSU has just 41 total sacks after notching 44 in 2011 and 39 in 2012 alone.
Since taking over as Montana State’s head coach, Choate has dedicated himself to revamping the Bobcats’ identity. MSU spent 15 spring practices and 20 more outings during its recently completed fall camp getting back to basics, doing drill after drill to recapture the fundamental essentials of the game. The defensive line has been perhaps the position group that has received the most attention and the biggest overhaul.
“We have really been working with our eyes, striking the right guys with our hands,” said sophomore nose tackle Tucker Yates, a Colstrip native who enters his second year as a starter. “We have also been working on footwork, little tiny details like that. Over and over and over we rep it.”
First-year defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak is leading the defense while also coaching the Buck end position, a group that features three of Montana State’s most talented players: sophomore middle linebacker convert Grant Collins, junior defensive end Shiloh Laboy and pass rushing specialist senior Jessie Clark.
The defensive line has been under the tutelage of Byron Hout, a former Boise State linebacker in his first year as a full-time position coach. Choate has also kept a watchful eye over the defensive line and the Buck ends, working with each very closely.
“I think Coach Hout has done a really good job with those guys,” Choate said. “The d-line is an interesting position. I probably never fully understood it until I started coaching it in terms of the number of repetitions it takes of the same mundane thing over and over and over again. There’s a rep count there with the old 10,000-hour rule where you can do the same thing and you aren’t seeing an advantage, you aren’t seeing it and then a light comes on and it starts to click. That’s where I think we’ve gotten.”
Montana State’s interior defensive line has been a high priority for Choate and Hout for the duration of 2016 so far. Following spring drills, Choate brought in Fou Polataivao and Brandon Hayashi, a pair of 300-pound tackles, from the junior college ranks. Each has rounded into shape and has shown flashes during the three weeks of fall camp.
“Fou has really surprised me,” Yates said. “His footwork is great and he is very technically sound. He’s starting to play really well. He fits in with the group and Brandon too. Brandon has been playing well too.”
“Fou and Brandon, they have flashed and as their conditioning level gets better, not only are they going to help us a ton but they are going to make that unit better as a whole because the competition is going to force those other guys to bring those other guys up,” Choate added.
The 6-foot-1, 305-pound Polataivao has taken reps at both inside positions during fall camp. The 5-foot-11, 300-pound Hayashi has taken turns primarily at nose tackle. Although each has shown progress, neither has been able to displace Yates or sophomore Zach Wright.
The 6-foot-2, 250-pound Wright came to Montana State from New Braunfels, Texas as a defensive end. He moved to the inside during the spring largely to aid in MSU’s depth. He showed great potential despite lacking mass and emerged from the session as the starter at defensive tackle. He has not given up the position.
“Zach Wright is a kid I like a lot. He’s just got that grit to him. He’s Texas tough,” Choate said. “He’s a really competitive kid.”
Wright makes up for a lack of pounds with a relentless motor. He is on the butt end of good-natured ribbing — Grant Collins calls him the bowling ball — from his teammates more often than not because of the havoc he wreaks on the inside.
“Zach Wright is playing awesome right now,” Yates said. “He has been absolutely ballin’. He does everything right. Zach has a great motor, a freak of a motor. If he gains a little more weight, he’ll be an absolute force.”
“He’s so hard on himself, so critical and he wants to do everything right. He’s just a beast. He’s a tough player. He’s got nicks, he’s beat up and he ain’t complaining. He’s one of our toughest guys.”
The injury bug has hit the end position opposite the Buck. Because of a family issue, Tyrone Fa’anono missed the first few days of fall camp. He practiced once before appearing in a walking boot the following day. The severity of the injury is unknown but Choate indicated Fa’anono, a starter for each of the last two seasons, would return sometime this season.
Junior Devin Jeffries, a former Class AA Defensive Player of the Year out of Kalispell Glacier, tore his ACL during fall camp. He will miss the 2016 season.
Laboy worked primarily with the Bucks for the beginning of camp but has since moved to end as well. During Friday’s scrimmage, he notched a touch sack. The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder with a martial arts background has proven to be a versatile player after not getting much of a chance last season as a junior college transfer buried on the depth chart.
“We’ve moved him around and he’s a guy who is a pretty good natural pass rusher,” Choate said. “He has fluid hips and active hands and does a nice job as a pass rusher but he’s also 250 pounds so he can hold up a little better if we need to slide him down inside. His versatility is the thing that makes him most valuable to us.”
Collins has adjusted well to the Buck end, meaning for the first time since 2013, Montana State has a defensive line with four starters who have Division I playing experience. In 2014, Fa’anono was forced into the rotation as a true freshman when four-star recruit Garrett Marino flamed out. Last season, Yates and Clark were starters for the first time in their careers. The experience coupled with Choate’s tutelage is sure to pay dividends.
“So far, it’s a lot different, honestly,” Yates said. “I think Choate working with us has worked out great for us. Having a head coach who is an ex d-line coach, he’s overshadowing our drills every day. Coming from the Pac 12, a big-time school, that’s huge.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
