Fresh off its stoutest performance to date of the 2015 season, Montana State’s defense found itself with a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into its contest against surging Portland State last October.
The previous week, the Bobcats stonewalled Sacramento State, holding the Hornets to three second-half points and notching three sacks, including a hit by defensive tackle Taylor Sheridan that took Sac quarterback Kolney Cassel out of the game.
At that point in Montana State’s season, the Bobcats were 3-2, including 2-1 in league play with each conference win going hand in hand with a decent defensive performance. MSU’s other losses were to explosive Eastern Washington (55-50), the top passing attack in the FCS, and upstart Northern Arizona, a suddenly explosive offense that hung 49 points on MSU.
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In Portland, Dakota Prukop ripped off a 61-yard touchdown run on the third play of the game. Montana State, the preseason Big Sky Conference favorites, had the Vikings on the ropes.
On the first play of Portland State’s first drive, senior speed demon running back David Jones took a hand off out of the shotgun, cut back, burst past a diving Desman Carter and out-ran the rest of the Bobcats for a 79-yard touchdown. Montana State’s defensive woes were back in full force.
Explosive plays came in bunches for Montana State’s opponents in 2015, a trend that has continued to swirl since a 54-29 loss at EWU in 2013 in which MSU did not get a single stop. The struggles came with a collection of questions. Was it a lack of communication or coaching? Where did Montana State lose its defensive swagger? Was MSU navigating a roster lacking talent?
Perhaps the Bobcats simply endured a season-long set of growing pains while relying on a slew of young players on the defensive side of the ball. Montana State started Sheridan along the defensive line and his senior classmates Nate Bignell and Connor Thomas rotated at defensive tackle as well. The secondary featured Bryson Keeton and Desman Carter, a pair of FBS drop downs who never found their footing among Big Sky competition. Young, inexperienced players made up the rest of Montana State’s defense.
Because of Odin Coe’s abrupt decision to forego his senior season and join the Navy, Tyrone Fa’anono was thrust into a starting role at defensive end as a true sophomore. Players expected to be contributors like Kris Cooper, Dallas Hayes, WaWa Leota, Garrett Marino and Eric Prevost all never panned out in Bozeman, meaning Tucker Yates joined Fa’anono in the starting lineup as a redshirt freshman who previously competed against Class B competition in Colstrip.
At linebacker, Cincinnati transfer Marcus Tappan never materialized into any sort of a player and was dismissed in the off-season. Fe’ao Vunipola made it just two seasons in Bozeman before transferring to a junior college close to his home in California. Wyatt Christensen played as a true freshman in 2013 but endured a career ravaged by injuries that resulted in an early retirement. Because of the attrition, sophomore Mac Bignell and junior Fletcher Collins, both former walk-ons, rose to starting roles on either side of redshirt freshman Grant Collins.
On the back end, sophomores Khari Garcia and Bryson McCabe rotated in at safety when healthy with Carter and redshirt freshman DeMonte King, who has since left the program. True freshman Tre’Von Strong was thrown to the wolves early on at cornerback while Bryce Alley took his lumps as a true sophomore on the opposite side.
This year’s starting lineup looks very similar with the addition of transfers to provide depth at several different positions. Garcia and McCabe became the first set of safeties to earn captain designation from their teammates since the All-Big Sky duo of Jordan Craney and Michael Rider led MSU to a Big Sky title in 2010. Grant Collins, who switched to Buck end in the off-season, Yates and Strong are now sophomores with real game experience under their belts. The addition of graduate transfer cornerback John Walker from Colorado and an influx of energy from new head coach Jeff Choate and the defensive side of the staff has Montana State optimistic it can return to its reputation as a hard-nosed defensive football team.
“I don’t expect us to play like a young team anymore,” MSU defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak said earlier this month in the midst of Montana State’s 29-practice fall camp. “I expect us to play like a veteran team. A lot of these guys were thrown into the fire early and listen, they are hungry, I promise you that. I know we still have a long way to go but these guys want to be coached, they are hungry and they carry a little bit of a chip after the last season or two.”
Montana State’s roster features just 12 seniors, including just six — Fletcher Collins, defensive tackle Robert Wilcox, safety Zach Stern, defensive end Jessie Clark, linebacker Joey Michael and defensive tackle Matt Brownlow — on the defensive side of the ball.
Last season, Montana State gave up nearly 40 points and more than 500 yards per game in nine outings against Big Sky Conference foes. The Bobcats took their lumps as youngsters, but that experience is starting to pay dividends as MSU inches closer to its season-opener against Idaho on September 1.
“It always helps to have experience,” Grant Collins said last week. “The more you play, the better feel you have for the game, especially at this level with how fast it is. It helps we are getting more adjusted and learning the ropes a little more.”
As a redshirt freshman, Collins showed toughness and a nose for the football as the man in the middle of MSU’s defense. The Bozeman High product and former Class AA Defensive Player of the Year has played Mike linebacker for most of his football career. Now MSU has him playing as a hybrid standup defensive end in Gregorak’s multiple scheme.
“I’m actually starting to really like it,” Collins said. “It’s definitely one of the playmakers of the defense. It gives me a lot more opportunities to come downhill and make some plays in the backfield, which I love. But it’s a little more difficult than linebacker so I have to work harder at it to get better every day.”
“Making a quick decision off the ball. Getting that run-pass read initially, all the other triggers in the backfield that you have to grasp and understand to be able to play the position well is hard. There’s certain parts of Mike I miss like getting to sit back and flow a little bit easier but I definitely like this new position better because it definitely puts me in a position to make more plays.”
MSU brought in McCabe in 2015 — a hard-hitting strong safety who spent a year at South Dakota State and another at Iowa Western — to bring a physical element to the Bobcat defense. But McCabe struggled with injuries and appeared in just six games last season. Now he’s a team captain and ready to lead MSU on the back end.
“I feel like the game is slowing down for me and Khari,” McCabe said. “Today, we tried to just play sides so we can see the whole picture of the defense. That’s really helping us seeing what different linebackers are doing, where we roll down. It’s helping us a ton to know the whole defense, not just our position.”
Garcia has been one of the most athletic players on the Bobcat roster since first cracking the rotation as MSU’s nickel back as a redshirt freshman in 2014. He rotated heavily last season and ended up with just one pass breakup and 36 tackles in 10 games while never really finding his footing. Now he and McCabe have distanced themselves from the rest of MSU’s safeties as the No. 1 pair.
“Those guys are kind of the odd couple,” Choate said. “Neither one of them is an overly vocal guy but they both do a great job of communicating with each other. They have to be the quarterbacks of the defense and make sure the corners are on the same page as the safeties.
“Bryson is a linebacker body playing safety. Khari is not afraid of anything. He is a slight guy but he’s very, very physical. We have to keep those two guys rolling.”
During the off-season, Choate praised Fa’anono as “a kid who has a chance to be a consistently good player in this league.” Choate also praised Yates, saying the 6-foot, 305-pounder has a chance “to have an immense impact for us.” Fletcher Collins, Garcia, McCabe and Bignell have taken to Gregorak’s style as well as any players on the team, each garnering the respect of their teammates with captain nods as well. Now a group of one-time upstarts must prove they can play like veterans this fall.
“I like our youth on defense but we don’t have any time to waste thinking about that kind of stuff,” Choate said. “We need these guys to be ready to perform right now.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
