Bobcats back with veteran offense
BOZEMAN — Wondering how the retooled Montana State defense is going to work out?
You’re not the only one.
“Frankly so am I,” said Montana State head coach Rob Ash, whose Bobcats open the college football season Thursday night at 7 against NCAA Division II opponent Fort Lewis (Colo.). “There’s a great buzz and a lot of intrigue, particularly surrounding our defense and the changes we’ve made and guys we’ve brought in.
“I’m excited to see how they’re going to play.”
The Bobcats, with 13-straight winning seasons to their credit, have high hopes thanks to the return of a veteran-laden offense that last season set a team record by averaging 38 points.
The trouble was, the defense yielded about the same number as the Bobcats finished 8-5.
So Ash revamped things during the offseason, promoting Kane Ioane to co-defensive coordinator and bringing in five transfers. All figure to play key roles.
“Shiloh LaBoy will be in the rotation. He won’t start but he’ll be in a lot, playing both defensive end positions,” Ash said. “Jesse Clark (another defensive end) will be in our third-down package. I really like him and I think he’s going to be a tremendous player. And Marcus Tappan will rotate in at linebacker.
“Of course the two guys who transferred last spring, Des Carter will play all the time and Bryson McCabe will play a lot (at safety).”
The goal is to improve a defense that surrendered 486 yards per game in 2014. Though the unit was torched regularly by the powerful Bobcat offense during training camp, Ash is hopeful of improvement.
“I’m very, very happy with all those guys we got,” he said. “And here’s the thing, all of those guys are good, good young men. They fit in well, they don’t have any egos. They’re just happy to be here and have blended in great with all of our players. I’m very happy with who they are.”
The Montana State offense returns quarterback Dakota Prukop, who last season rushed for 966 yards and 13 scores. He also completed 65 percent of his passes for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns, with just six interceptions.
Other available weapons for the Cats include halfbacks Chad Newell and Gunnar Brekke, who combined for more than 900 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns, and an excellent receiving corps.
Ash was noncommittal when asked how long his starters will play in what is expected to be a one-sided game.
“We’ll play rotations with our defense anyway,” Ash said. “So you’ll see a lot of guys rolling in and out on defense. Same thing on offense. We want to get Gunnar Brekke and Nick LaShane and Tavon Dodd in the game. We want to play at least six or seven receivers. The big issue is Dakota: how much is he going to play. He’ll play as much as he needs to for us to win this football game. That’s still the priority, to win the football game.”
Prukop is healthy after being bothered with a knee injury last year.
“He’s totally 100 percent,” Ash said.
And what of backup quarterback Jake Bleskin, who suffered a shoulder injury in last year’s Cat-Griz game that limited him during some winter workouts?
“Jake’s looked good. He’s 100 percent also,” Ash said. “Those two guys are really, really good and ready to go.”
Fort Lewis, coached by veteran John L. Smith, is coming off a roller coaster 3-8 campaign that featured a 56-14 loss to Colorado Mines, coached by future Montana Grizzly head Bob Stitt, and a 23-22 victory over CSU-Pueblo, which went on to win the NCAA Division II national championship.
The Skyhawks, 0-3 against Montana State in a series that includes a 59-20 loss in Bozeman in 2010, are led by senior quarterback Jordan Doyle. He passed for 1,509 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, while also rushing for 428 yards and six scores.
Fort Lewis also has an experienced offensive line and a solid halfback in PJ Hall, who ran for 704 yards and 2 scores in 2014.
The Skyhawks are picked eighth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason poll. The RMAC is affiliated with NCAA II, where the scholarship limit is 36.
The Bobcats are ranked 11th in two preseason Football Championship Subdivision polls, and are picked to contend for the title in the Big Sky Conference. The scholarship limit in the Big Sky, like other FCS leagues, is 63.