Bryce Alley remembers fully what it’s like to be a true freshman cornerback about to be thrown to the wolves in the Big Sky Conference.
He remembers coming to Montana State as a precocious teenager from Houston powerhouse North Shore High thinking he might redshirt. By the fourth game of the season in 2014 however, Alley all of a sudden had the tallest of tall tasks.
Alley earned his stripes in the hardest way imaginable, having his redshirt pulled and entering his first career game against Eastern Washington. In that classic shootout (EWU won 52-51 in Bozeman), Alley found himself matched up with Cooper Kupp, the only four-time first-team All-American in FCS history, on literally the first play of his college career.
Because of the presence of veteran cornerbacks Deonte Flowers and Bryson Keeton, Alley didn’t play much more that 2014 season. He’s been patiently waiting his turn, mostly serving as MSU’s third cornerback ever since. He started three games in 2015 and two more as a junior last fall. Now when he looks around his position group, he is all of a sudden the wily vet.
Montana State senior cornerback Bryce Alley/ by Colter Nuanez
“Every day I come out here and just continue to get better,” Alley said in an interview in April. “If you can’t come out here and get better, you’re getting worse. I feel like I’ve put in the work, day in and day out, on and off the field, in and out of school, so it’s coming.
“I’m a veteran and I’ve been here for a while, been through the ups and downs of the program the last couple years but we’re going to stay positive and we’re always going to stay good.”
The position Alley found himself in as a true freshman is one a few of his teammates will experience in 2017. Alley and true sophomore Damien Washington are currently taking the majority of the first-team reps as Montana State enters the final day of its first week of fall camp on Wednesday. True freshmen Jalen Cole, a 3-star recruit out of Mater Dei High in California’s Trinity League, and Tyrel Thomas, a 2-star prospect from fellow Trinity League powerhouse St. John Bosco, are the No. 2 corners. Both are already pushing for playing time with the starting defense.
“You just have to continue to pass down the knowledge and bring everybody else up, just how Deonte Flowers and Bryson Keeton brought me up,” Alley said in the spring in anticipation of this fall camp. “You just pass the torch on to the young guys and continue to leave a legacy as we move on. What happens in that room is a reflection not only of them but of me too, and of the coaches, so at the end of the day it’s how we want it to look.”
The most familiar face in Montana State’s secondary, at least to Alley, is talented but often-injured fourth-year junior Braelen Evans. When Evans, who hails from Hebron High in Frisco, Texas, and Alley signed with MSU in February of 2014, many expected the 6-foot, 190-pound Evans would be the rookie who cracked the rotation.
Those plans went down the drain as Evans has struggled with to fully rehabilitate a twice torn ACL while also battling shoulder injuries. He has appeared in just five games in four years and has never recorded a statistic in his MSU career.
Montana State cornerback Braelen Evans covering Will Krolick/ by Brooks Nuanez
“Going through that ever since I was a freshman, I thought I was able to play — (former secondary) Coach (Brandon) North recruited me to come here to play — and I thought I was going to play right away,” Evans, who garnered interest from Oklahoma and Oklahoma State before his first ACL tearn in high school, said after Monday’s practice. “He saw me sitting down sometimes at practice and he kept saying, ‘Man, it’s ok if you redshirt and stuff, you going to be good’ because I was just not used to not playing from where I come from, being a 3-star in high school.
“Adversity was hard. Sometimes, I would think maybe this place isn’t for me but I’d lean on my faith in God. He told me to stick it out and whenever my time was right, my time will come.”
Evans hopes that time is now. But he’ll have to hold off Cole, a 5-foot-8, 165-pounder who’s aggressive style belies his size deficiencies and Thomas, a 5-foot-9, 175-pounder with smooth hips and a competitive attitude.
“It’s all a competition with the young guys,” Evans said. “I love competing with Tyrel, with (junior college transfer) Dre, (Jackson) with my boy Jalen. They push me to do better. Any time they feel like they want to put their head down, I tell them about the situations I’ve been in. That keeps them going. I’m never going to hold them back and not try to help them out. I help them out because they are my teammates and we just want to get better.”
Montana State’s secondary featured just one senior in head coach Jeff Choate’s first season. Yet the Bobcats lost several of their most experienced cornerbacks in the off-season.
John Walker, a graduate transfer from Colorado, exhausted his eligibility after earning All-Big Sky honors. Tre’Von Strong, a starter for nine games as a true freshman in 2015, left the program and is now on Utah’s fall camp roster. Chris Harris, a 6-foot-3 cornerback who started a handful of games last season, left the program after the spring. Naijiel Hale, a former Washington Husky and four-star recruit from St. John Bosco like Thomas, was arrested on felony drug charges and suspended indefinitely from the team. Darren Gardenhire, a fellow Washington transfer, was involved in the same drug incident as Hale and is also suspended indefinitely, although he would not have been eligible in 2017 regardless per NCAA transfer rules. Even secondary coach Gerald Alexander bolted when offered the same position at Cal.
Because of the attrition and the fact that MSU notched just five interceptions, 11th in the 13-team Big Sky, during league play has the secondary, particularly the cornerbacks, as one of the primary position battles to watch this fall camp.
Montana State true freshman cornerback Jalen Cole/ by Brooks Nuanez
“That’s a group I haven’t been overly pleased with in terms of their production,” Choate said on Monday. “They have been doing some good things. But the bottom line is our job on defense is to score or get the ball back. If our secondary is not consistently taking the ball away, as many opportunities as they have, especially early in camp with one-on-ones and seven-on-sevens, we have to get more.”
Choate said the “Thunder Cats” — his nickname for Cole and Thomas — have been “efficient in and out of their breaks” and have shown great competitiveness thus far in camp. JoJo Henderson, a transfer from Snow College who also spent a season at Lamar, has worked in with the No. 3 cornerbacks as well as the No. 2 safeties.
While Cole, Thomas, Henderson, Evans and whoever else might figure into the mix all have potential, Alley is the one seasoned cornerback in the competition. MSU’s defense took significant strides last season, Choate’s first at the helm and the improved coverage on the perimeter was a big part of that. Alley’s rise to steady performer his final season will play a significant factor if MSU wants to take the next step on the back end.
“He’s an old guy now,” MSU defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak said in April. “He’s an old guy who has had a different coach every year of his career.
“He’s taken on a role as the old dog, the wily old vet.. He’s poised for a big year.”
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