Before Thursday’s morning practice at Dyche Field, Jeff Choate talked to an old friend about the procedure of double-day practices during the dog days of fall camp.
Justin Wilcox, the defensive coordinator at Boise State Choate’s first four seasons as an assistant with the Broncos, is now the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin. Wilcox suggested to Choate that he break the status quo as Choate’s Montana State team prepared for its first day with two practices. Wilcox, who hosted MSU linebackers coach Kane Ioane last off-season for a professional development period while Wilcox was the DC at USC, told Choate that he finds it beneficial to go light during the morning session and heavy in the afternoon. It’s the opposite of what most teams do during fall camp twice a day practices.
MSU running back/fullback Keegan Bray (47)
“Going light in the morning, that made a lot of sense to me,” Choate said after his team’s sixth practice of what will be a 29-practice slate. “You get a lot of reps instead of going heavy in the morning and polishing in the afternoon. You want to have your best practice the one in pads so this gives us a chance to have a dress rehearsal.”
The non-padded morning practice featured a collection of young players earning repetitions with the first and second teams. Redshirt freshman Mitch Brott continues to get starter reps at right tackle ahead of graduate transfer Patrick Carroll (UNLV). Junior Monte Folsom continues to work with the first offensive line at right guard ahead of junior Caleb Gillis. Redshirt freshman fullback Keegan Bray, a converted defensive end, and true freshman tailback Anthony Pegues earned first-team reps Thursday.
Defensively, sophomore Buck end Grant Collins, sophomore cornerback Braelen Evans, junior college transfer linebacker Jakob McCarthy and senior safety Zach Stern all missed practice, opening up spots in the rotation. At one point, true freshmen cornerback Damien Washington and safeties Will Martel and Jacob Hadley saw snaps with the starting defense. Junior defensive end Devin Jefferies and junior Buck Shiloh Laboy also saw time with the starters. True freshmen wide receiver Kevin Kassis, linebacker Balue Chapman and defensive lineman Lewis Kidd also saw time with the first two groups.
“The one thing we have to do is we can’t lose these young kids in the first 10, 12 days,” Choate said. “They can’t just be out there holding bags. They have to feel like there’s a chance to get on tape and get coached off that tape. We’ve been doing a lot of mixing and matching, especially with the secondary.”
During the final portion of the 90-minute morning practice, the Bobcats engaged in a two-minute drill. The ball was spotted near midfield and Choate announced that the offense would have one minute, 10 seconds and one time out to get into field goal range to test the kickers. Montana State has a heated kicking competition playing out between redshirt freshmen Devin Tandberg and true freshman Gabe Peppenger and Jered Padmos.
MSU cornerback Damien Washington (27)
Senior running back Gunnar Brekke converted a short-yardage fourth down for a first down, costing the starting offense its lone timeout. The next play was a completion to sophomore tight end Conner Sullivan for a first down with 26 seconds left. Then junior quarterback Tyler Bruggman hit junior wide receiver Mitch Herbert for a 40-yard touchdown, negating the need for a kicker.
“It was disgusting,” MSU defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak said. “It was so avoidable too. First time we ran our clutch two-minute, we just had a substitution error and we had just talked about how that can never happen. And we give up an explosive play. That’s two of the half a dozen things we talk about that can’t happen, happened.”
The second-team defense got in a big play of its own two plays later when Washington picked off redshirt freshman Brady McChesney to end the practice. The interception was one of two on the day for the Charter Oak (Covina, California) product.
“I thought it was almost perfect, really,” Choate said. “We had the two things that cannot happen in a two-minute situation happen, one on offense, one on defense. We gave up an explosive play on offense and the second time, the offense turns the ball over. Those are things that can’t happen in a two-minute situation. Great learning opportunity, great teachable moment for us to go watch that film and now we get to try to replicate it to see if we can put the kickers in a tough situation this afternoon.”
Sophomore cornerback Naijiel Hale (sick), linebacker Joey Michael (unknown), junior safety West Wilson (foot), redshirt freshman wide receiver Keon Stephens (unknown), redshirt freshman tight end Woody Brandom (unknown), redshirt freshman safety Sidney Holmes (unknown), and true freshman offensive guard Taylor Tuiasosopo (unknown) all missed practice on Thursday morning.
MSU head coach Jeff Choate works with safety Bryson McCabe (10) during a special teams drill
On Wednesday afternoon, Choate announced that Saturday’s scrimmage will be closed to the media and the public. The second scrimmage on Friday night of August 19 will be open to both. Following Thursday morning’s practice, he elaborated.
“At the end of the day, what I am doing is operating how I’m used to operating,” Choate said. “This is how we have done things most of the places I’ve been, primarily with the years I spent with Chris (Petersen). Most of my blueprint with how we practice and how we deal with media, whether it’s the fans or you guys, it’s my comfort level.
“I’ve just always thought hey, let’s let these guys go out and play and then we want to put people in the stands, make it game like. That first one a lot of times, you aren’t really ready for primetime. It’s kind of like the first preseason game in the NFL. Let’s see which of these rookies and new guys are ready to go but let’s do it in a little bit of a less threatening atmosphere. Now we think they are ready but how do we find out? We create a game-like atmosphere and let those guys go a little bit next Friday. Close the first one, make it about us worrying about us and then try to put some stress on and put some people in the stands, which definitely makes it feel different for the second one.”
Montana State resumes practice on Friday morning at 10:30 a.m.
