The toughest position to get noticed on the defensive side of the ball is defensive tackle. Which is one of many things that makes Sebastian Valdez remarkable: you certainly wouldn’t know he played that position based on how often his name is called out by television, radio and public address announcers.
“Valdez with the tackle…Valdez forces the fumble…Valdez with the sack…Valdez recovers the fumble…Valdez pressures the quarterback…Valdez with the tackle for loss…”
“I think he’s getting to the point where when you look at our defense, you better figure out where 95 is and what you are going to do to account for him,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said on Monday.
The Montana State University super sophomore currently leads tBig Sky Conference defensive linemen in sacks (6.5), tackles for loss (8.0), and forced fumbles (3). He ranks second to Montana rush linebacker Patrick O’Connell in all three categories. Valdez is tied for second in fumble recoveries through five weeks of action.
“He’s becoming a real problem, play in and play out,” Vigen said. “That’s trusting his ability and trusting the scheme and the coaches and all that. He’s a guy that I think is just realizing his potential. He’s super humble, he works his tail off and we need to continue to see him climb to get where we need to get.”
Amazingly, Valdez hasn’t won a conference player of the week honor yet. While that hasn’t happened, Valdez is, more importantly, getting noticed by the MSU coaching staff.
“I think he’s playing with more and more confidence,” Vigen said. “He’s playing more and more consistent, for sure. We need him to flash obviously and make some big plays. But over the long haul, in the course of any of these games, he has to do the little things, too.
Typically, defensive tackles take up offensive linemen to clear the way for teammates to make plays. Valdez, however, has combined the nimble feet of a defensive end with the strength and size of a defensive tackle. The result is a player just one-and-a-half years into his college career that has many experts saying he’s the most NFL-ready player in the Big Sky.
“Last year, looking at Chase — Chase was playing nose, but both playing inside — and a lot of plays, you aren’t getting in the stat sheet, but you are forcing the action and you are dictating things and I think that’s what we are seeing every bit as much as the sacks and the tackles for losses,” Vigen said of Valdez’s ability to do the little things necessary to make the entire defense succeed.
Valdez was recruited by MSU’s legendary quarterback DeNarius McGhee and came to the Bobcats as a defensive end out of the San Diego area as part of former head coach Jeff Choate’s 2020 recruiting class. He has since transformed his then 6-3, 230-pound frame into a 6-3, 285-pound mass of muscle.
Choate’s recruiting day assessment of Valdez was somewhat drab, “He has position versatility, is long and rangy with good twitch, and he’s another player who we think will be a good defensive lineman here at Montana State.” He had Valdez pegged to play defensive end and mentioned that he also played some tight end in high school.
No one is describing Valdez as just “good” these days.
“I remember the first time I saw him,” MSU defensive coordinator Willie Mack Garza said. “I didn’t know who he was, but I saw this gigantic beast walking through the door and I told coach (Shawn) Howe, ‘now that’s the way they’re supposed to look.’
“It’s just amazing that someone that big, that bulky has some twitch. I think that makes him difficult to handle for most offensive linemen.”
Valdez had the good fortune in 2021 to play alongside three All-Big Sky defensive linemen Benson, defensive ends Daniel Hardy (now with the Los Angeles Rams) and Amandre Williams. The MSU defensive line anchored one of the best defenses in the FCS in 2021.
“They taught me a lot,” Valdez said of the trio in April of 2022. “It’s a whole other level. It was a great experience; I feel like not a whole lot of freshmen get a chance to play alongside guys like that.”
The highlights this season are plentiful, and perhaps the biggest one is a play that Valdez didn’t make a sack, tackle-for-loss, force a fumble or recover a fumble on.
In MSU’s thrilling back-and-forth win over Eastern Washington – a game that saw six lead changes – the Bobcats appeared all but done after Sean Chambers threw an interception on a four-and-goal play that saw MSU line up with just 10 players to add to the frustration of the play.
What transpired from there was a clinic on teamwork.
The Bobcat defense took the field knowing they’d have to get the ball back quickly as only 3:43 remained in the game. On the first play, from the EWU 20, Eagle’ running back Micah Smith, who had a big impact on the game in the early going with two long TD runs, was wrapped up from behind by Valdez, who also pulled Smith’s arms apart.
Valdez held up Smith long enough for linebacker Callahan O’Reilly to reach out and knock the ball loose as he was flying by. Nickelback Ty Okada recovered the ball while keeping EWU quarterback Gunner Talkington from wrestling it away. Two plays later, Chambers scored the go-ahead, and ultimately, winning touchdown to boost MSU to a 38-35 victory.
Without that initial contact by Valdez, the play is unlikely to end up as it did.
“That’s as clutch of a play as you can make in that situation,” Okada said. “You need the ball back and we get it back. We’re talking on the sidelines ‘strip at the ball.’ First play out there, we get that done, so it was an incredible play.”
A loss that day would’ve given the remainder of the season a completely different complexion. Instead, the Bobcats sit at 4-1 overall and 2-0 in Big Sky Conference play with their homecoming game coming up this Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. against Idaho State.
