Editor’s note: This is the third in a five-part series of stories coming out of Montana State’s spring football practices. The Bobcats wrapped up the five-week session with the Sonny Holland spring game on April 22. For Part I, click here For Part II click here
Cam Sutton and Keon Stephens have always seemed like a package deal.
The association between the Montana State wide receivers started in the off-season following MSU’s run to the 2014 playoffs, the Bobcats’ fourth playoff appearances in five years, before the duo ever met one another. The talented pass catchers from Southern California signed with the Bobcats the following February after a recruiting season highlighted by interest from Pac 12 schools.
Sutton, a 6-foot-6, 205-pounder, emerged as a top wide receiver prospect for three regional rivals. As a senior at Norco (California) High, earned offers from Montana State, Montana and Idaho. He also worked out for assistant coaches from the Washington Huskies after committing to MSU the first week of December of 2014.
MSU wide receiver Keon Stephens (86) stiff arms cornerback Braelen Evans (5) in the Sonny Holland spring game in 2017
Meanwhile, the 6-2, 195-pound Stephens was in the middle of a tumultuous final prep year. After a standout junior season at San Bernardino High, Stephens had to move from his residence to another school district. The transfer cost the first four games of his senior season but he still managed to earn invites for official visits to UCLA and Utah. He chose MSU less than two weeks before National Signing Day.
Many close to the MSU program touted the pair as among the top offensive recruits for Rob Ash’s final signing class in February of 2015, linking them from that point forward.
The two have followed an almost identical path since signing. Both struggled to acclimate to the academic rigors of MSU as redshirts during the 2015 season. Both adjusted their habits in the classroom and in practice to break into the wide receiver rotation as redshirt freshmen last fall.
“Most of their progression started toward the tail end of last season,” MSU head coach Jeff Choate said after a spring practice in April. “I saw a little more urgency, a little more maturity. They are in their third year in college when we start in the fall. They are actually veterans in the room.”
Now two of MSU’s most physically gifted athletes will have to play key roles if sophomore quarterback Chris Murray and the rest of Montana State’s offense wants to erase the unproductive memories of 2016.
“I don’t think there’s any question of their potential,” MSU first-year offensive coordinator Brian Armstrong, the Bobcat offensive line coach in Choate’s first season last fall, said. “Cam, just frame-wise is going to be a mismatch for a lot of corners. Keon is an all-around fluid, smooth, explosive athlete.
MSU wide receiver Cam Sutton (84) in 2015
“If those two guys can be consistent, I think they could be very formidable. It’s all about consistency. I don’t think it’s any different for them than it is for us as an offense. We need the same guy every day, the same intensity, the same focus, the same effort, the same maturity. That will lead to production.”
Sutton caught three passes, including touchdowns against Weber State and UC Davis during seven games of action last fall for the 4-7 Bobcats. Stephens caught five passes for 91 yards, including a 45-yard reception in the loss at Weber State and a 31-yard touchdown in a loss at Southern Utah. Following MSU’s final practice of the spring, both acknowledged their awareness of the demand from coaches and teammates for an elevated level of production next season.
“It fuels the fire,” the outgoing Sutton said. “We have to dive into the offense and know our job, our 1/11th, so we can not think and just play, just be athletic, make plays with the ball like we can do.”
“It makes you want to grow up a little bit because we are young pups in some people’s eyes,” the soft-spoken Stephens added. “It fuels me to know I’m not the young guy anymore.”
Sutton’s towering frame helped garner interest across the West. Turn on his high school highlight film and one sees an athletic player with good ball skills. Sutton caught 36 passes for 752 yards and nine touchdowns his senior season, his lone as a varsity starter.
But Sutton was overshadowed and outshined by quarterback Victor Viramontes, a dual-threat stud who committed to Jim Harbaugh at Michigan his junior year before eventually signing with Cal, where he is a year behind Sutton.
Stephens was a versatile playmaker, catching 41 passes for 762 yards and seven touchdowns while also snaring nine interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns as a junior at San Bernardino High. He turned 18 in the spring before his senior year and was asked to move out of his current residence.
MSU wide receiver Keon Stephens (86)
The transfer caused Stephens to lose eligibility for the first month of his senior football season at Etiwanda High. He returned to catch 39 passes for 701 yards and six touchdowns, earning invites for official visits to Utah and UCLA. He chose MSU shortly before signing day to the joy of former MSU wide recievers coach Cody Kempt and current running backs coach Michael Pitre, MSU’s recruiting coordinator the last two seasons who served as Stephens’ primary recruiter.
Three years removed from that high school success means Sutton and Stephens will be called upon to turn potential into performance. Each showed flashes while taking repetitions with the first-team offense during spring drills. Stephens caught as many balls during live sessions as any Bobcat receiver while Sutton showed improved red-zone skills for most of the five weeks of spring football.
The Bobcat pass catching corps will be led this season by senior Mitch Herbert, an All-Big Sky Conference selection as a sophomore in 2015. The group also features senior Justin Paige but the deep threat has largely been a one-trick pony during his three seasons at MSU. The other slated starter is Kevin Kassis, a shifty slot receiver who runs sharp routes and should be one of Montana State’s top offensive weapons after his breakout true freshman season last fall.
The group loses Brandon Brown and Will Krolick to graduation, while Jayshawn Gates left the program in the winter and junior John D’Agostino tore his ACL during spring ball, rendering him out for 2017. Because of the attrition, Sutton and Stephens could provide production boosts.
“I think the whole group is a package deal, to be honest,” said Sutton when asked about the parallels of his and Stephens’ careers so far. “We have Kevin, who is explosive. You have Keon, who can stretch the seam. You have me, who you can throw it up long and come down with it, Mitch who you can throw it up and come down with it. We have so many weapons as a group, as a unit, I think we can be really dangerous.”
Cam Sutton catches a touchdown during spring football
Montana State’s passing offense sputtered for most of 2016, whether it was Tyler Bruggman throwing untimely interceptions or Murray struggling to read defenses in his first year as a starter. The attack managed just 155.9 passing yards per outing and Herbert’s 26 catches led the team. Members of the unit, namely Herbert, knows a towering target like Sutton and an explosive, smooth pass catcher like Stephens could improve MSU’s ability to throw the football.
“They’ve come a long way just over the course of the spring, watching film, showing up in the offices, getting the new offense down,” said Herbert, who has caught 18 touchdowns in his career, three short of tying Kelly Davis’ 32-year-old school record. “They have all the talent in the world. I think come fall, they are going to be big contributors.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
