Bobcats Open Spring Ball April 5
3/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Mike Kramer knows that the marquee value of his eighth Bobcat football team isn’t high. As Montana State’s 2007 spring drills approach, the star-power isn’t luminous in the context of the program's recent success, or in the eyes of Big Sky Conference coaches.
Montana State’s 2007 football team fails to return an All-Big Sky First Team selection for the second straight year - in fact, MSU produced only one first team choice last year, departing senior Mike Jefferson - and the 2006 Bobcats featured no All-Americas for the first time sine 1995. Unlike the early years of the decade, when Kramer built MSU into a perennial Big Sky Championship contender on the strength of players such as Kane Ioane and Roger Cooper, the superstar quotient is low.
That doesn’t matter, the long-time Bobcat coach says. “This spring will be pretty standard, but I’m excited,” Kramer said, citing as the source of that excitement big numbers rather than big names. “I’ve never seen depth like this on one of my teams. I’ve never had this kind of quality depth, ever, as a head coach. As long as everybody stays healthy, we have a chance to have a very productive spring.”
Montana State returns every game rep from 2006 at three position groups – running back (where Evin Groves, Aaron Mason and Isaiah Taito return), quarterback (Cory Carpenter started the first six games before an injury, Jack Rolovich the last seven), and linebacker (Bobby Daly, Epikopo King, Bryant Matthews and Will Claggett all started games a year ago). Experience is present even where reconstruction exists. An overhaul of the receiver corps begins with returning starter Josh Lewis, while experienced cornerbacks Kory Austin and Michael Beach anchor the secondary, allowing Kevin Retoriano and one of several newcomers to develop at safety.
While seven starters return on offense and six on defense, Kramer feels his most valuable returners may be on the other side of the white lines. “Retaining both coordinators is huge,” he said of defensive coordinator Rob Christoff, who enters his eighth season at MSU and his second in charge of the stop unit, and OC Don Bailey, who has guided the team’s offense for the past six years. “That allows us to maintain our communication systems and gives us continuity in our teaching. We could have a quality to this spring that we’ve not had here before.”
Jobs one and one-A for this spring, Kramer says, involve the safety and receiver positions. “The entire foundation of our defense is based on the safety being versatile,” he said. “Losing three senior safeties is a little bit of a strain. That’s a big issue.”
So, too, is replacing Michael Jefferson’s productivity at receiver. The Arizona transfer had one of the top five receiving seasons in school history, catching 66 passes (5th in school history) for 1,023 yards (fourth) and piling up a school-record 305 all-purpose yards against Idaho State. With Jefferson and running mate Donnell Wheaton gone, transfer DeAndre Green and youngsters Deon Toliver, Derek Green, Tyler Lulay and Mark Desin vie for playing time.
When taken as a whole MSU’s 2006 offensive campaign seems solid, but a closer look reveals an attack hampered by injury. Both Carpenter and Rolovich threw for at least 1,200 yards, but each struggled at times. Aaron Mason rushed for 645 yards, the second-best effort by a freshman in school history, but neither he, returning starter Evin Groves, or Isaiah Taito could start more than five games.
Defensively, the Bobcats rallied from a September disaster to post another solid campaign. Excepting a four-game September cave-in during which the team allowed 384.3 yards a game, the Bobcats surrendered 272.3 yards a game. Sophomore linebacker Bobby Daly anchored the defense, inexplicably failing to earn all-conference honors after leading the league in tackles and finishing fourth in tackles-for-loss. Kory Austin returns as one of the league’s top corners, earning only honorable mention all-conference honors after finishing third in the Big Sky in passes defended, while Aaron Papich and Chris Kolone, who played through an injury in 2006, lead a stout front.
The Bobcats plan to open spring training on April 5, pending weather and field conditions, but the closing of spring drills is much more certain. MSU takes its spring finale to Great Falls on April 28 at 2 pm, a tradition started four years ago that has blossomed into a rite of spring in the Golden Triangle. "That is such a meaningful weekend for us," Kramer said. "When you play a spring scrimmage in front of 4,000 people on a weekend that is nothing short of festive, it can't help but impress upon everyone in the organization how special a thing we have going."
Montana State’s 2007 football team fails to return an All-Big Sky First Team selection for the second straight year - in fact, MSU produced only one first team choice last year, departing senior Mike Jefferson - and the 2006 Bobcats featured no All-Americas for the first time sine 1995. Unlike the early years of the decade, when Kramer built MSU into a perennial Big Sky Championship contender on the strength of players such as Kane Ioane and Roger Cooper, the superstar quotient is low.
That doesn’t matter, the long-time Bobcat coach says. “This spring will be pretty standard, but I’m excited,” Kramer said, citing as the source of that excitement big numbers rather than big names. “I’ve never seen depth like this on one of my teams. I’ve never had this kind of quality depth, ever, as a head coach. As long as everybody stays healthy, we have a chance to have a very productive spring.”
Montana State returns every game rep from 2006 at three position groups – running back (where Evin Groves, Aaron Mason and Isaiah Taito return), quarterback (Cory Carpenter started the first six games before an injury, Jack Rolovich the last seven), and linebacker (Bobby Daly, Epikopo King, Bryant Matthews and Will Claggett all started games a year ago). Experience is present even where reconstruction exists. An overhaul of the receiver corps begins with returning starter Josh Lewis, while experienced cornerbacks Kory Austin and Michael Beach anchor the secondary, allowing Kevin Retoriano and one of several newcomers to develop at safety.
While seven starters return on offense and six on defense, Kramer feels his most valuable returners may be on the other side of the white lines. “Retaining both coordinators is huge,” he said of defensive coordinator Rob Christoff, who enters his eighth season at MSU and his second in charge of the stop unit, and OC Don Bailey, who has guided the team’s offense for the past six years. “That allows us to maintain our communication systems and gives us continuity in our teaching. We could have a quality to this spring that we’ve not had here before.”
Jobs one and one-A for this spring, Kramer says, involve the safety and receiver positions. “The entire foundation of our defense is based on the safety being versatile,” he said. “Losing three senior safeties is a little bit of a strain. That’s a big issue.”
So, too, is replacing Michael Jefferson’s productivity at receiver. The Arizona transfer had one of the top five receiving seasons in school history, catching 66 passes (5th in school history) for 1,023 yards (fourth) and piling up a school-record 305 all-purpose yards against Idaho State. With Jefferson and running mate Donnell Wheaton gone, transfer DeAndre Green and youngsters Deon Toliver, Derek Green, Tyler Lulay and Mark Desin vie for playing time.
When taken as a whole MSU’s 2006 offensive campaign seems solid, but a closer look reveals an attack hampered by injury. Both Carpenter and Rolovich threw for at least 1,200 yards, but each struggled at times. Aaron Mason rushed for 645 yards, the second-best effort by a freshman in school history, but neither he, returning starter Evin Groves, or Isaiah Taito could start more than five games.
Defensively, the Bobcats rallied from a September disaster to post another solid campaign. Excepting a four-game September cave-in during which the team allowed 384.3 yards a game, the Bobcats surrendered 272.3 yards a game. Sophomore linebacker Bobby Daly anchored the defense, inexplicably failing to earn all-conference honors after leading the league in tackles and finishing fourth in tackles-for-loss. Kory Austin returns as one of the league’s top corners, earning only honorable mention all-conference honors after finishing third in the Big Sky in passes defended, while Aaron Papich and Chris Kolone, who played through an injury in 2006, lead a stout front.
The Bobcats plan to open spring training on April 5, pending weather and field conditions, but the closing of spring drills is much more certain. MSU takes its spring finale to Great Falls on April 28 at 2 pm, a tradition started four years ago that has blossomed into a rite of spring in the Golden Triangle. "That is such a meaningful weekend for us," Kramer said. "When you play a spring scrimmage in front of 4,000 people on a weekend that is nothing short of festive, it can't help but impress upon everyone in the organization how special a thing we have going."
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