Montana State opens fall camp on August 6
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
Bobcats One Week Away from Fall Camp
7/30/2012 2:01:00 PM | Football
MSU assembles on August 6 in preparation for fall drills
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Rob Ash is ready to put summer in his rear view mirror.
Not that Montana State's sixth-year head football coach is ready for snow to fly, but he's definitely ready for football. “There is a lot of anticipation at this time of year,” says Ash, who is entering his 34th year as a college football head coach, “and every day there is more excitement.”
Ash and his Bobcat staff don't have long to wait. Montana State opens its 2012 fall camp on August 6, when the Bobcats begin preparing for the season with a 9:15 am practice. The team practices daily through Thursday (Aug. 9) at that time, then begins the two-a-day segment of fall camp on Saturday (Aug. 11) with sessions at 9:15 am and 3:45 pm.
While Ash and his staff have not had the opportunity to work with the team since the end of spring ball, he calls reports from the MSU strength training staff, who supervises off-season conditioning and voluntary workouts, positive. “Alex (Willcox, MSU strength coach) says that the guys had a great summer,” Ash said. “He uses the phrase 'buy-in' because the players have made the commitment not only to be here this summer, but to get better. That is an important step. The reports we get is that the guys have worked very hard.”
While Montana State returns 16 players who have held down starting roles in the program, that hard work is particularly important in a few key spots. “The offensive line is still a crucial area for us,” Ash said. “We're excited about Shaun Sampson at center, and Steven Foster and John Weidenaar are our tackles, but the guard positions are open for competition. We have a couple of transfers to evaluate along with our younger players. The cohesion of that group is a major focus.
“On the defensive line, the nose guard position is a major question,” Ash continued. “Zach Logan has had some injuries and Brian Bignell is out until the end of September. We moved (freshman) Taylor Sheridan to nose guard, and we'll see what happens during camp. This will be our first chance to evaluate (kicker) AJ Silva, too, and get things in the kicking game settled.”
Ash said his 2012 team's camp will look familiar to Bobcat fans. “We think we have a pretty good system in place in our approach to preseason practices,” he said. “We try not to over-do it and break the players down too much physically. We won't go more than three days in a row without a day off, we'll do a lot of walk-throughs and meetings and film study, and then about a week before the Chadron State game we'll begin game preparation on both sides of the ball.”
One thing Ash believes his staff has improved on this off-season is integration of offensive and defensive installation. “Kevin (McGiven, offensive coordinator) and Jamie (Marshall, defensive coordinator) have really cooperated with each other in terms of installing schemes and scheduling things in an orderly fashion. I think we're going into August with the best level of coordination we've had, and we'll be able to evaluate better.”
MSU's preseason schedule is below…
8/6 MON #1—9:15-11:45 am
8/7 TUE #2—9:15-11:45 am
8/8 WED #3—9:15-11:45 am
8/9 THU #4—9:15-11:45 am
8/11 SAT #5—9:15-11:45 am, #6—3:45-5:45 pm
8/13 MON #7—9:15-11:45 am, #8—3:45-5:45 pm
8/14 TUE #9—9:15-11:45 am
8/15 WED #10—9:15-11:45 am, #11—3:45-5:45 pm
8/17 FRI #12—9:15-11:45 pm, #13—3:45-5:45 pm
8/18 SAT #14—9:15-11:45 am, Family Fun Day (2-4 pm)
8/20 MON #15—9:15-11:45 am, #16—3:45-5:45 pm
8/21 TUE #17—9:15-11:45 am
8/22 WED #18—9:15-11:30 am, #19-3:45-5:45 pm
8/25 SAT #20—3:00-5:00 pm
8/26 SUN #21—3:00-5:00 pm
8/27 MON #22—3:45-5:45 pm
8/28 TUE #23—3:45-5:45 pm
8/29 WED #24—TBA
8/30 THU MSU vs. Chadron State, 7:05 pm
Not that Montana State's sixth-year head football coach is ready for snow to fly, but he's definitely ready for football. “There is a lot of anticipation at this time of year,” says Ash, who is entering his 34th year as a college football head coach, “and every day there is more excitement.”
Ash and his Bobcat staff don't have long to wait. Montana State opens its 2012 fall camp on August 6, when the Bobcats begin preparing for the season with a 9:15 am practice. The team practices daily through Thursday (Aug. 9) at that time, then begins the two-a-day segment of fall camp on Saturday (Aug. 11) with sessions at 9:15 am and 3:45 pm.
While Ash and his staff have not had the opportunity to work with the team since the end of spring ball, he calls reports from the MSU strength training staff, who supervises off-season conditioning and voluntary workouts, positive. “Alex (Willcox, MSU strength coach) says that the guys had a great summer,” Ash said. “He uses the phrase 'buy-in' because the players have made the commitment not only to be here this summer, but to get better. That is an important step. The reports we get is that the guys have worked very hard.”
While Montana State returns 16 players who have held down starting roles in the program, that hard work is particularly important in a few key spots. “The offensive line is still a crucial area for us,” Ash said. “We're excited about Shaun Sampson at center, and Steven Foster and John Weidenaar are our tackles, but the guard positions are open for competition. We have a couple of transfers to evaluate along with our younger players. The cohesion of that group is a major focus.
“On the defensive line, the nose guard position is a major question,” Ash continued. “Zach Logan has had some injuries and Brian Bignell is out until the end of September. We moved (freshman) Taylor Sheridan to nose guard, and we'll see what happens during camp. This will be our first chance to evaluate (kicker) AJ Silva, too, and get things in the kicking game settled.”
Ash said his 2012 team's camp will look familiar to Bobcat fans. “We think we have a pretty good system in place in our approach to preseason practices,” he said. “We try not to over-do it and break the players down too much physically. We won't go more than three days in a row without a day off, we'll do a lot of walk-throughs and meetings and film study, and then about a week before the Chadron State game we'll begin game preparation on both sides of the ball.”
One thing Ash believes his staff has improved on this off-season is integration of offensive and defensive installation. “Kevin (McGiven, offensive coordinator) and Jamie (Marshall, defensive coordinator) have really cooperated with each other in terms of installing schemes and scheduling things in an orderly fashion. I think we're going into August with the best level of coordination we've had, and we'll be able to evaluate better.”
MSU's preseason schedule is below…
8/6 MON #1—9:15-11:45 am
8/7 TUE #2—9:15-11:45 am
8/8 WED #3—9:15-11:45 am
8/9 THU #4—9:15-11:45 am
8/11 SAT #5—9:15-11:45 am, #6—3:45-5:45 pm
8/13 MON #7—9:15-11:45 am, #8—3:45-5:45 pm
8/14 TUE #9—9:15-11:45 am
8/15 WED #10—9:15-11:45 am, #11—3:45-5:45 pm
8/17 FRI #12—9:15-11:45 pm, #13—3:45-5:45 pm
8/18 SAT #14—9:15-11:45 am, Family Fun Day (2-4 pm)
8/20 MON #15—9:15-11:45 am, #16—3:45-5:45 pm
8/21 TUE #17—9:15-11:45 am
8/22 WED #18—9:15-11:30 am, #19-3:45-5:45 pm
8/25 SAT #20—3:00-5:00 pm
8/26 SUN #21—3:00-5:00 pm
8/27 MON #22—3:45-5:45 pm
8/28 TUE #23—3:45-5:45 pm
8/29 WED #24—TBA
8/30 THU MSU vs. Chadron State, 7:05 pm
Thursday, July 31
Monday, May 19
Wednesday, May 03
Wednesday, May 03
