Montana State's offensive line
Photo by: Kelly Gorham
Bobcats Stage First Scrimmage of Fall Camp Saturday Morning
8/14/2015 5:27:00 PM | Football
Pass game, young running backs will take center stage
After three-and-a-half decades as a college football coach, Rob Ash is pretty comfortable with the rhythm of the calendar. At times, though, circumstances dictate deviation.
Montana State football fans may notice a subtle form of that Saturday in Bobcat Stadium. Montana State stages its first scrimmage of fall camp around 10 am or so on Saturday.
"My standard line (when asked what he hopes to see from fall camp's first scrimmage) is that we want to see whether we can run the ball and stop the run, see if we can make a tackle or break a tackle," he said. "But in this particular season and given what we've got going on with the running backs depth and so forth, there will probably be more passing in this first scrimmage than usual."
What the Cats have 'going on' at running back is the absence of primary backs Gunnar Brekke and Chad Newell, who aren't available because leg soreness has the junior tandem behind the NCAA's mandated practice count to be able to participate in full-contact drills. That, and the mathematics that dictate "we have a lot of receivers to evaluate and a lot of defensive backs to evaluate" will likely tilt Saturday's proceedings in the direction of the forward pass.
But Ash likes what he's seen from the ground game so far, and the reasons – four young running backs – will also be on display Saturday. "It will be a pretty big day for (sophomore) Nick LaSane and (redshirt freshman) Tavon Dodd and Logan Jones," he said. "They're good. I like (freshman) Logan Jones, he's made a big impact in camp and done a nice job. He's shown that he can compete at this level, with these guys. (Redshirt freshman) Noah James has had a good camp also, it's just unfortunate that he has some leg tightness right now that's going to slow him down. Nick and Tavon have picked right up where they left off from spring ball. I like all those guys. It's really good work for all of them."
Ash said Saturday's live session will offer the first real evaluation of his charges. "We're going to go 70 plays, maybe, a pretty good number of plays," he said. "We'll go about 30 for the ones, 30 for the twos, maybe 10 or 20 for the threes. Those are rough numbers. We'll move the ball up and down the field and get a couple kicks. We've got to go. We're only going to have two scrimmages, this Saturday and next Saturday, so we're going to go pretty good."
After Saturday's double-day session – the Cats also stage a brief afternoon practice at 4 pm – MSU practices twice on Monday. The Bobcats' only other fall scrimmage is next Saturday (Aug. 22) morning in Bobcat Stadium.
Montana State football fans may notice a subtle form of that Saturday in Bobcat Stadium. Montana State stages its first scrimmage of fall camp around 10 am or so on Saturday.
"My standard line (when asked what he hopes to see from fall camp's first scrimmage) is that we want to see whether we can run the ball and stop the run, see if we can make a tackle or break a tackle," he said. "But in this particular season and given what we've got going on with the running backs depth and so forth, there will probably be more passing in this first scrimmage than usual."
What the Cats have 'going on' at running back is the absence of primary backs Gunnar Brekke and Chad Newell, who aren't available because leg soreness has the junior tandem behind the NCAA's mandated practice count to be able to participate in full-contact drills. That, and the mathematics that dictate "we have a lot of receivers to evaluate and a lot of defensive backs to evaluate" will likely tilt Saturday's proceedings in the direction of the forward pass.
But Ash likes what he's seen from the ground game so far, and the reasons – four young running backs – will also be on display Saturday. "It will be a pretty big day for (sophomore) Nick LaSane and (redshirt freshman) Tavon Dodd and Logan Jones," he said. "They're good. I like (freshman) Logan Jones, he's made a big impact in camp and done a nice job. He's shown that he can compete at this level, with these guys. (Redshirt freshman) Noah James has had a good camp also, it's just unfortunate that he has some leg tightness right now that's going to slow him down. Nick and Tavon have picked right up where they left off from spring ball. I like all those guys. It's really good work for all of them."
Ash said Saturday's live session will offer the first real evaluation of his charges. "We're going to go 70 plays, maybe, a pretty good number of plays," he said. "We'll go about 30 for the ones, 30 for the twos, maybe 10 or 20 for the threes. Those are rough numbers. We'll move the ball up and down the field and get a couple kicks. We've got to go. We're only going to have two scrimmages, this Saturday and next Saturday, so we're going to go pretty good."
After Saturday's double-day session – the Cats also stage a brief afternoon practice at 4 pm – MSU practices twice on Monday. The Bobcats' only other fall scrimmage is next Saturday (Aug. 22) morning in Bobcat Stadium.
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