Photo by: Andrew Pedersen
Bobcats Conclude Spring Football with Sonny Holland Classic Saturday at 2 pm
4/6/2019 11:19:00 AM | Football
Montana State wraps up wraps up spring ball, heads into home stretch of spring semester
BOZEMAN, Montana – Montana State football coach Jeff Choate enters his team's spring scrimmage, the Sonny Holland Classic, on Saturday in the same frame of mind as he does every year.
"Get through it healthy," he said, "pay a little ball, have some fun."
The Bobcats have dodged weather issues from the scheduled beginning of spring drills on March 1, but arrive at the finish line – the team also practices once next week to set the state for player-run practices in the summer – with a full head of steam. "Once we got going I think it's been positive," Choate said of his team's stop-and-start spring session.
Saturday's Sonny Holland Classic begins at 2 pm, with the live 11-on-11 segments scheduled for after 3 pm. Practice and fan interaction segments fill the interim, with a scholarship giveaway for an MSU student slated for around 4 pm to cap the day's activities.
This spring's work for the Bobcats has centered on integrating new coaches – coordinator Kane Ioane and linebackers coach Bobby Daly on defense, receivers coach/pass game coordinator Erik Frazier on offense – into Choate's four-year old system. "That's gone really well," he said. "They all have their own styles and personalities, and it's been a good transition."
Choate said that system tweaks accompanying the new personal are natural. "You change things a little bit every season anyway," he said, "and spring is about trying some things to see what works."
After Saturday's scrimmage the Cats conduct one practice next week as a primer for summer workouts, then brace for a month of stringent academic work leading to finals week and the conclusion of the spring semester. "I've always said 12 (spring practices) is probably the sweet spot, and that's about where we'll be," he said. "We want to get out of (spring ball) healthy and get these guys into an intense academic period in a good frame of mind."
#GoCatsGo
"Get through it healthy," he said, "pay a little ball, have some fun."
The Bobcats have dodged weather issues from the scheduled beginning of spring drills on March 1, but arrive at the finish line – the team also practices once next week to set the state for player-run practices in the summer – with a full head of steam. "Once we got going I think it's been positive," Choate said of his team's stop-and-start spring session.
Saturday's Sonny Holland Classic begins at 2 pm, with the live 11-on-11 segments scheduled for after 3 pm. Practice and fan interaction segments fill the interim, with a scholarship giveaway for an MSU student slated for around 4 pm to cap the day's activities.
This spring's work for the Bobcats has centered on integrating new coaches – coordinator Kane Ioane and linebackers coach Bobby Daly on defense, receivers coach/pass game coordinator Erik Frazier on offense – into Choate's four-year old system. "That's gone really well," he said. "They all have their own styles and personalities, and it's been a good transition."
Choate said that system tweaks accompanying the new personal are natural. "You change things a little bit every season anyway," he said, "and spring is about trying some things to see what works."
After Saturday's scrimmage the Cats conduct one practice next week as a primer for summer workouts, then brace for a month of stringent academic work leading to finals week and the conclusion of the spring semester. "I've always said 12 (spring practices) is probably the sweet spot, and that's about where we'll be," he said. "We want to get out of (spring ball) healthy and get these guys into an intense academic period in a good frame of mind."
#GoCatsGo
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