BOBCATS BY THE NUMBERS: It's 'Derek Marks' Days Until MSU's 2019 Season Opens
5/28/2019 3:24:00 PM | Football
DeNarius McGhee's 95-yard pass to Elvis Akpla remains MSU's longest scrimmage play ever
May 28: In addition to a quick look at players wearing the jersey number corresponding to the number of days remaining until Montana State's season opener at Texas Tech on August 31, Bobcats by the Numbers brings you another tidbit or two aligning with that number.
#95
Derek Marks, DT/DE: Derek Marks didn't travel far to get to Montana State, but the Belgrade High graduate has come a long way in the three seasons since. Marks forced his way onto the field for MSU as a true freshman, registered 43 tackles as a sophomore with 8.5 tackles-for-loss, second-most on the team in 2017. Last year Marks came off the bench, allowing the defensive staff to situationally leverage his broad and varying talents, and the grandson of a former Bobcat, the late Harry Huntsinger, logged 30 tackles, five for a loss, with 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
Oh yeah… he also recovered a fumble.
95 – You don't always know what you have, conventional wisdom tells us, until it's gone. For Bobcat football fans in the early 2010s, though, that wasn't the case. Every fan that filed into Bobcat Stadium, all those loyal to the Blue and Gold following the team throughout the western half of the U.S., knew something special was happening. At the center of that four-year was quarterback DeNarius McGhee, but among those who make that period so memorable was mercurial receiver Elvis Akpla. McGhee and Akpla accounted for 1,827 yards through the air, including a memorable play in October, 2011. No. 4 Montana State hosted 25th-ranked Sacramento State in a key early-season conference clash, and with the Bobcats trailing 10-7 early in the second quarter McGhee dropped into his own end zone on a third-and-10 and launched a pass that appeared to threaten the still-new Sonny Holland End Zone. Akpla caught the ball in stride, and the result was a 95-yard scoring strike, the longest play from scrimmage in Bobcat history. "That's what we love," Akpla said after the game, and there was more to love just after halftime. Akpla's 41-yard touchdown catch later in the second quarter pushed MSU back into the lead after a Sac State touchdown, and on a fourth-and-one from the Bobcat 21 midway through the third quarter he turned a short pass from Rory Perez out of punt formation into a first down that extended a scoring drive. Akpla finished that day with 174 yards receiving, and the Bobcats secured an important 31-21 win on the way to a Big Sky title.
#95 Notes: Elliott Barnhart scored the first points of the Rob Ash era wearing #95, catching a touchdown pass at Texas A&M's Kyle Field… Jon Montoya earned All-America and Academic All-America honors for the Bobcats in 95, and was inducted into the Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019… Kevin Donovan, who remains one of the program's most loyal supporters, went on to a brilliant career in cinematic and television production, was a two-year starting defensive end in #95.
Chronology: Don Wilson (1974-75), Chip Young (1976-77), Kevin Donovan (1978-80), Jim Huggins (1983), Joel Grace (1984-88), Scott Casagranda (1990), Danny Pickett (1991-92), Garry Smith (1993), Aaron Binns (1994), Colin Anderson (1995), Jerry Vekved (1996-98), Jon Montoya (1999-2003), Elliott Barnhart (2004-07), Kevin Steiner (2008-11), Zach Hutchins (2012-14), Joe Naotola (2015), Derek Marks (2016-)
#95
Derek Marks, DT/DE: Derek Marks didn't travel far to get to Montana State, but the Belgrade High graduate has come a long way in the three seasons since. Marks forced his way onto the field for MSU as a true freshman, registered 43 tackles as a sophomore with 8.5 tackles-for-loss, second-most on the team in 2017. Last year Marks came off the bench, allowing the defensive staff to situationally leverage his broad and varying talents, and the grandson of a former Bobcat, the late Harry Huntsinger, logged 30 tackles, five for a loss, with 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
Oh yeah… he also recovered a fumble.
95 – You don't always know what you have, conventional wisdom tells us, until it's gone. For Bobcat football fans in the early 2010s, though, that wasn't the case. Every fan that filed into Bobcat Stadium, all those loyal to the Blue and Gold following the team throughout the western half of the U.S., knew something special was happening. At the center of that four-year was quarterback DeNarius McGhee, but among those who make that period so memorable was mercurial receiver Elvis Akpla. McGhee and Akpla accounted for 1,827 yards through the air, including a memorable play in October, 2011. No. 4 Montana State hosted 25th-ranked Sacramento State in a key early-season conference clash, and with the Bobcats trailing 10-7 early in the second quarter McGhee dropped into his own end zone on a third-and-10 and launched a pass that appeared to threaten the still-new Sonny Holland End Zone. Akpla caught the ball in stride, and the result was a 95-yard scoring strike, the longest play from scrimmage in Bobcat history. "That's what we love," Akpla said after the game, and there was more to love just after halftime. Akpla's 41-yard touchdown catch later in the second quarter pushed MSU back into the lead after a Sac State touchdown, and on a fourth-and-one from the Bobcat 21 midway through the third quarter he turned a short pass from Rory Perez out of punt formation into a first down that extended a scoring drive. Akpla finished that day with 174 yards receiving, and the Bobcats secured an important 31-21 win on the way to a Big Sky title.
#95 Notes: Elliott Barnhart scored the first points of the Rob Ash era wearing #95, catching a touchdown pass at Texas A&M's Kyle Field… Jon Montoya earned All-America and Academic All-America honors for the Bobcats in 95, and was inducted into the Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019… Kevin Donovan, who remains one of the program's most loyal supporters, went on to a brilliant career in cinematic and television production, was a two-year starting defensive end in #95.
Chronology: Don Wilson (1974-75), Chip Young (1976-77), Kevin Donovan (1978-80), Jim Huggins (1983), Joel Grace (1984-88), Scott Casagranda (1990), Danny Pickett (1991-92), Garry Smith (1993), Aaron Binns (1994), Colin Anderson (1995), Jerry Vekved (1996-98), Jon Montoya (1999-2003), Elliott Barnhart (2004-07), Kevin Steiner (2008-11), Zach Hutchins (2012-14), Joe Naotola (2015), Derek Marks (2016-)
Players Mentioned
DL
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