Starting Up Front: Bobcats Build Deep, Experienced O-Line for 2020 and Beyond

Photo by: Garrett Becker

Starting Up Front: Bobcats Build Deep, Experienced O-Line for 2020 and Beyond

4/17/2020 3:35:00 PM | Football

With one departed senior, Montana State's offensive line boasts considerable experience

By: Bill Lamberty

BOZEMAN, Montana – Jeff Choate's preferred method of building a football team is well-known. Run the football, throw when you need to, and pressure the opposing quarterback. And that leads to his simple, oft-repeated credo.

"It all starts up front," he says, and when his 2020 Bobcats take the field they will be off to a good start. Four starters return on the Bobcat offensive line, and through the adversity of past seasons three other players bring significant experience to MSU's offensive front.

"In the last two years we haven't had to replace many (seniors), but we've had injuries here and there so we have four seniors and three juniors that have played a ton of football for us," Choate says of his offensive line. "I think any coach would take seven or eight experienced offensive linemen. That's a good thing."

The team's departed left tackle, 2019 All-America Mitch Brott, leaves a significant hole. Brott started every game that Choate has coached at Montana State, leading MSU from a 4-7 record during his redshirt freshman season in 2016 to the FCS Final Four to close his career. Choate's Bobcats have won 28 games in four seasons, 19 in the last two, and Brott's performance, his consistency, was central to them all.

Bobcat offensive line coach Brian Armstrong says that Brott's consistency was exemplary. "In our room we always talk about being consistently good," he said. "We don't give a damn about being occasionally great. We want consistently good. Mitch was a steady Eddie. You knew what you were going to get from him every Saturday. Coach (Choate) always talks about consistency, and we were lucky that for four years Mitch was consistently really good."

One possibility for filling the vacant left tackle spot is flipping two-year starting right tackle Connor Wood, a junior this fall, to left tackle, with sliding Lewis Kidd, who has started most of his three varsity campaigns at guard, to right tackle. Junior Zach Redd and senior Taylor Tuiasosopo have each started at guard, senior Jake Sessions has played both guard and tackle, senior Denver Krone has also played significant downs, and junior Dylan Porter redshirted after transferring form Nevada last season.

In addition to experience – Kidd has started the last 33 games on an offensive line that has been the best in the Big Sky at running the football and preventing sacks – Armstrong says his long arms and big frame give him the physical tools to succeed at tackle, where pass blocking is a premium. "Lew's length is a big asset for him wherever he plays, but specifically outside."

Choate said that experience at the bookend tackle positions gives the Bobcats a variety of options at the inside positions. "Connor and Lewis at tackle gives us a little more flexibility with our interior three guys. We've actually experimented with Taylor (Tuiasosopo) taking some snaps in spring because Zach Redd is coming off of (an injury)."

Redd started 11 of MSU's 15 games at center a season ago, and three more at guard. Tuiasosopo started a dozen games at guard, and started most of his first two seasons at MSU, as well, but the possibility of the 6-4, 320 lb senior at center brings physicality to the position that is advantageous.

"A bigger, more physical center can help us because we've seen defenses use more and more big players over the center," Armstrong said. Choate added, "Tui gives us a physical presence (at center)."

While Choate appreciates the players lined up to man starting positions in the Bobcat offensive line, he is equally enthused about the next wave. Third-year sophomore Joe McElroy and redshirt freshmen Justus Perkins, Hudson Klundt, Holden Sampson, TJ Session, Jack Harlow, and Jack Vering have all turned heads, and greyshirt Jacob Kettels, who arrived in January, has also drawn notice. He said consistency has aided the development.

"It's such a developmental position that you tend to take a lot more guys" in the offensive line, Choate said. "We've been fortunate that those guys stick around and develop. Brian (Armstrong, MSU's offensive line coach in 2016 and since 2019) and Josh Taufalele (Bobcat O-line coach 2017-18) run a very similar system, which has allowed those young players to make consistent progress. Even though we've had different offensive coordinators our terminology hasn't changed, our protections are the same, our run schemes are the same. That has allowed those young guys to make progress."

Choate also praises Armstrong for his steady hand. "I think he's firm but fair, and very consistent," Choate said. "He's the same guy every day. Brian's a mature coach, and he makes sure the standards and expectations are very clear to those guys. And he does a good job communicating that whether it's academically, or socially, or on the field."

Armstrong likes the approach of MSU's group of young offensive linemen, even before adding another half-dozen who Choate says "could press for time" in the fall. "Work ethic, we've got a good group of workers," Armstrong said. "We've got a variety of body types, they range from 6-5 to about 6-1. I think they're scrappy, they're competitive, I think they genuinely like playing offensive line and what that means, and coming to practice every day and working and competing and getting better. They like to be coached."

The sum total of Montana State's offensive line situation, even without spring ball, is a deep, competitive group. Or as Choate summarizes, "If you don't produce there's going to be somebody breathing down your back. (Armstrong has) done a really great job pushing to find those big bodies that can develop for us. That depth creates competition, and competition increases everybody's performance."

Now, as Choate says, "We just need to see how the pieces fit together."

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