Offense

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http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ar ... /01msu.txt

Football: Bobcats hoping for offensive outburst this fall

By TIM DUMAS, Chronicle Sports Writer

Rick Gatewood was Montana State's leading receiver last year. He had nearly 1,000 yards receiving, including a school-record 235 against Montana.

He was also injured most of the time.

Gatewood is back for his senior season, 100 percent healthy after undergoing shoulder surgery earlier this year.

That fact alone has coach Mike Kramer optimistic for another fall full of big numbers.

But what has him equally as excited are MSU's six other capable receivers.

Yes, six.

And in a change from a year ago, some have experience wearing Bobcat blue and gold.

"This is as good as it gets," Kramer said last week.

Gatewood hurt the AC Joint in one of his shoulders in game two against Cal Poly and needed cortizone shots to keep him on the field for the remainder of the season.

The game marked a turning point not only for Gatewood - who steadily improved as the weather cooled - but also for MSU's offense, which rarely used a huddle from there.

Expect much of the same for the coming fall, especially with three-year starter Travis Lulay returning.

Says Kramer: "I don't think we'll huddle again as long as he's our quarterback."

Lulay's targets for 2005 include Gatewood and Chaz Guinn, unknowns last summer who combined for 115 catches in the fall.

Gatewood is a lock to start at slot receiver while Guinn will get competition for his spot at wideout from Washington State transfer Jevon Miller.

Tramaine Murray, another WSU transfer, should start at the other receiver spot while Nolan Lee, Brandon Roosevelt and Mike Brown will give the starters a reason not to be complacent.

That's seven speedy receivers and three positions.

"No matter how good they all are, only three get to play, and only one gets to be the fourth guy," Kramer said. "Everybody else watches."

One aspect to watch in the early going will be the running game, which was inconsistent last season.

Justin Domineck enters fall camp as the starter, but that may change come late September.

Domineck isn't a speedy runner, although his stronger attributes are his pass blocking and receiving ability. Jason Gathing needs more playing time to be considered for the starting job.

Hawaii transfer Michael Bass may have the best running instincts - "he has the kind of running back skill that's God-given," Kramer says - but has a ways to go when it comes to pass protection.

Bass is third on the depth chart, but Kramer's crystal ball has Bass moving up by the time Big Sky Conference play begins.

"Ultimately, on my wish list," Kramer said, "would be by game three or four, Michael Bass would be Big Sky offensive player of the week."

A bigger wish might be to not rely so much on the pass.

MSU's one-dimensional offense was exciting to watch, but yielded a 6-5 record.

Lulay has proved to be a yardage machine with both his legs and his arm, but last year's playoff-hopes-dashing loss to Eastern Washington could have been avoided if MSU had a running game to call on when leading 31-10 early in the second half.

"I've never been real comfortable with a quarterback-savvy team because those guys are so hard to find," Kramer said. "We've got one, but I'm a running-game coach."

The running backs will have a veteran offensive line to run behind, despite the loss of center Zack Wolf who may miss the entire season due to knee surgery.

Senior Jeff Bolton, who stands 6-foot-3 inches and weighs 302 pounds, started a three different positions as a junior mostly at right tackle.

This season, Bolton is expected to line up at left guard after playing some center in the spring.

"He's a natural guard, possibly an NFL-caliber center," Kramer said of Bolton, who has 25 career starts with the Bobcats. "He can play all five (positions) at this level."

Brant Birkeland, who started 11 games at left guard last year, moves over to center in place of Wolf.

On the other side of Birkeland will be Lawrence Figueroa, giving MSU two returning first team all-conference offensive linemen. A rarity considering it's only happened once: Two years ago with Brent Swaggert and Mataio Toilolo.

At tackle, Joe Hirst and Peder Jensen return to the starting lineup while Adam DeCock will spell them when needed.

The health of those players will increase MSU's chances of improving its running game.

And yes, Kramer wants to run the ball. He's been itching to do so, but with Lulay under center for at least 11 more games, that itch may have to go unscratched for awhile.

"He's the absolute focal point of who we are and what we are," Kramer said.

[CARDIAC_CATS]

If the no huddle offense is what we are going to be running this year, then we coach Kramer better get the video of the UM game and have them practicing picking up the 5-6 man rush (blitz of ILB/OLB off the corners) and and their hot read routes. They will see that a lot this year and in my opinion was EXACTLY what I thought the Griz would do in that game. I am really hoping we have a solid running game as the 1 dimensional passing game is too up and down for me. Yeah, it is fun to watch and exciting, but it puts a lot of pressure on your defense (more time on field) and if your offense sputters (drops/bad passes) you put even MORE pressure on your team as you cannot run the clock out when you have a lead etc. Both those last 2 games last year were a reflection of being one dimensional (with a banged up defense).

Maybe our defense will be improved enough this year though that we can just plain outscore other teams (like EW last year). I just really like to pound it with the running game more and I hope we can do that this year. I like the idea of moving Bolton into left guard and Birkland over to center. Bolton/Birkland/Figs will be a nice interior core for that line with ahtletic HIRST/JENSON on the outside guarding the blind spots. Birkland is built perfect for a center .. short/squatty and intelligent. I think he will make a fine center.

[BobcatLionFan]

Interesting items (or more correctly missing items) in the article were
1) No mention of TE. All on the young side and Krammer tends to talk about Junior Seniors only. Krammer likes people to earn their do's. I would guess there might be a spread offense (four receivers and/or two backs at times) possibly running without a TE at times.
2) Groves was not mentioned. Showed real good in Spring - But an underclassman and Bass and JD are solid and Gathering looked good for getting his first action in the spring.

Agree, the line looks real good. From the tackles to the strong middle. Each appears to be a perfect fit skill wise. Birkland being smart at Center, Fig being nasty a RG and Bolton being Bolton at LG. Jensen and Hirst are both Big and Atheltic to stay with the fast DEs and LBs on the outside. Should see alot of off side tackles pulling down the line to lead through the holes.