Montana State’s final scrimmage of fall training camp may not have shown Rob Ash everything he wanted to see, but the combination of consistency on the ground and explosiveness through the air left the fourth-year Bobcat coach pleased.
“What I really like with our running backs right now is that we’ve got a great battle going and I think we’ve got good talent,” Ash said of the four-way battle for top honors between returner CJ Palmer, redshirt freshman Cody Kirk, and newcomers Orenzo Davis, a JC transfer, and freshman Kerry Sloan. “I thought Orenzo did a good job, he showed that burst that is different from the other running backs. Cody Kirk, though, broke some tackles. He doesn’t necessarily beat you with speed, but he runs through and arm tackle and makes a play. CJ and Kerry Sloan did the same thing. Those three right now, Orenzo more with speed and the others with power.”
Ash said the four-way battle at running back will spill into next week, at least. “I’ve got to look at the tape, but I think all four guys are in the mix,” he said.
MSU’s four running backs combined for 185 yards on 30 carries, but the day’s big plays came from the team’s similarly deep and diverse receiver corps. “We wanted to try to get Everett Gilbert the ball a couple times,” Ash said, “and you can see out of every four or five times he touches the ball he’s going to knock out a big play. We wanted to make sure that happened. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t make some difficult catches a couple times at the receiver position. You have to make those plays to be a good team. Tanner Bleskin continued to be a good possession guy…”
The offensive production started with an efficient day up front, Ash said. “I thought the offensive line did an excellent job, they knocked open some big holes on the ones and the twos,” he said.
The Bobcats ran 101 plays on the day, capping the scrimmage with two overtime periods. Jason Cunningham capped Cody Kempt’s possession with a 33-yard field goal on the first possession, while CJ Palmer powered in from five yards for a touchdown on Denarius McGhee’s drive.
Like the running back battle, Ash said the race for starting quarterback honors between Kempt and McGhee gained little clarity on Saturday. “I think they’re neck and neck,” he said.
Tempering the offensive production Saturday was MSU’s defensive injury situation. “We had seven defensive backs that didn’t play,” Ash said, “and we didn’t have Clay Bignell out there, Tanner Ripley hardly played, John Laidet didn’t play at all, Brad Smith just played a short time, Zach Minter sprained an ankle. The good news is, none of these guys are out for long. But I would much rather have Clay Bignell and Darius Jones, (Arnold) Briggs and (Michael) Rider, that would have made it much harder to move the ball.”
RUSHING: CJ Palmer 9-53-0, Orenzo Davis 8-57-1, Kerry Sloan 7-37-0, Cody Kirk 6-38-1, Blayde Becksted 1-0-0, David Dash 1-2-0.
PASSING: Cody Kempt 18-9-0, 134, 0; Denarius McGhee 16-10-1, 117, 2; Grayson Galloway 5-3-0, 16, 0.
RECEIVING: Tanner Bleskin 6-56-0, Everett Gilbert 6-81-2, Elvis Akpla 3-41-0, Kyle Begger 2-21-0, Gianni Carter 2-33-0, Cody Kirk 1-1-0, Blayde Becksted 1-7-0, John Ellis 2-17-0, Matt Thibault 1-5-0.