Choate vs Vigen

[AFCAT]

I don’t know where I came up with thinking TAM scored 77 in that game. Brain fart I guess

Was that the Florida score against Emmit Smith?

No, that was 1988 and the game was 69-0

[Bobcat4Ever]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

[SparkCat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

I like Choate, but has he ever developed a QB? Tommy grew a ton as a player under Vigen. You could give Choate some credit for 2021 Tommy, but 2024 Tommy is a player we never would have seen without Vigen.

[VimSince03]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

[BelligerentBobcat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

[MSU01]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

[GoldstoneCat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

Tommy is fortunate. Choate would have developed him as a safety. Choate had no idea about offensive football. I don't care enough to watch Nevada but I assume he still doesn't. The phrase "setting offensive football back to the dark ages" comes to mind. Choate put us on a sustainable path with his "ride for the brand " sloganeering and his advocacy and ultimate success in getting the ball rolling for facilities improvement. For that he deserves our thanks. He isn't in Vigen's league as a head football coach. Just my opinion, not that it really matters at this point but we're on page 6 of the thread so... here we are.

[BelligerentBobcat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

He recruited one, whether he would have kept him at QB or developed him is very dubious.

[kwcat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

Tommy is fortunate. Choate would have developed him as a safety. Choate had no idea about offensive football. I don't care enough to watch Nevada but I assume he still doesn't. The phrase "setting offensive football back to the dark ages" comes to mind. Choate put us on a sustainable path with his "ride for the brand " sloganeering and his advocacy and ultimate success in getting the ball rolling for facilities improvement. For that he deserves our thanks. He isn't in Vigen's league as a head football coach. Just my opinion, not that it really matters at this point but we're on page 6 of the thread so... here we are.

If you go back and read when Tommy first started playing. A large percentage of the posters here said he wouldn’t be a quarterback and should be a receiver or a safety.

[technoCat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

He recruited one, whether he would have kept him at QB or developed him is very dubious.

Or do they mean Murray.

[Cataholic]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

Tommy is fortunate. Choate would have developed him as a safety. Choate had no idea about offensive football. I don't care enough to watch Nevada but I assume he still doesn't. The phrase "setting offensive football back to the dark ages" comes to mind. Choate put us on a sustainable path with his "ride for the brand " sloganeering and his advocacy and ultimate success in getting the ball rolling for facilities improvement. For that he deserves our thanks. He isn't in Vigen's league as a head football coach. Just my opinion, not that it really matters at this point but we're on page 6 of the thread so... here we are.

If you go back and read when Tommy first started playing. A large percentage of the posters here said he wouldn’t be a quarterback and should be a receiver or a safety.

For anybody to say that Choate would have put Tommy at safety is complete speculation on their part. One could also argue that Choate might have started Tommy at QB from day one. Choate is the same guy who put the best athlete on the team at QB with Troy Andersen. Why wouldn’t he have done the same with Tommy? Nobody knows.

[GoldstoneCat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

Tommy is fortunate. Choate would have developed him as a safety. Choate had no idea about offensive football. I don't care enough to watch Nevada but I assume he still doesn't. The phrase "setting offensive football back to the dark ages" comes to mind. Choate put us on a sustainable path with his "ride for the brand " sloganeering and his advocacy and ultimate success in getting the ball rolling for facilities improvement. For that he deserves our thanks. He isn't in Vigen's league as a head football coach. Just my opinion, not that it really matters at this point but we're on page 6 of the thread so... here we are.

If you go back and read when Tommy first started playing. A large percentage of the posters here said he wouldn’t be a quarterback and should be a receiver or a safety.

Good thing they weren't the head football coach.

[AFCAT]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

Tommy is fortunate. Choate would have developed him as a safety. Choate had no idea about offensive football. I don't care enough to watch Nevada but I assume he still doesn't. The phrase "setting offensive football back to the dark ages" comes to mind. Choate put us on a sustainable path with his "ride for the brand " sloganeering and his advocacy and ultimate success in getting the ball rolling for facilities improvement. For that he deserves our thanks. He isn't in Vigen's league as a head football coach. Just my opinion, not that it really matters at this point but we're on page 6 of the thread so... here we are.

If you go back and read when Tommy first started playing. A large percentage of the posters here said he wouldn’t be a quarterback and should be a receiver or a safety.

For anybody to say that Choate would have put Tommy at safety is complete speculation on their part. One could also argue that Choate might have started Tommy at QB from day one. Choate is the same guy who put the best athlete on the team at QB with Troy Andersen. Why wouldn’t he have done the same with Tommy? Nobody knows.

I'm pretty certain Choate even talked about making Tommy a safety at one point, if he didn't work out as a QB. I can't remember if it was an interview, an article, or some other forum where he mentioned it. It certainly wouldn't have been out of character for Choate to recruit a high school player that played QB and move that player to a different position. Obviously, it doesn't matter now because it's all history.

[TomCat88]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

Tommy is fortunate. Choate would have developed him as a safety. Choate had no idea about offensive football. I don't care enough to watch Nevada but I assume he still doesn't. The phrase "setting offensive football back to the dark ages" comes to mind. Choate put us on a sustainable path with his "ride for the brand " sloganeering and his advocacy and ultimate success in getting the ball rolling for facilities improvement. For that he deserves our thanks. He isn't in Vigen's league as a head football coach. Just my opinion, not that it really matters at this point but we're on page 6 of the thread so... here we are.

If you go back and read when Tommy first started playing. A large percentage of the posters here said he wouldn’t be a quarterback and should be a receiver or a safety.

For anybody to say that Choate would have put Tommy at safety is complete speculation on their part. One could also argue that Choate might have started Tommy at QB from day one. Choate is the same guy who put the best athlete on the team at QB with Troy Andersen. Why wouldn’t he have done the same with Tommy? Nobody knows.

He may very well have put him at Qb but then what? I think Vigen developed him into being a quarterback. I’m not sure Choate would have been able to do that. Hard to say, but MSU’s quarterbacks were Bruggman, Murray, Andersen and Rovig, and McKay and Mellott, but he didn’t develop either and based on what we saw with Choate it’s iffy that he could have.

[onceacat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

He recruited one, whether he would have kept him at QB or developed him is very dubious.

Or do they mean Murray.

Nope. Murray was an Ash recruit.

[AFCAT]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

He recruited one, whether he would have kept him at QB or developed him is very dubious.

Or do they mean Murray.

Nope. Murray was an Ash recruit.

Chris Murray anxiously shifted in his seat as the plane steadily climbed, charting a course south and east toward Los Angeles. Toward home. Toward the unknown.
He slipped on his headphones.

“I tried to clear my head, but that was literally impossible,” he admitted recently. “It’s just human nature, I guess.”
He appreciated the honesty, but not the uncertainty. The previous months brimmed with it, so much so that the 17-year-old occasionally was reduced to tears and had to be consoled by his mother, Hilda Valenzuela.

The Lawndale High senior departed his official visit at Montana State the weekend before 2016’s National Signing Day with no offer, but a promise. Newly-appointed head coach Jeff Choate said he still was considering extending a scholarship to one of two signal-callers — the lanky Southern Californian and the other, admittedly, a long shot who had garnered scores of attention.
Murray, who said he had no other offers, would have an answer by the time he landed, Choate assured him.
“I honestly don’t know what I would’ve been doing if I wasn’t in Bozeman right now, to tell you the truth,” Murray said. “I don’t know if I’d be at a (junior college) or if I would’ve just said screw it, you know?”
Not long after rubber collided with the LAX tarmac, Murray pulled out his phone. With eyes glued to the screen, he switched it on.
Choate would call minutes later.
The youngster’s life would change.
One of the Big Sky’s most electrifying and enigmatic talents thinks of that day often as his second season here winds down. When he is frustrated by the close losses and inconsistency on the field, or by the coursework and responsibilities piling up off of it. When his confidence waxes and wanes.
When he misses the sun, sand and Valenzuela.
“When there’s things with school or even football, times when I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’ you just have to think about where you come from. You just have to be thankful that you’ve even made it here,” the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder said.
“You have to cherish every moment. You have to take advantage of your opportunities.”
Murray did not expect many of those to materialize last season. He was intent on watching and learning upon his arrival.
Coaches were honest with their raw talent. They had spent the offseason tailoring an offense toward transfer and pocket-passer Tyler Bruggman’s strengths. Murray, who enticed in camp, particularly with his speed, likely would have to wait his turn.
“I was like, ’OK, I’m going to wait two years. I’m going to do it the Aaron Rodgers way,” he joked, referencing the Green Bay Packers star’s early apprenticeship under incumbent Brett Favre.
“It doesn’t matter which way you take. There are a lot of ways you can get there, you just have to do your part.”
That meant a small package in an opening loss to Idaho in which Murray rushed for 3 yards and completed his only pass for 4. Then came three carries for 42 in a win over Bryant.
As Bruggman’s struggles mounted, however, so did Murray’s repetitions. In an early-October visit to Sacramento State, a big lead was squandered and a quarterback controversy ignited.
Murray was inserted before the conclusion of the opening quarter. On his first three drives alone, he fielded 12 snaps, MSU logged 211 yards and scored three times. That preceded his impressive bursts of 58 and 59.
He finished with 187 and three rushing scores in addition to 104 through the air. One week later, Murray was anointed starter for the Weber State game, a mantle he has maintained ever since.
Murray said he was comfortable with the appointment. He was named Lawndale’s starter as a 13-year-old, after all, though he had to wait until he turned 14 on Oct. 9 to take the field, per administrative stipulations.
He threw for 778 here, rushed for another 860 and accounted for 18 touchdowns during a Big Sky Freshman of the Year campaign heavy on highlights, though light on victories.
Still, Murray did help engineer a pair of turnover-free, efficient season-ending efforts against UC Davis and Montana. In the latter, he completed only two passes — one to seal the win on fourth and 1 in the final minutes — but found the end zone on runs of 8 and 48. The second gave the Bobcats a second-quarter lead they would never relinquish.
Quick-triggered photographers memorialized the first, on which he launched himself into the air and flipped over both a defender and the goal line.
“My read key was the defensive end and I just remember he played down so hard that I went around him so fast. I was like, ‘What do I do now? Do I pitch it because we’ve already outflanked them, or are we already too close for that?’” Murray recounted. “I just said, ‘I’m going to run it,’ and then once I saw the safety (Yamen Sanders), my instinct was to jump. … My momentum carried me over perfectly.
“Obviously, that was a very big moment. People have started noticing me. It feels good — I’m thankful for it, I really am — but at the same time, you’ve just got to stay humble and continue to work.”
By all accounts, he has been diligent in the ensuing months, many under the discerning eye of new quarterbacks coach and program legend DeNarius McGhee.
Murray emerged as a more polished and confident passer by summer’s end. Through two months of his sophomore season, however, his career trajectory in many ways mirrors that of Choate’s second team: He possesses talent and competitiveness, but has some maturing to do and some consistency to acquire.
Such was the message Choate imparted on his signal-caller when the two huddled following an October loss at Eastern Washington.
“It had nothing to do with what was going on between the white lines,” the coach asserted. “It’s about preparation and what the expectation is with you as our quarterback and what your teammates need to see and how you need to handle certain things. … Chris is a smart guy and he’s also a really competitive guy and I think he gets it.”
Added offensive coordinator Brian Armstrong, “On Saturdays we’ve all seen really good Chris, and really good Chris is pretty darn good. … There’s no doubt he has the ability to make plays, there’s no doubt that he gives us a heck of a chance to win when he plays well. All my talks with him are just, ‘Hey, let’s be the same guy every day. We don’t need consistently great, we need consistently good and occasionally great. We’ve got to stay away from the bad, and definitely the awful.’”
Murray was great in the closing minutes against Northern Colorado. With the Bears supplying no pass rush, opting instead to contain the Bobcats quarterback, he methodically scanned the field, scrambled at times and threw the ball away others. In between, he hit receivers Jabarri Johnson and Kevin Kassis for gains of 22 and 18 and third-down conversions. The nearly three-minute, 73-yard march positioned Gabe Peppenger for the program’s first walk-off, game-winning field goal in more than a decade.
Murray was good a week later, throwing for 231, rushing for 67, helping his team amass a 14-point cushion early and receiving an assist from the defense late in a win over Idaho State.
Despite touchdowns on his side’s opening possessions in each half against Kennesaw State, however, Murray repeatedly was corralled and visibly frustrated, at one point slamming his helmet on the frozen turf.
His interception in the final moments on a toss that sailed well high of Kassis sealed another gut-wrenching loss.
The work continues.
“He’s not a finished product, as much as we want him to be and just say, ‘OK, let’s cut him loose,’” Choate said. “You can still see there’s things where it’s like you almost see him growing in front of our eyes. … He’s just about where we need him to be, and then we’ll ask him to do some more and he’ll have to grow some more.”
“He has big-play ability and he’s getting better, but this is a weekly process,” McGhee added. “He’s starting to understand what it takes to be an elite quarterback. To be the face of the program you have to be excellent in pretty much all aspects — you have to have your life in order. We’ll take that next step and Chris is committed to it. The good news is every day, every week is a new opportunity.”
None are bigger than Saturday.
Murray will cherish this moment.
“Last year’s game does give me a lot of confidence and I do feel like I’m progressing well,” he said. “At the same time, all that is is potential. It’s like Coach Choate says sometimes: ‘Screw the potential. Let’s just go out and do it.’”

[iaafan]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

Tommy is fortunate. Choate would have developed him as a safety. Choate had no idea about offensive football. I don't care enough to watch Nevada but I assume he still doesn't. The phrase "setting offensive football back to the dark ages" comes to mind. Choate put us on a sustainable path with his "ride for the brand " sloganeering and his advocacy and ultimate success in getting the ball rolling for facilities improvement. For that he deserves our thanks. He isn't in Vigen's league as a head football coach. Just my opinion, not that it really matters at this point but we're on page 6 of the thread so... here we are.

If you go back and read when Tommy first started playing. A large percentage of the posters here said he wouldn’t be a quarterback and should be a receiver or a safety.

For anybody to say that Choate would have put Tommy at safety is complete speculation on their part. One could also argue that Choate might have started Tommy at QB from day one. Choate is the same guy who put the best athlete on the team at QB with Troy Andersen. Why wouldn’t he have done the same with Tommy? Nobody knows.

He may very well have put him at Qb but then what? I think Vigen developed him into being a quarterback. I’m not sure Choate would have been able to do that. Hard to say, but MSU’s quarterbacks were Bruggman, Murray, Andersen and Rovig, and McKay and Mellott, but he didn’t develop either and based on what we saw with Choate it’s iffy that he could have.

Development.

MSU has been better every year since Vigen has been here. It’s obvious he knows how to hire coaches that know how to develop players and he knows how to recruit players that want to be developed and made better.

It’s a lethal combination.

[onceacat]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

He recruited one, whether he would have kept him at QB or developed him is very dubious.

Or do they mean Murray.

Nope. Murray was an Ash recruit.

Chris Murray anxiously shifted in his seat as the plane steadily climbed, charting a course south and east toward Los Angeles. Toward home. Toward the unknown.
He slipped on his headphones.

“I tried to clear my head, but that was literally impossible,” he admitted recently. “It’s just human nature, I guess.”
He appreciated the honesty, but not the uncertainty. The previous months brimmed with it, so much so that the 17-year-old occasionally was reduced to tears and had to be consoled by his mother, Hilda Valenzuela.

The Lawndale High senior departed his official visit at Montana State the weekend before 2016’s National Signing Day with no offer, but a promise. Newly-appointed head coach Jeff Choate said he still was considering extending a scholarship to one of two signal-callers — the lanky Southern Californian and the other, admittedly, a long shot who had garnered scores of attention.
Murray, who said he had no other offers, would have an answer by the time he landed, Choate assured him.
“I honestly don’t know what I would’ve been doing if I wasn’t in Bozeman right now, to tell you the truth,” Murray said. “I don’t know if I’d be at a (junior college) or if I would’ve just said screw it, you know?”
Not long after rubber collided with the LAX tarmac, Murray pulled out his phone. With eyes glued to the screen, he switched it on.
Choate would call minutes later.
The youngster’s life would change.
One of the Big Sky’s most electrifying and enigmatic talents thinks of that day often as his second season here winds down. When he is frustrated by the close losses and inconsistency on the field, or by the coursework and responsibilities piling up off of it. When his confidence waxes and wanes.
When he misses the sun, sand and Valenzuela.
“When there’s things with school or even football, times when I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’ you just have to think about where you come from. You just have to be thankful that you’ve even made it here,” the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder said.
“You have to cherish every moment. You have to take advantage of your opportunities.”
Murray did not expect many of those to materialize last season. He was intent on watching and learning upon his arrival.
Coaches were honest with their raw talent. They had spent the offseason tailoring an offense toward transfer and pocket-passer Tyler Bruggman’s strengths. Murray, who enticed in camp, particularly with his speed, likely would have to wait his turn.
“I was like, ’OK, I’m going to wait two years. I’m going to do it the Aaron Rodgers way,” he joked, referencing the Green Bay Packers star’s early apprenticeship under incumbent Brett Favre.
“It doesn’t matter which way you take. There are a lot of ways you can get there, you just have to do your part.”
That meant a small package in an opening loss to Idaho in which Murray rushed for 3 yards and completed his only pass for 4. Then came three carries for 42 in a win over Bryant.
As Bruggman’s struggles mounted, however, so did Murray’s repetitions. In an early-October visit to Sacramento State, a big lead was squandered and a quarterback controversy ignited.
Murray was inserted before the conclusion of the opening quarter. On his first three drives alone, he fielded 12 snaps, MSU logged 211 yards and scored three times. That preceded his impressive bursts of 58 and 59.
He finished with 187 and three rushing scores in addition to 104 through the air. One week later, Murray was anointed starter for the Weber State game, a mantle he has maintained ever since.
Murray said he was comfortable with the appointment. He was named Lawndale’s starter as a 13-year-old, after all, though he had to wait until he turned 14 on Oct. 9 to take the field, per administrative stipulations.
He threw for 778 here, rushed for another 860 and accounted for 18 touchdowns during a Big Sky Freshman of the Year campaign heavy on highlights, though light on victories.
Still, Murray did help engineer a pair of turnover-free, efficient season-ending efforts against UC Davis and Montana. In the latter, he completed only two passes — one to seal the win on fourth and 1 in the final minutes — but found the end zone on runs of 8 and 48. The second gave the Bobcats a second-quarter lead they would never relinquish.
Quick-triggered photographers memorialized the first, on which he launched himself into the air and flipped over both a defender and the goal line.
“My read key was the defensive end and I just remember he played down so hard that I went around him so fast. I was like, ‘What do I do now? Do I pitch it because we’ve already outflanked them, or are we already too close for that?’” Murray recounted. “I just said, ‘I’m going to run it,’ and then once I saw the safety (Yamen Sanders), my instinct was to jump. … My momentum carried me over perfectly.
“Obviously, that was a very big moment. People have started noticing me. It feels good — I’m thankful for it, I really am — but at the same time, you’ve just got to stay humble and continue to work.”
By all accounts, he has been diligent in the ensuing months, many under the discerning eye of new quarterbacks coach and program legend DeNarius McGhee.
Murray emerged as a more polished and confident passer by summer’s end. Through two months of his sophomore season, however, his career trajectory in many ways mirrors that of Choate’s second team: He possesses talent and competitiveness, but has some maturing to do and some consistency to acquire.
Such was the message Choate imparted on his signal-caller when the two huddled following an October loss at Eastern Washington.
“It had nothing to do with what was going on between the white lines,” the coach asserted. “It’s about preparation and what the expectation is with you as our quarterback and what your teammates need to see and how you need to handle certain things. … Chris is a smart guy and he’s also a really competitive guy and I think he gets it.”
Added offensive coordinator Brian Armstrong, “On Saturdays we’ve all seen really good Chris, and really good Chris is pretty darn good. … There’s no doubt he has the ability to make plays, there’s no doubt that he gives us a heck of a chance to win when he plays well. All my talks with him are just, ‘Hey, let’s be the same guy every day. We don’t need consistently great, we need consistently good and occasionally great. We’ve got to stay away from the bad, and definitely the awful.’”
Murray was great in the closing minutes against Northern Colorado. With the Bears supplying no pass rush, opting instead to contain the Bobcats quarterback, he methodically scanned the field, scrambled at times and threw the ball away others. In between, he hit receivers Jabarri Johnson and Kevin Kassis for gains of 22 and 18 and third-down conversions. The nearly three-minute, 73-yard march positioned Gabe Peppenger for the program’s first walk-off, game-winning field goal in more than a decade.
Murray was good a week later, throwing for 231, rushing for 67, helping his team amass a 14-point cushion early and receiving an assist from the defense late in a win over Idaho State.
Despite touchdowns on his side’s opening possessions in each half against Kennesaw State, however, Murray repeatedly was corralled and visibly frustrated, at one point slamming his helmet on the frozen turf.
His interception in the final moments on a toss that sailed well high of Kassis sealed another gut-wrenching loss.
The work continues.
“He’s not a finished product, as much as we want him to be and just say, ‘OK, let’s cut him loose,’” Choate said. “You can still see there’s things where it’s like you almost see him growing in front of our eyes. … He’s just about where we need him to be, and then we’ll ask him to do some more and he’ll have to grow some more.”
“He has big-play ability and he’s getting better, but this is a weekly process,” McGhee added. “He’s starting to understand what it takes to be an elite quarterback. To be the face of the program you have to be excellent in pretty much all aspects — you have to have your life in order. We’ll take that next step and Chris is committed to it. The good news is every day, every week is a new opportunity.”
None are bigger than Saturday.
Murray will cherish this moment.
“Last year’s game does give me a lot of confidence and I do feel like I’m progressing well,” he said. “At the same time, all that is is potential. It’s like Coach Choate says sometimes: ‘Screw the potential. Let’s just go out and do it.’”

We've gone through this dozens of times. The newspaper article is 100% wrong. It's all here in the Bobcat Nation archives.

Murray had an offer in the Fall. Its all right here on BN.

[AFCAT]

But Brent has done the same damn thing and there are still narratives in this fanbase who think Jeff is better than Brent because we still were playing with Jeff's recruits in 2024 AND Brent hasn't beaten the Griz in Missoula (despite beating them at home by an average margin of victory of 29 points). Hope everyone realizes Jeff would have won EVEN LESS games if Troy Andersen couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Hope everyone realizes Brent would have won EVEN LESS games if Tommy Mellott couldn't just out run everyone at QB!

Fair...kind of

Except Choate never recruited or developed a QB at MSU. Vigen has.

Choate certainly recruited one, just didn't stay long enough to be able to develop him.

He recruited one, whether he would have kept him at QB or developed him is very dubious.

Or do they mean Murray.

Nope. Murray was an Ash recruit.

Chris Murray anxiously shifted in his seat as the plane steadily climbed, charting a course south and east toward Los Angeles. Toward home. Toward the unknown.
He slipped on his headphones.

“I tried to clear my head, but that was literally impossible,” he admitted recently. “It’s just human nature, I guess.”
He appreciated the honesty, but not the uncertainty. The previous months brimmed with it, so much so that the 17-year-old occasionally was reduced to tears and had to be consoled by his mother, Hilda Valenzuela.

The Lawndale High senior departed his official visit at Montana State the weekend before 2016’s National Signing Day with no offer, but a promise. Newly-appointed head coach Jeff Choate said he still was considering extending a scholarship to one of two signal-callers — the lanky Southern Californian and the other, admittedly, a long shot who had garnered scores of attention.
Murray, who said he had no other offers, would have an answer by the time he landed, Choate assured him.
“I honestly don’t know what I would’ve been doing if I wasn’t in Bozeman right now, to tell you the truth,” Murray said. “I don’t know if I’d be at a (junior college) or if I would’ve just said screw it, you know?”
Not long after rubber collided with the LAX tarmac, Murray pulled out his phone. With eyes glued to the screen, he switched it on.
Choate would call minutes later.
The youngster’s life would change.
One of the Big Sky’s most electrifying and enigmatic talents thinks of that day often as his second season here winds down. When he is frustrated by the close losses and inconsistency on the field, or by the coursework and responsibilities piling up off of it. When his confidence waxes and wanes.
When he misses the sun, sand and Valenzuela.
“When there’s things with school or even football, times when I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’ you just have to think about where you come from. You just have to be thankful that you’ve even made it here,” the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder said.
“You have to cherish every moment. You have to take advantage of your opportunities.”
Murray did not expect many of those to materialize last season. He was intent on watching and learning upon his arrival.
Coaches were honest with their raw talent. They had spent the offseason tailoring an offense toward transfer and pocket-passer Tyler Bruggman’s strengths. Murray, who enticed in camp, particularly with his speed, likely would have to wait his turn.
“I was like, ’OK, I’m going to wait two years. I’m going to do it the Aaron Rodgers way,” he joked, referencing the Green Bay Packers star’s early apprenticeship under incumbent Brett Favre.
“It doesn’t matter which way you take. There are a lot of ways you can get there, you just have to do your part.”
That meant a small package in an opening loss to Idaho in which Murray rushed for 3 yards and completed his only pass for 4. Then came three carries for 42 in a win over Bryant.
As Bruggman’s struggles mounted, however, so did Murray’s repetitions. In an early-October visit to Sacramento State, a big lead was squandered and a quarterback controversy ignited.
Murray was inserted before the conclusion of the opening quarter. On his first three drives alone, he fielded 12 snaps, MSU logged 211 yards and scored three times. That preceded his impressive bursts of 58 and 59.
He finished with 187 and three rushing scores in addition to 104 through the air. One week later, Murray was anointed starter for the Weber State game, a mantle he has maintained ever since.
Murray said he was comfortable with the appointment. He was named Lawndale’s starter as a 13-year-old, after all, though he had to wait until he turned 14 on Oct. 9 to take the field, per administrative stipulations.
He threw for 778 here, rushed for another 860 and accounted for 18 touchdowns during a Big Sky Freshman of the Year campaign heavy on highlights, though light on victories.
Still, Murray did help engineer a pair of turnover-free, efficient season-ending efforts against UC Davis and Montana. In the latter, he completed only two passes — one to seal the win on fourth and 1 in the final minutes — but found the end zone on runs of 8 and 48. The second gave the Bobcats a second-quarter lead they would never relinquish.
Quick-triggered photographers memorialized the first, on which he launched himself into the air and flipped over both a defender and the goal line.
“My read key was the defensive end and I just remember he played down so hard that I went around him so fast. I was like, ‘What do I do now? Do I pitch it because we’ve already outflanked them, or are we already too close for that?’” Murray recounted. “I just said, ‘I’m going to run it,’ and then once I saw the safety (Yamen Sanders), my instinct was to jump. … My momentum carried me over perfectly.
“Obviously, that was a very big moment. People have started noticing me. It feels good — I’m thankful for it, I really am — but at the same time, you’ve just got to stay humble and continue to work.”
By all accounts, he has been diligent in the ensuing months, many under the discerning eye of new quarterbacks coach and program legend DeNarius McGhee.
Murray emerged as a more polished and confident passer by summer’s end. Through two months of his sophomore season, however, his career trajectory in many ways mirrors that of Choate’s second team: He possesses talent and competitiveness, but has some maturing to do and some consistency to acquire.
Such was the message Choate imparted on his signal-caller when the two huddled following an October loss at Eastern Washington.
“It had nothing to do with what was going on between the white lines,” the coach asserted. “It’s about preparation and what the expectation is with you as our quarterback and what your teammates need to see and how you need to handle certain things. … Chris is a smart guy and he’s also a really competitive guy and I think he gets it.”
Added offensive coordinator Brian Armstrong, “On Saturdays we’ve all seen really good Chris, and really good Chris is pretty darn good. … There’s no doubt he has the ability to make plays, there’s no doubt that he gives us a heck of a chance to win when he plays well. All my talks with him are just, ‘Hey, let’s be the same guy every day. We don’t need consistently great, we need consistently good and occasionally great. We’ve got to stay away from the bad, and definitely the awful.’”
Murray was great in the closing minutes against Northern Colorado. With the Bears supplying no pass rush, opting instead to contain the Bobcats quarterback, he methodically scanned the field, scrambled at times and threw the ball away others. In between, he hit receivers Jabarri Johnson and Kevin Kassis for gains of 22 and 18 and third-down conversions. The nearly three-minute, 73-yard march positioned Gabe Peppenger for the program’s first walk-off, game-winning field goal in more than a decade.
Murray was good a week later, throwing for 231, rushing for 67, helping his team amass a 14-point cushion early and receiving an assist from the defense late in a win over Idaho State.
Despite touchdowns on his side’s opening possessions in each half against Kennesaw State, however, Murray repeatedly was corralled and visibly frustrated, at one point slamming his helmet on the frozen turf.
His interception in the final moments on a toss that sailed well high of Kassis sealed another gut-wrenching loss.
The work continues.
“He’s not a finished product, as much as we want him to be and just say, ‘OK, let’s cut him loose,’” Choate said. “You can still see there’s things where it’s like you almost see him growing in front of our eyes. … He’s just about where we need him to be, and then we’ll ask him to do some more and he’ll have to grow some more.”
“He has big-play ability and he’s getting better, but this is a weekly process,” McGhee added. “He’s starting to understand what it takes to be an elite quarterback. To be the face of the program you have to be excellent in pretty much all aspects — you have to have your life in order. We’ll take that next step and Chris is committed to it. The good news is every day, every week is a new opportunity.”
None are bigger than Saturday.
Murray will cherish this moment.
“Last year’s game does give me a lot of confidence and I do feel like I’m progressing well,” he said. “At the same time, all that is is potential. It’s like Coach Choate says sometimes: ‘Screw the potential. Let’s just go out and do it.’”

We've gone through this dozens of times. The newspaper article is 100% wrong. It's all here in the Bobcat Nation archives.

Murray had an offer in the Fall. Its all right here on BN.

Okay, so, his quote in the article is wrong. He did have an offer and had nothing to worry about on his flight home.