Identity Post-Mellott Era

[Common Cat]

I’ve been wondering what our identity will be in the post-Mellott era. Tommy was the identity of the team for the past couple of years. Now what? Who steps in? Do we need an iconic leader like Tommy? How does our offense change? Defense?

[KageRage]

Run the Damn Ball will be our identity. Tommy was the face of the program, but identity will come from the big men up front on both sides of the ball.

[TomCat88]

Run the Damn Ball will be our identity. Tommy was the face of the program, but identity will come from the big men up front on both sides of the ball.

I agree. I would say that RTDB has been the identity, while Mellott has been the face. Having an identity is much more important than a face. Perhaps the identity will change, but right now I kind of doubt it.

[PapaG]

Tommy is the greatest Bobcat player ever IMO, but for me, the identity of the team since Vigen took over has been a running game that rarely gets stopped and excellent offensive line play. RTDB, if you will, seems to have been the team identity even with the players.

[MountainCat]

While I think to this point the identity of the team the past few seasons has been RTDB, I think that 2 ineffective quarters against NDSU while failing to RTDB had to be a bit of an eye opener to the coaching staff. The game plan had to change drastically in the 2nd half out of necessity and I’m not sure that’s a recipe for top level success. The Cats have run with ease on 90+ % of the competition we’ve faced the past couple/few years, but against a top end talent the running game wasn’t enough. There’s essentially ZERO % chance we end up another quarterback who can scramble off-script and make magic happen with their legs like Tommy did, this offense will need more of a complimentary passing game available and the quarterbacks MSU has waiting in the wings seem to fit that idea from what I’ve seen of them. The Cats will still RTDB, but I expect to see a more advanced pass g game to compliment the run (when necessary) next season. Just my .02

[CelticCat]

We need another Prukop, that man would have killed it in this offense.

[RICO CAT]

While I think to this point the identity of the team the past few seasons has been RTDB, I think that 2 ineffective quarters against NDSU while failing to RTDB had to be a bit of an eye opener to the coaching staff. The game plan had to change drastically in the 2nd half out of necessity and I’m not sure that’s a recipe for top level success. The Cats have run with ease on 90+ % of the competition we’ve faced the past couple/few years, but against a top end talent the running game wasn’t enough. There’s essentially ZERO % chance we end up another quarterback who can scramble off-script and make magic happen with their legs like Tommy did, this offense will need more of a complimentary passing game available and the quarterbacks MSU has waiting in the wings seem to fit that idea from what I’ve seen of them. The Cats will still RTDB, but I expect to see a more advanced pass g game to compliment the run (when necessary) next season. Just my .02

I agree with you MountainCat. I would like to see our passing game evolve more. We will however miss Tommy’s speed converting third downs extending drives tho.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Nothing changes except we likely pass more.

[FA_Q_M]

First and foremost, we need to keep building our lines. Scouting and recruiting OL and DL would the primary focus if i were king.

This may come off as blasphemous, but i think we have an opportunity to balance out the offense with Tommy's graduation. It's highly likely our offense catered to Tommy's strength as a running QB. Hopefully we have, or can find a QB that is a more seasoned passer than Tommy. We're certainly not going to replace Tommy's intangibles; athleticism, speed, instincts, ect. Improving our passing attack while maintaining our prowess in the ground game could make this team, dare i say, scary.

[Common Cat]

First and foremost, we need to keep building our lines. Scouting and recruiting OL and DL would the primary focus if i were king.

This may come off as blasphemous, but i think we have an opportunity to balance out the offense with Tommy's graduation. It's highly likely our offense catered to Tommy's strength as a running QB. Hopefully we have, or can find a QB that is a more seasoned passer than Tommy. We're certainly not going to replace Tommy's intangibles; athleticism, speed, instincts, ect. Improving our passing attack while maintaining our prowess in the ground game could make this team, dare i say, scary.

Agree. I still think we weren’t at the level to bang with the Bison’s lines. Close but still not there. We clearly had the best lines in the Big Sky. Still not the same level as the top of the MVC.

[BelligerentBobcat]

First and foremost, we need to keep building our lines. Scouting and recruiting OL and DL would the primary focus if i were king.

This may come off as blasphemous, but i think we have an opportunity to balance out the offense with Tommy's graduation. It's highly likely our offense catered to Tommy's strength as a running QB. Hopefully we have, or can find a QB that is a more seasoned passer than Tommy. We're certainly not going to replace Tommy's intangibles; athleticism, speed, instincts, ect. Improving our passing attack while maintaining our prowess in the ground game could make this team, dare i say, scary.

Agree. I still think we weren’t at the level to bang with the Bison’s lines. Close but still not there. We clearly had the best lines in the Big Sky. Still not the same level as the top of the MVC.

Ehhhh. It’s a lot closer than you think.

[tetoncat]

First and foremost, we need to keep building our lines. Scouting and recruiting OL and DL would the primary focus if i were king.

This may come off as blasphemous, but i think we have an opportunity to balance out the offense with Tommy's graduation. It's highly likely our offense catered to Tommy's strength as a running QB. Hopefully we have, or can find a QB that is a more seasoned passer than Tommy. We're certainly not going to replace Tommy's intangibles; athleticism, speed, instincts, ect. Improving our passing attack while maintaining our prowess in the ground game could make this team, dare i say, scary.

Agree. I still think we weren’t at the level to bang with the Bison’s lines. Close but still not there. We clearly had the best lines in the Big Sky. Still not the same level as the top of the MVC.

Did pretty well against USD. they seemed to be top level of MVFC.

[bsnwhespen23]

I wouldn't sleep on Chance Wilson. He was recruited by Tulsa and North Dakota State. He's fast and he's a little bigger than Tommy was. We'll still run the ball. Offensive line will be very good. Dylan Rollins will step up for Wehr. He was the BYU transfer from Missoula Sentinel. His Dad played for the Cats. The running backs will be solid led by Davis, Jones, Henley, and Coon. The Cats have recruited well. Next man up. Go Cats.

[TomCat88]

I wouldn't sleep on Chance Wilson. He was recruited by Tulsa and North Dakota State. He's fast and he's a little bigger than Tommy was. We'll still run the ball. Offensive line will be very good. Dylan Rollins will step up for Wehr. He was the BYU transfer from Missoula Sentinel. His Dad played for the Cats. The running backs will be solid led by Davis, Jones, Henley, and Coon. The Cats have recruited well. Next man up. Go Cats.

I like Rollins, too. His brother also played at MSU. Rollins is also the GPOY from 2021(?). I don't think MSU's lines are behind the MVFC elite and haven't been for two years. IMO they went toe-to-toe with SDSU in 2023, outplayed NDSU in 2023, slightly outplayed USD in 2024 and were slightly outplayed by NDSU in title game.

[technoCat]

I wouldn't sleep on Chance Wilson. He was recruited by Tulsa and North Dakota State. He's fast and he's a little bigger than Tommy was. We'll still run the ball. Offensive line will be very good. Dylan Rollins will step up for Wehr. He was the BYU transfer from Missoula Sentinel. His Dad played for the Cats. The running backs will be solid led by Davis, Jones, Henley, and Coon. The Cats have recruited well. Next man up. Go Cats.

I like Rollins, too. His brother also played at MSU. Rollins is also the GPOY from 2021(?). I don't think MSU's lines are behind the MVFC elite and haven't been for two years. IMO they went toe-to-toe with SDSU in 2023, outplayed NDSU in 2023, slightly outplayed USD in 2024 and were slightly outplayed by NDSU in title game.

Imagine if we could keep them all for the 4 years instead of playing with half freshman/sophomores constantly. Might make up that difference.

[TomCat88]

I wouldn't sleep on Chance Wilson. He was recruited by Tulsa and North Dakota State. He's fast and he's a little bigger than Tommy was. We'll still run the ball. Offensive line will be very good. Dylan Rollins will step up for Wehr. He was the BYU transfer from Missoula Sentinel. His Dad played for the Cats. The running backs will be solid led by Davis, Jones, Henley, and Coon. The Cats have recruited well. Next man up. Go Cats.

I like Rollins, too. His brother also played at MSU. Rollins is also the GPOY from 2021(?). I don't think MSU's lines are behind the MVFC elite and haven't been for two years. IMO they went toe-to-toe with SDSU in 2023, outplayed NDSU in 2023, slightly outplayed USD in 2024 and were slightly outplayed by NDSU in title game.

Imagine if we could keep them all for the 4 years instead of playing with half freshman/sophomores constantly. Might make up that difference.

One thing that, NDSU in particular and SDSU as well, do is they make their OL players much more prominent in the media. MSU does that a little bit and is much better than it used to be, but I think making these guys feel as valued as possible would pay off. Connor Moore was a fantastic player, yet it didn't seem like a lot of people knew that and I don't recall him ever being interviewed solo, but I'm sure he was. I wish the OL wouldn't do the thing where they have all of them show up for an interview. I think that hinders themselves. OL players make a huge sacrifice in the amount of weight they have to add to make it at the position and they traditionally get little recognition when a teammate scores thanks in large part to the blocking. Seems like WRs and TEs get more adulation than the OL.

[Catsrgrood]

First and foremost, we need to keep building our lines. Scouting and recruiting OL and DL would the primary focus if i were king.

This may come off as blasphemous, but i think we have an opportunity to balance out the offense with Tommy's graduation. It's highly likely our offense catered to Tommy's strength as a running QB. Hopefully we have, or can find a QB that is a more seasoned passer than Tommy. We're certainly not going to replace Tommy's intangibles; athleticism, speed, instincts, ect. Improving our passing attack while maintaining our prowess in the ground game could make this team, dare i say, scary.

Agree. I still think we weren’t at the level to bang with the Bison’s lines. Close but still not there. We clearly had the best lines in the Big Sky. Still not the same level as the top of the MVC.

Ehhhh. It’s a lot closer than you think.

Yea I’m not really buying this “we’re just not there yet” mentality about our lines. I think we are. Did our lines get outplayed in the title game? Sure, by a small margin, but some of the run game struggles can be attributed more to some really good tackling on NDSU’s side. There were holes, the RB’s were hitting those holes (mostly), they just weren’t making anyone miss and we had a lot of 2,3,4 yd runs that we’re used to seeing as 8-10 yd runs or 40+ yd TD’s because the one defender there to make the stop, made that stop.

The Cats did very well against arguably the best lines in the MVFC in USD, they outplayed the NDSU lines last year in Bozeman. There used to be a large gap, I don’t think it’s there anymore, imo.

With that being said, it sure would be nice to be able to start a whole group of juniors and seniors every year instead of constantly losing a promising underclassmen all American each year. That would certainly make the lines even more formidable. But that horse has been beaten to death, so I digress.

[Bocephus]

I wouldn't sleep on Chance Wilson. He was recruited by Tulsa and North Dakota State. He's fast and he's a little bigger than Tommy was. We'll still run the ball. Offensive line will be very good. Dylan Rollins will step up for Wehr. He was the BYU transfer from Missoula Sentinel. His Dad played for the Cats. The running backs will be solid led by Davis, Jones, Henley, and Coon. The Cats have recruited well. Next man up. Go Cats.

I like Rollins, too. His brother also played at MSU. Rollins is also the GPOY from 2021(?). I don't think MSU's lines are behind the MVFC elite and haven't been for two years. IMO they went toe-to-toe with SDSU in 2023, outplayed NDSU in 2023, slightly outplayed USD in 2024 and were slightly outplayed by NDSU in title game.

Imagine if we could keep them all for the 4 years instead of playing with half freshman/sophomores constantly. Might make up that difference.

One thing that NDSU in particular and SDSU as well do is they make their OL players much more prominent in the media. MSU does that a little bit and is much better than it used to be, but I think making these guys feel as valued as possible would pay off. Connor Moore was a fantastic player, yet it didn't seem like a lot of people knew that and I don't recall him ever being interviewed solo, but I'm sure he was. I wish the OL wouldn't do the thing where they have all of them show up for an interview. I think that hinders themselves. OL players make a huge sacrifice in the amount of weight they have to add to make it at the position and they traditionally get little recognition when a teammate scores thanks in large part to the blocking. Seems like WRs and TEs get more adulation than the OL.

Man, I'd love to see some post game interviews of the big men! Use those press credentials to make it happen Tom!

[RootinfortheCats]

I remember losing Denarius and thinking we’ll never have a QB that could throw and scramble like him.

Then the next season I was like, “Oh, nevermind.”

I am excited to see how our high ceiling QBs on the roster work out.

[TomCat88]

I wouldn't sleep on Chance Wilson. He was recruited by Tulsa and North Dakota State. He's fast and he's a little bigger than Tommy was. We'll still run the ball. Offensive line will be very good. Dylan Rollins will step up for Wehr. He was the BYU transfer from Missoula Sentinel. His Dad played for the Cats. The running backs will be solid led by Davis, Jones, Henley, and Coon. The Cats have recruited well. Next man up. Go Cats.

I like Rollins, too. His brother also played at MSU. Rollins is also the GPOY from 2021(?). I don't think MSU's lines are behind the MVFC elite and haven't been for two years. IMO they went toe-to-toe with SDSU in 2023, outplayed NDSU in 2023, slightly outplayed USD in 2024 and were slightly outplayed by NDSU in title game.

Imagine if we could keep them all for the 4 years instead of playing with half freshman/sophomores constantly. Might make up that difference.

One thing that NDSU in particular and SDSU as well do is they make their OL players much more prominent in the media. MSU does that a little bit and is much better than it used to be, but I think making these guys feel as valued as possible would pay off. Connor Moore was a fantastic player, yet it didn't seem like a lot of people knew that and I don't recall him ever being interviewed solo, but I'm sure he was. I wish the OL wouldn't do the thing where they have all of them show up for an interview. I think that hinders themselves. OL players make a huge sacrifice in the amount of weight they have to add to make it at the position and they traditionally get little recognition when a teammate scores thanks in large part to the blocking. Seems like WRs and TEs get more adulation than the OL.

Man, I'd love to see some post game interviews of the big men! Use those press credentials to make it happen Tom!

Simply because I'm not a full-time sports media person, I don't try to have a lot of influence on who goes to pressers. I leave that to the people making a career out of it. If I had my own thing, I'd definitely do that.