Montana State made a very important addition to the coaching staff this week, hiring Brian Von Bergen to be the new Wide Receivers coach, replacing the departed Jonathan Beasley. Von Bergen has spent 15 years in Division I football, most recently at Miami (Ohio) University as the wideouts coach, passing game coordinator, and recruiting coordinator.
To me, the most important part of Von Bergen's resume is his experience. The Cats will enter next year with at least one and probably two starting receivers never to catch a pass college. There's a ton of youth in this group of wideouts, and they could use a veteran coach. Von Bergen fits that bill perfectly.
Click the "Watch Video" link above the picture to watch what Coach Ash has to say about Von Bergen and his newest receiver in spring camp, Oregon transfer Elvis Akpla.
The defense has been strong throughout the three practices of camp so far, and that's to be expected for many reasons. First and foremost, it's a very good unit, one of the best in the conference and even the FCS. Second, it's always more difficult to throw in cold and snowy conditions (unless your name is Cameron Higgins, you play QB for Weber State, and you're in Bozeman last year. I know. I'm sorry to even bring up that game again). Third, the defense has been going up against some more inexperienced QBs in Mark Desin (just two starts), Byron Campbell, and Rick Haluska. Senior Mark Iddins has been cleared by doctors for full participation in practice, but was sick earlier this week. We'll see if he can go tomorrow.
I wanna throw my two cents in on the Chase Gazzerro situation. Gazzerro is a stud at linebacker. He flies all around the field, and being a sixth year senior this year (after redshirting his first year and being granted a separate injury year in 2007), you'd expect him to be one of the leaders of the team, certainly in the running for a captain's spot. Whatever the violation of team rules was, it's very unfortunate for Chase, but I don't think he'll be gone long.
If you remember, last year Arnold Briggs was suspended for the last few weeks of spring practice for another "violation of team rules". When it was announced, Briggs' suspension was for the rest of the semester. Gazzerro hasn't been suspended that long: Just until the end of spring drills. Since Briggs came back to the team, I'd imagine Gazzerro will also be back after spring drills are over. That's not coming from any source close to the team: Just my common sense.
What this suspension will do is give a few of the younger linebackers a chance to step up and learn a bit quicker than originally planned. Jody Owens and Jared Rohrback are the first two that come to my mind.
Anyway, enjoy the video. MSU's first scrimmage of the spring is scheduled for this Sunday at Bobcat Stadium. It's also a junior recruit day, so there will be plenty of potential future Bobcats on hand to watch. The team will start warming up for the scrimmage at 1pm.
~ Dave Griffiths
dave@maxmontana.com
