BOZEMAN — Montana State football is in its final week of spring ball, and the wide receiver room has seen strides for the past five weeks.
Sam Mix moved from coaching running backs to wide receivers, and has brought a philosophy with him to the position group.
"(The running backs) were never scared to be the guy that was the starter for us, and I think if we can bring that same mindset into the receiver room, that would be really good for us," Mix said. "Especially having multiple guys on the field at once."
The team has mentioned leaning more into its pass game this spring, especially with the concepts new offensive coordinator Pete Sterbick is providing.
"With Pete, we’re throwing the ball a little bit more," Montana State wide receiver Jacob Trimble said. "We can see it in practice. Just making plays, showing that we are apart of the offense, and that we can be the forerunners of the offense."
Taco Dowler who’s entering his junior season, highlights the room as he’s coming off a year where he grew his game beyond punt returning, as he totaled 597 receiving yards and 11 receiving touchdowns.
"I started my career here as a punt returner, and that’s really all I was known for," Dowler said. "That was awesome, but at the same time, I’m kind of competitive, and was like, I’m also a pretty good receiver, so having the year I had last year was pretty cool. I just want to get better every single day, and that’s what I’m trying to do."
"Taco kind of made a name for himself here, in my opinion, in the punt return game. He started to realize some dreams a little bit I think last year at receiver," Mix explained. "We’re just trying to build off of that success. He’s a guy that can get behind defenses pretty easily, super fast, super quick. Knowledge of offense is high, knowledge of leverage and routes is really high too."
A newer face to the room, but not the team, is Jordan Reed. He made the switch from quarterback to receiver about midway through spring ball this year.
"Jordan is certainly in the mix at quarterback, this isn’t a sign that he couldn’t have made it at quarterback," Montana State coach Brent Vigen said. "I think it’s more of a sign that, hey, we've got to figure out a tall athlete like him, if he can do this at receiver."
Montana State's spring practices wrap up with the annual Sonny Holland Classic, which kicks off at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Bobcat Stadium.
