Montana State tight ends coach Jordan Walsh, who played at Glenbard West High School in suburban Glen Ellyn and at the University of Iowa, coached tight ends in 2023 at Eastern Illinois. (Photo by EIUPanthers.com)
By Barry Bottino
When Jordan Walsh looks across the field Monday night in Nashville during the FCS national championship game, the Montana State tight ends coach will see plenty of familiar things.
Having grown up in the Chicago suburbs, his exposure to the Illinois State football program and longtime Redbirds head coach Brock Spack started early and continued through his playing career at FBS Iowa and a coaching stop at Eastern Illinois.
“It’s funny because when I was in high school (at Glenbard West in Glen Ellyn), we had a few guys go to Illinois State and play for Coach Spack,” he said. “I played against Coach in 2015 (in Iowa City), then coached against him in 2023.”
As the Hawkeyes’ starting right guard in 2015, Walsh and his teammates won, 31-14, in Iowa City. He was part of EIU’s staff eight years later when the Panthers beat Illinois State, 14-13, in Charleston.
“Does that give me a leg up? Maybe,” Walsh said. “But Coach Spack does an awesome job, and his program is very consistent.”
Walsh, who keeps in touch with numerous former colleagues at EIU, said he has seen a lot of commonalities on this season’s film to the ISU teams he played and coached against.
“The structure of their program is hard-nosed kids; being big, tough, physical and sound up front; and having really good athletes on the back end,” he said.
Walsh’s position group at MSU features three young players making key contributions – redshirt freshman Rocky Lencioni (18 receptions, 6 touchdowns), sophomore Hunter Provience (11 catches, one TD) and sophomore Rylan Schlepp (eight catches).
“They’re all young, but the one recurring theme with all of them is they’re very eager and willing to learn,” Walsh said. “That’s the best thing about those three.”
For a team that rushes for nearly 235 yards a game, the Bobcats’ tight ends also play a role in the run game.
“We have two good backs,” Walsh said of Julius Davis (1,100 yards, eight TDs) and Adam Jones (1,047 yards, 15 TDs). “Whatever role we play in it, I tell the guys to do it to the best of their ability. I’m happy that those guys take pride in the run game.”
In two seasons at Montana State, Walsh is now making his second appearance in a national title game.
“As a player or coach, it’s a dream you work for,” he said. “I’m very fortunate that I have two appearances.”
Finding Tye
Montana State center J.T. Reed, a senior who started the season at guard, said he’s impressed by the Illinois State defense as a whole.
But the Bobcats specifically need to pay attention to Illinois State All-American linebacker Tye Niekamp, whose 155 tackles rank second in the nation.
“We have to make sure we know, ‘OK, that’s where (No.) 46 is,’” Reed said. “They’re a super-good defense that’s very good up front. They’re not here by accident.”
Run game expectations
Preparing the face Illinois State’s powerful run game and RB Victor Dawson, who has run for 512 yards in the playoffs, led MSU defensive tackle Paul Brott to watch some film this week.
“The first couple plays, I just saw that dude get the ball – and WHOP! He slammed into the freaking hole. I thought, ‘This is going to be a good game,’” Brott said. “It will be a lunch pail and hard hat type of day for me. It’s going to be a great game.”
The Bobcats give up 116.7 rushing yards per game (14th-best nationally) and allowed only two players to rush for 100 yards this season. Yale’s Josh Pitsenberger ran for 124 in a playoff game, while Montana’s Eli Gilman rushed for 106 in a regular-season game and 132 in a playoff matchup against MSU.
All-America honors
PhilSteele.com honored eight ISU players this week on its All-America teams, highlighted by two first-team selections – Niekamp at linebacker and Dylan Calabrese at long snapper.
Cornerback Shadwel Nkuba II was chosen for the second team while offensive tackle Jake Pope and wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz made the third team.
Dexter Niekamp, Tye’s younger brother, was a member of Steele’s first-team Freshman All-America squad at linebacker. Wide receiver Luke Mailander and safety C.J. Richard Jr. were both fourth-team selections.
A Dakota lookalike
Spack said this week that MSU looks most like the Dakota teams in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
“They’re probably most like South Dakota,” he said. “They’re good up front, they’ve got good backs. They remind me of the Dakotas.”
The teams had two common opponents this season. ISU beat UC Davis, 42-31, on the road in a quarterfinal playoff matchup. MSU defeated Davis, 38-17, in a Big Sky Conference regular-season game Nov. 15 in Bozeman.
While Illinois State defeated South Dakota State, 35-21, in a Nov. 15 MVFC game, the Bobcats lost a 30-24 double-overtime game Sept. 6 at home to SDSU.
That loss, which dropped Montana State to 0-2, sparked a players-only meeting, according to Brott.
The Bobcats (13-2) have not lost since that SDSU game.
Lesson learned
During MSU’s trip to Frisco, Texas, for last season’s national title game, Brott said he learned a painful lesson.
“I’ve got to stay off of Door Dash,” he said, noting that he and another teammate spent approximately $400 in four days trying restaurants not available in his hometown of Billings.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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