By Danny Waldo
The date was August 30, 2018, and the 6’5 behemoth from Lynden, Washington was going through pre-game warmups, preparing for his first game action for Montana State after transferring from the University of Washington. There had been plenty of preseason hype about the FBS dropdown who just couldn’t find his way onto the field enough for the Huskies, but was expected to be a major contributor for the Bobcats.
Three hours later, the hype had turned to truth. Bryce Sterk was a monster.
Sterk turned in a stellar performance in his debut, collecting eight tackles, two sacks and four tackles-for-loss in leading MSU to a season-opening victory. The dominating peformances didn’t stop there. Sterk would go on to become one of the premier defensive players in the country, and thanks to his performance from a year ago, he has landed on several preseason All-American teams heading into his senior campaign.
Sterk was drawn to Bozeman via Seattle thanks in part to his connection with Bobcat head coach Jeff Choate, a former University of Washington assistant. This season, Choate’s ties have helped the Seattle to Bozeman connection grow stronger with the return of Kane Ioane, a Bobcat legend, who spent the past two seasons as a defensive analyst with the Huskies. But Ioane didn’t come alone. The new Bobcat defensive coordinator brought along a pair of beasts in 6’2, 248 lbs. Amandre Willams, and 6’6, 299 lbs. Jason Scrempos to bolster the Bobcat defensive line.
Williams impressed during spring ball, forcing Sterk to move to defensive end from the Buck position that he dominated from in 2018, and Scrempos has been a man amongst boys early in fall camp. All three former Huskies should see plenty of action for the Bobcat defense, and with Ioane calling the shots, MSU has the chance to be one of the top defensive units in the country.
With all that potential for success, perhaps more talented players will find their way from Seattle to Bozeman in the future, something I’m sure the Bobcat faithful would be just fine with.