By Danny Waldo
With a new coaching staff taking over in Bozeman, leadership was a key concern for the 2016 Montana State Bobcat football team. And while Choate has done his part to ingratiate himself with the team, the players apparently wanted their voices heard as well, as Montana State elected seven team captains for the upcoming campaign, the largest number of captains ever elected in team history. “Some of these guys emerged as leaders very early on and some as time went, but I think the players did an excellent job picking this group of captains,” Choate said.
While seven seems to be a large number, don’t expect to see all of them representing the ‘Cats at the pregame coin toss. Choate has indicated that just two players from the group of seven, plus an additional player chosen on a game-by-game basis, will represent the Bobcats at midfield each Saturday. The group includes all upperclassmen, including the first two-time captain since 2009, senior Chad Newell. The Bobcats’ 2016 captains are: seniors Chad Newell, Gunnar Brekke, JP Flynn and Fletcher Collins, and juniors Khari Garcia, Bryson McCabe and Mac Bignell. Bignell carries on the family name for the Bobcats as his father Joe (1984) and cousin Clay (2011) were also chosen as team captains during their time donning the Blue and Gold. Other notables about this year’s team captains: Garcia and McCabe are the first defensive backs elected as team captains since Michael Rider and Jordan Craney in 2010, and Gunnar Brekke’s election means a Helena, MT native has been elected captain in four out of the last six years. •
