"It really is a dream come true," Brayden Konkol excitedly responded when asked about becoming a Bobcat.
Konkol, a linebacker at Montana State and a Belgrade native — which for those of you who don't know is about a 15 minute drive from the MSU campus — has been a Montana State fan his whole life. He told me about his times attending Bobcat football games with his dad, tailgating, and even talked of Bobcat Stadium before it had turf and a closed in east end zone.
During sometime in elementary school he said he had made it a goal to play for the Cats.
[divider]COACHING: JMU's Houston Leaves for FBS[divider]
Once Konkol made it to high school it was obvious he was an athlete. During his time at Belgrade High he played both offense and defense. Offensively, He was one of the state's best dual-threat quarterbacks, passing for an astounding 2,184 yards and 22 touchdowns and rushing for an even greater 2,361 yards and 31 touchdowns.
Konkol was a standout on the defensive side of the ball as well, making plays as a defensive back. Over the course of his prep career Konkol amassed 135 tackles, 20 of which were for a loss, and a total of five interceptions.
Despite his great offensive play, Konkol's high shool coach told him if he wanted to play college ball it would have to be on defense. He said after that, "I started taking defense way more seriously."
After his dominant high school career, Montana State made him an offer to play safety, and going to MSU seemed like a no-brainer for him.
Since coming to MSU Konkol told me has learned a lot. He humbly admitted, "In high school I really wasn’t that good at defense," adding,"I wasn’t that good of a tackler." Which now is one of the strongest parts of his game.
Throughout my conversation with Konkol he continually credited his coaches with much of his success. When he arrived at MSU for his redshirt year he talked about how Coach GA (Gerald Alexander), who now coaches defensive backs for Cal, helped him a lot. Konkol explained,"He was such a good coach. He taught me not just about DB but about the game of football in general. That’s a dude that played in the league, he just knew so much about it."
He also spoke about the help he has received from Coach Kyle Risinger, the Bobcats current secondary assistant.
Throughout his career as a Bobcat Konkol has played a variety of positions. He started at safety and was then shuffled to sam linebacker then back to safety and now he plays will linebacker, something he says has allowed him to have a greater understanding of the defense.
Now a junior, Konkol has had his best season so far. Over the course of Montana States 2018 campaign, he has registered 83 tackles for the Cats, three fumble recoveries, and two interceptions. Just last Saturday Konkol had a career day, accounting for 5 tackles, one for a loss, a fumble recovery, a forced fumble and an interception in the Bobcats' first playoff victory in six years.
When asked about his successful season Konkol talked about watching film with Coach Risinger and few other players during fall camp in the morning before practice and weights. He also attributed a lot of this year's success to Montana State's defensive coordinator, Ty Gregorak, asserting,"Coach Ty does a really good job of putting me in positions to succeed."
At the end of the interview Konkol reflected on being a Bobcat, "It means a lot. Like I said I grew up a Bobcat fan so to be here and be in those shoes. The dudes I looked up to you know, Jody Owens, Denarius Mcghee, Tanner Bleskin, all those guys I grew up looking up to. It’s cool to walk their path and be in the same shoes they were in."
Now, Konkol has the opportunity to etch his name in Bobcat Football history like some of the others he mentioned. Riding a four-game win streak and headed to the FargoDome to take on the number-one-seed Bison, Konkol and the Bobcats are facing a tall task, but one thing's for sure Konkol is up for it.
