Missouri State football: Ryan Beard previews Montana
Missouri State head football coach Ryan Beard held his weekly press conference ahead of Saturday’s opener at Montana.
Missouri State football’s first depth chart of the 2024 season revealed four new starters on offense and defense and a new kicker.
Of the five, three are transfers, one is a redshirt freshman and the other was a rotational player in the Bears’ secondary last season.
The Bears will also have a handful of new faces who are safe bets to get playing time including Marshall transfer receiver Antonio Robinson, Louisiana Monroe transfer receiver Dash Luke, Penn State transfer defensive end Davon Townley Jr. and redshirt freshman defensive end Caden Wiest.
Here are the Bears’ new starters heading into their opening night game Saturday at Montana.
More: All of our 2024 Missouri State, high school football preseason coverage in one place
Missouri State football new starters in 2024James BlackStrain, wide receiver
BlackStrain is a 6-foot-2, 180-pound wide receiver transfer from Georgia Tech. He’s appeared in seven games with the Yellow Jackets and never recorded a catch, despite starting one game during his redshirt freshman season in 2022.
While at Louisville, head coach Ryan Beard recruited BlackStrain when he was a four-star prospect ranked as the No. 38 wide receiver in his class.
Coaches have raved about BlackStrain’s talent throughout the preseason.
“He’s looked really good,” offensive coordinator Nick Petrino said. “He’s a taller, longer kid and he can really run. He’s similar to Terique Owens from last year with his body type.”
Ryan Williams, defensive tackle
Williams is slotted as a starting defensive tackle alongside Armon Wallace, who started seven games on the inside of the Bears’ defensive line last season. Williams is a transfer from Western Kentucky, a future Conference USA foe and Beard’s alma mater.
Williams is 6-foot-4, 270 pounds. He appeared in two games last season for the Hilltoppers with three total tackles. He spent his first two seasons at Colorado, appearing in 14 games.
Winnner-Johnson has been one of the biggest, well, winners of fall camp. The redshirt freshman from Cardinal Ritter in St. Louis earned the starting strongside linebacker spot.
Winner-Johnson is 6-foot-5, 230 pounds and was often considered a tight end prospect out of high school. Missouri State coaches saw him excel at linebacker, particularly in a state championship win in 2022 and figured they had someone who should play on the defensive side.
Beard was extremely high on Winner-Johnson throughout camp and it was easy to see why.
Kaleno Levine, cornerback
Quite a few names will contribute to the Bears’ secondary and Levine earned a spot at the top of the depth chart at one of the corners.
Levine played four games last season recording seven total tackles. It was the senior’s first experience playing Division I ball after spending a season at Tyler Junior College and a year at Bolivar’s Southwest Baptist the year before.
Levine is a 5-foot-11, 180-pounder who will likely split some time with Lemondre Joe.
Yousef Obeid, kicker
Beard previously announced that Obeid won the kicking battle and it was further made official with the depth chart release. Obeid is a transfer from Michigan State where he didn’t appear in any games.
Obeid looked like the smoothest placekicker in the few times we were out at practice. He notably knocked down a 51-yarder during a live scrimmage session with plenty of room to spare.
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Publish date : 2024-08-27 08:16:00
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