The smoke suffocating the Missoula Valley in recent weeks mercifully cleared out on Monday just in time for the Montana Grizzlies to debut their 2017 team to the public. While the haze in the sky subsided, things remain a little bit cloudy for a team facing a paramount season.
The Griz earned positive returns from third-year head coach Bob Stitt for their offensive line play, particularly in pass protection. The defense seems to be a deep and aggressive unit, both factors of which shone through on Monday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
Stitt’s up-tempo spread offense is centered upon the quarterback and his ability to make decisions. During the first scrimmage of Montana’s third fall camp under Stitt, senior Reese Phillips threw touchdowns to senior converted quarterback Makena Simis and redshirt freshman Samuel Akem, but the offense never found the rhythm it might desire during the 95-play session.
“Mostly you are trying to get the depth chart set and get the quarterbacks reps,” said Stitt, who is 14-10 entering his third campaign. “They have to get comfortable with what you are doing. I think getting Reese those reps, people don’t remember, he hasn’t taken a lot of reps as a guy in a live game. He was in a couple before he got here and we got him in some. The more reps he gets, the better.”
Phillips completed 17-of-25 passes for 188 yards but also threw an interception that was returned 96 yards by redshirt freshman Lewis Cowans. Phillips, who came to Montana from Kentucky before last season, also was sacked three times.
“In my career, that was probably the best first scrimmage in a fall camp that I’ve had as far as being pretty even,” Phillips said. “Usually the first scrimmage of fall, the offense doesn’t do that well. It usually takes a lot of time to get clicking. We are extremely close to clicking on all cylinders.”
Junior college transfer Caleb Hill had a hard time finding his composure behind a second-team offensive line featuring four redshirt freshmen. He completed 8-of-13 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.
Gresch Jensen, a redshirt freshman competing with the two transfers, completed 8-of-15 passes for 56 yards as the offensive unit in maroon threw for 318. Montana ran 95 plays overall, resulting in 428 total yards.
“It’s the first scrimmage and it felt like it a little bit early,” Stitt said. “Defensively, they had their way a little bit. But the offense, we ended up moving a little bit but I was disappointed not getting points inside the five. What I was really happy about was the offensive line and as far as protection goes, we had good protection. Usually in the first scrimmage, it’s a little rough. We took care of that.”
The maroon unit scored 23 points on Monday afternoon during a competition that lasted 78 minutes. Hill threw his touchdown to sophomore Lamarriel Taylor from four yards out to cap a 10-play, 70-yard drive for the last score of the day.
The defensive unit in white jerseys managed seven points thanks to Cowans’ pick-6. It came on a tipped ball on a failed running back screen pass four yards away from the end-zone. It also thwarted a 16-play, 70-yard drive that served as the offense’s best possession to that point.
That long drive on the third possession served as the last of the day for proven wide receivers like junior Keenan Curran and sophomore Jerry Louie-McGee. The Calhoun twins, running back Jeremy and wide receiver Justin, also took a seat early. It also provided more opportunities for young skill players like redshirt freshman Samori Toure (five catches, 39 yards), sophomore Koby Eaton (four catches, 55 yards) and Akem.
“They are exciting, the guys like Sammy and Samori, those guys are big-time players,” Stitt said.
“We have to find out what some of the young guys can do. We will be a little more potent offense when we have those veteran guys out there.

Montana senior defensive end Tucker Schye (44 here, now No. 37) and junior linebacker Josh Buss, pictured last season/ by Jason Bacaj
The Griz defense earned a fourth-down stop on the first two possessions of the scrimmage thanks to a good open field tackle by junior Josh Buss to thwart the first and a good pass rush to hurry Jensen into an overthrow on the second.
Sophomore running back Cody McCombs set the tone first-team offense’s third possession by moving the chains with a pair of inside runs. Buss went for a strip after a short reception by senior Josh Horner but missed the ball and the ball carrier as Horner rumbled 22 yards to the defense’s 15.
Lee moved the Griz inside the five with a pair of runs that netted 14 yards. Phillips overthrew Curran in the corner of the end-zone on a fade on first down. On second down, Phillips fired a perfect strike to Toure but the redshirt freshman heard the footsteps of hard-hitting sophomore safety Josh Sandry. Toure stopped in his tracks, missing a chance to catch a sure touchdown.
On the very next play, Stitt dialed up a new variation of a running back screen. Phillips’ throw was high to Washington State transfer running back Alijah Lee, who then had to backpedal to try to catch it. The ball careened off Lee’s left hand and into Cowans’ breadbasket. The 6-foot-1, 192-pounder from Mission Viejo, California took most of the first-team reps at cornerback with junior Markell Sanders out with a minor shoulder injury. He made the most of Phillips’ gift, sprinting untouched the length of the field.
“The receiver did a drive, I came off, saw the running back, was going to tackle him, tipped the ball in the air, caught it luckily and did the rest, ran to the end-zone,” Cowans said.
“The first (interception) that Reese through a pick on is a new play and we will probably toss it out. That one is on me,” Stitt said. “I don’t like it. The play had Reese’s eyes in the wrong place. It wasn’t fair. We just wanted to try it out as a goal line play.”
The inside run game looked improved as McCombs, Lee and redshirt freshman Rey Green all moved the sticks within the first four series. But the Montana defense, particularly the Griz front seven, buckled down thereafter, giving up just 110 yards on 42 rushes, four of which were quarterback sacks.
“We have a great defensive line,” Phillips said. “We haven’t taken a step back there at all. I think that was a spot people thought we might. Nothing. Those guys are (horses).”
The starting offense answered right away on a drive that began from the white team’s 42. On the second play, Phillips noticed a safety blitz, changed the play at the line of scrimmage and found a wide open Simis, who sprinted untouched for a 37-yard touchdown.
“We have an 18-play drive, they get a pick,” Phillips said. “Unfortunate play, bad bounce, whatever you want to call it but they made a play. In the spring, what would we have done? We would’ve given up. We probably wouldn’t have scored. What do we do now? We come back and we score on the first play. Those are progressions we are having now that we weren’t having in the spring and a lot of that starts with me.”
Montana’s top two defensive units notched eight straight stops thereafter, including a fourth-down sack by senior defensive end Tucker Schye. Tbe Griz defense totaled eight tackles for loss, two of them sacks by Schye. Sophomore defensive tackle Reggie Tilleman came up with a pair of fourth-down tackles, including one of four sacks. True freshman linebacker Michael Matthews sacked Phillips and stripped him. The fumble was recovered by Andrew Harris for the second and final takeaway of the day.

Montana third-year head coach Bob Stitt addresses the team following the first scrimmage of fall camp 2017/ by Jason Bacaj
“We were very average if you want my honest opinion,” said Akem, who received praise from Phillips for his improved leadership this camp. “We have a lot we need to work on but it’s good to get it on film, get back in the lab and get to work.”
Phillips engineered a 12-play, 70-yard drive on the ensuing possession that included the senior completing 5-of-6 passes for 34 yards including the seven-yard scoring strike to the 6-foot-4 Akem, who celebrated his birthday on Monday.
“After that play, Coach Stitt was like, ‘I was hoping you were going to go there,” Phillips said. “It’s hard not to go to him when he’s one-on-one, especially in our league. We aren’t going to have corners over 6-foot usually in our league. It’s hard not to go to him.”
Throughout the off-season, Stitt has emphasized forcing his team to grow through adverse situations. He said he saw progress in terms of morale after the two turnovers. After the interception, Simis raced into the end-zone. After the fumble, Jensen moved the ball enough with the back-up offense to set up Tim Semenza’s 22-yard field goal. The resilience the progress Stitt wants to see.
“It was good on the sideline,” Stitt said. “What are you hearing on the sideline when things like that happen. There was just a ton of positive comments and enthusiasm of, ‘Hey, all we can do is fix it on the next drive’. As the scrimmage went along, we felt offensively we were playing better.
“When something is negative, have a great play on the next drive and it wipes it out of your mind and you are right back in the game.”
Photos by Jason Bacaj of Skyline Sports. All Rights Reserved. Kyle Sample contributed to the reporting of this story.