BOZEMAN, Montana — The chances of Montana State playing a home football game after Saturday’s regular-season finale was likely, even before the Bobcats decimated Eastern Washington to make it a certainty.
Still, this Bobcat team — a group led by an unorthodox group of five six-year seniors and six more seniors who joined the program as transfers — has shown an impressive maturity and sense of the magnitude when it comes enjoying the moment.
So before the ‘Cats took the Bobcats Stadium field for the final guaranteed time in 2023, Nolan Askelson had a challenge for the rest of his teammates.
“Before the game, Nolan challenged us today,” senior defensive end Ben Seymour said. “He said, ‘Everyone is going to give us their best shot because we are one of the top teams in the country.’ But he said, ‘It doesn’t matter what their best shot is. What’s our best shot? Let’s give them our best shot.
“I think we gave them that today and it’s because Nolan challenged us. And we responded.”
It’s been a common trait for the senior class, particularly the fivesome that have been around since signing with Montana State in 2018. The resilience and ability to respond is encompassed in each of the five, a group that includes Askelson, tight ends Treyton Pickering & Derryk Snell, running back Lane Sumner and nickelback Level Price, Jr.
“If you said one word, what describes them, I’d say unselfish,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said. “They understand that nothing is going to be given to them and they need to do everything they can and keep going to work and lead by example. You go down the line, I know every single senior that played today contributed.”
On Senior Day Saturday, the tight end duo didn’t play. But Pickering is expected back next week for MSU’s rivalry game against Montana and Snell is expected back for the playoffs now that Montana State is definitely headed back to the postseason for the fifth year in a row after drubbing Eastern Washington 57-14.
Price has been battling a hamstring issue for weeks. But the other two, each with deep Montana roots, shined.
Askelson, the bearer of Montana State’s legacy No. 41 and a team captain, snared an interception and almost had another. He also almost recovered a fumble that instead fellow senior Seymour snagged and almost took to the house for a touchdown during a 41-point first-half onslaught.
“We talked about how this was the last guaranteed one so we wanted to make sure we took advantage of that and we wanted to make sure we enjoyed the moment,” Seymour said. “Playing in front of 22,000 in Bobcat Stadium is a privilege so we have to take advantage of the opportunities we have left.”
Askelson has battled multiple devastating injuries in his career, yet fought back to be a fixture in Montana State’s inside linebacker rotation and a captain of the team. Sumner has been one of the most snake bitten Bobcats, suffering season ending injuries in 2021, 2022 and one that could’ve been season-ending this year as well. But the 5-foot-8, 198-pound mighty mouse refused to go out like that.
Instead, he battled his way back and scored a touchdown on his senior day, marking the first time he reached the end-zone since 2019.
“I’m really grateful to be healthy again,” Sumner said. “Things happen that you don’t expect. It’s tough taking a helmet to the calf on the first drive of the season, ending up having to have surgery again after a season-ending injury last year. It’s been a long road but I’m glad I get to finish it out in pads this time.”
Sumner’s effort was one of many key senior performances – Sean Chambers rolled up five total touchdowns in the first half alone, Clevan Thomas scored a first-half touchdown with a highlight-reel catch and run, Seymour had a sack, David Alston had a tackle for loss — that helped Montana State stay alive for a second consecutive conference title.
If MSU can beat the Griz in Missoula next week, the Bobcats will be outright Big Sky champions for the first time since 2012 and repeat for the first time since winning three in a row between 2010 and 2012.
“It means everything,” Sumner said of still being alive for the league title. “That’s life. Not that everything we want wasn’t in front of us but it makes that game next week that much more special.”
The 2018 Bobcat recruiting class came in with much acclaim. HERO Sports ranked the class as the No. 3 class in the FCS that year and touted it as the top-rated class in Montana State history.
The group included headlining transfers like defensive end Bryce Sterk from Washington, quarterback Travis Jonsen from Oregon, running back Tyler Natee from Indiana and kicker Tristan Bailey from Wyoming. Acclaimed prep recruits like portly defensive tackle James Williams from Aledo, Texas, slash back Sherod White from Southern California, slick wide receivers Mekhi Metcalf from Seattle and Koby Duru from SoCal, Pac 12-caliber offensive lineman Donny Long from Norco, Californian and Washington Gatorade Player of the Year Isaiah Ifanse all came in as 3-star recruits.
Sterk was a stalwart, Jonsen went on to the NFL and Ifanse became the all-time leading rusher in Montana State history before transferring to Cal last off-season. The rest of the class of 32 players, other than Montana State’s super seniors, did not make it to the end. In fact, many left after the first year and hardly any made it into the Vigen era.
“This has been a crazy, awesome experience and it’s been wild,” Askelson said. “When we came in, there was 32 guys in our class and HERO Sports said we were the No. 3 ranked class in the FCS, best class Montana State had ever gotten and it dwindled down pretty quick. By the next year, we only had 14 left and now, we only have five.
“I love all those dudes who stuck it out for four or five years, but us that have stuck it out for six years, they are really brothers to me. Me, Treyton, Lane being Montana guys, we have always had those ties. Derryk has become one of my best friends and he’s my roommate.
“I love those guys, they put in so much work and we have been through a lot, coaching changes, up and down seasons, but we have always just stuck together and had great times together and I’m always going to remember these guys for the rest of my life.”
Now that group is part of a collection fo 11 total seniors who have a chance to lead Montana State on yet another playoff run. MSU made the playoffs in 2018 to snap a three-year drought, then made the FCS Semifianls for the first time in 35 years in Jeff Choate’s last season at the helm.
Vigen led MSU to the national title game in 2021 and back to the semifinals last season, where the Bobcats lost to eventual national champion South Dakota State. MSU has lost to the eventual national champion every since this group of super seniors came to Bozeman.
The rivalry looms and the playoff bracket could be a crap shoot. But Vigen is confident in his team’s ability to keep improving, particularly because the seniors are so steady and hardened.
“You keep stacking these groups up, it’s another opportunity for those guys to be in the playoffs. That’s all this six-year group knows,” Vigen said. “I would suspect they are about to be the first group where every season of their careers, they went to the playoffs. All they know is winning. They have learned while they are younger and then they have been able to turn it around as older players and really become models of what we want to be all about.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
