While the primary focus this time of year is high school players, the transfer portal gives a whole new meaning to college football “bye” weeks. There’s no buying players out of the prep ranks, but that all changes once they become part of a team and there’s not much way of knowing just what coaches are doing regarding transfers.
During the season, coaches are primarily looking for prep players to commit and Montana State coaches are no different.
Bobcat’ coaches have been out and about this week thanks to their open date this Saturday. Home games are great days for recruiting players, especially when you have fan support like MSU has, but when you have a home game like the Gold Rush, it’s just that much better.
Montana State recently got a quartet of commits for the 2025 class coming not coincidentally right after the Bobcats’ 41-24 win over Maine in their annual Gold Rush game. Offensive linemen Nicholas Maloff of Meridian, Idaho and Nate Thornton of Poulsbo, Washington join Malachi Claunch of Billings (West) and long snapper Brody Johnson of Liberty, Arizona in announcing that they’re heading MSU’s way.
“We had a big recruiting weekend,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “We had eight official visitors. Three had been committed, so five of them weren’t (four of those committed). A lot of unofficial visits, including a lot of in-state guys that have been committed. The (Gold Rush) game experience is what you’re trying to capture. If we can get a guy here for a game and they can get a chance to see things…”
However, it isn’t just the game and the sea of gold that surrounds it that Vigen wants visiting recruits to get a feel for.
“We spent a good three hours with a combination of the campus (tours) and meeting with different individuals within the program,” Vigen said. “Taking a lap around the stadium is a big deal by itself. Giving them a chance to see the different aspects of the support, the tailgating. They get a chance to see the progress with the indoor practice facility and then we get those guys down on the field before the game. I think the weekend made a really good impression.”
Moving on from Gold Rush the coaches still have a lot in front of them in terms of the recruiting process.
“To have an early bye week we are still in the process of making a lot of decisions in this class,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “To be able to get out, see coaches, see games live across the landscape of our recruiting footprint – it’s really important.”
The Bobcats had nine other players give verbal commitments prior to the Gold Rush game with six of those being from Montana. Offensive lineman Vaughn Wirkus from Helena Capital and linebacker Vinnie Souza of Billings both committed in June, while offensive lineman Ben Winters of Kalispell, linebacker Carter Curnow of Dillon, defensive back Luke Oxarart of Boulder and quarterback Grant Vigen of Bozeman all committed in July.
Three out of staters are saying they’ll be in Bozeman by next fall, including defensive lineman Greysen Schneider from Minnesota, tight end Carter Cocke from Washington, and quarterback River Warren from Oklahoma.
“We’ll get a bye later in the season, which is where our one (bye) is usually situated,” Vigen said. “Not that you can’t recruit later in the season, but for us right now high school seasons are taking off. I think it’s going to be good. Good timing, like I said, and we’ll get out in full force.”
There’s a lot to the recruiting business in college football and that’s no different at Montana State.
“The nature of the recruiting we do, especially when you’re talking about metro areas where guys can still pop as seniors – I’m thinking metroplexes like Dallas/Ft. Worth, like Houston (are different),” Vigen said. “There’s going to be guys who their senior year, more than anything, is going to be why they’re going to get recruited. To be able to identify those guys now and get on them now and get a chance to get some of those guys up (to Bozeman) maybe in October versus missing that opportunity (is important). Not that we couldn’t do it from afar, not that we couldn’t do it from just watching video but having boots on the ground sometimes you figure things out a little bit differently than you would otherwise.
“Especially in a game week moment, we get a chance to watch a lot of film as the week goes on, but to have the contact with coaches is good. It might be as simple as one coach says, ‘hey, have you had a chance to see this kid at this school,’ and then you go to the next school and kids emerge, kids pop, and it happens basically at the beginning of the year every year and that’s what we’re after. I’d say we’re about half-committed in this class right now. So, we have plenty of work left to do and this will be a big week for it.”
MSU gets back in action next Saturday when it faces FCS upstart Mercyhurst in Bozeman.
