Montana

ELEVATED EXPECTATIONS: Griz TEs get off-season revamp

on

A long-rumored piece of bad news was confirmed for the Montana Grizzlies on July 29, when all-conference tight end Cole Grossman announced that he would miss the entire 2023 season after having knee surgery.

Although the keening of Griz fans would have an unbiased observer believing that the 6-4 athlete from Vancouver, Washington, hardly ever got to touch the ball in Montana’s offense last year, Grossman – who was profiled in Elevated Expectations two seasons ago – had a more-than-respectable redshirt sophomore season in 2022: 28 catches for 397 yards and a joint-team-high five touchdowns.

With Grossman out – even though the program had likely known about his injury for months – tight end suddenly became a very real test of Montana’s ethos of competition and “next man up” philosophy. Generally the succession plan is a lot smoother – it was obvious last season, for example, that Trevin Gradney was going to have to be ready to step into the starting lineup this season with Justin Ford gone.

Entering fall camp, though, there wasn’t an obvious replacement for Grossman on the roster. Experienced H-back type Joey Elwell and young Peyton Brammer left the program, making the tight end room even thinner. Erik Barker, a junior from Keizer, Oregon, was next up after skipping a redshirt his freshman year and playing in 22 games over his first two seasons, but had just three catches for 10 yards over that time.

“Having Cole be gone is definitely a big shot to our offense,” Barker said. “He was a huge part of it, a real diverse player. I love playing with him and I just can’t wait for him to get back. We’ve always had the mentality that, next man up, no matter what happens, you just have to be ready to go.”

Other on-roster tight ends like redshirt sophomore Micah Ashton (12 games, no catches), redshirt freshman Jake Olson (three games, no catches), and redshirt freshman Joe Weida (no games played) had even less experience than Barker.

Montana added two transfer tight ends over the summer in Division-II transfer Evan Shafer, originally from Indiana, and JUCO transfer Joseph Grezmak, originally from North Carolina, but even that did little to add proven talent to the roster – the two combined for three catches (all by Grezmak) and 61 yards at their previous schools last year.

With that context in mind, it was perhaps inevitable that the tight end spot would provide one of the biggest surprises on Montana’s Week 1 depth chart, released Monday. Olson was listed as the starter, with Shafer the backup. Despite having by far the most experience at this level, Barker didn’t appear on the two-deep. Sources confirmed that Barker was healthy and that the position battle at tight end was a close one that just ended up with him in third.

“We’re always rooting for each other and trying to hype each other up,” Barker said a few weeks ago. “There’s no bad blood between anybody, we’re all buddies that just want to see each other succeed.”

That leaves the Griz with a two-man platoon at the position that’s combined for one catch and two yards – by Shafer in 2021 at Hillsdale College – in their collegiate careers, and perhaps points to the direction Montana wants to go at the position – and with its offense.

Olson is listed at 6-7, 254, and was a talented basketball player coming out of Butte High (his dad Bob Olson was a former Griz hooper) who’s turned heads with his frame in Griz camps the last couple of years.

“Jake has always been a gritty, tough and physical player,” longtime Butte High head coach Arie Grey said. “He’s always willing to stick his nose in there and do the dirty work.”

While Olson at least looks like a normal college tight end – just bigger – Shafer looks like an offensive tackle lining up in the wrong spot. At 6-5, 278, he’s been one of the more physically imposing players on the field at Dornblaser this fall camp.

“He’s a big kid, real big,” Barker said. “He’s gonna be a menace in the trenches, I think. That’s a really exciting get for us.”

Neither look anything like Grossman, who at 6-4, 225 resembled a big wide receiver and could stretch the field up the seam or make tight cuts on intermediate routes for the Griz but lacked a little heft as a run-blocker.

Griz tight end Erik Barker/ by Brooks Nuanez

That won’t be an issue with Olson and/or Shafer on the field, and with those two teaming with an experienced, confident offensive line led by 6-6, 304-pound Chris Walker at left tackle, it could signal a re-dedication to the run game at Montana – and a desire to align with the other top teams in the FCS.

In recent years, defending national champion South Dakota State has had success with hulking tight ends like 6-5, 255-pound Tucker Kraft, who was picked by the Green Bay Packers in the third round last year, and 6-7, 260-pound Zach Heins. 6-foot-6, 268-pound Noah Gindorff has been a fixture over the last couple years at North Dakota State. And Montana State has a pair of talented 240-plus-pounders in Treyton Pickering and Derryk Snell.

Those teams are, at least in Montana’s best-case scenario, the Grizzlies’ peers, and they’ve overwhelmingly opted for brawn at tight end.

Disappointing as it is, Grossman’s injury has given the Griz a chance to follow along.

About Andrew Houghton

Andrew Houghton grew up in Washington, DC. He graduated from the University of Montana journalism school in December 2015 and spent time working on the sports desk at the Daily Tribune News in Cartersville, Georgia, before moving back to Missoula and becoming a part of Skyline Sports in early 2018.

Recommended for you