Mike Ferriter has seen an assembly of talented wide receivers during the last dozen years, half that the Helena product has spent at the University of Montana.
From tall, physically formidable pass catchers like Jon Talmage, Ryan Bagley, Eric Allen and Craig Chambers to exciting, shifty fan favorites like Marc Mariani and Tate Hancock, Ferriter has played with and observed a sea of talent at his alma mater. Montana’s inside wide receivers coach was one of the most sure-handed pass catchers in Griz history himself, hauling in 147 catches for 2,089 yards and 15 touchdowns, all Top 11 totals in UM history.
As Ferriter enters his second season on Bob Stitt’s staff at UM, his perspective of the recent history of pass catchers at UM continues to broaden. When asked who Jerry Louie-McGee, Ferriter’s new rising star, reminds him of, he can’t help but smile.
[restrict paid=”true”]“He’s got a little (Jefferson) Heidelberger to him, a little Levander Segars to him as well,” Ferriter said, referring to two of the most popular and electrifying return men and speed threats to play for the Griz in recent seasons. “Both those guys are incredibly dynamic players for the Griz. From my time around here, those are the two guys who jump off. But he might have even more flair.”
Louie-McGee’s flair has been apparent each time he’s stepped between the lines at Washington-Grizzly Stadium or elsewhere in the Big Sky Conference in 2016, from a breakout performance in spring drills to meteoric rise during the first month of his redshirt freshman year. From his boyish looks to the flowing hair he wears long as a tribute to the Native American culture that serves as his backbone to his shiftiness to his exceptional speed, Louie-McGee has all the makings of a star.
“You don’t want to coach him too much because if you coach him, you make him mortal,” Stitt said. “You just have to get the ball in his hands and let him go.”
But the redshirt freshman is all of 19 years old and is still trying to manage the mindset it takes to transform from walk-on to reliable playmaker for the most storied program in the Big Sky Conference.
“It’s all hitting me pretty quickly,” said Louie-McGee after earning national FCS Freshman of the Week honors after a record-setting performance last week against Cal Poly. “The first three games have been pretty awesome experiences so far. I wouldn’t have thought my first couple games this would happen. But it wasn’t just me. I had some great blocks and perfect passes from (senior quarterback) Brady (Gustafson).”
“Being a walk-on, I had a lot to prove and I still have a lot to prove. These last few games have boosted my confidence a little bit.”
Louie-McGee did more than prove himself in San Luis Obispo, California last week. Louie-McGee shattered Josh Paffhausen’s school record of 15 receptions in a single game by almost halftime. He hauled in 13 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone and finished the game with 21 catches for 155 yards. His reception total equaled former Montana State running back David Pandt’s 31-year-old record for the top total in the Big Sky Conference.
On Louie-McGee’s first touchdown in Montana’s 42-41 loss at Cal Poly, he took a bubble screen from the UM 39-yard line, cut up field and exploded like a bullet, sprinting for a 61-yard touchdown. It was just the latest display of his jaw-dropping abilities in the open field.
This season, the 5-foot-9, 170-pounder has a Big Sky-leading 32 receptions. He is averaging 24.8 yards per punt return, including a winding, whirling 81-yard touchdown in UM’s 20-14 win at No. 3 Northern Iowa that made SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays the second weekend of September.
“A lot of the things he continues to do surprise me,” Ferriter said. “The way he continues to move his body, the timing he has, it’s stuff you can’t teach. You have no idea where it comes from. He continues to surprise me every day. You know he has the tools in him but then, like the punt return against Northern Iowa, it’s something you don’t expect any player to be able to do.”
While Louie-McGee’s emergence as an electric playmaker may seem like it’s out of nowhere, Ferriter saw his pupil’s potential years ago. Ferriter exhausted his eligibility after catching 10 touchdowns and helping lead Montana to the 2008 national title game his senior season. He spent 2009 coaching at Helena High, his high school alma mater, before serving as a graduate assistant for former UM head coach Bobby Hauck for two years at UNLV.
Ferriter’s first full-time job came on Mike Kramer’s staff at Idaho State. He coached inside receivers for two years, helping the Bengals forge one of the top passing attacks in college football. While at ISU, Ferriter saw Louie-McGee at a camp in Coeur d’Alene, where Louie-McGee was a prep star at Lake City High for former Griz quarterback Van Troxel. Ferriter saw a player with unique field vision, an uncanny knack for breaking tackles and, despite his slight frame, an explosiveness rarely seen among high school players.
“His highlight tape is about as good as anyone you’ve ever seen,” Ferriter said. “I first saw him at a camp when I was working at Idaho State and I saw a guy who was explosive, dynamic and at the high school level, a player who dominated. He’s just an undersized guy who got overlooked but he’s as explosive as it gets.”
Louie-McGee’s flair and charismatic style were on display even back then, a product of the culture he was raised in. Louie-McGee grew up in Worley, Idaho, a tiny town in the heart of the Coeur d’Alene Indian reservation. He played eight-man football in tiny Plummer through middle school when his parents decided to enroll him and his older brother, Tucker, at Lake City in Coeur d’Alene 30 miles away.
Sports bring an intrinsic sense of pride to rural communities across the West and reservations are no different. Louie-McGee acknowledges that most of his native friends and relatives gravitate toward basketball but football has been Louie-McGee’s first love all his life.
“The native community is way more about basketball than football so this is something unique,” said Louie-McGee as he stood on the Washington-Grizzly Stadium turf before a practice earlier this week, his long hair waving in the gentle breeze. “I’m getting a lot of positive feedback from natives around here and in my community back home.
“It’s really humbling and truly a blessing to be able to represent who I am and my culture and my tribe. It makes me happy when I see my people telling me good job and they are proud of me. It’s crazy what has happened so far and I hope to keep bringing more positivity to my people.”
In 2014, Ferriter and Idaho State offensive coordinator Matt Troxel, Van’s son and a former Griz wide receiver himself, helped the Bengals land Tucker Louie-McGee. Signing Day in 2015 came and went without a single offer for Jerry. In June, he committed to become a preferred walk-on with the Griz to zero fanfare.
“Before Ferriter was talking to me, I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Louie-McGee said. “I was sort of considering Idaho State because Matt Troxel was always up visiting Coach Trox but I never really had any want to go to Idaho State. My brother was already there and I didn’t want to compete with him.
“Ferriter was the main reason I came here because he was the only coach who offered me to come take a visit. He was really calling me consistently and he really made me feel like he wanted me here. All the other coaches told me I was too small but he always had positive things to say and he was a huge reason why I’m in Missoula.”
During the fall of 2015, Ferriter, Stitt and UM passing game coordinator Nolan Swett would hear feedback from Montana’s defensive staff of Louie-McGee’s ability to dice the Griz defense while performing on the scout team. Ferriter said it seemed like every day the defensive coaches would tell stories of Louie-McGee’s elusiveness.
During the off-season, Montana went through a roster turnover that included bringing more than 40 new faces into the fold. At the wide receiver position, seven of Montana’s top eight pass catchers moved on from the program in one fashion or another, leaving the door wide open for Louie-McGee and his fellow unproven young receivers to find themselves during spring drills.
Louie-McGee ripped off a 44-yard touchdown in Montana’s second spring scrimmage. In the final scrimmage, the first and only open to the public, Louie-McGee foreshadowed what he might be able to do this fall by taking a kickoff 99 yards to pay dirt to the delight of those in attendance at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
“His progression started with him being a walk-on and me figuring out who he was,” Stitt said on the Big Sky coaches’ conference call on Wednesday. “He comes out during spring ball and all of sudden, starts making these plays and I was like, ‘Who is that guy?’ It was pretty exciting.”
Louie-McGee is the latest in a line of breakout players in Missoula. As the most fervent fan base in the Big Sky is inclined to do, his star is sure rise with each electrifying play. Ferriter said he has no worry of the attention go to his head.
Montana has played one game in Missoula — a 41-31 win over Saint Francis (PA) in its season-opener. On Montana’s second snap of the 2016 season, Louie-McGee took a short pass, cut up field and appeared to score a 72-yard touchdown. Officials called him out at midfield, leaving the sellout Missoula crowd wanting more.
Louie-McGee has scored three highlight-reel touchdowns since but he’s still waiting to craft a signature moment at home. But that near-score gave him a taste of things to come and affirmed his journey to this point thus far.
“This place is unbelievable,” Louie-McGee said. “They told me it was going to be crazy playing in this stadium and I didn’t really listen much but as soon as I got out here and I took a look around, it was crazy. Just making plays in this place, it’s an awesome feeling and it makes you even more proud to be a Griz and represent for this town and represent who I am and who we are. We are the Griz.
“I’ve always had the little sense that I really think I can do this. That’s why I came here. I had a feeling that things would go well if I decided to be a Griz and it’s been my best decision in my life so far.”
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