McKenzie Holt will be the first to tell you he fell in love with the Bobcats first. Once he spent time around Bob Stitt and his coaching staff with the Montana Grizzlies, Holt knew his heart would reside in Missoula.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Thompson Falls standout started getting attention from former Montana State assistant coach Michael Rider at the beginning of his junior year. MSU recruited him throughout 2015 but when Rob Ash and most of his staff were let go following Montana State’s first losing season since 2002, Holt’s recruitment fell off the map.
[restrict paid=”true”]Holt attended the Northwest Elite camp earlier this summer and had a strong showing. At the camp, Holt’s stock began to rise. A few of Stitt’s assistants were in attendance. Holt received his first letter from Montana a few days later which included an invite to UM’s individual camp in July.
“I went to the camp and I fell in love with it there,” Holt said. “Coach Ash and Coach Rider were the first ones to recruit me to Montana State and that’s who I fell in love with first. But when I went to Missoula, it was a great energy all around.
“It felt like I was in home when I was in Missoula. The weather was the same. Beautiful campus. All the coaches talked to me like they knew me. It felt like I was at home.”
Shortly after attending Montana’s camp, the Griz offered the strong, athletic athlete. He currently plays running back and middle linebacker for the Bluehawks but is slated as an offensive or defensive lineman for the Griz. It didn’t take Holt long to contemplate the offer. He verbally committed in the first week of August.
“This is a great opportunity so going through my senior year, now I know that I have a great opportunity ahead of me no matter what happens,” Holt said. “That’s a lot of pressure off just knowing I am moving on.”
Holt is one of seven players from Montana to give verbal commitments to the Griz already with National Signing Day not until next February. Holt joins Billings West twins Braydon and Bryson Deming, Columbia Falls linebacker Trevor Hoerner, Sidney athlete Michael McGinnis, Polson quarterback Tanner Wilson and his wide receiver teammate Matt Rensvold.
Coaches cannot comment on prospective recruits until after they sign letters of intent on National Signing Day.
Holt is a raw yet intriguing prospect who turned heads on the gridiron and the track as a junior. Last fall, Holt averaged 6.9 yards per carry, rushing for 521 yards on just 75 carries and scoring three touchdowns. He also caught nine passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns. As a sophomore, he scored 10 total touchdowns. Defensively, Holt piled up 112 tackles, including 70 solo stops and two tackles for loss. He also notched two sacks.
Holt’s blend of size and speed best shows up on the track. He’s been timed as fast at 11.2 seconds in the 100 meters and ran a season-best 11.40 last spring. He also ran a 22.91 seconds in the 200 meters to take fifth at the Class B track meet.
Holt earned first-team All District 7B honors as a junior on both sides of the ball. His blend of size and speed helped him get noticed by both the Division I schools in the state. Unlike many in-state recruits — Montana State commit Jaxen Hashley is the son of an MSU Hall of Famer, Bobcat commit Troy Andersen has a sister going to school in Bozeman while the Polson athletes grew up rooting on the Griz — Holt had no embedded allegiance on either side of the rivalry.
“The whole Griz-Bobcat, I didn’t do much of that,” Holt said. “A lot of my friends are Griz fans. I kind of like to be different, so I did root for the Bobcats every once in a while to have friendly competition between my friends. But honestly, I was born in Arizona so I wasn’t born into a Griz or Bobcat family. It developed and now I’m a Griz for life.”
Holt moved with his mother from Tucson, Arizona when he was 9. His father still lives in Arizona while his mother is a fourth grade teacher in Thompson Falls. His stepfather works in a mine in Alaska and is gone for weeks at a time.
While Holt may not have any geographical or family ties to either the Bobcats or the Grizzlies, Stitt, Montana’s second-year head coach, certainly left an impression during Holt’s time in Missoula.
“I think he is a very smart, intelligent guy,” Holt said. “One of the things I like about him is he comes across sort of like your dad. Right off the bat when we started in camp, he was starting to talk about our lives. He genuinely cared about all of us. It was impressive. I figured he would be a great coach to learn from.
“He told me he was excited about the Montana boys. He said he wanted to build a Montana backbone with this recruiting class.”
Holt is the latest addition to a growing Montana contingent. The prospect some recruiting websites have called “a diamond in the rough” will study business during his time at UM. The Thompson Falls native is happy to have a newfound love for the Grizzlies.
“It’s a dream come true, honestly,” Holt said. “It’s everything I could’ve asked for. I’ve always wanted to go Division I. I’ve been dreaming since I was a small, small kid so this is a dream come true for sure.”
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Photos courtesy of McKenzie Holt. All Rights Reserved.
