A few debates within the borders of the Treasure State seem endless.
Who is winning the in-state recruiting battle between the Bobcats and the Grizzlies?
And what are the quality of the athletes coming out of Montana within the scope of modern-day college football?
Take a look at the All-Big Sky Conference selections from this past regular season, and it’s affirmative that the Treasure State is producing elite talent at both the league and national levels.
For years, Treasure State coaches talked about building their foundations from the lines with athletes from Montana while they usually had to go out of state to recruit their arms & their legs.
The fortification of the offensive and defensive fronts, particularly for Montana State, still has roots that run deep in state. But the arms and the legs are also coming from Montana these days.
When the all-conference list for the Big Sky came out after the season, Montanans dominated the honors. Tommy Mellott, MSU’s senior quarterback from Butte, was the Offensive Player of the Year. Brody Grebe, an MSU senior defensive end from Melstone, was the Defensive Player of the Year. And Adam Jones, a rookie running back from Missoula, was the league’s Freshman of the Year.
It marked the first time since 1974 that both the offensive & defensive MVPs were from Montana in the same year and it marked the first time ever that a trio from the same school and all three from the Treasure State swept those three awards.
“I think Montana is a football-rich state and I think relative to the population, there’s a lot of good football players and there’s a lot of communities where football is really valued,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen, the Big Sky Coach of the Year, said following his team’s 49-17 win over Tennessee Martin earlier this month. “When we have guys on our roster that are from here, by and large, those guys are going to maximize their opportunity. We just have a bunch of them right now and they have collectively pushed one another and they are making impacts all over the team.”
A total of 47 Montanans play for the undefeated and top-seeded Bobcats. And those players are not only the foundation and backbone of the Bobcat football program. They are also among the best players in the conference and the Football Championship Subdivision.
Mellott is one of three finalists for the Walter Payton Award. Grebe finished in the Top 10 for Buck Buchanan Award voting and has an inside track to his third straight All-American nod. Jones was named to a Freshman All-American and was the runner-up for the Jerry Rice Award as the national Freshman of the Year.
And that’s only the tip of the spear for the effusively talented Bobcats. Of Montana State’s nine first-team All-Big Sky selections, six — Mellott, Grebe, senior offensive lineman Marcus Wehr (Billings), senior linebacker McCade O’Reilly (Bozeman), senior safety Rylan Ortt (Missoula) and sophomore punt returner Taco Dowler (Billings) — earned top recognition.
Senior center Cole Sain, who is originally from Darby although he played high school football in Southern California along with junior defensive tackle Paul Brott of Billings earned second-team all-conference recognition. Jones and junior defensive end Kenneth Eiden IV (Bozeman) earned honorable mention all-league recognition.
Montana, which has a roster sporting 49 in-state players, landed two players on the first-team all-conference list, including senior kick and punt returner Junior Bergen, an electric playmaker who, like Dowler, hails from Billings. UM landed eight players on the second-team all-league list, including Bergen as a punt returner along with Montanans senior linebacker Ryan Tirrell and senior cornerback Trevin Gradney. Junior T.J. Rausch, a Missoula native, made the second team as a special teams player.
Bergen as a wide receiver and Huntley Project product Journey Grimsrud on the offensive line along with Phillipsburg native Jaxon Lee at safety landed on the honorable mention list, giving the Griz a total of seven in-state products that earned All-Big Sky.
A total of 18 Montanans filled a total of 21 all-league spots (Bergen filled three slots) were filled by Treasure State products. Idaho defensive end Keyshawn James-Newby, who hails from Helena, also was a first-team all-league pick.
“All the guys from Montana on the All-Big Sky list, it shows that we play a great brand of football here in the state of Montana,” said Eiden, a former Montana Class AA Player of the Year who had two sacks last week against Tennessee Martin. “We have a lot of tough kids and both sides of the rivalry has a bunch of elite athletes from the state of Montana who really try their hardest and really try and go the extra mile for their communities.
“A lot of us are representing our communities. We have whole towns supporting us. For me growing up in Bozeman, I get that every week. Then you see these other towns, there’s a whole town worth of people is showing up at our games to see guys like Brody Grebe and Hunter Sharbono (Fairview, MT). It’s an amazing thing to play for your town, your state, your family, and your community. All those accolades show that we play great football here in the state of Montana.”
Over the last month, Montanans have carried the day on game day more often than not for the Bobcats. In a 30-28 win over UC Davis, Dowler’s punt return for a touchdown proved to be one of the key plays to MSU’s undefeated season. The following week, Jones, Ortt and Missoula native Zac Crews led the charge against Montana in Bozeman in MSU’s 34-11 win.
And last week, Mellott, Eiden and Dowler against stole the show Mellott threw for a career-high 300 yards and tied a career high with four passing touchdowns. Two of those passing scores went to Dowler, who also extended his single-season record for punt return yards and broke MSU’s record for career punt return yards.
“It’s really cool to represent for the state of Montana,” Dowler said. “It’s really cool the amount of play-makers this state can provide and it’s showing for both of these schools, us and them over the hill. There’s play-makers everywhere.”
Montana State is playing for its fourth bid in the FCS playoff semifinals in five years with Idaho coming to town on Friday night. The Vandals are led by an array of talent, including James-Newby, a Helena High graduate who started his college career at Montana Tech in Butte.
It’s almost certain that Montana-made players will be key cogs if Montana State’s undefeated season is going to continue with a school-record 14th win.
“You look at our all-conference lists, that’s a good chunk of Montana guys who make up our 16* all conference honorees,” Vigen said. “We need to continue to have that being our foundation. Beyond those guys making plays, that’s the core of our leadership. We have six captains and five of them (Mellott, Grebe, O’Reilly, Wehr, Bozeman center Justus Perkins) are Montana natives. I can’t say enough about what that group means. They all spoke after practice (Friday) and this is our last guaranteed game and so we had the seniors speak throughout the course of the week.
“How eloquent, passionate, you frame it any way you want, those guys love this place, they love one another, they play for one another, over and over, it’s about advice for young guys, make the most of your opportunities, don’t take anything for granted and there is a lot of power in that. That’s definitely our strength right now is those guys.”
