When Dalton Sneed sits in the pocket too long at Montana Grizzlies football practice, it’s not uncommon to hear offensive coordinator Timm Rosenbach scream at his quarterback.
Get out of there.
Play your game.
“Him screaming at me, him screaming at Cam [Humphrey] to get out of the pocket, use our legs, [is because] we can both run, we can both throw on the run,” Sneed said. “So he wants us to consistently make good reads and good plays. We can both do that with our legs, and he wants us to use that to our advantage every practice.”
In fact, Sneed, who is looking increasingly likely to be the starter going into the season opener on Saturday night against No. 13 Northern Iowa, has the potential to be the best running quarterback ever at Montana under coach Bobby Hauck.
Hauck’s offense in his first stint at Montana, from 2003 to 2009, was run-heavy, but it was often a bell cow back carrying the load. In fact, with Justin Green in 2003, Lex Hilliard in 2005 and 2007, and Chase Reynolds in 2008 and 2009, five of the top 10 rushing seasons in Montana history came during Hauck’s seven-year tenure.
Hauck’s quarterbacks weren’t quite at that level gaining yards on the ground. It can be tough for a quarterback to get rushing yards
in college with sacks counting as negative yardage, but through Hauck’s first four seasons at Montana, the most a Grizzly quarterback averaged in rushing yards per game was Craig Ochs’ 12.3 in 2004.
Cole Bergquist broke on the scene in 2007, running for 383 net yards (31.9 per game), second on the team behind Hilliard, and did about the same in 2008, racking up 356 more yards on the ground, although that was only 22.2 per game as he led the Griz to the FCS national championship game. Compare that to Sneed, who ran for 348 yards in nine games as a redshirt freshman in 2016 at UNLV (38.7 per game), and then 295 in eight games at Fort Scott CC last year (36.9).
If he does start, expect the redshirt junior to at least challenge Bergquist’s numbers. Although he hasn’t had many at Montana, Hauck does like having a mobile quarterback.
“I’ve always thought, forever, that a guy who can hurt you with his feet and his arm is way harder to defend than somebody that’s one-dimensional,” Hauck said.
Sneed certainly provides that. He was a running back until high school, and still has those open-field instincts, but also merges them with a quarterback’s field vision when he’s outside the pocket.
He’s made some of his best throws in practice while on the run, and might be one of those quarterbacks who’s more dangerous when scrambling than he is with a clean pocket.
“I’m looking to make the best play,” Sneed said about being chased from the pocket. “If a receiver flashes for me, I’m going to get him the ball. If not, then I’m going to take off and try to make a play. That’s my favorite part, get out in space and be able to make a play. Especially with my legs; I love running the ball.”
It will be tough to tell what the Montana offense looks like until the Grizzlies play for real. But if Sneed gets the call as the starter, expect to see the coaches use his legs as well as his arm.
“I think all of [our quarterbacks] run pretty dang well,” Hauck said. “And then when you couple
that with the fact that Dalton’s got probably the strongest arm on the team, too, that’s a good thing.”
Andrew Houghton is a freelance sportswriter providing Griz football content for Skyline Sports this fall. Photos by Jason Bacaj. All Rights Reserved.
