Luke Channer knew all along he wanted to be a Bobcat. When the Montana State football program went through an abrupt coaching change, Channer leaned on his high school coach, a former Bobcat himself, to help him earn a spot at MSU.
“I bet (Corvallis) Coach (Clayton) Curley called down there a dozen times to help me,” the recently graduated former Corvallis standout said in an interview earlier this month. “I own him a ton of credit because he made so many calls for me trying to get a hold of them because when the coaching staff switched, I didn’t have any numbers.”
Channer, a 6-foot-3, 285-pound offensive guard who started playing football for the first time as a prep junior, first started hearing from Montana State following a second-team All-Southwestern A campaign during his first year playing high school football. In the summer leading up to his senior season, he attended Montana State’s individual camp. Former offensive line coach Jason Eck liked Channer’s frame, his footwork honed from years playing soccer and his size.
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The Bobcats offered Channer a preferred walk-on spot, an offer that seemed to strengthen when Channer earned first-team All-Southwestern A honors by helping pave the way for Wyatt Haldorson, Class A’s leading rusher. But in November, following a 54-35 loss to rival Montana, Ash and his staff were fired. Jeff Choate was hired two weeks later but Channer’s line of communication to MSU was silent.
“It was months of uncertainty,” Channer said.
“I didn’t know who the new guy was going to be or if he would keep any of the staff or if he would clean the slate and get a completely new coaching staff. Once I heard there was going to be a new offensive line coach (Brian Armstrong), then I had to get ahold of him. It was hard because everyone was trying to get all set up and look at the recruits. It was months until I finally talked to them.”
In the spring, MSU wide receivers coach Matt Miller came to the Bitterroot Valley to pay Channer a visit. At the time, Channer was strongly considering taking a scholarship to play for Chuck Morrell’s Orediggers at Montana Tech in Butte. Tech offered nearly a full ride between the athletic and academic aid Channer would earn.
“That was really tough because they were calling me a couple of times a week asking if I had heard from Montana State yet,” Channer said. “I kept having to hold them off to wait to see if Montana State still had anything to offer me.”
When MSU did come through with a preferred walk-on offer — one of 11 handed out by Choate during the spring — Channer jumped at the chance to go to school in Bozeman. He also credits Curley, a Montana State safety who exhausted his eligibility in 2004, for helping him find his way to MSU.
“He really wanted me to just choose where I wanted to go,” Channer said. “He might have wanted me to go to the ‘Cats but he didn’t pressure me. He was really available and he helped me a ton.”
Curley played in 24 games between 2001 and 2004 as a safety at Montana State. He has been the head coach at Corvallis since 2013, helping defensive end Jesse Sims (Montana), tight end Jayce Gilder (Eastern Washington), linebacker Blake Sylvester (Montana State) and now Channer find their way to the Big Sky Conference.
Channer, also a standout wrestler who placed fourth as a heavyweight at the Class A state meet last winter, received strong interest from schools around the Frontier Conference. Despite growing up less than an hour south of Missoula, the Montana Grizzlies did not express much interest, a circumstance that likely wouldn’t have swayed Channer regardless.
“I never really considered the Griz just because I’m deciding between pre-med and engineering and I like Bozeman way better than Missoula,” Channer said. “I never really considered them. I did talk to a Griz recruiter and they seemed sort of interested but I never really heard back from them so I lost interest.”
Channer comes from a medical background. His father, Luke Channer Sr., is a doctor at the Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital in Hamilton. His uncle, Mark Channer, is an orthopedic surgeon in Missoula. Although engineering is of interest, Luke Jr. is leaning toward pursuing pre-med during his college football career.
The former Blue Devil had to keep his weight under 275 pounds during wrestling season but has since boosted his mass to 285. He hopes to be pushing 300 pounds by fall camp, something he feels will come more easily now that he can simply concentrate on weight training. Following wrestling, Channer had no time to rest as he dove into track. Last spring, he qualified for the State A Championship meet in the shot put and the discus.
“For track, our throwing coach is also our lifting coach so he gets us on the lifting program,” Channer said. “That really helped me get in the routine of always lifting and getting stronger. Wrestling, it’s a grind. I was a heavy weight and I was on the heavy side of heavyweight so I had to watch my weight. By the end of the year, it’s so mental. You have to just push through it. The practices are horrible but you have to get through it. All that work hopefully prepared me for what two-a-days will be like in college.”
Channer said he plans to spent the summer working out and helping his family maintain a piece of property that is home to 3 horses and a herd of cattle. He also is going to work on his snapping fundamentals in an effort to give himself more diversity as a football player.
After months of uncertainty, Channer is happy to have another chance to continue his football career.
“It means a lot to me because my junior year in football, we had a really good team, our first winning team (5-3) in Corvallis in years,” Channer said. “Senior year, we graduated so many seniors and we ended the season on a loss (to Stevensville). We didn’t have a good game, didn’t have a good record (1-7). It was disappointing. It was really sad looking at my teammates and knowing most of them would never play football again. For me to have the chance to redeem that season and get a chance to extend my football career just motivates me. I want to be able to get good enough to make an impact for my new team and win with my new team. This chance means everything.”
[/restrict]Photos courtesy of the Channer Family. All Rights Reserved.
