As historic as the 2025 season was for Montana State with its national championship,
its undefeated Big Sky Conference title, its two wins over rival Montana, plus most
recently its visit to the White House, the 2026 season gives the Bobcats the opportunity
to set itself apart from every other Big Sky Conference team.
MSU now has a chance to become the first Big Sky team to win back-to-back national
titles, win an unprecedented fourth national title as a Big Sky team, and match the most
Big Sky championships with 19. A third Football Championship Subdivision title would
make MSU one of just five teams – North Dakota State, Appalachian State, Georgia
Southern and Youngstown State are the others – to win three or more FCS national
championships. Since 1973, the year NCAA Division II was created and the division that
essentially morphed into Division I-AA in 1978 and is now called the FCS, MSU has a
shot at winning its fourth national title. Only Georgia Southern and NDSU will have won
more than the Bobcats during that span. And only Youngstown State remains in the FCS.
The Bobcats’ mantra has been and continues to be to ‘take it one play at a time’ to go 1-
0 every week. Yet, the opportunities that 2026 presents aren’t lost on their players.
“If I was to come up here and say that didn’t drive me in a way, I’d be lying, but I do try to stay grounded,” MSU quarterback Justin Lamson said. “We gotta play Utah Tech Week One and they’re a damn good football team, very talented. I think (achieving those milestones) is the end goal, but we got one game at a time. That’s our mentality, but it’s definitely a driving factor and you look at those long-term goals in the back of
your head quite a bit.”
On the other side of the line of scrimmage, cornerback Takhari Carr has a similar
sentiment.
“You think about that kind of stuff for sure,” Carr said. “But if you look too far down the
road you might trip over something that’s right in front of you. We have to handle
everything one day at a time. One week at a time. Because we can’t look at one team
and because of their record and say ‘well, they 0-and-this’ because everybody’s going
to give us their best shot and we got a target on our back. Them little dogs, what’s going
to happen when them big dogs don’t get our best shot? I truly believe that if we just stay
within our culture and our foundation that we built, we’re going to be okay. Then when
we look back and them accolades are going to pop up. We’re not going to think about
them, we’re going to be like, ‘we did do that.’”
The Bobcats kicked off the season Thursday afternoon with their first practice in the
run-up to their season opener in St. George, Utah against Utah Tech.
MSU returns a bevy of talent from last year’s squad, which was highlighted earlier in the
week when the Big Sky announced its preseason all-conference squad and the Bobcats
led the way with 14 of the 38 players named to the team. That left just 24 spots for the
remaining 12 teams – an average of just two per team – in the league.
Taco Dowler occupied three spots on the team as wide receiver, punt returner and all-
purpose player. Lamson, offensive linemen Titan Fleischmann, Braden Zimmer and
Blake Mastel, running back Adam Jones round out the offensive players. Safety Caden
Dowler, nickelback Tayden Gray, linebacker Cole Taylor, and defensive end Zac Crews
made up the defensive players, and the special teams were represented by kicker
Myles Sansted and kick returner Jabez Woods. Dowler, the 2025 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, was named the preseason MVP as well.
Despite those headliners, the Bobcats still have holes to fill after losing the entire defensive line to
graduation, seeing three cornerbacks transfer to FBS schools, and having electric
running back Julius Davis graduate.
The Bobcats like to operate with at least one backup at every position ready to not only
step up in case of emergencies but also spell starters by rotating in and out of the game
on a consistent basis. MSU uses a double-repping strategy in practices to accomplish
that. It splits the team into two units for large chunks of time in order to get everyone on
the team in step with how the offensive and defensive units flow.
MSU typically uses anywhere from eight to 10 players in a game on the defensive line.
With four holes to fill along the defensive front, that will be a huge priority leading into the season.
“I think we left spring with plenty of possibilities,” head coach Brent Vigen said. “You
return four of the primary eight that played last year, that’s a good place to start. Those
four (Talon Marsh, Zack Black, Zac Crews and Dominic Solano) need to step their game
up first and foremost, but then there’s five, six, seven guys beyond that, that are still not
game tested yet. So, we gotta do everything with that group through the course of the
next month to get them ready and sort out what that’s going to look like.
“Ultimately get on that field and not just play eight, nine, ten guys because we think we
have to, but because we should. If it’s a smaller number, it’s a smaller number but it’s
served us best to play a bigger group for the long haul. I think we have the guys to do
that.”
Three players lead the way in filling those positions in Hunter Sharbono, who has seen
considerable action over the past two seasons at defensive tackle, defensive end Seth
Brock, who was an ace for the special teams cover units, and massive Josiah Asuega,
who despite not seeing much action as a true freshman in 2025 is highly thought of by
both coaches and players alike.
Other noteworthy prospects are Blaine Downing, an athletic defensive end from Saco,
Ryan Bowles, who moved to defensive end from linebacker, Logan Frederickson and
Jake Vigen, the head coach’s son.
The cornerback spots have a large contingent of suitors for the three spots behind
senior veteran Takhari Carr. Transfers Alec Wills from Penn and Gianni Edwards from
Arizona, along with speedy and long special teams cover man Kory Boyd, Tim Thomas,
and Marcus Coleman are considered the main players vying for those positions.
“I’m excited for you all to see our new group of guys,” Carr said. “They have different
skill sets. Long, fast guys with good ball skills. It’s going to be interesting to see this fall
because they had a great spring.
“Kory (Boyd) has the body to be an NFL cornerback. From the first day that he came
until right now has been night and day. I think Kory for sure is a guy that’s going to make
an impact for this defense because of his speed, his length and his knowledge. He has
knowledge for the game, knowledge for our defense and is going to be somebody that’s
going to make an impact this fall. His attention to detail, his focus. He’s attacking the
game differently. He’s looking different in the weight room. He’s looking different outside
the weight room on campus being a good guy, being a leader.”
Filling the shoes of Julius Davis is another – perhaps easier – task for the MSU coaches
with veterans Jared White and Colson Coon competing for the No. 2 spot behind Jones,
along with Brigham Young transfer Cale Breslin fight for reps.
“Jared and Colson, and really Cale, but specifically Jared and Colson have been dudes
that have been ready to play and have progressed enough to where if they were on
different teams in the Big Sky, I guarantee they’d be starting right now at running back,”
Jones said. “I think that’s a unique thing that we have at Montana State. We have depth
beyond just the one and the two. The threes and fours are dudes that can be plugged in
and have an impact right away and I think filling Julius’s shoes is something that’s not
going to be an easy task. He’s a unique back. He’s hurdling dudes left and right, so you
won’t see as much of that but you’re going to see a couple guys that have their own
takes of what they have in a running back and that they’ll do a really good job.”
The greatest sign of hope for the Bobcats in being able to fill those voids probably lies
within their ability to develop talent. Not only does double-repping accentuate their skills,
but also their tried-and-true off-season programs.
“We have the best coach in the nation and it’s the culture he built,” Carr said of Vigen’s
consistent ability to rebuild units within the team. “The staff that he brought in, the great
coaches, and it’s the great leaders – the team captains. And the guys under the
captains that want to be captains. Everybody wanting to have a growth mindset and
wanting to be better. Seeing that this program is so close to being in a national championship, so everyone wants to be on that field playing. To be on that field playing you have to produce, and there’s a guy right behind that’s just as good or better that’s pushing you to be better.”
MSU resumes practices until it makes a road trip on August 29 to play new Big Sky
Conference member Utah State in not only the season opener but a rare and perhaps
nerve-wracking league season opener, which hasn’t happened in decades for the
Bobcats.
The last time they visited St. George the temperature during the day was over
100 and it was still lingering in the low 90s at kickoff. MSU struggled to get going on
offense but the defense forced nine straight three-and-outs to start the game as the
Bobcats cruised to a 38-7 win. MSU got a big scare in just its second game of the year
when quarterback Tommy Mellott went down with what looked like a leg injury, but it
turned out to be cramps and the Cats went on to rattle off 15 straight wins before falling
in the 2024 title game.
