Tight end Matt Rensvold is at the center of two trends that have become increasingly apparent on the Montana Grizzlies football team in recent weeks.
Last week against Cal Poly, Rensvold was one of 17 true or redshirt freshmen on Montana’s two-deep depth chart.
He was also a key part of the two- and even three-tight end formations the Griz used against the Mustangs, catching two passes for 53 yards, second on the team, and a touchdown.
If you were casting about for words to describe these Grizzlies, “young” and “physical” would be high on the list. Rensvold embodies both.
“It’s been great,” Rensvold said. “The coaches bring great energy every day, and we come out and compete every day, play physical football every day, and it leads to Saturday. We play physical football on Saturday and get wins. That’s all that matters.”
Rensvold dropped off the depth chart for this week’s game against Portland State with the return of junior tight end Colin Bingham from injury, but he’ll likely continue to get snaps.The long and lean redshirt freshman has made some crucial catches already in limited time among his four grabs for 63 yards five games into his college career.
He didn’t record his first college reception, a 9-yarder, until the third game of the season at Western Illinois. A week later, against Sac State, he had one catch for one yard, but it was arguably the biggest play of the game, a touchdown catch on fourth-and-goal with the game tied 31-31 early in the fourth quarter.
“It was a good play call, the line did their job, [quarterback] Dalton [Sneed] made a good throw,” Rensvold said. “It just happened to be thrown to me.”
Rensvold doubled his career total with two catches against Cal Poly, one an 8-yard touchdown and the other a 45-yard catch-and-run on which he stiff-armed and threw a defender to the ground. His strong start to the season has earned praise from head coach Bobby Hauck.
“Matt’s doing a good job,” Hauck said. “He’s a freshman and that shows, but for a freshman, he’s doing an exceptional job, I would say. I would think before he’s done at Montana, he’ll be a really, really fine tight end for us.”
Rensvold, along with reserve quarterback Tanner Wilson, came to the Griz from Polson High School, where he was a four-year letterman in football, basketball and track and was a two-time All-State linebacker.
In 2016, his senior year, he won Northwestern A conference MVPs in both basketball and football.
A lifelong Griz fan, Rensvold’s decision to come to Montana was easy.
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He redshirted last year and was rehabbing an injury in the spring, but the tight end’s 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame instantly stood out when he got back on the field.
His development, along with that of Bingham (6-3, 255) and fellow redshirt freshman Bryson Deming (6-4, 245), has allowed the Griz to roll out multiple tight end looks, like they did against Cal Poly.
“One of the things that good offenses do is they make defenses adjust to them,” Hauck said. “Just line up one group and one or two formations, that’s easy to line up and play [against] on defense. So, the more multiple we can be … the more difficult it is on defense to game plan. I think that the last couple weeks we’ve shaken the tree a little bit and a few new formations and groups have fallen out, and it’s been hard on those teams we’ve played.”
Having multiple tight ends allows the Griz to get creative, using them either as receivers or as extra blockers to shore up an offensive line that, while improving, is still one of the weakest areas on the team.
On Rensvold’s go-ahead touchdown against Sac State, Montana used Deming (87) on a shallow crossing route to clear out the defenders before Rensvold snuck into the vacated space for the score.
Matt Rensvold's first career TD puts the Griz up 38-31 with just over 10 minutes to play!#GOGRIZ!! pic.twitter.com/56wguzqvc2
— Montana Griz Football (@MontanaGrizFB) September 22, 2018
On another fourth-and-1, though, Montana used multiple tight ends as blockers, with Deming and Bingham helping to clear space for Adam Eastwood on his 37-yard touchdown run against Drake.
🎲Yhatzee Baby!🎲
Freshman running back Adam Eastwood scored his first touchdowns as a Grizzly against Drake.
He broke this 4th & 1 loose for a 37-yard score in the 3rd Qtr – his 2nd TD of the day ⬇️#GoGriz #RTD #MontanaTough pic.twitter.com/nlrNikXO3G
— Montana Griz Football (@MontanaGrizFB) September 10, 2018
“It gives us all reps, and that’s how you compete for jobs,” Rensvold said. “All of us are able to compete to get a job, and it’s good for our offense. … It definitely makes us a more physical team when we have three tight ends out there, for sure.”
As for the youth aspect, Hauck has alluded multiple times to how young his Grizzlies are. Freshmen and sophomores are playing a role at nearly every position, and they’re having to grow up fast. With so many succeeding, Montana’s future looks bright.
Rensvold, for one, didn’t wait his turn. He came into the season ready to play.
“I’m always expecting to play,” Rensvold said. “It was just about the competition at practice and fall camp and all that stuff. All of us out here go out there and compete every day to get a job and to do our 1/11th every day for the team.”
