Big Sky Conference

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Quarterback mentality still part of Griebel’s mindset

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In his heart, Mitch Griebel is still a quarterback.

The Montana State senior still carries himself with the confidence of a quarterback. His walk looks like the saunter of a gunslinger. The way he wears his backward baseball cap, the way he slyly smiles during conversation and his ability to always rise to become the leader of whatever pack follows him are each characteristics indicative of the persona of a man who lines up under center.

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel high steps a Portland State defender in 2014

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel high steps a Portland State defender in 2014

“Mitch has that natural leadership about him,” Montana State offensive coordinator Cramsey said on Tuesday. “He’s a tough son of a gun who lives on the edge.”

These days, Griebel lives on the edge quite literally, at least on Saturdays. As Montana State’s starting slot receiver, he has 20 catches for 241 yards this season. His catch total leads the team. Last season, his first as a starter, he caught 45 passes for 445 yards. He has been a model of consistency since cracking the starting lineup, notching at least two catches in all 17 of his starts in the slot.

It wasn’t long ago that Griebel was the gunslinger his personality signifies. In three years as the starting quarterback at Heritage High in Littleton, Colorado, Griebel was a phenom. He posted a 33-5 record, throwing for 5,350 yards and rushing for 2,670 yards. His senior season, he earned Colorado 4A Player of the Year honors by throwing for 2,150 yards and 35 touchdowns and rushing for 1,300 yards and 19 more scores. He earned the MVP of the Colorado 4A state title game by rushing for 131 yards and three scores and throwing for 142 yards and two more scores.

He finished his career with 115 total touchdowns, including four punt returns and five interception returns. He was a four-time All-State selection as a defensive back. Griebel’s resume helped him earn a Division I shot.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder signed with Air Force in 2010 and led the Air Force prep school to its best record in 15 seasons that fall. In 2011, he joined the Falcons’ team and redshirted but still made the varsity roster. Griebel looked like the future at quarterback running Air Force’s vaunted triple option.

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel stanced against Fort Lewis in 2014

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel stanced against Fort Lewis in 2015

The stress of pursuing the undergraduate degree required to become a physician’s assistant coupled with the demands of Division I football and the academy lifestyle caused Griebel to look for other options in 2012. He transferred to Montana State shortly after. In the spring, he figured into the mix under center for the Bobcats, battling the younger versions of Jake Bleskin, Tanner Roderick and Dakota Prukop for the right to back up DeNarius McGhee . Despite showing flashes, in particular a standout performance during the 2013 Triangle Classic spring game in Great Falls, the quarterback room was too crowded. Cramsey, at the time in his first few months on the job, told Griebel the Bobcats were moving him from the position he had played since fifth grade.

“He has the head to do it, the athletic ability to do it, the savvy to do it. He always gets mad at me when I tell him it was his throwing that had him behind Jake and Dakota and DeNarius, which is no slight to him because all three of those guys can spin it,” Cramsey said. “But to me, he’s too good an athlete to have standing around as a backup quarterback. He wasn’t too excited about getting moved over there. But he has bought into it as he has gone along.”

Playing time came sparingly at first. Griebel did not catch a pass in 2013. But he served as Montana State’s holder for senior kicker Rory Perez, a position he continues to steady for MSU. By last season, Griebel was Montana State’s most consistent pass catcher, using his quickness to turn bubble screens into chain-moving gains and using his IQ to find soft spots in zone defenses.

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel holding an extra point against Cal Poly in 2015

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel holding an extra point against Cal Poly in 2015

“Mitch is one of the smartest, most savvy football players I’ve ever coached,” said MSU ninth-year head coach Rob Ash, a head coach since 1980. “He can do absolutely anything you ask him to do. He’s our holder, he does our swinging gate plays, he returns punts, he returns kickoffs. He can throw the ball on our element plays. And he’s become a really good receiver too. He is a heads up guy who understands the game.”

In the off-season, Griebel’s teammates voted him as a team captain. He is on pace for 55 catches and last week, he caught his first touchdown, a moment he called “bittersweet” because it came in a 49-41 loss at Northern Arizona.

With increased production, Griebel could become one of a dozen Bobcats to catch 60 balls in a single season. If he did, he would go over 100 receptions in his career, putting him just outside the top 10 in MSU history. Yet when Griebel looks in the mirror, he still sees a quarterback staring back at him.

“I have carried it over to being a wide receiver,” Griebel said. “Being a quarterback, there’s a lot of leadership that goes into it and I feel like I have brought a lot of that to the receiver room and that has helped us as a receiver group a lot. Not getting the ball every play, I’m not used to it but it’s something I have to do.”

Griebel grew up in a household where academics and discipline were emphasized. His father, Mike Griebel, was the head football coach at Heritage High for 31 years before controversially being forced out last January (see here).

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel reaches for a pass during practice

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel reaches for a pass during practice

His mother, Karen, coached two state championship gymnastics teams at Cherry Creek High in Denver. Following Mitch’s standout senior season, he weighed offers from North Dakota, Princeton and South Dakota before electing to go to the Air Force Academy.

He thrived his year in prep school, leading the football team to an 8-3 record in 2010. Griebel’s freshman year as a military cadet proved to be much more difficult.

“You wake up every morning, the three tiers of guys in front of you are just in your face,” Griebel said. “You can’t talk back or defend yourself at all so it’s just a constant barrage of intimidation being thrown at you all the time. The constant getting yelled at, having to do push-ups all the time, they call it getting beat. You aren’t getting beat up but its push-ups, sit-ups, running, constant pounding.”

In 2011, Griebel redshirted but still made the varsity roster. He made the travel squad for the Military Bowl. Off the field, the stress of pursuing a human and health performance degree coupled with his struggle to acclimate to military life weighed heavily.

“I was just stressed out, honestly,” Griebel said. “The fit football-wise was awesome but academically, the military, it all added stress in my life. Coming out of high school, I grew up in a strict family so I knew I could handle a lot of it and I did handle a lot of it but I just saw myself being in a better place in college and having more fun.”

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel

Griebel had received interest from Montana State and Montana in high school. He knew MSU would have an opening at quarterback after McGhee’s graduation. He decided to come to Bozeman.

“I don’t regret going to the Air Force at all,” Griebel said. “It made me grow up way more than I would’ve going to a normal college.”

In Colorado Springs, Cadets are required to rise at 5:30 a.m. every day and turn their lights off at 10:30 p.m. every night. Each hour of every day is regimented. Team work and selflessness are prioritized. Two years of living that lifestyle still has an influence on Griebel’s daily life in Bozeman.

“Mitch Griebel might be our most consistent football player,” MSU wide receivers coach Cody Kempt said. “He is a warrior and he has a never satisfied mentality. He strives for perfection each and every day.”

When Griebel initially came to MSU, only a handful of his credits transferred so he’s spent much of the last four years playing catch up. He will earn his degree in December and has already applied to physician assistant programs across the West. He said his top choices are Colorado University-Denver or the PA program at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado. His younger brother, Mikey, is a highly successful junior receiver at Columbine High, the same school where Mike now coaches defensive backs. Mitch would love to live closer to home to watch his brother chase a state title with their father just like Mitch did.

Because of his year in prep school, Mitch is the oldest Bobcat. He will turn 25 in February. Griebel is six years older than Mitch Herbert, a true sophomore that starts alongside Griebel at wide receiver. The experience as the elder statesmen in a position group and on an offense has taught him wisdom and showed him he may someday want to follow in his parents’ footsteps and become a coach.

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel with his fellow captains

MSU wide receiver Mitch Griebel with his fellow captains

Before all of that, Griebel is trying to help his Bobcats right the ship. MSU is 2-2 entering Saturday’s showdown in Bozeman against Sacramento State. Montana State is 1-2 against Division I opponents and have required feverish fourth-quarter comebacks to make the final margins in losses to Eastern Washington and NAU respectable.

Griebel isn’t in complete control like he once was. He admits he misses being the guy dictating the action each game day. But he has grown in different ways during his time in Bozeman, he said. It’s an experience he will never forget.

“I will remember the friendships more than anything,” Griebel said. “The football games will come and go. I will remember the big wins. But the biggest thing here at Montana State has been friendships. I’ve developed a lot of strong bonds with my teammates that I think will last for the rest of my life.”

Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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