At the end of the 2017 season, it looked like one of the biggest trouble spots on the Montana football roster would be on the back end of the Griz defense.
With Justin Strong, Mick Delaney and Korey Alexander all graduating and highly touted recruit Isiahia Banks leaving the program, the Grizzlies were down to just three safeties — returning starter Josh Sandry, along with Michael McGinnis and Evan Epperly.
It was an especially difficult situation for Bobby Hauck to inherit. The rehired Griz coach had started his coaching career as a defensive backs coach at Montana in 1988. His brother, Tim Hauck, played over a decade in the NFL at safety and is now the safeties coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.
And, in his first go-round as head coach at UM, Hauck’s teams had consistently excellent safeties.
In the seven seasons Hauck coached his alma mater from 2003-2009, the Grizzlies placed six safeties on All-Big Sky first teams, including Colt Anderson and Shann Schillinger, who both went on to play in the NFL.
Now, Schillinger, in his third year as Montana’s safety coach, is tasked with carrying on that legacy.
“My philosophy is to come out one day at a time, and I think a lot of the good safeties that have been here with coach Hauck are because of what he preaches,” Schillinger said. “He’s a secondary guy, so he knows it, he’s involved with it, and we’re trying to instill those principles into these guys, and hopefully it translates into on the field come Saturdays.”
Schillinger did pick up some reinforcements over the winter with transfers Gavin Robertson, from Arizona, and Robby Hauck, from Northern Arizona, coming into the program.
Robby Hauck is Bobby’s son and Tim’s nephew, so the redshirt freshman has both Montana football and playing safety in his blood.
He remembered watching Schillinger play for the Griz when Bobby Hauck coached in Missoula the first time.
“I grew up watching him play when my family was here previously, and I looked up to him,” Robby Hauck said about Schillinger. “Obviously, I got to watch him in practice and wanted to play like him and, hopefully, be half as good as he was.”
Robertson, for his part, is a physical specimen at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds and has taken most of the first-team reps next to Sandry early in spring practice.
A three-star recruit coming out of high school, he played linebacker at Arizona, but his heart was always in the secondary.
“I decided to come up here because Arizona wanted me to play linebacker and I didn’t want to play linebacker, stuff like that,” Robertson said. “I didn’t see any future at Arizona for me, so I wanted to go to an FCS school and I decided to come here.”
Robertson went to Auburn Mountainview High School in Washington, also the alma mater of Griz starting quarterback Gresch Jensen, who helped him with his decision to move.
He could add a physical element to Montana’s defensive as a big hitter in the mold of the recently departed Strong and Yamen Sanders.
“I would say I’m a real physical safety, one that just likes to come downhill and hit things,” Robertson said.
Key among the returners is Sandry, who played 11 games as a redshirt freshman and started last year as a sophomore.
The redhead from Bigfork was fifth on the team with 49 total tackles as a sophomore last season, which makes him the second-leading returning tackler this year behind senior linebacker Josh Buss.
He also had three interceptions, including one he returned for 74 yards against Portland State in a performance that saw him named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week.
“[I just want to improve] the speed of the game, how fast I play,” Sandry said. “Be more physical. I can improve on pretty much everything, so I’m just trying to come out here and get better each and every day.”
Now, he’ll be the senior citizen of the whole secondary, not just the safeties, and someone Schillinger expects to lead the Griz on the field.
“He’s played the most downs in the secondary, so that’s an important trait,” Schillinger said. “The guy’s been through some battles, so we’re going to need him to be a leader for us.”
As for the other two returning safeties, Epperly recorded 36 total tackles last year, eleventh on the team, while playing in all 11 games and starting two with Strong suspended. He’ll likely have the chance to play his way into a starting spot, and, if not, once again be an important player in spot situations.
McGinnis redshirted last year.
It’s still a precarious situation, but Schillinger is confident in the players he’s got.
“I think [we’ve got enough depth] with the guys we’ve got,” Schillinger said. “That’s one of those things, you’ve got to make some depth if you don’t have any. I think the guys we’ve got have done a good job so far up to this point, and we’ll see how it goes as spring progresses.”
PADS ON: Friday was the first day that the Grizzlies practiced in pads, and although coaches were still yelling at defensive players to keep ballcarriers up and not tackle them, the players were anxious to get some hitting in.
“It’s good to be back out here in the pads,” Sandry said. “First day in pads, [it was] pretty physical, the energy, that’s what we like to do. Guys were itching to get out here and smack some skulls around, so it was good.”
Putting pads on also allowed the coaches to get a better read on their players.
“I think you can kind of see who’s willing to come down and tackle and do some things and play off of blocks,” Schillinger said. “When the lights are on, who’s going to show up and tackle and do the types of things you’ve got to do to be good in the secondary.”
HIGHLIGHTS: Mitch Roberts and Jerry Louie-McGee had back-to-back highlight catches down the right sideline in one-on-one drills against defensive backs, with Roberts making a bobbling grab deep and Louie-McGee following that up with a diving catch on the sideline against tight coverage.
In full offense vs. defense drills, wide receiver Justin Calhoun showed off his speed, reversing field and beating the defense around the end for a big gain.
The defense did have some big plays as well, with redshirt freshman linebacker Marcus Welnel intercepting a pass and returning it for a score.
Big defensive tackle Jesse Sims showed off his athleticism in full-team drills as well, dropping into coverage and leaping to pick off a pass, a play that earned the loudest cheers of the day from the defensive sideline.
Andrew Hougthton is a freelance journalist living in Missoula. Photos by Lacey Young. All Rights Reserved.
