In today’s convoluted world of funding college football, fans are torn by the loss of players to the portal until they hear about the players coming in from the portal. The NIL (name, image, likeness) money is daunting for teams with smaller fan bases that often don’t have mega-donors at their disposal.
Teams around the Big Sky Conference can relate to all of that, so when a group like Torley’s Tailgaters at Montana State make educational donations to players not on scholarships it gives their fans reason to smile.
Torley’s Tailgaters are so named in honor of Torleif Aasheim, the patriarch of the family that has been supporting MSU athletics for decades. Aasheim was known for many things around the campus and one of his more endearing side gigs was handing out “Go Cats” buttons to fans at games. To honor Torleif’s generosity, the tailgaters in his spot have been raising money for athletes to offset the costs of tuition and other expenses.
This year, the group was able to provide funding to football players Colter Petre, Ryan Krahe and JJ Dolan. A year ago, they did the same for Brock Steel and Zac Crews.
“To have our money go a little further and to have three guys that originally walked on but have now stepped into roles get that opportunity, I think that’s awesome,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “I can’t thank our supporters enough.
“We’ll see where their rules are next year. My hope is that the Big Sky doesn’t sit at 63, then we might do something different than that.”
“It started last year. It’s support, it’s not necessarily a scholarship. Because it’s coming from an outside source. The rules have changed. We have 105 guys on some sort of scholarship, but we still have 63 scholarships based on how the Big Sky has chosen to do things this year.”
Petre, Krahe and Dolan haven’t cracked the starting lineup for the Bobcats yet, but they’re getting plenty of playing time between special teams and rotating into to give teammates a quick rest.
Petre and Dolan are sophomore backup safeties who play extensively on special teams. Both go into the game on occasion to spell Caden Dowler and Bryant Meredith. Petre and Dolan have been aces on special teams for two seasons now. Dolan starred at Missoula Sentinel in high school and helped lead the Spartans to back-to-back AA championships. Petre was an all-state defensive back at Helena High.
Petre was a first team all-state selection as a defensive back his senior year for the Bengals. Dolan was a first team all-state selection at nickelback and also took some snaps on offense. Both players come from athletic families. Petre’s mom is “Downtown” Julie Brown, who was an All-Big Sky first team basketball player at MSU and led Helena High to back-to-back state titles. Dolan’s father Nate, grandfather Pat and great-grandfather all played football for the University of Montana while his aunt played volleyball at MSU.
Krahe is a junior linebacker from Great Falls High. He has been thrust into the rotation at linebacker when starter Neil Daily was injured early in the season opener at Oregon. He rotates in to give a rest to Bryce Grebe and Cole Taylor and is also a key player on special teams. Krahe played both ways for the Bison, standing out at running back and linebacker. He ran for over 1,600 yards and had nearly 600 receiving yards during his career. On defense, he had 27 tackles-for-loss.
In 2024, Torley’s Tailgaters were able to help Crews, a junior defensive end and Missoula Sentinel product, and Steel, a junior linebacker from Sheridan, Wyoming with their college finances.
Crews was a standout at Missoula Sentinel where he was a big part of the Spartans two-year run winning state AA titles. He had 14 tackles-for-loss, including 8.5 sacks his junior season and played quarterback as a senior, throwing for 1,771 yards and 20 touchdowns and running for 869 yards and 11 touchdowns when he was named the AA player of the year. He returned a blocked punt for a touchdown last year and he had a huge game against UC Davis with two sacks and a forced fumble in a game that clinched at least a tie for the BSC title.
Steel has had a career tattered with injuries. He was injured as a senior in high school, but the Bobcat coaches knew of his football prowess due to his older brother Coy being a standout punt returner and receiver at MSU. Steel has another brother, Dane, who is a wide receiver for the Bobcats. A year ago, Brock played safety before transitioning to linebacker this season.
Torely’s tailgaters continue to give generously to Montana State. The generosity will help a quintet of Bobcats be in action this Saturday when they take on Mercyhurst for the second year in a row at Bobcat Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
