A tight end growing up in Tucson, Arizona, Colin Dreis had touchdown dreams inspired by U of A’s star, Rob Gronkowski.
An ultimatum from his coaches before his junior year at Salpointe Catholic in Tucson ended those dreams — but put him on a path towards playing college football.
“[They] told me junior year, if I want to be on varsity, that I had to switch to tackle,” Dreis said. “So I decided I had to switch to tackle, and I barely made varsity. … I told myself, why not do it and then I’ll try to convince them to switch me back to tight end.
“Well, I fell in love with the position, the coach and everyone else that was with me on the o-line, so I just stuck to that position and kept working to get better.”
The switch didn’t pay off for Dreis right away. As a junior, he backed up Matteo Mele, a three-star recruit who’s now at Washington.
But the 6-foot-6, 260-pounder came into his own as senior, starting all year. On December 20, he committed to and signed with Montana, one day after the early signing period opened.
“It’s exciting,” Dreis said. “Right now in Tucson there’s only three D-I players, all of them linemen, and I’m going to the second-biggest school out of all three. Even my parents said they never thought I’d be in this position, I don’t think anyone thought I’d be in this position. I grew up being a backup, and then all of a sudden junior and senior year I started putting things together and made myself into a college player.”
Dreis also had interest from Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona.
Dreis is the fourth high school offensive lineman in Montana’s Class of 2019, along with Johnny Barthel and Dumitru Salagor of Washington and Dillon Botner of Whitefish. The Griz also signed JUCO transfer o-lineman Kordell Pillans of Mesa CC in Arizona.
Dreis shares characteristics with several of the other linemen in the class, showing the profile that the Griz are trying to recruit.
Like Barthel, who also didn’t play much until his junior year, and Salagor, who’s only played American football for two years, he’s a late bloomer.
Like Botner, Dreis also played basketball in high school, and said it helped him with his footwork on the offensive line.
And at 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds, Dreis fits the physical profile of the high school offensive linemen that the Griz brought in — all are at least 6-foot-5 and none weigh more than 260 pounds, as Hauck looks to get athletic players who can fill out with a redshirt year in the weight room.
The Griz recruited Dreis hard, with offensive line coach Chad Germer leading the effort.
“The biggest thing was that they wanted me,” Dreis said. “Every other school I talked to, they were interested, but I never felt like any school or head coach really wanted me as bad as Montana did. They put in work, they called me every day.”
Dreis’s first time in Montana came on his official visit with the Griz, and he said that he felt at home right away.
“I’d only heard good things about it, and then when I went up there on my visit, I saw how beautiful it really was and how cool the people up there are and how amazing the townsfolk are to the football players,” Dreis said. “It was really cool how they treat us among the community, so that was very cool to see.”
Dreis is one of 24 total commitments in Montana’s Class of 2019 so far. He and Pillans are the only signees from Arizona.
