Leslie and Joel Graves always told their son, Garrett, they would help him pursue whatever dream he might have.
Growing up outside Eureka, Montana on a farm made some of those dreams difficult to chase. Eureka, a town of just over 1,000 residents nine miles south of the Canadian border in the Northwest part of the Treasure State, did not have a youth program when Garrett reached the age old enough to try out tackle football. But Garrett told his folks that playing college football was among his ultimate goals.
For his sixth grade year, Joel or Leslie drove Garrett the 66 miles south to Kalispell for youth football practices. Once Garrett reached high school, he quickly rose to stardom, playing nearly every position and helping a high school once a non-factor in the Class B ranks rise to unprecedented heights.
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In the fall, Graves led Eureka to its first-ever Class B state title, earning Class B all-state honors as a quarterback and a do-everything defensive player. In the winter, he wrestled his way to a 43-0 record and a state championship in the 182-pound weight class as the Lions captured the team title.
Those sacrifices made by the Graves family were rewarded earlier this summer. In June, he received an invite to Montana’s individual football camp, where he earned a scholarship offer. By July, Graves verbally committed to sign with Montana’s Class of 2018 next February as an athlete who will start out as a quarterback.
His commitment is an affirmation for the long drives south as a youngster and the foundation he’s helped pour for Eureka head coach Trevor Utter, himself a former Grizzly (1995-97) and the Lions’ football program. Graves is believed to be just the third Eureka native and the first since Utter to become a Griz.
“My parents have been a huge support system for me,” Graves said in an interview with Skyline Sports in early August. “They have never forced me to do anything. They’ve never made me lift, they’ve never made me go to practice. But they’ve always told me that if you start something, you have to finish it. If you really want to do something, we will help you with that.
“After that first practice in sixth grade, I told my best friend, ‘I’m going to be a college football player.’ That’s been the goal ever since. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Graves began his junior season as a do-everything player but not Eureka’s starting quarterback. He spent most of his sophomore year lining up at various defensive positions, ranging from defensive end to outside linebacker to safety to cornerback.
“I can guard good wide receivers, I can play defensive end and chase the quarterback if the other team has a fast one, I can play linebacker to help in the run game,” Graves said.
Three games into his junior year, Graves managed to beat out two-year starter Austyn Sherwood at quarterback as well. Sherwood moved to wide receiver and split the role of hero with Graves by season’s end.
Trailing Missoula Loyola in the waning seconds of the Class B state championship game last fall, Graves heaved one final long pass to the end zone. Sherwood came down with the 38-yard Hail Mary to lift Eureka to a 31-28 victory at the buzzer to secure the first state football title in school history.
During Griz camp in June, Graves lined up at quarterback, safety, linebacker, cornerback, wide receiver and running back. Montana has recruited him with the tag of “athlete” but he will get a chance at quarterback first.
“I can play anywhere for them,” Graves said. “I like quarterback and I like being a leader. I think that’s one of my stronger assets I can bring to a team is being a good leader and creating plays at the quarterback position.”
Graves chose Montana over a similar scholarship from Montana State, who also offered the chance to play quarterback. Graves said Montana State actually was the first to contact him. The Bobcats offered him a scholarship at their junior day in May two months before UM head coach Bob Stitt came with a solid offer. Stitt told Graves he wanted to see him perform in person before pulling the trigger. After a good performance, the offer from the Griz came as well.
“I had pretty similar offers from the Cats and the Griz and I knew I wanted to stay in Montana and those were my top two schools,” Graves said. “I sat down with my family, talked with my coaches, looked at both campuses, looked at both academic programs and decided I wanted to be a Grizzly.
“I got a really good relationship with the coaches when I was working with them for that two days in person. I felt confident going to the Griz that they are going to use my skills, make me to the best player I can be. If I go there, I will definitely be utilized.”
Leslie Graves is the owner of a medical billing business in Eureka that she founded herself. Joel Graves is the principal at Lincoln County High School. The couple also owns a “hobby farm” that has given Graves a sort of rural upbringing despite his parents’ white collar jobs.
“We raise breed and market lambs and we have chickens,” Garrett Graves said. “We have steers for roping and horses. The lambs are the only thing we sell for profit. The roping is just for recreation.
“Having a rural background, I have some responsibilities with chores. Wake up before school, get it done. Lift before school, go to school, go to practice. My parents have never pushed me to do that. They’ve given me the option but they’ve taught me to set goals and to attain goals, you have to set little ones first.”
That rural background, the foundation provided by his parents and the work ethic he’s honed on the gridiron and wrestling mat have all influenced the articulate, goal-driven Graves.
“I believe my parents have instilled some really strong morals and a strong work ethic in me,” Graves said. “I also believe being a wrestler will help me the most in college football. I know we do absolutely grinder practices and our wrestling room in Eureka, I think we have the toughest wrestling practices in Montana by far for a high school program. We weren’t state champions by accident. I believe that wrestling is the furthest I’ve ever pushed myself physically. Doing that is going to help me big-time when it comes to college sports.”
At the University of Montana, Graves will study business. Predictably, he has already dissected all the advantages being a Griz football player with a business degree from UM might provide.
Between his commitment and the publishing of this story, Graves was hard to track down. He worked doing general landscaping and building in the mornings until early afternoon, then trained with his teammates. On the day of this interview, Eureka’s first day of fall camp, Graves took 10 minutes out of his busy schedule before he had to be back on the farm to “buck about 500 bails”.
It’s all part of the values he’s learned from his parents, tenants like setting incremental goals to achieve big ones and sacrificing for what you want. Those sacrifices made by his parents six years ago will all pay off for Graves and his family when he signs his National Letter of Intent with the Grizzlies in February of 2018.
“When I was a freshman in high school, I wrote down my No. 1 goal as being a Division I football player and I posted it in my locker,” Graves said. “It’s just really, really cool to make that a reality with such a great program.”
[/restrict]Photos courtesy of the Graves family. All Rights Reserved.
