When you research the full gamut of a rollercoaster ride that the NCAA’s transfer portal can provide, Sam Vidlak might be a good starting point.
The Stephen F. Austin starting quarterback played a single season at three stops in three years, then on his fourth team in four years, he found a suitable home. Vidlak played at Oregon State, Boise State, and Montana with mixed results before landing at SFA and becoming an instant star.
“It’s been a really fun journey,” said Vidlak, who initially committed to Montana out of high school. “I left Montana (in the spring of 2024) and was looking for a place to play and the guys at SFA hit me up.
“Coach (Chris) Ross, the offensive coordinator here (at SFA), flew up to Montana, like the day after I hit the portal and we spent some time together and threw the football a little bit. It was a great time; we really hit it off from the start. I’ve really enjoyed my time here.
“My coaches and me, we really get along great. It’s been a really good fit from a scheme standpoint and just a people standpoint. Love the teammates here; it’s been a lot of fun; I’ve built a lot of great relationships.”
Vidlak was a three-star recruiting coming out of Hidden Valley High in Applegate, Oregon. He flipped from Montana to Oregon State because the lure of the Pac 12 and the hometown feel were too much to pass up. Coaching changes at Oregon State and Boise State caused him to circle back around to Missoula. He was the starter for the first month of the 2023 season for the Grizzlies before Clifton McDowell took over and led UM to 10 straight wins.
“This is the fit I was always looking for,” Vidlak said in the week leading up to Stephen F. Austin playing in Bozeman against Montana State. “In regards to the portal, it’s like anything. It’s how you use it. If it’s used in a manner that it’s not supposed to be used, then people aren’t going to like it, but in my case and my situation, my moves were never about making as much money as I could make. It was moves to what I could do to make the most of my career. I took some risks and I went for it and I did everything I could’ve done everywhere I’ve been at. I went all out on it and I’m really thankful to have this fit I have at SFA.”
During his two seasons at FBS schools OSU and BSU, Vidlak seemed like a good fit for the Montana Grizzlies, who were just coming off a hard-luck 2022 season that saw them lose three heartbreakers on the road. UM returned a stout defense but was searching for a quarterback on offense. Vidlak won the starting job with the Grizzlies, and it appeared he had finally found a home.
Vidlak led UM to a 35-20 win over Butler in the season opener but then split time with Clifton McDowell in the second game. He was back in the saddle for a game against Ferris State, which may have been the beginning of the end. While Ferris State is one of the top teams in Division II of the NCAA, the expectation was for Vidlak to be able to do better than his nine for 15 effort that collected just 107 yards, no touchdowns and one interception.
He was given the reins again the next week, but a pivotal 28-14 road loss to Northern Arizona saw Vidlak get sacked 10 times. The more mobile McDowell started to get the majority of the reps, the Griz went on a 10-game winning streak that took them all the way to the Football Championship Subdivision championship game and the end of Vidlak in Missoula seemed near.
“I never actually played at Bobcat Stadium when I was at Montana,” Vidlak said. “But just about the program, it’s just common knowledge stuff that we all know at this point. There’s no insider information that I might have on that stuff other than it’s going to be really loud and it’s going to be a fun playoff atmosphere but that’s what everybody wants and that’s what you dream about when you’re growing up of playing in front of thousands of people in sold out stadiums in December.”
In the spring of 2024, it seemed obvious that Logan Fife and Keali’i Ah Yat were the two leading candidates to become the Griz starting quarterback. Vidlak hit the portal for a third straight year following spring ball, this time landing at SFA, where he found instant stardom.
His first season with the Lumberjacks found Vidlak named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award given to the top player in the FCS. He was the No. 3 rated quarterback in the nation in terms of passer efficiency ratings with an eye-popping 177.2 mark completing 174 of 257 passes for 2,387 yards and 27 touchdowns. He had just 660 yards passing and three touchdown passes during his previous three stops.
“This is his fourth institution, but the first two he went to there were coaching changes,” SFA head coach Colby Carthel said. “So, he had to kind of reset and he found a home in Montana and loved it and was the starting quarterback and got replaced halfway through the runner-up season. He got his degree and wanted to find something different. I think the transfer portal is good if somebody goes and gets their degree. College football is still about getting your degree. That’s what I don’t like about the portal is when someone is blowing and going every semester, but for a guy like Sam, who had two coaching changes and had a regime change a little bit there at Montana, this gave him a fresh start, and he found what he was looking for and we embraced him.”
Vidlak shrugs any suggestion that his play is the primary reason for SFA’s offensive success.
“What we do offensively fits my skill set really well,” Vidlak said. “It’s a credit what we do offensively, schematically a lot to the fit how we’ve been able to have success and how I’ve been able to have success is due to what we do on offense. We have a lot of great players around me, and schematically, I feel that we’re balanced but we do a lot of different things for a defense to have to account for.
“One of the main focuses for our offense is that we believe that we control the outcome and it doesn’t have to do with who we’re playing. We have never looked too far ahead or looked in the rearview mirror really.”
Today, Vidlak is prepping for an FCS playoff quarterfinal showdown against one-time rival Montana State. He was on the sidelines in Missoula when the Grizzlies defeated the Bobcats 37-7 watching McDowell dice up MSU with 200 yards passing and 69 yards rushing as he threw for a touchdown and rushed for another.
Vidlak has led SFA to 11 straight wins after it lost it first two games of the season. He’s coming off a resounding performance in a second-round win that avenged an earlier loss to Abilene Christian that saw him throw for a career-high 357 yards and three touchdowns in the 41-34 win.
“We’re all fired up for the opportunity to head up north,” Vidlak said. “That’s a long trip and we’re all excited about going on a plane ride all the way up to Montana and playing on a Friday night on ESPN. A playoff atmosphere and I’m expecting it to be a packed stadium and be loud. That’s what we’ve been working for, for a really long time, so we’re really excited for the opportunity and preparing to make the most of it.”
The Lumberjacks arrive in Bozeman on Thursday as they prepare to face Montana State Friday night on ESPN at 7:00.
