2009 Montana Grizzlies

[Colonel_Reb]

Montana is another very white FCS team that has had a lot of success in recent years. Looks like 19 white starters isn't out of the question for 2009!

Offense
QB Andrew Selle
RB Chase Reynolds
FB Kevin Klaboe
WR Tyler Palmer
WR Marc Mariani
TE Steven Pfahler or Dan Beaudin
LT Levi Horn
C Alex Verlanic
RG Terran Hillesland
RT Chris Dyk

Defense
DE Jace Palmer
DT Tyler Hobbs
DT Carson Bender
DE Ryan Fetherston or George Mercer
SLB Brandon Fisher
MLB Sawn Lebsock
WLB Thomas Bauer-in a fight for the position
SS Erik Stoll
FS Shann Schillinger

 

[celticdb15]

Nice find! Shann Schillinger has a legit chance at going pro next year. Along with Marc Mariani Montana could pump out two pro prospects. They may have a couple line prospects as well! THey tie Wofford and North Dakota now with 19 whites!

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Thanks for the info on those players, celtic! Yes, we have several very white FCS teams to pull for this year.

 

[P-NutLane]

Chase reynolds is very good, as well.

 

[guest301]

Montana is another very white FCS team that has had a lot of success in recent years. Looks like 19 white starters isn't out of the question for 2009!OffenseQB Andrew SelleRB Chase ReynoldsFB Kevin KlaboeWR Tyler PalmerWR Marc MarianiTE Steven Pfahler or Dan BeaudinLT Levi HornC Alex VerlanicRG Terran HilleslandRT Chris DykDefenseDE Jace PalmerDT Tyler HobbsDT Carson BenderDE Ryan Fetherston or George MercerSLB Brandon FisherMLB Sawn LebsockWLB Thomas Bauer-in a fight for the positionSS Erik StollFS Shann Schillinger

It's funny that even on a team loaded with whites starting such as the Montana Grizzlies, that the one position on the team with no whites is the starting CB spots. Cornerback continues to be the hardest position for whites to get a fair shot. Still a team worth following though.

 

[Mike]

Reynolds' little brother also plays RB and is a backup. He was one of their most impressive players this spring and is considered to be a more "athletic" option at RB than his brother.

The word is that Mariani ran in the 4.3s at a recent event (I've heard it was an electronic 4.38, but you never can tell with what you read online.)

 

[celticdb15]

Mike if Mariani ran anywhere close to that and he can duplicate that time after this year, there should be no reason he does not get a shot in the NFL(well besides you know). WHta is Chase's bro name?

 

[Mike]

Tel Reynolds. He walked on because he only played one year of HS ball (he was in an auto accident)

 

[celticdb15]

Thanks Mike! Hopefully he can earn that scholarship over time

 

[Mike]

I think he is on scholarship now (although I'm not sure). I just know that he had to walk-on last year because of that...

 

[celticdb15]

Nice find! Shann Schillinger has a legit chance at going pro next year. Along with Marc Mariani Montana could pump out two pro prospects. They may have a couple line prospects as well! THey tie Wofford and North Dakota now with 19 whites!

Here's a link on guard Terran Hillesland who has pro aspirations. He was only 5'10 200 pounds as a freshman going into high school but by his junior year was 6'6 280, talk about a growth spurt! http://www.missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/article_13ad04ea-9f08-11de-b96c-001cc4c03286.html

 

[Pollyanna]

Well there are a lot of atomic silos scattered around Montana. Never can tell if some of them leek.

 

[qj]

Montana is another very white FCS team that has had a lot of success in recent years. Looks like 19 white starters isn't out of the question for 2009!OffenseQB Andrew SelleRB Chase ReynoldsFB Kevin KlaboeWR Tyler PalmerWR Marc MarianiTE Steven Pfahler or Dan BeaudinLT Levi HornC Alex VerlanicRG Terran HilleslandRT Chris DykDefenseDE Jace PalmerDT Tyler HobbsDT Carson BenderDE Ryan Fetherston or George MercerSLB Brandon FisherMLB Sawn LebsockWLB Thomas Bauer-in a fight for the positionSS Erik StollFS Shann Schillinger

It's funny that even on a team loaded with whites starting such as the Montana Grizzlies, that the one position on the team with no whites is the starting CB spots. Cornerback continues to be the hardest position for whites to get a fair shot. Still a team worth following though.

Since I grew up in Montana, I've followed the Griz (UM) for many, many years. The best QB Montana ever produced at any level was Dave Dickenson from CMR in Great Falls. Same school as Ryan Leaf, but Dave was a much better QB. Didn't have the same size or "gun" as Leaf, though, so Dave ended up at UM and Leaf at WSU (pac-10). Google Dave's wikipedia entry. Perhaps the best QB in North America in the late 1990's (no kidding). Look at his QB rating, especially his completion rate and interception rate. Compare it to Garcia, a successful NFL QB who used be Dave's back-up in the CFL. It's not even close. Dave never got a real chance to play NFL ball, even though Leaf, a real dud, got at least a decent chance. Dave's UM team won a nat'l championship in 1995 over Chad Pennington's Marshall team. Anyway, over the years, UM has had great success with many starting white players, including white CB's, WR's and RB's, so I was a little surprised to see black starting CB's this year. Might have to call my brother about this. Perhaps UM is going caste at the CB position (hope not). UM has been in the playoffs virtually every year since the early 1990's with almost completely white starting players. The UM gets many, if not most of its players from among its Montana's young Citizens, so most of the players are going to be white. Last year, UM played Wofford in the playoffs in a very memorable game. From my memory, Wofford had many white players as well and had an incredible running game, a "vertical" running game, with many runs of 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards. Instead of a 2 minute passing offense, they very successfully employed a 2 minute running offense, I kid you not. UM was very, very lucky to come away with a win over Wofford. Overall, it was one of the best college games I've every seen. Getting back to UM, you might want to check out their games. Many are played for free on the net. Just go to the grizzlies football website for a link to their schedule. The schedule will have links to radio, tv, and internet broadcasts of their games. I think this Sat they are playing Portland State, and the game, I think, is on the net.

 

[qj]

Correction to above post. Both Garcia and Dickenson played at Calgary at the same time. Garcia, it appears, was the starter at least most of the time. Obviously, both were great players and Garcia is still in the NFL at Philadelphia.

 

[qj]

The Griz game is online right now. You can watch it by going to this link:

http://www.montanagrizzlies.com/pages/event.aspx?e=215&m=18

 

[Colonel_Reb]

qj, nice win today by Montana! Thanks for the link, by the way.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Go Griz! I've always wanted to visit Montana. I've heard it's beautiful country.

 

[qj]

qj, nice win today by Montana! Thanks for the link, by the way.

Thanks, Colonel. Hey, I like the flag your waving, btw.

It was a pretty good game. Griz were down early but came back big to win the game. I must say, Mariani looked great at WR. Caught a little, 5 yd dink pass and parlayed it into 6 points. He was able to get to the corner on the Viks, hit the jets, and that's all she wrote. Very fast WR. Later he caught a nice pass, juked the CB, flipped on the afterburner, and bam, 6 more points went up on the board. Yes, he is a very quick and fast receiver. Good thing he's at a nice, small school, and I hope he's getting a degree, because he's going nowhere in the NFL--wrong color, friend. UM's 2nd QB, Selle, looked real good too. Roper started the game at QB, but his bell got rung. Didn't matter because Selle came in and did really well. Looked much more mobile than Roper and passed just as well. BTW, Roper used to start at Oregon after Dixon went down. Won a bowl game with them over S. Florida. However, Roper didn't fit into Oregon's spread offense (Like Brady Leaf) and transferred to Montana. UM's 3rd QB also got some quality minutes and ran the ball very well. Overall, a good win.

 

[qj]

Go Griz! I've always wanted to visit Montana. I've heard it's beautiful country.

Montana is a nice, rural place. Lots of whites, many native Americans and very few blacks. In my hometown, a black family would move in every once in a while but never stayed. It was real tough for them, and I'm sincere about that. My town had a college Basketball Team that imported black players from places like Detroit and Chicago. Overall, very nice people, and I would not have met hardly blacks growing up without the college players. One guy, Tony Coleman, was a great player and really popular with the folks in town. He gave me a ride home after a game when he saw me walking along the road after a game. This was no small gesture, as it was very cold out. He later married a gal and tried to make a go of it in town with a bicycle store. To my knowledge, he ended up moving away like the rest. If you're a basketball fan, try and watch a good Native American HS team play if you visit during basketball season. A lot of fantastic players on the Res, and they play a very entertaining brand of ball. If you like to shoot and hunt, you would be in heaven. Montanans like their guns, and they like to shoot. I plan on going back next spring and blast prairie dogs and gophers with my brother up in the plains country between Great Falls and Havre. If you like the mountains and trees, the Missoula, Kalispell, Glacier areas are really nice. Flathead Lake is huge with lots of fish. Good powder Skiing is near Columbia Falls which is just west of Glacier. I hear that Big Sky near Bozeman (home of the bobcats--MSU) has good skiing. Lots of "pretty" people in the western part of the state--movie stars, millionaires, etc. In the East on the plains (where I'm from), its more gritty and down-to-earth, with plenty of fishing at places like Ft. Peck near Glasgow. Many hunters from the west end up travelling east to hunt. For football, you could try and make it to a Griz game, but I've heard they've been sold out for over a decade. Half the town shows up for the game, and the stadium seats over 20K. Carroll College also has a very good football program. You can watch them play in Helena. For HS football, CMR in Great Falls usually has a really good football team. If you like the cowboy stuff, check out the CMR museum in Great Falls--cool place. Google Charles Russell if you do not know his name. The museum of the Plains Indian is north of Great Falls at Browning which is on the Blackfeet Res. There's a big POW WOW in Browning the 2nd week of July. If you haven't ever heard the natives banging the toms, you're missing something. Browning, BTW, often has a really good basketball team. Also, if you are in the State in Summer, be sure to check out a rodeo. The rodeo in Augusta is fantastic, and it is located on the Rocky Mountain Front with beautiful views of the rockies from town. I went to the rodeo several years ago, and the quality of the cowboys and livestock was incredible, especially the broncs. And I should now, as 2 of my brothers rode bulls at rodeos all over MT in the '80's. They travelled with and competed against some of the best rodeo cowboys in the State. Guys like Jim Leatherberry, Clint Branger and Scott Breding. Google Bodacious, Clint Branger, and Scott Breding. If you happen to visit in Winter, there's ice-fishing, shooting, skiing (noted above) and snowmobiling. Hope you make it to Montana soon!