Montana Recruits 2016

[VimSince03]

I am glad the people here are so for watching and pulling for Montana kids. There is little talk about Montana kids on the egriz site. Just one more thing that makes me glad to be a Bobcat.

They don't even know what Montana kids are even out there or who want to be Griz. I decided to inform them...because I care.

[Bemiller49]

I am glad the people here are so for watching and pulling for Montana kids. There is little talk about Montana kids on the egriz site. Just one more thing that makes me glad to be a Bobcat.

They don't even know what Montana kids are even out there or who want to be Griz. I decided to inform them...because I care.

So nice of you. It is true that many there just throw random stuff out. Where as in here there are people that do actual research. I understand having to pull talent from other states, but it is just nice to see Montana raised boys succeed and turn into quality men.

[lutecat]

You know, one more thing I'm thankful to have as a Bobcat, is Vim. Man you know your stuff.

Thanks for keeping us informed. I'm way more informed because of your posts.

[VimSince03]

You know, one more thing I'm thankful to have as a Bobcat, is Vim. Man you know your stuff.

Thanks for keeping us informed. I'm way more informed because of your posts.

Thanks but I base a lot of my stuff on speculation from sources and an educated guess. Colter obviously has better sources than me.

[topey711]

Coach Pitre contacted Sean last night. Good to hear from him. Sean is happy he got to stay.

[VimSince03]

Coach Pitre contacted Sean last night. Good to hear from him. Sean is happy he got to stay.

Glad to have him!

[bcats]

I'm a little disappointed we haven't received any DB commitments. I feel that is the greatest need by far at both cornerback and safety. I know Huntley Project has a great one receiving a lot of frontier and D2 attention. Also felt like Senior and Bozeman had some kids that stood out to me. Any others out there in Montana that have potential?

[VimSince03]

I'm a little disappointed we haven't received any DB commitments. I feel that is the greatest need by far at both cornerback and safety. I know Huntley Project has a great one receiving a lot of frontier and D2 attention. Also felt like Senior and Bozeman had some kids that stood out to me. Any others out there in Montana that have potential?

The biggest issue Montana recruits have had breaking into secondaries is their speed. Dallas Mack (from Huntley) will make a good NAIA player. He could walk on and improve his speed like a Cody Kirk but he will receive scholarship offers from NAIA schools. He wants to play at this level but I've seen him play in person and I just don't see it. Sean Opland (our current commit from Troy) is a good enough athlete to play corner or safety on defense. The really good secondary players are juniors this year in Montana (Troy Anderson from Dillon and Nate Dick from Billings Senior). I see both of them as college level secondary players. Brian FauntLeRoy is a good safety prospect from Whitefish that shows potential but again it may be a speed issue. There is a small town kid named Justin May from Chester/Joplin/Inverness that was shown interest from our prior coaching staff and he may have potential as a future corner or safety in the Big Sky. Would be a walk-on but you never know. Very competitive kid. Also a kid named Tanner Campbell from Belgrade who shows really good instincts in the secondary. He would be another walk-on kid. Alec Steele and Caleb Jones (from Missoula Sentinel and Glacier respectively) are two smaller built kids with tremendous speed and were both 1st team all-state kids at corner last year in AA. That is about all I know so far. If you guys know of any more, just start listing.

[Bemiller49]

I'm a little disappointed we haven't received any DB commitments. I feel that is the greatest need by far at both cornerback and safety. I know Huntley Project has a great one receiving a lot of frontier and D2 attention. Also felt like Senior and Bozeman had some kids that stood out to me. Any others out there in Montana that have potential?

The biggest issue Montana recruits have had breaking into secondaries is their speed. Dallas Mack (from Huntley) will make a good NAIA player. He could walk on and improve his speed like a Cody Kirk but he will receive scholarship offers from NAIA schools. He wants to play at this level but I've seen him play in person and I just don't see it. Sean Opland (our current commit from Troy) is a good enough athlete to play corner or safety on defense. The really good secondary players are juniors this year in Montana (Troy Anderson from Dillon and Nate Dick from Billings Senior). I see both of them as college level secondary players. Brian FauntLeRoy is a good safety prospect from Whitefish that shows potential but again it may be a speed issue. There is a small town kid named Justin May from Chester/Joplin/Inverness that was shown interest from our prior coaching staff and he may have potential as a future corner or safety in the Big Sky. Would be a walk-on but you never know. Very competitive kid. Also a kid named Tanner Campbell from Belgrade who shows really good instincts in the secondary. He would be another walk-on kid. Alec Steele and Caleb Jones (from Missoula Sentinel and Glacier respectively) are two smaller built kids with tremendous speed and were both 1st team all-state kids at corner last year in AA. That is about all I know so far. If you guys know of any more, just start listing.

You are right there, just not many with the top end speed that they need to be a corner at the D1 level. The few I know that have speed that might hold up are too small for D1 level.

[HelenaCat95]

I'm a little disappointed we haven't received any DB commitments. I feel that is the greatest need by far at both cornerback and safety. I know Huntley Project has a great one receiving a lot of frontier and D2 attention. Also felt like Senior and Bozeman had some kids that stood out to me. Any others out there in Montana that have potential?

The biggest issue Montana recruits have had breaking into secondaries is their speed. Dallas Mack (from Huntley) will make a good NAIA player. He could walk on and improve his speed like a Cody Kirk but he will receive scholarship offers from NAIA schools. He wants to play at this level but I've seen him play in person and I just don't see it. Sean Opland (our current commit from Troy) is a good enough athlete to play corner or safety on defense. The really good secondary players are juniors this year in Montana (Troy Anderson from Dillon and Nate Dick from Billings Senior). I see both of them as college level secondary players. Brian FauntLeRoy is a good safety prospect from Whitefish that shows potential but again it may be a speed issue. There is a small town kid named Justin May from Chester/Joplin/Inverness that was shown interest from our prior coaching staff and he may have potential as a future corner or safety in the Big Sky. Would be a walk-on but you never know. Very competitive kid. Also a kid named Tanner Campbell from Belgrade who shows really good instincts in the secondary. He would be another walk-on kid. Alec Steele and Caleb Jones (from Missoula Sentinel and Glacier respectively) are two smaller built kids with tremendous speed and were both 1st team all-state kids at corner last year in AA. That is about all I know so far. If you guys know of any more, just start listing.

Keep an eye on Keair Adgerson, CB and RB from Helena High. Fast.

[Hawks86]

Jones is probably the best corner in the state and he is not a D1 corner. Gilman a safety from Glacier will be one of the top recruits next year at any position.

[bcats]

I would say Dallas Mack is fast enough to play safety and has the size as well. Already takes better angles then some I have seen. Not sure he will be a Bobcat but he will be playing football somewhere next year. Very smart player and if he was playing AA he would probably be higher on the radar. Nathan Dick is an excellent athlete and I think may be better fitted for the slot on offense. He was an excellent defensive player in Junior High but since being with Senior and focusing on QB he hasn't played a down of defense that I know of. Guarantee he will want to play for the Cats. Still a year to wait on him though. Another Junior out of Billings is Ryan Davis. Great size at linebacker but may be a defensive end too. We all should remember his brother Leo. Gabe Sulser is only a sophomore and is small but I have never seen another player like him. Just explosive and runs through so many arm tackles. Have no idea how he would lean.

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

Balue Chapman - Senior Year Tape!

6'2" - 195 lbs. DE/RB/LB



The 2015 Montana Gatorade Player of the Year from Bozeman is a special player. At 195 lbs., he is a little small for the defensive end position in college and would have to put on about 40 lbs (queue Gtapp) to be an every down dude. But what he does have is one of the quickest first steps I have ever seen from a high school football player. He gets into the opponents backfield in a blink of an eye. He always plays low and wins a lot of one on ones against bigger competition regularly. He could also be a standout linebacker at the next level or maybe even safety. And he isn't too shabby on the offensive side of the ball either. He will need to put on some weight in college but he reminds me so much of Brad Daly with how he looked in high school. He is also a really good person who has done numerous community events with Bozeman youth and has a high GPA. If we reportedly did get a verbal from him, he will be a valuable asset to MSU.

Two things about Balue Chapman:

First, it's almost impossible to praise this kid's character too highly. Great guy.

Second, I don't think the typical Gtapp "it takes so long to put on weight" objections apply to putting Chapman at DE. There are so many high-powered passing offenses in the Big Sky, and the Cats have struggled a ton to stop any of them. Daly played situational rush end at 200lbs his freshman year, and he was a revelation. I laughed the first couple times I saw it, but I stopped laughing once I realized I was watching a pass rush that was fast enough to get to any QB. That could be a huge weapon for a defense that hasn't had enough of them lately, and it's realistic for Chapman to be up to 200 or 205 by next season.

Not that it would necessarily be the wrong decision to put Chapman at LB; I'm sure he could excel there, as well. I just think that it his weight oughtn't be the deciding factor. You don't see anyone posting threads about what if Ash had convinced Daly to play linebacker.

[jsparks]

Vim, yes I agree that Chapman was well deserved selection as a defensive all state selection. I however disagree (and I please understand I am pretty biased) that Chapman should have been selected as 1st team on offense (it was not even close..... many other players performed better). You had a point that if he had more carries he WOULD of had the yards. Simple fact is that he did NOT have the carries or the yards. Neither did Grinde for that matter. Trefney is a no brainer, but Sparks and McCrakken should have been there instead of Chapman and Grinde. Sparks led AA with 6.4 yards per carry and had 1456 yards on 228 carries and led the State and finished ahead of Trefney for all purpose yards with 1816 to 1805. Chapman had 833 yards on a hundred and some carries and 6.3 yds per carry. Hard to explain to a teen-aged kid that politics overrides rational decision making. Early wake up call I suppose. Sparks (and me and I am sure Josh McCrakken) have figured out that the all state selection process is a sham at least at the AA level.

I agree with you that the yards are the yards. But the "body of work" gets kids recognition when they at times don't deserve it over others. For example, why do they put in all-state selections at the beginning of the year? I believe Alec Nehring, the QB from Manhattan, got All-State this year in Class B but did not make first team on offense or defense in 5B. I am with you that Balue Chapman probably didn't deserve to be a first-team running back. Statistics have been ignored at every level of football in regards to award selections (I mean the NFL Pro Bowl?) for years. Sam needs to keep his head up and know that he is a good football player, regardless of a postseason award. Talent gets recognized along with stats.

Well i bet both schools regret passing up Nolan Saracini acouple years ago. Led the nation in rushing yards this year for tech. He would have done wonders for Cats or Griz. Both schools need a running back. Surprising that there is so much lack of knowledge on player capability.

[VimSince03]

Vim, yes I agree that Chapman was well deserved selection as a defensive all state selection. I however disagree (and I please understand I am pretty biased) that Chapman should have been selected as 1st team on offense (it was not even close..... many other players performed better). You had a point that if he had more carries he WOULD of had the yards. Simple fact is that he did NOT have the carries or the yards. Neither did Grinde for that matter. Trefney is a no brainer, but Sparks and McCrakken should have been there instead of Chapman and Grinde. Sparks led AA with 6.4 yards per carry and had 1456 yards on 228 carries and led the State and finished ahead of Trefney for all purpose yards with 1816 to 1805. Chapman had 833 yards on a hundred and some carries and 6.3 yds per carry. Hard to explain to a teen-aged kid that politics overrides rational decision making. Early wake up call I suppose. Sparks (and me and I am sure Josh McCrakken) have figured out that the all state selection process is a sham at least at the AA level.

I agree with you that the yards are the yards. But the "body of work" gets kids recognition when they at times don't deserve it over others. For example, why do they put in all-state selections at the beginning of the year? I believe Alec Nehring, the QB from Manhattan, got All-State this year in Class B but did not make first team on offense or defense in 5B. I am with you that Balue Chapman probably didn't deserve to be a first-team running back. Statistics have been ignored at every level of football in regards to award selections (I mean the NFL Pro Bowl?) for years. Sam needs to keep his head up and know that he is a good football player, regardless of a postseason award. Talent gets recognized along with stats.

Well i bet both schools regret passing up Nolan Saracini acouple years ago. Led the nation in rushing yards this year for tech. He would have done wonders for Cats or Griz. Both schools need a running back. Surprising that there is so much lack of knowledge on player capability.

We got Gunnar Brekke the same year as Sarceni. I don't think the Cats regret that decision one bit. We also are very deep at running back with good players. Looking to add a few more in this class. Sean Opland is a good start if you ask me.

[Bozcat003]

Vim, yes I agree that Chapman was well deserved selection as a defensive all state selection. I however disagree (and I please understand I am pretty biased) that Chapman should have been selected as 1st team on offense (it was not even close..... many other players performed better). You had a point that if he had more carries he WOULD of had the yards. Simple fact is that he did NOT have the carries or the yards. Neither did Grinde for that matter. Trefney is a no brainer, but Sparks and McCrakken should have been there instead of Chapman and Grinde. Sparks led AA with 6.4 yards per carry and had 1456 yards on 228 carries and led the State and finished ahead of Trefney for all purpose yards with 1816 to 1805. Chapman had 833 yards on a hundred and some carries and 6.3 yds per carry. Hard to explain to a teen-aged kid that politics overrides rational decision making. Early wake up call I suppose. Sparks (and me and I am sure Josh McCrakken) have figured out that the all state selection process is a sham at least at the AA level.

I agree with you that the yards are the yards. But the "body of work" gets kids recognition when they at times don't deserve it over others. For example, why do they put in all-state selections at the beginning of the year? I believe Alec Nehring, the QB from Manhattan, got All-State this year in Class B but did not make first team on offense or defense in 5B. I am with you that Balue Chapman probably didn't deserve to be a first-team running back. Statistics have been ignored at every level of football in regards to award selections (I mean the NFL Pro Bowl?) for years. Sam needs to keep his head up and know that he is a good football player, regardless of a postseason award. Talent gets recognized along with stats.

Well i bet both schools regret passing up Nolan Saracini acouple years ago. Led the nation in rushing yards this year for tech. He would have done wonders for Cats or Griz. Both schools need a running back. Surprising that there is so much lack of knowledge on player capability.

I don't think Saracini had the grades.

I don't think MSU needs a running back . . . we got Newell, Brekke, Dodd, LaSane ... Pegues, and Opland joining . . . I sure wouldn't mind adding Sparks as well. Only watched a little high school football this year but Sparks was the best running back I saw .

[NewEra]

Vim, yes I agree that Chapman was well deserved selection as a defensive all state selection. I however disagree (and I please understand I am pretty biased) that Chapman should have been selected as 1st team on offense (it was not even close..... many other players performed better). You had a point that if he had more carries he WOULD of had the yards. Simple fact is that he did NOT have the carries or the yards. Neither did Grinde for that matter. Trefney is a no brainer, but Sparks and McCrakken should have been there instead of Chapman and Grinde. Sparks led AA with 6.4 yards per carry and had 1456 yards on 228 carries and led the State and finished ahead of Trefney for all purpose yards with 1816 to 1805. Chapman had 833 yards on a hundred and some carries and 6.3 yds per carry. Hard to explain to a teen-aged kid that politics overrides rational decision making. Early wake up call I suppose. Sparks (and me and I am sure Josh McCrakken) have figured out that the all state selection process is a sham at least at the AA level.

I agree with you that the yards are the yards. But the "body of work" gets kids recognition when they at times don't deserve it over others. For example, why do they put in all-state selections at the beginning of the year? I believe Alec Nehring, the QB from Manhattan, got All-State this year in Class B but did not make first team on offense or defense in 5B. I am with you that Balue Chapman probably didn't deserve to be a first-team running back. Statistics have been ignored at every level of football in regards to award selections (I mean the NFL Pro Bowl?) for years. Sam needs to keep his head up and know that he is a good football player, regardless of a postseason award. Talent gets recognized along with stats.

Well i bet both schools regret passing up Nolan Saracini acouple years ago. Led the nation in rushing yards this year for tech. He would have done wonders for Cats or Griz. Both schools need a running back. Surprising that there is so much lack of knowledge on player capability.

Have you watched the Cats before!?! We are loaded at RB. our third string, lasane who mite even be our 4th on the depth chart if you put Dodd in front of him is a beast. I always enjoy watching him when he gets carries, runs hard like Newell with maybe a bit more speed.

[John K]

I would say Dallas Mack is fast enough to play safety and has the size as well. Already takes better angles then some I have seen. Not sure he will be a Bobcat but he will be playing football somewhere next year. Very smart player and if he was playing AA he would probably be higher on the radar. Nathan Dick is an excellent athlete and I think may be better fitted for the slot on offense. He was an excellent defensive player in Junior High but since being with Senior and focusing on QB he hasn't played a down of defense that I know of. Guarantee he will want to play for the Cats. Still a year to wait on him though. Another Junior out of Billings is Ryan Davis. Great size at linebacker but may be a defensive end too. We all should remember his brother Leo. Gabe Sulser is only a sophomore and is small but I have never seen another player like him. Just explosive and runs through so many arm tackles. Have no idea how he would lean.

I'm pretty sure the Sulsers are a big Griz family.

[VimSince03]

Vim, yes I agree that Chapman was well deserved selection as a defensive all state selection. I however disagree (and I please understand I am pretty biased) that Chapman should have been selected as 1st team on offense (it was not even close..... many other players performed better). You had a point that if he had more carries he WOULD of had the yards. Simple fact is that he did NOT have the carries or the yards. Neither did Grinde for that matter. Trefney is a no brainer, but Sparks and McCrakken should have been there instead of Chapman and Grinde. Sparks led AA with 6.4 yards per carry and had 1456 yards on 228 carries and led the State and finished ahead of Trefney for all purpose yards with 1816 to 1805. Chapman had 833 yards on a hundred and some carries and 6.3 yds per carry. Hard to explain to a teen-aged kid that politics overrides rational decision making. Early wake up call I suppose. Sparks (and me and I am sure Josh McCrakken) have figured out that the all state selection process is a sham at least at the AA level.

I agree with you that the yards are the yards. But the "body of work" gets kids recognition when they at times don't deserve it over others. For example, why do they put in all-state selections at the beginning of the year? I believe Alec Nehring, the QB from Manhattan, got All-State this year in Class B but did not make first team on offense or defense in 5B. I am with you that Balue Chapman probably didn't deserve to be a first-team running back. Statistics have been ignored at every level of football in regards to award selections (I mean the NFL Pro Bowl?) for years. Sam needs to keep his head up and know that he is a good football player, regardless of a postseason award. Talent gets recognized along with stats.

Well i bet both schools regret passing up Nolan Saracini acouple years ago. Led the nation in rushing yards this year for tech. He would have done wonders for Cats or Griz. Both schools need a running back. Surprising that there is so much lack of knowledge on player capability.

We have four Montana backs on the roster right now (out of six) and we will already likely add Sean Opland on signing day along with Anthony Pegues from Texas (cross your fingers). I would love to have one more Montana back whether it be Sam Sparks, Josh McCracken, Thomas Trefney, or Alex Draper. With the right program, all have the ability to play at this level. If you can be an all-state back in AA, you usually have a shot. Another thing that caught my eye about Sam was the fact he was the first team special teamer for AA. The more you can do right?

[jsparks]

Yes Opland is good but personally I would play him at corner,. Sparks and him are the fastest players (at least on the track) of the RBs you mention.Both run low 11's consistently