Nice article on Force today in the gazette. I can't wait to watch him and LeBlanc lay the smack down this weekend.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles ... -force.txt
Driving Force
Moderators: rtb, kmax, SonomaCat
-
DriftCat
- 1st Team All-BobcatNation
- Posts: 1559
- Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2005 8:39 pm
- Location: Billings, MT
-
GavinDonos
- 1st Team All-BobcatNation
- Posts: 1810
- Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2004 1:35 pm
- Location: Billings
-
catsrback76
- Golden Bobcat
- Posts: 9111
- Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:18 am
- Location: Sitting on the hill looking at the Adriatic!
-
urcrackinmeup
- BobcatNation Team Captain
- Posts: 512
- Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:27 pm
- Location: bozo
Almost a Bobcat
Montana was a better fit, but Swogger liked MSU
By TIM DUMAS Chronicle Sports Writer
Josh Swogger will start Saturday at quarterback for the University of Montana in the annual ’Cat-Griz game, but he could easily have been Montana State’s starter.
A one-time starting quarterback at Washington State,
Swogger grew up in northeast Ohio, in Vienna, near the Pennsylvania border. His favorite team was The Ohio State University, located 150 miles to the southwest, and his idols were David Boston and Eddie George.
While he never attended an OSU-Michigan game (those teams meet for the 103rd time Saturday), Swogger played in the Apple Cup with Washington Swogger visited MSU before settling on UM for his senior season. And it wasn’t one of those “You have to travel through Missoula in order to get to Bozeman” scenarios.
Swogger just wasn’t your typical transfer. He had a new wife — who was still attending Washington State — to consider.
“I went to MSU and I thought the coaching staff there was great and the kids there were State against Washington in 2003. (Those two play for the 99th time Saturday).
In that game, Swogger, then a freshman, relieved starter Matt Kegel and threw for 107 yards, but was intercepted three times in Washington’s 27-19 victory.
Montana and Montana State meet this weekend for the 106th time, and Swogger knows all about what accompanies such a game. great,” Swogger, 23, said before Tuesday’s practice, “but I wanted to stay close to my wife.
“Montana was just a better
fit.”
Angie Swogger has since graduated and is living with her husband in Missoula. They were
married Dec. 29, 2004.
This weekend, Josh Swogger will compete in his only ’Cat-Griz game. But it won’t be his only connection to Rivalry Week.
“It’s based on emotion when you play an intrastate rival,” he said. “I’ve never experienced a ’Cat-Griz game, but I know when I was at Washington State, everyone got geared up.”
As a heavily-recruited quarterback at Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio, Swogger led his team to a 14-1 record and a state championship as a senior.
He threw 25 touchdown passes and was named Division IV’s player of the year. But in the championship game, in which Ursuline won 49-37 and totaled 547 yards, Swogger threw the ball just six times, completing one pass.
“We had really good running backs,” Swogger said. “Our coaches recognized that we should run it as much as we could.”
With scholarship offers from Louisville, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan and Akron on the table, Swogger chose Pullman where he became just the second sophomore in Washington State history to be named a captain.
That season, he started six games, winning three of them, before breaking a bone in =his left foot against Stanford. Surgery ended his season.
The next year, 2005, he lost starting job to Alex Brink and played in only three games. With one year of eligibility remaining, Swogger saw the writing on the wall. It was time to transfer. He wanted to play.
That meant leaving a comfortable environment, a place
1 he had spent 3 /2 years of his life.
“It was pretty hard,” said Swogger, who had never been to Montana before this year. “When things unfolded the way they did, I decided that if I wanted to continue playing I’d have to do it somewhere else.”
When considering schools, his choices were hometown Youngstown State and the two Montana schools.
While UM is closer to Pullman, MSU had its own lure.
The Bobcats were losing senior Travis Lulay and love to throw the ball. Plus, four of Swogger’s former teammates at WSU had landed to Montana State since 2002. Two of them — linebacker Reyshawn Bobo and defensive line coach Jeremy Thielbahr — are still with the ‘Cats. (Receivers Tramaine Murray and Jevon Miller were seniors last year).
“I knew those guys very well,” Swogger said. “That was all enticing, but it just made more sense for us to go to Montana.”
Swogger was quickly named the starter in Missoula, and the Grizzlies have lost just once (against Iowa to start the season) with him in the lineup.
Learning a new offense was never a problem.
“It’s an adjustment. It’s a new system, it’s new people, new coaches,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. “It’s hard to jump in and Josh has done a nice job assimilating into our team.”
In two days, Swogger, whose play this season has been solid but not spectacular, will face the school he almost became a part of in January.
And MSU head coach Mike Kramer says he can wait until late November for Swogger’s breakout game.
“He just needs that one game to get going,” Kramer said. “I can see Josh having that ability on a given day, and hopefully that won’t be against us on Saturday.”
Montana was a better fit, but Swogger liked MSU
By TIM DUMAS Chronicle Sports Writer
Josh Swogger will start Saturday at quarterback for the University of Montana in the annual ’Cat-Griz game, but he could easily have been Montana State’s starter.
A one-time starting quarterback at Washington State,
Swogger grew up in northeast Ohio, in Vienna, near the Pennsylvania border. His favorite team was The Ohio State University, located 150 miles to the southwest, and his idols were David Boston and Eddie George.
While he never attended an OSU-Michigan game (those teams meet for the 103rd time Saturday), Swogger played in the Apple Cup with Washington Swogger visited MSU before settling on UM for his senior season. And it wasn’t one of those “You have to travel through Missoula in order to get to Bozeman” scenarios.
Swogger just wasn’t your typical transfer. He had a new wife — who was still attending Washington State — to consider.
“I went to MSU and I thought the coaching staff there was great and the kids there were State against Washington in 2003. (Those two play for the 99th time Saturday).
In that game, Swogger, then a freshman, relieved starter Matt Kegel and threw for 107 yards, but was intercepted three times in Washington’s 27-19 victory.
Montana and Montana State meet this weekend for the 106th time, and Swogger knows all about what accompanies such a game. great,” Swogger, 23, said before Tuesday’s practice, “but I wanted to stay close to my wife.
“Montana was just a better
fit.”
Angie Swogger has since graduated and is living with her husband in Missoula. They were
married Dec. 29, 2004.
This weekend, Josh Swogger will compete in his only ’Cat-Griz game. But it won’t be his only connection to Rivalry Week.
“It’s based on emotion when you play an intrastate rival,” he said. “I’ve never experienced a ’Cat-Griz game, but I know when I was at Washington State, everyone got geared up.”
As a heavily-recruited quarterback at Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio, Swogger led his team to a 14-1 record and a state championship as a senior.
He threw 25 touchdown passes and was named Division IV’s player of the year. But in the championship game, in which Ursuline won 49-37 and totaled 547 yards, Swogger threw the ball just six times, completing one pass.
“We had really good running backs,” Swogger said. “Our coaches recognized that we should run it as much as we could.”
With scholarship offers from Louisville, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan and Akron on the table, Swogger chose Pullman where he became just the second sophomore in Washington State history to be named a captain.
That season, he started six games, winning three of them, before breaking a bone in =his left foot against Stanford. Surgery ended his season.
The next year, 2005, he lost starting job to Alex Brink and played in only three games. With one year of eligibility remaining, Swogger saw the writing on the wall. It was time to transfer. He wanted to play.
That meant leaving a comfortable environment, a place
1 he had spent 3 /2 years of his life.
“It was pretty hard,” said Swogger, who had never been to Montana before this year. “When things unfolded the way they did, I decided that if I wanted to continue playing I’d have to do it somewhere else.”
When considering schools, his choices were hometown Youngstown State and the two Montana schools.
While UM is closer to Pullman, MSU had its own lure.
The Bobcats were losing senior Travis Lulay and love to throw the ball. Plus, four of Swogger’s former teammates at WSU had landed to Montana State since 2002. Two of them — linebacker Reyshawn Bobo and defensive line coach Jeremy Thielbahr — are still with the ‘Cats. (Receivers Tramaine Murray and Jevon Miller were seniors last year).
“I knew those guys very well,” Swogger said. “That was all enticing, but it just made more sense for us to go to Montana.”
Swogger was quickly named the starter in Missoula, and the Grizzlies have lost just once (against Iowa to start the season) with him in the lineup.
Learning a new offense was never a problem.
“It’s an adjustment. It’s a new system, it’s new people, new coaches,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. “It’s hard to jump in and Josh has done a nice job assimilating into our team.”
In two days, Swogger, whose play this season has been solid but not spectacular, will face the school he almost became a part of in January.
And MSU head coach Mike Kramer says he can wait until late November for Swogger’s breakout game.
“He just needs that one game to get going,” Kramer said. “I can see Josh having that ability on a given day, and hopefully that won’t be against us on Saturday.”
-
Eastcoastgriz
- Member # Retired
- Posts: 2151
- Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 5:43 am
- Location: Use to be New Jersey
-
bobcatmaniac
- 1st Team All-BobcatNation
- Posts: 1863
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 4:25 pm
- Location: big sky country
