Homegrown players

[89Cat]

I remember hearing one of the announcers last Saturday saying that MSU had 47 Montana players on the roster and UM had 49 and that was one of the things that made the Brawl so special. I was curious to see how the surrounding schools compared when it came to recruiting in-state players and this is my official count after scanning their rosters.

MSU - 47
UM - 49
NSDU - 23
UND - 18
SDSU - 22
USD - 12
Idaho - 27
Idaho State - 26
Wyoming - 16

I get it that some of those schools are close to state borders and recruit from neighboring states but I doubt players from Minnesota really grow up following the NDSU-UND rivalry (that's finally back in action) whereas I think Montana kids start leaning one way or the other early on. And really who is NDSU's biggest rival - UND or SDSU? You don't even have to ask that question about the Montana schools. These Montana kids grow up playing against each other in high school and that rivalry carries over somewhat to the Brawl. I think they said there were 14 players from Sentinel and Capital playing in the game the other day - sometimes they're on the same side, sometimes the opposite. I would bet this rivalry has more former teammates playing against each other than almost any other rivalry in the nation.

[ike11ike]

I remember hearing one of the announcers last Saturday saying that MSU had 47 Montana players on the roster and UM had 49 and that was one of the things that made the Brawl so special. I was curious to see how the surrounding schools compared when it came to recruiting in-state players and this is my official count after scanning their rosters.

MSU - 47
UM - 49
NSDU - 23
UND - 18
SDSU - 22
USD - 12
Idaho - 27
Idaho State - 26
Wyoming - 16

I get it that some of those schools are close to state borders and recruit from neighboring states but I doubt players from Minnesota really grow up following the NDSU-UND rivalry (that's finally back in action) whereas I think Montana kids start leaning one way or the other early on. And really who is NDSU's biggest rival - UND or SDSU? You don't even have to ask that question about the Montana schools. These Montana kids grow up playing against each other in high school and that rivalry carries over somewhat to the Brawl. I think they said there were 14 players from Sentinel and Capital playing in the game the other day - sometimes they're on the same side, sometimes the opposite. I would bet this rivalry has more former teammates playing against each other than almost any other rivalry in the nation.

And that is why it's the best rivalry in the country

[AFCAT]

And a quick look at Boise's roster has 15 from Idaho.

[CodyCat]

Im not suggesting that the states around Montana dont produce good football players. But, I do want to say that this is also a product of how good Montana High School football is. I've been in Wyoming for 11 years now. And it was such a stark contrast watching Wyoming High School football as compared to Montana. Now that I live in Cody, its different. Cody has a tremendous program. But, they only get challenged about once a year due to the rest of the state being pretty average.

[Montanabob]

Im not suggesting that the states around Montana dont produce good football players. But, I do want to say that this is also a product of how good Montana High School football is. I've been in Wyoming for 11 years now. And it was such a stark contrast watching Wyoming High School football as compared to Montana. Now that I live in Cody, its different. Cody has a tremendous program. But, they only get challenged about once a year due to the rest of the state being pretty average.

without any statistics to back this up, but i would bet that wyoming has about 1/3 the students in high school that Montana does.

[CodyCat]

Im not suggesting that the states around Montana dont produce good football players. But, I do want to say that this is also a product of how good Montana High School football is. I've been in Wyoming for 11 years now. And it was such a stark contrast watching Wyoming High School football as compared to Montana. Now that I live in Cody, its different. Cody has a tremendous program. But, they only get challenged about once a year due to the rest of the state being pretty average.

without any statistics to back this up, but i would bet that wyoming has about 1/3 the students in high school that Montana does.

Definitely. Montana has about a million people and Wyoming has about 500,000. Certainly a factor.

[wbtfg]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

[Monymony]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

100% shows that the Montana kids care more and work harder.

[onceacat]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

Really mind blowing that in a conference that spans 8 states with a total population of something like 72 million (20% of the US population) the 3 top player awards (Tommy, Brody, Adam) came from the smallest population state. To say nothing of the other 9 players listed there.

Says something truly impressive about football here.

[damnyoutuesday]

Montana definitely punches above it's weight for football talent. Small, sparse population and cold weather aren't normally a good mix for having good football players

[kennethnoisewater]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

Carroll, Western and Tech aren't too shabby at football either, let alone Dickinson State who has a ton of MT kids. I realize that's not nearly as high of a level of football, but it shows how many solid players come out of 180 or so high schools in the state (many of which co-op for football).

[BigBruceBaker]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

100% shows that the Montana kids care more and work harder.

Man. That's a garbage take. Saying kids from outside Montana don't work as hard or care as much about the team because they aren't from Montana is a bizarre comment.

[BigBruceBaker]

I remember hearing one of the announcers last Saturday saying that MSU had 47 Montana players on the roster and UM had 49 and that was one of the things that made the Brawl so special. I was curious to see how the surrounding schools compared when it came to recruiting in-state players and this is my official count after scanning their rosters.

MSU - 47
UM - 49
NSDU - 23
UND - 18
SDSU - 22
USD - 12
Idaho - 27
Idaho State - 26
Wyoming - 16

I get it that some of those schools are close to state borders and recruit from neighboring states but I doubt players from Minnesota really grow up following the NDSU-UND rivalry (that's finally back in action) whereas I think Montana kids start leaning one way or the other early on. And really who is NDSU's biggest rival - UND or SDSU? You don't even have to ask that question about the Montana schools. These Montana kids grow up playing against each other in high school and that rivalry carries over somewhat to the Brawl. I think they said there were 14 players from Sentinel and Capital playing in the game the other day - sometimes they're on the same side, sometimes the opposite. I would bet this rivalry has more former teammates playing against each other than almost any other rivalry in the nation.

NDSU's rival in football is SDSU no doubt.

NDSU has a surprising amount of Fargo kids, but a lot of ND is small towns that don't produce the level of talent at a high clip - much like Montana's small towns. It's tough when the population is so small. Many people around Minnesota follow NDSU.

[coloradocat]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

100% shows that the Montana kids care more and work harder.

Man. That's a garbage take. Saying kids from outside Montana don't work as hard or care as much about the team because they aren't from Montana is a bizarre comment.

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to get offended by that.

[Monymony]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

100% shows that the Montana kids care more and work harder.

Man. That's a garbage take. Saying kids from outside Montana don't work as hard or care as much about the team because they aren't from Montana is a bizarre comment.

Nothing against the out of state kids but it definitely means more to guys from in state. Guys like Lonergan, McCade, Rylan want it more because they know how important Bobcat football is.

[BigBruceBaker]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

100% shows that the Montana kids care more and work harder.

Man. That's a garbage take. Saying kids from outside Montana don't work as hard or care as much about the team because they aren't from Montana is a bizarre comment.

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to get offended by that.

I was wondering how long it would take for you to say something stupid.

Seems like we both didn’t have to wait long.

For the record, nothing offends me. Saying “garbage take” and “is a bizarre comment” doesn’t equal being offended. However, reading comprehension has rarely been a thing you’ve been proficient in, nor has anyone accused you of having it. Thanks for chiming in dude, love hearing your thoughts.

[HelenaCat95]

Choate said it best - "We may need to go elsewhere to get our arms and legs, but our heart and soul will come from Montana."

[onceacat]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

100% shows that the Montana kids care more and work harder.

Man. That's a garbage take. Saying kids from outside Montana don't work as hard or care as much about the team because they aren't from Montana is a bizarre comment.

Yeah, it's pretty clear that there are a ton of out of state kids that REALLY care. But I think thats driven by a locker room culture...Maybe a parallel is UM-OSU...there are a lot of dudes on those teams that care a lot that aren't particularly tied to the state, but at the point where you lose the local connection, you lose a lot of the drive.

Deep down: For a really low population state, theres a ton of good football & football players coming out of MT, and that creates a rivalry thats at the top of all football...right up there with UM-OSU, the Holy War, Harvard-Yale, Bedlam, the Red River,...way better than the Apple Cup or Civil War...

[onceacat]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

100% shows that the Montana kids care more and work harder.

Man. That's a garbage take. Saying kids from outside Montana don't work as hard or care as much about the team because they aren't from Montana is a bizarre comment.

Nothing against the out of state kids but it definitely means more to guys from in state. Guys like Lonergan, McCade, Rylan want it more because they know how important Bobcat football is.

You somehow don't think that guys like Mitch Herbert or Chris Murray or Nick LaSane or Tyler Lulay or Denarius McGhee or Jody Owens, or Alex Singleton, our Daniel Hardy or Ryan Johnson didn't "want" it as much? I have a really hard time with that.

[Monymony]

Pretty cool to see so many Montana grown kids get 1st and 2nd teams recognition.

1st Team:
Tommy Mellott (OPOY) - MSU
Brody Grebe (DPOY) - MSU
Marcus Wehr - MSU
McCade O'Reilly - MSU
Rylan Ortt - MSU
Taco Dowler - MSU
Keyshawn Newby-James - Idaho
Junior Bergen - UM

2nd Team:
Paul Brott - MSU
Ryan Tirrell - UM
Trevin Gadney - UM

Adam Jones (Freshman of the Year) - MSU

100% shows that the Montana kids care more and work harder.

Man. That's a garbage take. Saying kids from outside Montana don't work as hard or care as much about the team because they aren't from Montana is a bizarre comment.

Nothing against the out of state kids but it definitely means more to guys from in state. Guys like Lonergan, McCade, Rylan want it more because they know how important Bobcat football is.

You somehow don't think that guys like Mitch Herbert or Chris Murray or Nick LaSane or Tyler Lulay or Denarius McGhee or Jody Owens, or Alex Singleton, our Daniel Hardy or Ryan Johnson didn't "want" it as much? I have a really hard time with that.

If Chris Murray cared so much he would’ve passed classes. Those guys obviously cared but when you would rather play for Montana State than Michigan or you name it, I’d say your effort and passion is going to be different. I mean remember when Tommy was crying on the sideline after the SDSU game, that is unparalleled passion.