Grizzly Football Yearbook, 2015
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PRIDE OF MONTANA 2015 GRIZ FOOTBALL N. Dakota St. Cal Poly @Liberty N. Arizona* @UC Davis* Weber St.* N. Dakota* @Portland St.* @Idaho St.* E. Wash.* @Montana St.* AUG SEP SEP SEP OCT OCT OCT OCT NOV NOV NOV 29 5 19 26 3 10 24 31 7 14 21 Pride & Tradition Game Montana Granite Game Homecoming Pink Game UM Family Weekend Military Appreciation Game Northwestern Energy Karl Tyler Chevrolet and Copper & Gold Game Providence Health & Services The Living Room Opportunity Bank Cadillac Missoula Federal Credit Union Players back row, left to right: John Nguyen, Brady Gustafson, Herbert Gamboa, Ben Weyer, Kendrick Van Ackeren, Jeremiah Kose. Home games represented in MAROON and WHITE. *Asterisk denotes Big Sky Conference game. Check www.gogriz.com for game times. Front row, left to right: Tyrone Holmes, Nate Harris, Head Coach Bob Stitt, Derek Crittenden, Jamaal Jones. Montana Grizzlies @UMGRIZZLIES_FB @UMGRIZZLIES gogriz.com 2015 Football Schedule Date Opponent Location Time Game Coverage Aug. 29 NorthDakota State Missoula, Mont. 1:30 p.m. TV: ESPN Sept. 5 Cal Poly Missoula, Mont. 7:00 p.m. TV: Cowles Montana Media Sept. 19 at Liberty Lynchburg, Va. 5:00 p.m. TV: ESPN 3/ESPN College Extra Sept. 26 Northern Arizona* Missoula, Mont. 2:00 p.m. TV: Root Sports Oct. 3 at UC Davis* Davis. Calif 2:00 p.m. TV: Root Sports Oct. 10 Weber State* Missoula, Mont. 2:00 p.m. TV: Cowles Montana Media Oct. 24 North Dakota* Missoula, Mont. 1:30 p.m. TV: Root Sports Oct. 31 at Portland State* Portland, Ore. 3:00 p.m. TV: Cowles Montana Media Nov. 17 at Idaho State* Pocatello, Idaho 2:30 p.m. TV: Cowles Montana Media Nov. 14 Eastern Washington* Missoula, Mont. 1:30 p.m. TV: Root Sports Nov. 21 at Montana State* Bozeman, Mont. 12:00 p.m. TV: Root Sports *Big Sky Conference game ^All Times Mountain TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION PAGE NO. SECTION PAGE NO. 2015 Outlook .................................................................................................. 2 Root TV BSC Football Schedule ................................................................80 2014 Montana by the Numbers ................................................................. 3 Big Sky Conference ...............................................................................81-86 Griz in the Pros..........................................................................................4-5 Griz Records & Awards ...................................................................... 87-104 Washington-Grizzly Stadium ...................................................................6-7 Passsing: Game/Season.....................................................88 Facilities Upgrades ...................................................................................... 8 Passing: Season/Career .....................................................89 Griz Academics & Community Service ..................................................... 9 Receiving: Game/Season ...................................................90 Griz Media ..................................................................................................... 10 Receiving: Season/Career .................................................91 Rushing: Game/Season .....................................................92 Coaches’ Pages ....................................................................................... 11-18 Rushing: Season/Career ....................................................93 Head Coach Bob Stitt ..................................................12-13 Scoring: Game/Season/Career ..........................................94 Assistant Coaches ........................................................14-18 Returns: Game/Season/Career ..........................................95 2015 Grizzlies..........................................................................................19-48 Offense & Defense: Game/Seson/Career ..........................96 Numerical Roster .........................................................20-21 Defense: Career/Punting: Game/Seson .............................97 Alphabetical Roster ......................................................22-23 Punting: Career/Miscellaneous Career ..............................98 A – F .............................................................................24-28 Team: Game/Season ...................................................99-100 G – K ............................................................................29-34 Awards .....................................................................101-102 L – P .............................................................................35-40 All-Americans ...........................................................103-104 R – Z .............................................................................40-47 Griz Lettermen .................................................................................... 105-114 New Grizzlies ....................................................................48 All-Time Coaching History & Scoring History ............................... 115-126 2014 Season Review ...........................................................................49-66 2014 Stats ....................................................................50-52 Griz in Postseason .............................................................................127-132 Game Recaps ...............................................................53-66 Athletic Facilities & Staff .................................................................133-138 2015 Opponents/Series History ........................................................67-79 The 2015 Montana Yearbook is produced by the UM Sports Information office: North Dakota State/Cal Poly .............................................68 Renee Valley, sports information media editor, layout, design and editing. Liberty/Northern Arizona ..................................................69 UC Davis/Weber State ......................................................70 Photos by UM University Relations photographer Todd Goodrich, UM Sports North Dakota/Portland State ............................................71 Information archives or otherwise noted. (Opponent section courtesy of indi- Idaho State/Eastern Washington ......................................72 vidual schools.) Montana State ..................................................................73 For more information, contact the UM Sports Information office at (406) 243- Series History ...............................................................73-78 5402 or 243-6899 or visit our web site: GoGriz.com. All-Opponents History ......................................................79 - 1 - 2015 MONTANA FOOTBALL OUTLOOK The University of Montana football squad opened its fall drills with the season’s first practice session in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The term “rebuilding year” may not be applicable to the 2015 edition of the Griz, with variables that include a new coaching staff and the loss of several all-conference caliber players, this new season comes about with an air of excitement, along with a few questions. “I’m just excited,” said first-year head coach Bob Stitt. “I’ve said that a million times, but: Are we going to walk out there and see a better team than we saw at the end of April? That’s what I’m excited about.” Since being hired in December, Coach Stitt and his staff have worked to install a new offensive scheme. Naturally, there will be a lot of information for the squad to take on board in this year’s condensed fall camp, concluded by the Aug. 29 “FCS Kickoff Game” on ESPN against four-time defending national champion North Dakota State. After a summer of individual voluntary workouts, Coach Stitt believes his team is leaner and meaner than he has seen since arriving in Missoula. “Talking to (strength & conditioning coach) Matt Nicholson, we’ve improved leaps and bounds in the summer as far as strength, power, and condi- tioning. I just think with the progress we made, there’s no way we won’t be a better team than when we started spring ball,” said Stitt. Senior defensive end Tyrone Holmes might be case study number one for Coach Nicholson’s off-season progress, having purportedly added three inches to his vertical leap. That’s a gain you can’t ignore. According to Stitt, the added fitness will help the players during fall camp, allowing them to focus more on learning than getting in game-ready shape. “We really want to make sure our guys are physically and mentally fresh every day when they come to practice so we get quality in practice instead of just trying to squeeze too much in,” he said. To make things easier, Montana returns a robust 23 starters and 35 lettermen from a 9-5 team of a year ago that finished second place in the Big Sky Conference at 6-2. The 2014 Griz hosted San Diego in the first round of the FCS playoffs - upping its record total to 22 appearances. UM was ranked 13th in the nation in the Sports Network and 11th in the FCS Coaches’ final polls. The Grizzly offense returns 14 lettermen, while 18 defensive lettermen return, along with special teams players. On offense, the 2015 Griz will take the field under junior QB Brady Gustafson, who emerged as the signal caller of choice for Coach Stitt after a solid spring outing. The 6’7”, 235lb Billings native will fill the shoes of three-year starter Jordan Johnson, who sits third in career passing yards at Montana. Gustafson will get plenty of opportunities to throw the ball however, as Stitt prepares to