SPOKANE, Washington – What can Tommy Mellott possibly do for an encore?
It remains to be seen what this upcoming season has in store for the Montana State star sophomore quarterback. But the target has certainly already been placed on Mellott’s wide, wiry back.
The pride of Butte, America, took the Big Sky Conference and the Football Championship Subdivision by storm last fall. As a freshman, the former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year showed flashes of his dual-threat ability while playing spot snaps at quarterback during the regular season before launching into the stratosphere during one of the most unlikely postseason runs in the subdivision’s history.
The athletic, tough 6-foot-1, 195-pounder broke into the lineup for the top-10-ranked Bobcats on special teams first. He lined up on kickoff and kick return during Montana State’s season-opening 19-16 loss at Wyoming, a near FBS upset and a harbinger for things to come. The first month of the 2021 season, many thought Mellott’s destiny might be on special teams.
He did not appear in the opener other than special teams. Same went for MSU’s 45-7 win over Drake. Against San Diego, Mellott drew his first comparison to Troy Andersen, a one-of-a-kind talent who left an unmatched legacy in Big Sky Conference annals by earning all-league honors as a running back, quarterback, outside linebacker and inside linebacker during a peerless career that ultimately led him from Dillon, Montana to the second round of the NFL Draft, where he was picked by the Atlanta Falcons.
In that 52-10 win over USD in Week 3, Mellott ripped off a 44-yard run reminiscent of Cowboy Troy. Three weeks later, he scorched Cal Poly’s defense for a 74-yard rushing touchdown, his first of 10 rushing touchdowns during his rookie year.
By the time Big Sky play and the regular season finished, Mellott had carried the ball 36 times for 294 yards (8.2 yards per carry) and four scores. But the majority of that production came in a 13-carry, 68-yard performance against Idaho in a 20-13 victory in which starting quarterback Matt McKay struggled mightily to help the Bobcat offense move the ball. Again, a sign of things to come.
Mellott only completed two of his four passing attempts for a whopping total of 12 yards during MSU’s 9-2 regular season. His second-highest offensive usage rate outside of the Idaho game (and aside from special teams) came when he carried the ball seven times for 27 yards in an embarrassing, season-altering 29-10 loss to the rival Montana Grizzlies.
Yet despite serving as many up and coming freshmen do during their rookie seasons — as a special teams ace still trying to find what position he might play more permanently moving forward — Mellott earned high praise at the Big Sky Kickoff media gathering in late July.
Despite never starting in a Big Sky game, a player many thought had a destiny playing defense was instead selected as the league’s preseason All-Big Sky quarterback. That’s what happen you lead a team to its first national title game in nearly four decades, rolling up more than 1,000 total yards and manufacturing 10 total touchdowns during an unforgettable three-game winning streak that culminated in a trip to Frisco, Texas.
The post-season success last December and January set the stage for Mellott’s unlikely recognition as the top returning quarterback in the Big Sky. Sac State senior Jake Duniway has an argument he got snubbed, as does Northern Arizona sophomore R.J. Martinez, the league’s Freshman of the Year after leading NAU to a 4-3 record in his seven starts.
Despite the surprising — and some would say unjustified — preseason accolade, Mellott’s head coach has no worry about the pressure getting to his sophomore signal caller.
“Tommy is motivated internally different than most,” Montana State second-year head coach Brent Vigen said. “I don’t think he lets the outside noise confuse that at all.
“I don’t think he still looks back and realizes what the big deal was with his performance in December.
“I was a little surprised (by the selection) and quickly thought, ‘ who are the other quarterbacks in this league he was chosen over.’ But Tommy is one where high expectations is what he’s all about. And he is going to work his tail off to live up to them.”
All of the hype leading up to Mellott’s sophomore season stems, of course, from one of the most magical and well-chronicled postseason runs in the history of the program or the league.
Mellott became the first Bobcat quarterback to ever make his first career start in a post-season game. Three playoff wins later — before last season, MSU had eight Division I-AA/FCS postseason wins ever, including none away from Bobcat Stadium save the 1984 national championship game — and Mellott’s rising star shifted into warp speed.
Rushing 77 times for 427 yards and six touchdowns while throwing for 472 yards and four more scores will get you plenty of recognition. Especially when you are a product of one of the proudest towns on the planet.
“And honestly, I saw back in January that he wanted to take his game this off-season to another level,” said Vigen, a former Wyoming and North Dakota State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach who helped recruit and mentor future NFL quarterbacks Brock Jensen, Carson Wentz and Easton Stick at NDSU along with Josh Allen in Laramie.
“To have a spring ball where he continued to improve his comfort in the pocket, his passing, understanding what we are trying to do. He beyond flashed in the month of December last year,” Vigen continued. “The plays he was able to make throughout the course of the season made an impression early on in the Big Sky. He was a factor in the league. He was also out there playing receiver and covering kicks. That’s a tip of the hat and why he landed on the all-league team. “
Following the “Meltdown in Missoula” — Montana State looked completely out of sorts, averaging just 2.3 yards per rush and 3.1 yards per play against the seventh-ranked Grizzlies’ ferocious defense, watching their four-game rivalry winning streak evaporate — the entire arc of MSU’s season changed.
Who could’ve expected the positives that came from a game that swung the momentum of a rivalry recently owned by the Bobcats back in favor of the surging Grizzlies?
The embarrassing loss knocked Montana State from a top four seed in the FCS playoffs to the No. 8 seed, meaning MSU would have to go on the road if it was able to win a second-round playoff game following the final bye of the 24-team FCS playoff field.
The embarrassing loss also signaled the benching of McKay, a former 3-star recruit who began his career at North Carolina State before managing MSU to nine straight victories book-ended by season-opening and regular-season ending losses. McKay was Mellott’s backup for less than two weeks, entering the NCAA Transfer Portal before MSU’s second round game against Tennessee Martin.
Enter Mellott, a baby-faced yet cerebral right-hander whose rosy cheeks and unassuming presence belie his maturity and analytical nature. The young man had plenty of high school production. After all, Mellott threw for nearly 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns while rushing for nearly 1,217 more yards and 16 more scores in leading Butte High to the 2019 Class AA state title game. He ended his Butte High career with 7,089 passing yards, 69 passing touchdowns, 2,499 rushing yards and 31 more scores on the ground.
But nobody projected Mellott to look equally unstoppable against some of the best defensive units in the FCS as he did against the likes of Kalispell Glacier and Billings West High.
Mellott did not look dominant until the final minute of the third quarter of his first career start against UT Martin in the second round of the playoffs. Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Mellott cut back and exploded on a quarterback keeper, showing his prodigious speed on a 73-yard touchdown run that turned a 13-7 MSU lead into a two-touchdown advantage.
It seemed Mellott never stopped sprinting. He led another touchdown drive, helping seal a 26-7 win over the Skyhawks. Mellott finished the game with 23 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns. He also completed 8-of-20 passes for 51 yards on a windy Bozeman afternoon.
From there, Mellott morphed into Superman. By the end of the first quarter of MSU’s FCS quarterfinal matchup against defending national champion Sam Houston State, Mellott has rushed for a touchdown, caught a touchdown and thrown a touchdown. MSU led the perennially strong (and now gone to the FBS) Bearkats 28-0 early in the second quarter.
Mellott finished that 42-19 win with 165 yards passing, 81 yards rushing, four yards receiving and five total touchdowns. His ability to operate run-pass option plays and deftly shred the opposition with zone-read principles before hitting streaking receivers with accurately thrown back shoulder fades caused his reputation to soar around the country.
All of a sudden, Tommy Mellott was the talk of small-school college football. Sam Houston head coach K.C. Keeler, the proud owner of two FCS national championship rings, compared Mellott to Taysom Hill leading up to the postseason matchup between the recent rivals. South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier couldn’t get enough of watching Mellott on film before bringing his team to Bozeman the following week as MSU earned one final home game by knocking off top-seeded SHSU.
And after Mellott showed the heart of Rocky Balboa in a 34-carry, 155-yard rushing performance against SDSU’s nationally-heralded defensive unit (he also threw for 233 yards and two more scores), the quarterback’s name and face were everywhere. And Montana State was headed to Frisco.
“Touchdown Tommy” shirts started popping up across Montana. Everyone wanted a piece of the kid from the Mining City. Then the bubble burst abruptly.
Mellott’s value was best on display when he was knocked out of MSU’s 38-10 FCS title game loss to North Dakota State. The Bobcat offense had no chance to control the football without their hard-nosed quarterback, in turn leading to NDSU’s bruising running game trampling the MSU defense on the way to earning the ninth national title in the last 10 seasons for the Bison.
Watching the loss from the sideline did nothing but motivate Mellott.
“I think after the national championship game, we had about a week to go home and we were back that next Monday, 10 days later, working out again, getting ready for this upcoming season,” Mellott said. “I had a lot of recovery (off-season leg surgery) but I got to see the guys working out on the field, extra lifting and conditioning, a lot of guys persevering.
“I think we got great work in during winter and spring and the third training block is coming to a close right now. Guys have been working their butts off. We have been getting faster, stronger, and more athletic. It’s been a great off-season for us and we are looking forward to the beginning of fall camp.”
Plenty of questions linger about Montana State’s offensive line, defensive front seven and Vigen in his second season at the helm.
And now Mellott will enter his sophomore season with a target on his back. Can he prove his preseason All-Big Sky nod as an affirmation rather than a prediction? He can’t wait to try.
“It’s an honor to be selected to represent Montana State early on in my career,” Mellott said. “I’m giving my best to represent what Montana State is all about.
“I’m extremely excited about the season.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez and Blake Hempstead. All Rights Reserved.
