SPOKANE, Washington — To transfer or not to transfer: it’s become one of the most pressing off-season questions for the top talent in the Big Sky Conference.
To vote for the preseason all-conference teams ahead of the Big Sky Kickoff media conference here this summer was to dive into more intense research than is usually required for such a non-serious task.
Usually, you can go through and fill out most of your ballot with players who are the worthiest returners, those who graced all-league lists last season and return to their respective schools for the upcoming campaign.
And certainly that existed with a few returners (12 to be exact), even if 18 players who could’ve returned to the Big Sky this season instead transferred to the FBS.
Montana State won 15 straight games and its second league title in three years. That Bobcat team graduates a slew of talent, including 2024 Walter Payton Award winner Tommy Mellott. MSU also lost studs like running back Scottre Humphrey (New Mexico), offensive tackle Conner Moore (Michigan State) and tight end/H-back Rohan Jones (Arkansas) to the portal in the off-season.
Yet for as many Bobcats who left, there’s plenty more who chose to stay in Bozeman. Taco Dowler is expected to be a household name at Montana State once again, both as an electrifying punt returner and as one of the most proven pass-catchers in the conference.
In fact, the Bobcats have the most players that fit the old mold of easily landing on the preseason all-conference squad. MSU put five players on the list. Each of those players came to Montana State as prospects out of high school and each has developed during their time in Brent Vigen’s program.
Offensive tackle Titan Fleishmann hails from Pocatello, Idaho. Other than the hulking 6-foot-4, 300-pounder, the other four all played prep football in Montana.
Running back Adam Jones, a sophomore who was voted the Big Sky preseason Offensive Player of the Year, grew up in Missoula. Defensive tackle Paul Brott, MSU’s latest recipient of its burgeoning legacy jersey tradition, is a Billings West product who will wear No. 41 as a senior. He and Dowler prepped together in the Magic City.
Kenneth Eiden IV is a second-generation Bobcat who grew up in Bozeman and is expected to be one of the toughest pass rushers in the country this year.
Those five Bobcats made up nearly half of the 12 total returning first or second-team All-Big Sky players who are back this fall.
“Sometimes, people look at the state of Montana and think, ‘We don’t have a lot of people here, so why come look here to recruit?’ But we have quality athletes and guys who care so deeply about their teams. That’s Montana State,” Eiden said. “We have down to earth, hard-working guys and I honestly believe working hard will pass you by a lot of people and that’s show for us at MSU.”
It’s probably no surprise then that Montana State, despite losing one of the most sizeable and decorated senior classes in school history following last season’s 15-1 campaign, is still the preseason favorites to win the conference. MSU received the most first-place votes from both the coaches and the league’s affiliated media.
“You want guys to rise through your program and be the next guy, ideally,” Vigen said. “And if you don’t have that, then you supplement a few positions, but ideally, having more and more of those guys to come up through your program, I think it’s so important for our young guys to see the shining examples that have been in front of them, and we’ve had quite a few of them.”
UC Davis has done an excellent job of player retention in an era where the dynamic is anything but easy. Coming off of a fall that saw the Aggies set a Division I record for wins in a single season with 11, many of the question marks rest on how second-year head coach Tim Plough will replace Miles Hastings, a four-year starter at quarterback who’s now in the CFL, and Lan Larison, a do-everything tailback who rolled up more than 2,300 yards and 23 total touchdowns last season who now plays for the New England Patriots.
But Davis also returns the only pair of first-team all-league talents who are back with their same squads other than Dowler. Winston Williams is the latest in a line of Aggie tight ends who have put up huge numbers. He caught 34 passes for 265 yards and six touchdowns last season. He is so entrenched that Josh Gale, one of the top-ranked tight ends in the FCS in 2023, transferred to Montana this past off-season.
Joining Williams as a stalwart of the Aggies’ offense is Eli Simonson, one of four returning all-conference linemen in the league.
The preseason Defensive Player of the Year voting might have been unanimous given senior safety Rex Conners’ production as well as the dearth of other solid returning talent. During his opening remarks to kickstart the media days, Big Sky Commissioner Tom Wistricill said, “Rex Connors could play for pretty much every Power 5 team in the country, but he decided to stay home at UC Davis.”
That commitment is a huge boost for the Davis defense and affirmation for the culture that exists on the picturesque campus, a culture and draw that goes beyond the football program.
“The academics are a big deal and getting that degree from UC Davis, it’s a great school to get a degree from,” Connors said. “The coaches, the town, the environment, it’s just a great college environment. I also have a strong relationship with my coaches and my teammates. And I want to continue to play with my brother (Porter Conners, a linebacker for the Aggies).”
It’s probably a lot less complicated to understand why a rising returner would stay at a place like Montana State, where the Bobcats are chasing their third Big Sky title in five seasons under Vigen.
It’s probably not that complicated to understand why a student-athlete would stay at UC Davis, one of the premier public institutions of higher learning in the world located on a gorgeous campus in the middle of the Golden State.
It might be a little more challenging to see why a player would stay to be a part of a program with less success on the field and less tradition off it. But three of the top returners in the league did exactly that.
Tanner Beaman caught 21 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown last fall as a sophomore. That earned him second-team All-Big Sky honors and opportunities to go elsewhere this off-season. Instead of taking the path of fellow Vikings like former All-Big Sky running back Quincy Craig, who transferred to Arizona this off-season, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Beaman decided to stay in the City of Roses.
“I think we are really building something special in Portland,” Beaman said. “I really believe in what’s going on inside the building. I didn’t want to leave.
“Growing up (in Vancouver, Washington), I went to Viking games and I went to high school with one of Coach Barnum’s sons. They (Portland State) have provided me nothing but opportunities and I haven’t played my best ball for the Vikings, so I definitely owe them something.”
Idaho State took a step forward in Cody Hawkins’ second season, winning three Big Sky games and five games overall. Part of that success stemmed from shoring up the offensive line, which was anchored by Stryker Rashid, who was a second-team all-conference pick last season and landed on this summer’s preseason team.
And Weber State had an up-and-down 2024, winning in Missoula in October, losing five in a row right after that but beating Cal Poly in the season finale to finish 4-8 and on an upswing.
Offensive lineman Gavin Ortega serves as Weber’s top returner, a 6-foot-5, 300-pounder who as a second-team all-conference pick last season and is receiving preseason All-American love this summer.
“It’s the coaching staff, even when we have change, the AD brings in the best coaches I’ve been around,” Ortega said. “Player-wise, they recruit players who are like the coaches: good guys, good people, tight knit groups. It’s just a nice family culture.”
The Montana Grizzlies also have a roster featuring three players who landed on the All-Big Sky preseason list, each who earned accolades last season as well. But in a stark sign of the times, only junior running back Eli Gillman played for the Griz during UM’s 9-5 campaign in 2024.
Peyton Wing had a breakout season last fall as a sophomore at Portland State, piling up 93 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss en route to earning second-team All-Big Sky honors.
Michael Wortham was an All-American last season as a kick returner at Eastern Washington.
Both Big Sky stars ended up at Montana this off-season. Their presence on the all-league preseason teams sums up UM’s challenges entering the 2025 season. The Grizzlies will have 51 players on its roster that have never suited up for UM before between transfers, freshman and players coming off redshirts.
But Montana does have a collection of players who have played college football, albeit not for the Griz, including a trio of players who have been standouts in the Big Sky before. Can they help Montana reattain championship form? Veteran head coach Bobby Hauck is looking forward to the challenge.
“I guess that’s probably the nature of putting it together. And I would anticipate most teams in college football, that’s from across the nation, at all levels, with the way things are and the turnover on rosters that you’ll see teams come together through the season,” Hauck said. “And the teams that are going to be standing at the end are the teams that can continue to improve through the season will be a factor at the end.
“I mean, that’s the secret sauce. How did you evaluate recruiting? We did have quite a few guys, new guys, on the field during spring practice. I thought our spring practice was exemplary. I thought the effort level was good, the focus was good. Willingness to work, to improve and take coaching was terrific. I think that that’s kind of who our guys are, to a degree. And so that means we’ve got the right guys.
“When we get to the fall, we’ll see if we’re good enough. But we have the right guys wearing our helmets.”
