It could be a bit of a conundrum for Montana State’s Bryce Grebe joining a team where his brother, Brody, has been having a career already worthy of All-Big Sky and All-America honors. Should he feel under pressure to play as well as his brother? Or should he feel relaxed knowing that no one could really have those kinds of expectations?
Quite frankly, the younger Grebe, now in his redshirt freshman season, might just be in a dead heat with his brother when comparing the initial seasons against one another. As hard to imagine as that might be, Bryce Grebe is hot on his brother’s heels.
In Brody’s rookie year playing spot snaps he compiled 5.5 sacks, 7.5 tackles-for-loss, two QB hurries and a forced fumble. Bryce, through five games, has one more tackle (15) than his brother, has a sack, two tackles-for-loss, two pass breakups and he already has one forced fumble.
Considering Bryce is a linebacker and Brody a defensive end, those numbers are a bit apples to oranges straight up, but since their positions ask for different results, they likely grade out similarly.
“Bryce is blessed with a lot of ability, first and foremost,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “He has a tremendous work ethic. I think having his brother’s lead to kind of follow, just from a ‘here’s how you need to do things. I did this, so you can do this’ perspective. I’m sure it helps with Brody being able to allow Bryce to feel that way and then to push him all at the same time.”
As has been well-documented, the Grebe’s are from tiny Melstone out on the eastern Montana plains. Their cowboy lifestyle is becoming the stuff of legend as they blend that experience with the agricultural roots of Montana State.
The small school upbringing, in a sports sense, hasn’t hindered either of them and Vigen was able to spot not just Bryce’s physical abilities but also his mental attributes from watching Grebe play.
“He’s a smart kid, whose instincts were always there,” Vigen said. “Those instincts showed up to me on the (Montana Class C high school) six-man field. He’s had a transition that I suppose we would’ve hope for, but I think it has happened a little faster. I think as we had him in here last year and had him around in the fall I think this was our expectation for Bryce this season was to be a guy who can make an impact.”
Grebe showed off his instincts in MSU’s second game when he batted down passes on consecutive plays against Utah Tech to force one of the eight successive three-and-outs to start the game against the Trailblazers.
He’s also filling a big role in MSU’s linebacker rotation. The Bobcats only have two linebackers in their 4-2-5 alignment and having a third player with Grebe’s ability is key to how well the defense as a unit functions. He spells senior starters McCade O’Reilly, who’s brother Callahan also played linebacker for the Bobcats, and Danny Uluilakepa, which allows MSU to keep fresh legs on the field throughout the game.
“I felt like he’s been doing great,” Uluilakepa said. “His growth in the defense. Just coming from 6-man to 11-man football. It’s a big jump. He comes in and gets us a few series and he’s doing great.”
The duo of Bryce and Brody brings back memories of other brothers that have excelled at MSU. The two that are probably most similar are current MSU defensive coordinator Bobby Daly and his younger brother Brad. Bobby, like Bryce, was a linebacker, while Brad, like Brody, played defensive end. The Dalys were around from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s with Bobby finishing sixth in the Buck Buchanan Award voting, and taking All-BSC and All-America honors. Brad did the same with a cherry – in the form of the Buck Buchanan Award – on top.
The similarities between the Grebes and Dalys doesn’t end there. They all have blond hair and first names starting with “B” and dads that coached them. Their dads have matching first initials, too, Jason coached the Grebe boys in basketball at Melstone High School, while J was the defensive coordinator at Helena Capital when he sons were in the prep ranks.
The Bobcats currently have another pair of brothers on the defensive side of the ball with a freshman that’s beginning to make noise. That’s Danny Uluilakepa’s brother Taki, who is making plays as a backup safety in the MSU secondary. Receiver/punt returner Taco Dowler and his brother safety Caden Dowler, a trio of Perkins brothers are on the team in center Justus, offensive guard Jaden and defensive lineman Jaren, and there’s also the Steel brothers – safety Brock and wide receiver Dane make up a batch of five sets of brothers on the roster.
Brody is in the hunt for the Buck Buchanan Award this season as he’s on the watch list for the award currently. Bryce appears well on his way to getting the same kind of recognition in coming years.
Bryce Grebe and the Bobcats are rarin’ to get back in the saddle this Saturday when they take on the Bears of Northern Colorado for MSU’s annual homecoming game.
