Entertainers of all kinds don’t like anyone telling them ‘good luck!’ before they step out on their perspective stages. They prefer ‘break a leg!’ The term means ‘good luck’ despite its graphic undertone, while good luck is considered a bad omen. The meaning is somewhat lost on most people don’t realize that back in the Vaudeville days breaking a leg meant bowing to the audience after a good performance.
Despite its real meaning, Montana State safety Caden Dowler probably doesn’t want to hear it before he steps on the football field. Dowler has either had his three seasons at MSU cut short or start late due to some kind of injury or another. He missed the first three games of his true freshman season, then was injured in practice after the first game and missed the rest of 2023. Last season was lost when he went down after starting the first six games with a torn ACL.
The Bobcats have been looking for leaders after losing 12 starters to graduation or transfers in the offseason. Typically, teams tab seniors and players that have had all-conference recognition. Despite all the injuries and consequent lack of playing time, when MSU’s captains were announced last month, Dowler heard his name called.
“The big one to me is Caden Dowler,” MSU defensive coordinator Shawn Howe said. “Dowler has had to deal with some injuries and stuff like that. Now he’s back, we’re feeling his presence. We certainly felt it in the scrimmage the other day. You just look up and you go, ‘this is not only a guy who’s a good football player. This is a guy who really makes us better as a unit, a guy who communicates at an elite level.’
“He’s a guy that really brings guys up. He’s constantly pulling guys up, he’s holding guys accountable. It’s almost like having another hand on the coaching staff.”
Even when Dowler was hurt last season, his role on the team was easily apparent. He would be one of the first hype men to congratulate teammates after big plays and his presence and energy was undeniable.
“First and foremost, the example Caden set – it was perfectly clear to anybody on this team and in this organization that Caden is doing anything he can to put himself back in position,” Montana State head coach Brent Vigen said. “That was not easy and it wasn’t the first time he had been injured. ‘Am I going to go through this all again?’ He flipped that switch quickly.
“That example through last fall was impressive. I’m certain his connection with his twin brother and Taco staying, I’m sure that’s a natural draw to the group, back to the core of this team. But they are also different personalities and Caden in the off-season, you could tell made another jump to get out in front a little bit more.
“Coming out of Billings West, I don’t think any of this personality, this leadership would’ve surprised his coaches there. His ability to persevere, his work habits, his no-nonsense approach, his ability to be this great teammate is why a guy like him who haven’t played a ton is elected a captain.”
Howe’s admiration for Dowler, who is the twin brother of MSU’s star receiver and punt returner, Taco Dowler, doesn’t end with his play on the field.
“Caden Dowler is a guy you want to marry one of your nieces,” Howe said without a hint of trying to be humorous.
Dowler has emerged out of his brother’s shadow not just due to his play but also his resilience. His leadership qualities began showing up in the weight room as he worked to recover from his many injuries with a vigor that caught everyone’s attention.
“Adversity is met with the ultimate ferocity with him,” Howe said. “This guy is like, ‘hey, you can put me down. You can’t put me out. You can send whatever you want to send at me and whether that’s injuries or whatever it is, I’m gonna see it, I’m gonna get better because of it and I’m gonna attack it.’
“He’s the same guy every day whether he’s hurt or whether he’s playing. I remember having a talk with him maybe a year ago or a little less and I just told him, ‘the way you carry yourself buddy, you don’t ever have to feel like you’re not a leader because you can’t play and are currently hurt’ and he just said, ‘ya know I really appreciate that, I do think about that at times.’
“He just started to almost attack it after that. Like, hey I’m gonna be hurt, but I’m gonna do what I can for this team and if I’m hurt all I can do is lead and all I can do is coach and all I can do is teach and help these guys learn the way I learn because he’s unbelievably smart. I’ve seen him attack this thing like you can’t even believe and he’s just as good of a person, as good of a football player, as smart of a man, as intentional as anybody you’re ever gonna meet.”
The Bobcat’ secondary was wiped clean after 2024 with starting safeties Rylan Ortt and Dru Polidore, along with starting cornerbacks Andrew Powdrell and Simeon Woodard, and starting nickelback Miles Jackson all gone. Ortt, Woodard and Jackson all saw their eligibility expire, while Polidore and Powdrell hit the transfer portal. The departures aren’t something Dowler tries to avoid thinking about.
“The question for the entire team is the secondary,” Dowler said in recognizing the doubt that fans and media alike have cast upon the unit. “We’ve had a really good off season. Corners as you can tell are really young and I think, personally, it takes a year for most guys to develop. Those corners have developed so fast over this offseason and not only on the football field but just as humans doing stuff right on and off the field. The biggest learning curve for them is just consistency and they’ve worked on that really well.”
Dowler has mastered what it takes to bounce back from the devastation that comes with injuries when you’re a high-end athlete.
“The biggest thing is being able to control what you can control,” Dowler said. “When you go down, when you get hurt that’s not what you want obviously, but I want to make the best decision. How can I put myself in a position for next year or the year after or whenever? It may be that I’m back and I can just step in and kind of immediately make a difference. So, I thought I might as well be a positive impact. It helped having Taco on the field because that’s my other half so that helped a lot. Being able to cheer him on, it cheered me up on Saturdays for sure.”
The effect his twin brother has is obvious when you listen to Dowler talk. He sees the effect his brother has not only on himself but on all the people around MSU.
“You walk in here and even during warmups there’s little kids draped over the railing wearing Taco hats and Taco shirts and Taco shorts,” Dowler said. “So, him having success is, I don’t want to say it, but it’s my success, too. I feel it when he has all that support, that I was at least part of something that had to do with that because him and I are the closest that any two people can be. It definitely made a difference (in Dowler’s rehabs).”
Dowler and his brother come from a rich history of Billings West players who have donned the blue and gold. Teammate and defensive tackle Paul Brott, who was also named a captain, is from West as is starting linebacker Neil Daily and offensive tackle Braden Zimmer, who is battling for a starting spot. Freshman Malachi Claunch is also a West grad.
“I loved my time there and we had a ton of great coaches while we were playing there,” Dowler said. “Whether it was coach Mikey Rider, who played safety (at MSU) or coach Hollowell, who’s our defensive coordinator, who was also a D coordinator at Rocky at one point. We had a lot of people around us that were really smart football minds that kind of instilled that in us. You see it a lot here when you are sometimes a step ahead because we had such great coaches in high school. The culture around West High is really cool too. We just want to win in everything we do so it helps a lot.”
The FCS No. 2 ranked Bobcats are in the process of preparing for their home season opener when they entertain South Dakota State the current No. 2 team in the nation. Before they even entered preseason camp, they knew that they needed to shake off their disappointing 35-32 loss to North Dakota State in the national title game.
“(That game) sticks with us,” Dowler said. “Knowing that everyone starts back at 0-0. We got a whole new team. Kind of like last year we’re just trying to take every day for itself. Be 1-0 every day and that is a motivating and driving factor.
“It shifts from focusing on us and our offense. Going against our offense for three weeks to finally seeing some new concepts. New runs, new passes. We’ll really dive into them. We’ll study up hard and play our hardest. We know when we play our hardest, we can hang with anyone.”
