Coming out of a second consecutive 10-win season, Montana Grizzlies head coach Bobby Hauck knew his team had strong potential in 2022 if he could fill a few voids left by graduation.
Although Hauck bemoans the current state of transfer-happy Division I college football, he and his staff have been detailed and sharp in evaluating transfers who have elevated Montana’s play during consecutive quarterfinal appearances in the FCS playoffs.
The Griz have lost standouts like wide receiver Samori Toure (now of the Green Bay Packers) and punter Brian Buschini — each transferred to Nebraska — to the phenomenon everyone can’t stop talking about: the NCAA transfer portal.
Under Hauck, Montana has gained starters like All-American and Buck Buchanan Award finalist cornerback Justin Ford (Louisville), center AJ Forbes (Nebraska), defensive ends Joe Babros (NC State) and Justin Belknap (Arizona), safety Gavin Robertson (Arizona), punter Adam Wilson (Arizona rugby), defensive backs Omar Hicks-Onu and Trajon Cotton (both Oregon State) plus junior college additions like running back Marcus Knight and offensive guards Kordell Pillans and Moses Mallory.
Two of Hauck’s starting quarterbacks since taking over ahead of the 2018 season have been transfers. Dalton Sneed, who started his career at UNLV before a junior college stop, was the Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2018 and an All-Big Sky selection again in 2019. Cam Humphrey, formerly of Boise State and Saddleback Junior College, was the starter when healthy in 2021.
Knight, who transferred in from Citrus College in California, was the 2019 Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year after breaking Montana’s single-season records for rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns.
This season, it’s very likely Montana will have a transfer as its starting quarterback again. In February, the Griz announced the signing of six transfers, including four from the FBS. Lucas Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound grad transfer, started nine games at San Diego State last season and is the front-runner to start for the Griz in 2022.
“I recruited Lucas in high school at San Diego State. Mount Carmel High School was about 10 minutes from our house and we recruited him heavily, but he went to Georgia Tech,” Hauck said on National Signing Day. “I’m glad we’re back together. He had some really good performances last football season and we’re hoping to help him continue his evolution and hope he can contribute for us at quarterback.”
Friday, Skyline Sports confirmed Montana’s addition of another quarterback with Power 5 pedigree along with three other transfers from the top level of Division I.
Monday, Skyline Sports confirmed directly with former Oregon quarterback A.J. Abbott that he has verbally committed his intent to transfer to Montana. The Statford High School product out of Houston, Texas gave his commitment a few weeks ago but has not arrived on campus yet for summer team activities.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder broke many of Andrew Luck’s records in high school, including throwing a program-best 24 touchdowns as a senior. He had multiple Division I offers before walking on at Oregon in May of 2021.
In June of this year, he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, although he remains on Oregon’s official roster.
As a senior at Stratford High, Abbott earned first-team 6A All-District 17 honors, throwing for 1,906 yards to go with 24 touchdowns and just three interceptions in 2020. His 24 touchdown throws broke Andrew Luck’s single-season record. Luck went on to become an All-American at Stanford and the No. 1 overall selection in the NFL Draft.
Abbott has four years of eligibility remaining. As of Monday, he had not participated in team workouts. Montana’s coaching staff is on vacation with fall camp less than a month away.
Abbott joins a quarterback room that will have a new opening-day starter. Cam Humphrey started 10 games as a sixth-year senior last year for Montana. The former Boise State and Saddleback Community College transfer threw for 3,265 yards and 29 touchdowns between 2018 and last season.
Humphrey missed a month during the regular season with an injury. Kris Brown, a Bozeman product who is now a redshirt sophomore, took over as the starter. He also played part of Montana’s 28-6 playoff loss to James Madison when Humphrey was knocked out of the game with an injury.
In the off-season, Montana brought in Lucas Johnson from San Diego State as a graduate transfer. He went 8-1 at SDSU as a starter last season, throwing for 1,424 yards and 12 touchdowns. The roster also includes Daniel Britt, a redshirt freshman out of Las Vegas.
Redshirt freshman Wyatt Wegener, a walk-on linebacker at Iowa, announced earlier this month that he is transferring to Montana. Similarly, senior kicker Nick Ramos, formerly of Cal and Princeton, has changed his Twitter bio to indicate he now plays for the Griz.
Friday, Skyline Sports also confirmed senior lineman Chris Walker, formerly of Nebraska, intends to graduate transfer to Montana. He will not officially be a part of the Griz until fall camp begins and he starts classes. The school cannot officially announce Walker and other graduate transfers until they attend class on the UM campus because they are still eligible to transfer to another school until they are officially enrolled and attending school.
Most of the recruiting action received by Wegener coming out of Algona, Iowa, in the Class of 2020 focused on the then 6-foot-2, 190-pounder as a wide receiver. As a senior, he rushed for more than 1,400 yards and had 708 more receiving yards. After walking on to the Hawkeyes, Wegener transitioned to linebacker. He redshirted during the abbreviated 2020 season and did not see the field in 2021.
Ramos recorded the first perfect PAT kicking season at Princeton since 1964 during his freshman season in 2018. That year, Ramos nailed all 56 of his extra points. He also made seven of his nine field goal attempts with a long of 37 yards.
Ramos did not record any statistics during the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons at Cal. He is listed among Cal’s seniors during their final home game against USC in November of 2021.
Walker is a 6-foot-6, 295-pounder who played offensive and defensive line at Nebraska. He is projected to play on the offensive line at tackle, book-ending sophomore Brandon Casey with Forbes at center, former Washington State transfer Hunter Mayginnes at one of the guard spots and Liam Brown at the other.
Walker was a prized recruit coming out of Lincoln East High. He was a super-state pick by the Lincoln Journal Star and an All-Nebraska pick by the Omaha World Herald. The former 3-star prospect initially committed to Wyoming before deciding to stay home to play for his hometown Huskers.
The hulking physical specimen is known for his prowess in the weight room, according to a source with deep knowledge of the Nebraska program. But he had a hard time finding a position or a spot in the rotation along either line.
“He’s basically been an assistant strength coach the past few years,” the source said. “He’s an absolute freak and so strong, but he never got on the field. You’d look at him and say, ‘Oh, that’s an NFL guy or a WWF wrestler.'”
Neither Walker nor Montana has officially announced his transfer, but Walker has appeared in several social media posts from the Griz football team.
Walker redshirted as an offensive lineman in 2017 before appearing in two games as a reserve defensive lineman in 2018 for Nebraska. He had his 2019 season ended by an injury. He played in two games in 2020 and four games in 2021. He also was on Nebraska’s scholar-athlete honor roll twice and received multiple citizenship awards.
UPDATED:
Junior college cornerback Andrew Travillion announced his commitment to Montana on Monday. Travillion comes to UM from San Diego Mesa College. He is a 6-foot, 190-pounder with three years of eligibility remaining.
