Montana’s captains are an interesting foursome, two of whom prepped in San Diego and the other two who once upon a time walked on to the Grizzlies.
The senior quartet of Missoulian Mitch Roberts, Kalispell native Patrick O’Connell, super senior quarterback Lucas Johnson and four-year starter Robby Hauck will lead Montana into the 2022 season.
The foursome will lead the team on the field this Saturday in Montana’s season opener against Northwestern State at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
Roberts, who graduated from Missoula Sentinel in 2017, enters his fifth and final season. The former high school quarterback spent the last three seasons as as Montana’s primary holder on field goals and PATs, while also showing those sure hands as a wide receiver. Roberts, the son of Lady Griz Hall of Famer Cheri Bratt, led the team in receiving as a junior and earned All-Big Sky honors with 55 catches for 683 yards, including a career-high 145-yard day at Idaho. He is also a two-time Academic All-Big Sky selection.
O’Connell is poised to become one of Montana’s all-time leaders in career sacks in his senior season after a breakout junior year where he finished third in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award. The Kalispell Glacier product was named the Big Sky Preseason Defensive MVP over the summer, and is on the watch list for the 2022 Buchanan Award.
Last season, the former walk-on who spent his freshman year playing baseball at the University of Mary blossomed into one of the best edge players in the country and in the program’s history. O’Connell rolled up 14 sacks and 22 tackles for loss to go with an eye-popping 105 total tackles.
Hauck is poised to shatter the all-time tackles record at Montana, entering his senior year sitting at No. 3 on UM’s career tackle list with 364, needing just 34 more stops to break Dante Olson’s UM record. He’s also on track to break EWU’s Ronnie Hamlin’s Big Sky record of 473 tackles.
Hauck is also on the 2022 Buchanan Award watch list after posting two-straight seasons with 120-plus tackles. A star in the classroom as well as on the field, he is also poised to become just the third, three-time Academic All-American in program history.
Johnson came to Missoula as a grad transfer from San Diego State in the spring of 2022 and has quickly become a leader in the Grizzly locker room. In his last game as an Aztec he led his hometown team to a 38-24 win over No. 24 UTSA in the 2021 Frisco Bowl, throwing for over 300 yards and accounting for four touchdowns, three in the air and one on the ground. He started nine of 13 games last year at SDSU, finishing 8-1 as the starter for an Aztecs squad that won a bowl game for the second year in a row.
Montana safety Robby Hauck (17) in 2018/ by Brooks Nuanez
