browningmontana
Well-known member
Missoulian, Tuesday, April 28
The Montana football team cut 15 players from its spring roster this past week, including 11 on the offensive side, as the Grizzlies continue to overhaul their player personnel to better fit first-year head coach Bob Stitt's style.
The Griz pared down their active roster to 78 players in anticipation of the additions of Stitt's first recruiting class this summer. Football Championship Subdivision programs may carry only 95 players during fall camp with 105 available once the season opens.
Stitt's initial signing class Feb. 2 included 21 players, three of which joined the team in time for spring practices. About another half dozen have committed since then to round out the class of 2015.
"I don't like (making cuts), but we had to make decisions if these are the guys we feel like we need to come into fall camp that will give us the best chance to win this year," Stitt said last week at the conclusion of his staff's post-spring ball meetings and exit interviews.
Montana wrapped its four-week set of spring practices April 11 following its spring scrimmage, held this year at Helena.
Among those removed from the team were nine wide receivers as the team's deepest spot during spring was nearly halved. That, of course, is by design to make room for the influx of bodies Montana will see this summer.
The 2015 recruiting class featured six freshmen at receiver; the program also added a transfer from Penn State, Tyler Lucas, in March.
Most of the players no longer listed on the Griz active roster were walk-ons; not included in that group was sophomore WR Marq Rogers, who drew scholarship money in the recruiting class of 2013.
Rogers, a 6-foot-4 athlete from Fort Wayne, Indiana, saw brief time in three games last year during an injury-plagued campaign in which he caught no passes. He was the only Griz among those left off the active roster to appear in any games with Montana.
The Grizzlies also trimmed a pair of sophomore junior college WR transfers: both Connor McGuire (Snow College) and Mitchell McLaughlin (Chaffey College) joined the program this offseason. Redshirt sophomores Riley Neville and Austin Carver, a Dillon product, were also left off.
Other WRs to go included redshirt freshmen Tristen Clark (Deer Lodge), Sean Foley (Whitefish), Jeffrey Salamon and Jake Mann, a converted safety.
"You're trying to always make your program better," Stitt said, explaining the roster moves. "If we can find somebody late that has the potential to help us, (they can take the spot of) a lot of these kids that have been in the program a year or two and maybe haven't progressed the way we'd like."
Also gone from the offense are sophomore quarterback Colter Trent, a Bigfork product who transferred in from Southern Utah last fall, and sophomore running back Austin Spring of Billings.
Trent was one of three QB transfers since last season that helped crowd the backfield during spring ball. He was near the bottom of the depth chart among the seven quarterbacks competing for the vacant starting position.
Four redshirt freshmen were cut on the defensive side along the line or in the linebacking corps, among them Bozeman product Riley Kack and Billings' Ben D'Alton.
Nick Webster and Evan Defer rounded out the roster changes.
Kack is a casualty of the change in Montana's offensive system. The freshman was recruited at fullback in 2014 before trying his hand at defensive end after Stitt's hire. Stitt does not employ tight ends or fullbacks in his offense.
Former Grizzly tight end Jermaine Jones also left the program, though that was before spring ball began in March.
Stitt's fall roster is still somewhat fluid with most of the players currently listed available once fall camp drills begin the first week of August. Some won't rejoin the team until the roster limits expand for the regular season.
Likewise, some of the roster cuts may have a second-chance invitation to join the 105 later this year should personnel issues arise (injuries, suspensions, academic issues).
The Montana football team cut 15 players from its spring roster this past week, including 11 on the offensive side, as the Grizzlies continue to overhaul their player personnel to better fit first-year head coach Bob Stitt's style.
The Griz pared down their active roster to 78 players in anticipation of the additions of Stitt's first recruiting class this summer. Football Championship Subdivision programs may carry only 95 players during fall camp with 105 available once the season opens.
Stitt's initial signing class Feb. 2 included 21 players, three of which joined the team in time for spring practices. About another half dozen have committed since then to round out the class of 2015.
"I don't like (making cuts), but we had to make decisions if these are the guys we feel like we need to come into fall camp that will give us the best chance to win this year," Stitt said last week at the conclusion of his staff's post-spring ball meetings and exit interviews.
Montana wrapped its four-week set of spring practices April 11 following its spring scrimmage, held this year at Helena.
Among those removed from the team were nine wide receivers as the team's deepest spot during spring was nearly halved. That, of course, is by design to make room for the influx of bodies Montana will see this summer.
The 2015 recruiting class featured six freshmen at receiver; the program also added a transfer from Penn State, Tyler Lucas, in March.
Most of the players no longer listed on the Griz active roster were walk-ons; not included in that group was sophomore WR Marq Rogers, who drew scholarship money in the recruiting class of 2013.
Rogers, a 6-foot-4 athlete from Fort Wayne, Indiana, saw brief time in three games last year during an injury-plagued campaign in which he caught no passes. He was the only Griz among those left off the active roster to appear in any games with Montana.
The Grizzlies also trimmed a pair of sophomore junior college WR transfers: both Connor McGuire (Snow College) and Mitchell McLaughlin (Chaffey College) joined the program this offseason. Redshirt sophomores Riley Neville and Austin Carver, a Dillon product, were also left off.
Other WRs to go included redshirt freshmen Tristen Clark (Deer Lodge), Sean Foley (Whitefish), Jeffrey Salamon and Jake Mann, a converted safety.
"You're trying to always make your program better," Stitt said, explaining the roster moves. "If we can find somebody late that has the potential to help us, (they can take the spot of) a lot of these kids that have been in the program a year or two and maybe haven't progressed the way we'd like."
Also gone from the offense are sophomore quarterback Colter Trent, a Bigfork product who transferred in from Southern Utah last fall, and sophomore running back Austin Spring of Billings.
Trent was one of three QB transfers since last season that helped crowd the backfield during spring ball. He was near the bottom of the depth chart among the seven quarterbacks competing for the vacant starting position.
Four redshirt freshmen were cut on the defensive side along the line or in the linebacking corps, among them Bozeman product Riley Kack and Billings' Ben D'Alton.
Nick Webster and Evan Defer rounded out the roster changes.
Kack is a casualty of the change in Montana's offensive system. The freshman was recruited at fullback in 2014 before trying his hand at defensive end after Stitt's hire. Stitt does not employ tight ends or fullbacks in his offense.
Former Grizzly tight end Jermaine Jones also left the program, though that was before spring ball began in March.
Stitt's fall roster is still somewhat fluid with most of the players currently listed available once fall camp drills begin the first week of August. Some won't rejoin the team until the roster limits expand for the regular season.
Likewise, some of the roster cuts may have a second-chance invitation to join the 105 later this year should personnel issues arise (injuries, suspensions, academic issues).
