MISSOULA — Montana’s football roster looks different than the final game of the 2021 season, and it’s not just because 14 seniors exhausted their eligibility.
The transfer phenomenon has made an impact on college athletics, including the Griz, who’ve added 13 transfers on top of 19 high school signees. They’ve seen 16 players with remaining eligibility leave the program as transfers or as part of the annual roster attrition.
This was the first full offseason in which the transfer rule granting players immediate eligibility was in effect. It changed head coach Bobby Hauck’s process of building a roster.
“I think that Division I college football has evolved into, ‘You don’t plan for the future, you plan for this August,’” he said. “Next January we’ll start getting ready for next August. That’s the way it’s got to be approached. You’re trying to assemble a team for this August. That’s how it’s going to be moving forward.”
Montana has taken transfers in the past because of rules that allowed FBS dropdowns, grad transfers and junior college athletes to play immediately. They’ve had success with transfers — just look at Patrick O’Connell, Justin Ford, Robby Hauck, Gavin Robertson and Dalton Sneed.
Now all players are immediately eligible, and there’s nothing Hauck can do to alter the transfer rule, even as he’s bemoaned it in the past. If the Griz want to be Big Sky and national title contenders, they have to adapt like other teams, be better than them with recruiting out of the transfer portal and then coach those transfers into successful players.
“There’s certain aspects of what you do in any activity or job that you may not really embrace,” Hauck said. “But if it’s integral to the success, you better be good at it. I think we’re good at the recruiting piece and I think we’re good at putting a team together. We’ll see.”
Transfer additions
Montana has five transfers on its roster who joined in the winter semester and went through spring camp.
Quarterback Lucas Johnson is a 6-3, 215-pound seventh-year senior who has started in 12 games and played in 32 games while at Georgia Tech and then San Diego State.
Cornerback Jayden Dawson is a 5-11, 185-pound redshirt senior who was a first-team All-Big Sky honoree at Idaho State in the spring 2021 season.
Defensive end Garrett Hustedt is a 6-2, 230-pound redshirt sophomore who was a walk-on inside linebacker at Nebraska, where he saw action in one game on special teams and was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Cornerback Robert Whitehead is a 6-1, 170-pound junior who had played junior college ball at Southwestern Community College and then Grossmont College.
Wide receiver Sawyer Racanelli is a 6-3, 210-pound redshirt sophomore who missed spring camp with a leg injury after he played primarily on special teams at Washington.
Montana wasn’t done with adding transfers, getting eight more to sign on since the conclusion of spring camp.
Quarterback A.J. Abbott is a 6-2, 223-pound redshirt freshman who didn’t play as a preferred walk-on for Oregon in 2021. As a high school senior, he broke the Stratford High School single-season record for touchdown passes (24) set by former Stanford Cardinal and Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck. He also threw for 1,906 yards and earned first-team All-District 17 honors while playing in Houston in the state’s largest classification.
Offensive tackle Chris Walker is a 6-6, 290-pound sixth-year senior who is transitioning to the O-line after playing in seven games on the defensive line and special teams at Nebraska.
Safety Cooper Barnum is a 6-2, 215-pound sophomore who spent the previous two years playing baseball at Washington State as a pitcher. He’s the son of Portland State head coach Bruce Barnum, who is good friends with Hauck. He had been recruited by UM coming out of high school.
“I was at the store getting some stuff for a fishing trip and coach Barnum called me and asked me if there’d be a place for Coop here, and I said yes,” Hauck recalled. “So, I put down the flies and the tippet and that stuff and took the call and said yes.”
Cornerback Andrew Travillion is a 6-foot, 185-pound redshirt sophomore who redshirted at Sam Houston in 2020 and played junior college ball at San Diego Mesa College in 2021.
Wide receiver Camden Ver Strate is a 5-8, 170-pound redshirt sophomore who didn’t play during three seasons at Washington but did land on the fall 2021 Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll.
Linebacker Wyatt Wegener is a 6-3, 225-pound freshman who redshirted at Iowa last season after he played receiver and strong safety in high school.
Kicker/punter Nico Ramos is a 5-11, 200-pound sixth-year senior who has spent time at Princeton and Cal but hasn’t played in a game since 2018, when he made seven field goals and 56 extra points.
Kicker/punter Adam Botkin is a 6-4, 210-pound senior walk-on who played at Frenchtown and had been a male practice partner for the Lady Griz basketball team.
New freshmen
UM has 19 true freshmen on its roster, 18 of whom joined this fall.
The offensive players are quarterback Kaden Huot, running back Eli Gillman, offensive linemen Ethan Barney and Michael Ray, wide receiver Ian Finch and tight end Joe Weida.
The defenders are defensive linemen Braunson Henriksen, Ben McGourin and Jareb Ramos; linebackers Marcus Evans, Vincent Genatone and Cooper Walton; and safeties Chase McGurran and Joey Visser.
Other signees are kicker/punter Patrick Rohrbach and athletes Tyson Rostad, Drew Klumph and Beau Dantic.
Wide receiver Sam Alford enrolled early in January and participated in spring camp.
Departures
Montana had two players transfer and land at another school. All-American punter Brian Buschini went to Nebraska, while slot receiver Gabe Sulser headed to Texas.
Reserve players who’ve left the team include quarterback Robbie Patterson, running backs Drew Turner and Ryan Arntson, tight end Colten Curry, defensive end RJ Nelson, defensive tackle Lorenzo Brown, cornerback Autjoe Soe, kicker/punter Carver Gilman, safety Soren Syvrud, and offensive linemen Bo Kinney, Trevor Welnel, Noah Ambuehl and Skyler Martin.
Offensive lineman Dylan Mayginnes transferred in from Washington State after the 2021 season but medically retired.
Fourteen seniors from last year’s team have no eligibility remaining.
Jersey changes
One other new look to the roster is that three players have changed jersey numbers.
Senior cornerback Justin Ford went from No. 21 to No. 6. Sophomore wide receiver Aaron Fontes changed from No. 16 to No. 14. Sophomore defensive end Kale Edwards is now No. 0 instead of No. 40.
