Montana Grizzlies ST breakdown

The return of nationally lauded punt returner Junior Bergen, who also runs back kickoffs, creates high expectations again in that aspect of special teams.

Yet, the cast of characters around him on the return units — as well as those guys on the coverage units — have changed. Players there need to step up in order to help continue the annual success in that phase of the game.

“Unlike many teams, we really don’t play any starters in our kicking game very much,” Hauck said. “That’s a decision that I’ve kind of made and how I want to do it here. It’s kind of a pain in the neck a little bit because you got new guys every year.”

“The first time we take the field, whether it’s kickoff or kickoff return, you’ll have a bunch of guys that have never played in college football out there.”

Hauck is comfortable with that approach because he is also the special teams coordinator, so he has direct oversight of everything going on in that group. He starts teaching the special teams units in spring camp, runs drills during practices and reviews film with the group through the end of fall camp.

The Griz run only two live reps of each special teams unit during the offseason. They still do drills close to full speed, and the players on those units do get live tackling and blocking work while in their main position group.

“It’s always a crapshoot. Been pretty good over the years. So we’ll see,” Hauck said with a laugh.

UM brings back a kicker who split playing time last year in Grant Glasgow. He, and transfer Jo Silver and Ty Morrison have been getting the most reps on field goal kicks, Hauck said.

Silver and Morrison are in the lead at punter, Hauck added, as the Griz need to replace that position again after having the FCS punter of the year in 2021 and 2022. They do have back their trusted long snapper.

“I think the guys, all of them, are hitting the ball pretty well,” Hauck said. “We’ll chart it, we’ll see how they do and get a feel for it. By game week we’ll kind of be settled in on that. But right now they’re all getting a shot to show what they’ve got and they’ve all done a pretty good job.”

Junior Bergen, a senior from Billings, was named an All-American second-team punt returner by Stats Perform last year. He comes into the season with five punt return touchdowns, the most in UM history and tied for the Big Sky career record with Montana State’s Corey Smith (2001-03). His three punt return scores led the country last year. He added one kickoff return TD. He ran back two punts and one kickoff for touchdowns in the playoffs. He has averaged 15.4 yards on 58 punt returns and 26.2 yards on 20 kickoff returns.

Other players returning punts in fall camp have been Drew Deck, Aaron Fontes, Keelan White, Xavier Harris and BJ Phillips. Deck returned two punts last year.

Other players returning kickoffs in fall camp have been Harris, Fontes, White, Phillips, Eli Gillman, Isiah Childs, Stevie Rocker Jr., Nick Ostmo and Chrishawn Gordon. Gillman retruned two kickoffs last year.

“Our whole returning group is dangerous,” Harris said. “You got returners all over the place that could house a kick no matter who you kick it to. That’s the best part about it. The other thing is we got nine other big boys in front of us that’ll hit anybody that comes and tries to take the ball from us. That’s all you can ask for.”

Harris has returned just one kickoff in his time at UM but said he and Fontes returned both kickoffs and punts while playing in high school as teammates.

“I still feel like I got that kick return gene in me,” he said. “I still feel like that hasn’t left. I feel like I can still make some shake back there and take it to the house whenever it’s kicked.”

Sophomore Grant Glasgow was UM’s placekicker for the first eight games of the season and handled kickoffs in 13 of 15 games. He was UM’s long-range field goal kicker, making 8 of 14 attempts, including 6 of 11 from 40-49 yards with a long make of 49 yards. He finished 19 of 20 on extra points attempts. He kicked off 68 times, booting 46 for a touchback. His 67.6% touchback percentage is the second-best average in school history. Last year was his first season at UM after he redshirted at Big 12 Kansas in 2022.

Freshman Brayton Boyer redshirted last year as a walk-on.

Junior Grayson Pibal is back for his third season as UM’s long snapper.

Senior Isiah Childs was voted the preseason All-Big Sky special teams player this summer. He played on multiple special teams units in all 15 games last season, totaling two tackles.

Senior Sawyer Racanelli also is back to play on multiple special teams units. He blocked one punt last year.

Junior Ty Morrison transferred to UM over the summer after he spent the past two seasons in junior college. He was an all-conference first-team pick in 2022 but did not play in a game in 2023. As a freshman, he averaged 35.5 yards per punt, placed 22 punts inside the 20-yard line and forced 16 fair catches. He was 12 of 15 on field goal attempts with a long of 41 yards and was 30 of 32 on extra point attempts.

Junior Jo Silver walked on in the spring after transferring from Kent State, which plays FBS football in the Mid-American Conference. He went 4 of 4 on extra point attempts as a true freshman in 2022 but did not play a game in 2023.

Travis Benham was Montana’s punter in all 15 games last season during his one season in Missoula. He averaged 40.4 yards per punt, had six punts of 50-plus yards, dropped 26 punts inside the 20-yard line, forced 29 fair catches and had only two touchbacks.

Nico Ramos was UM’s kicker in 21 of 28 games during his two years with the Griz. He was 21 of 27 on field goal attempts with a long of 46 yards, made 73 extra points and averaged 61.7 yards per kickoff.

Garrett Graves was one of UM’s kickoff returners each of the past three seasons. He ran back 15 kicks for an average of 25.1 yards.