The last time we checked in with the Montana Grizzlies football squad during drills, it was last fall and there were five Glacier High products.

Now there are three, which shows you even Silvertips have attrition.

The trio that’s left is led by Patrick O’Connell, a finalist for the 2021 Buck Buchanan Award. A known quantity, O’Connell doesn’t need to move up the ladder in spring drills; he’s at the top.

A couple rungs down is Henry Nuce, who saw quite a bit of action as a true freshman last fall, starting one game and playing in 10. He had one tackle for loss and one forced fumble, which would seem to put him in the rotation at defensive end, given the graduation of two starters.

Fans should see him Friday at 6 p.m., at the Grizzlies’ Spring Game in Hamilton. How much, we don’t know.

“He’s been limited with a foot injury,” Grizzlies coach Bobby Hauck said Wednesday, at the start of Montana’s penultimate spring practice. “He’s going to get some (reps Friday); he practiced this week. You can’t move up the depth chart when you’re not practicing, but he has great promise. We’re high on him.”

That leaves Drew Deck, who took a redshirt year and is among a dozen receivers getting reps this spring.

“Too many, frankly,” Hauck cracked. “We need more offensive linemen and less receivers. But that’s always the way.”

The receiving corps is strong even with the losses of Samuel Akem and his 49 grabs in 2021, and not just because Junior Bergen could settle in at that position.

While it sounds like Deck had had a good spring — media gets to watch only the first period of practices these days — the 5-foot-9 speedster may have to bide his time.

“I think he’s improved from the fall, which we kind of expert out of guys,” Hauck offered. “He can return, and we feel good about his ability to catch the ball.”

Spring drills are hard to cover with full access, and Friday doesn’t promise to be an expose of tunnel screens and corner crashes. Gone are the days of saying (privately), “This Mariani kid isn’t dropping anything,” and (not so privately) asking a lineman, “Is it just me, or does Chase Reynolds look really good?”

So we won’t know how long-absent running back Marcus Knight looks, or transfer quarterback Lucas Johnson, or Deck until Friday. If then.

Jackson Pepe and Drew Turner are the Glacier products who left the program; they lasted longer and got more reps than any number of past Griz recruits. Turner’s situation might remind you of Brandon Utterback, who put up crazy numbers as a running back at Fort Benton and never got the carries at UM.

This is one of the tougher parts of college football.

“(Turner) is off careering, and good for him,” Hauck said.

There was a time, during Hauck’s first tenure at UM, that a kid out of Arizona committed to the Griz: He’d been a standout basketball player, stopped sprouting at 6-foot-4 and ended up with a perfect defensive lineman frame.

He didn’t make it through drills, after which Hauck said, “Football is hard.”

“Football IS hard,” he emphasized Wednesday. “It’s hard every day. We don’t do anything that’s easy. Practice, training, lifting.”

Waiting, too. That might be the hardest thing.

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or [email protected]