“The Spirit of Montana… Hard work, dedication to the team, and tough play on the gridiron.”

That’s what it says at gogriz.com about the No. 37 legacy jersey, which became a thing in 1987, when Kraig Paulson handed it off to transfer from Pacific University (Ore.) named Tim Hauck.

It has become such a key part of the football program that the number is encircled on the Sprinturf inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

We’ve had 14 young men wear the jersey since the Plentywood running back that teammates called “Barbed Wire” matriculated through. Paulson used to room with Bobby Hauck, and legend has it he helped talk Tim, Bobby’s younger brother, into walking on at UM after the Big Timber product snared five interceptions with the NAIA Pacific Boxers in 1985.

The rest is pretty amazing history. Not every No. 37 has been a world beater, but pretty close. A trio have made the NFL. You also can’t say there were any clunkers. Loren Utterback (Fort Benton) was all-Big Sky in 2007; Zack Wagenmann (Missoula) had such a good single season wearing 37 — he was the Big Sky’s defensive MVP — that he was taken in the 2015 NFL Draft.

Starting in 2011 the number has been willed to either a junior or senior, which maybe isn’t optimal. But that season Carson Bender (Deer Lodge) chose one of my favorite people to cover, Ryan Fetherston (East Helena).

Incoming coach Robin Pflugrad wasn’t really on board with Fetherston. Did he have to be? I suppose not. But it took the Grizzlies until the day before the opener at Tennessee to make it official: “Feather” was the guy.

Jump to the present day and we’re in the same spot: Townsend’s Jace Lewis — given the jersey two years before by the late, great Jesse Simms (Stevensville) — wants it to go to Marcus Welnel, a senior linebacker out of Helena Capital.

It makes sense: walk-on linebacker wills the coveted jersey to fellow walk-on linebacker, and off we go. “To me, Marcus exemplifies everything #37 is about,” Lewis said in a tweet on July 27. As of Wednesday, though, Welnel is still wearing No. 10.

It’s not a well-kept secret that Griz coach Bobby Hauck is not exactly on board. Asked about Welnel getting No. 37 on Aug. 8, he said, “That’s not a question I’m equipped to handle right now.”

It also appears that safety Robby Hauck is considered an alternate, which might be fine if the younger Hauck had attended high school in Montana.

He’s an outstanding candidate aside — Robby quickly moved to the top of UM’s depth chart in 2018, then took maybe two defensive series to show you why (just one for me) — but his seven years in Missoula were pre-high school.

This could be the biggest head-scratcher since IHOP decided it was the International House of Burgers. Remember that? Are we a nation of laws or not?

There are other candidates, like Anaconda linebacker Braxton Hill and Eureka safety Garrett Graves, and Glacier High quarterback chasers Patrick O’Connell and Henry Nuce.

I don’t think any of them are better than Welnel, simply because that’s who Lewis named. The Griz football Instagram account (montanagrizfootball) still has Lewis and Welnel holding the jersey (posted July 27) with the caption, ‘The tradition lives on!”

I want to keep this light; no matter who wears No. 37, the Griz defense should be tougher than a two-dollar steak in 2022. At the same time, I wonder: How many game-clinching picks in a landmark win over a ranked FBS team does a guy have to make?

No matter how this turns out, Mr. Welnel, we’ll always have Husky Stadium.

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