The casual observer to the Montana Grizzlies football practices at the South Campus Fields — near Dornblaser Stadium — couldn’t help noticing that a lot of the quarterback reps were going to guys not wearing No. 8.

Keali’i Ah Yat stayed out of the 11-on-11 stuff while Luke Flowers, the acknowledged QB2, took many of the snaps. Behind Flowers was the presumptive No.3 QB, Columbia Falls product Cody Schweikert. 

“I think it’s been good we’ve backed off him a little bit,” Grizzlies coach Bobby Kennedy said of Ah Yat, a first-team all-Big Sky selection in 2025. “He could have gone. He’s a guy that’s doing really well, but we also need to get Luke Flowers a bunch of reps and I think he’s getting better through this camp.  

“I’m really happy with where Keali’i is and we need him to keep pulling the trigger and leading the team.” 

By the same token Kennedy mentioned mixing in depth at the receiver spot. 

“If you look at Brooks Davis, Landon Ramson-Goelz and Lekeldrick Bridges, they’ve been getting a bunch of reps, bunch of reps, a bunch of reps,” Kennedy said Tuesday. “This is the first day we’ve kind of taken a little heat off them and let guys like Jordan Dever and Korbin Hendrix and Weston Adams, they got a little bit more today.” 

Not mentioned, among others: Glacier product Bridger Smith, who is banged up; or Monte Gillman, though Gillman is seeing time and could figure heavily into the return game.  

Point is that there’s a lot of talent back from coordinator Brent Pease’s group that broke 40 points nine times last fall. 

“I’m really comfortable with the guys we have to throw to,” Kennedy said. “The tight ends, we need guys like Titus (Rohrer, a 6-foot-7 Tennessee transfer) to step up, and Mariano (Birdo, 6-5 out of Pioneer League St. Thomas).  

“But I’m pleased with what we’re doing on offense. I like what Brent does in terms of a lot of movement and formations and finding ways to get guys open.” 

6 Bobcat captains

The defending national champion Bobcats named their captains for 2026 and three are holdovers from 2025: Safety Caden Dowler, offensive tackle Titan Fleischmann and running back Adam Jones.  

“New” are defensive end Zac Crews, receiver Taco Dowler and quarterback Justin Lamson. All but Lamson (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) and Fleischmann (Pocatello, Idaho) are Montana natives: Two from Missoula and the Dowlers are from Billings. 

Crews, according to an MSU release, is the seventh Bobcat captain to come out of Missoula. The list includes Joe Roberts, who started on the 1984 team had owned MSU’s last national title before the Cats won it all on Jan. 6. 

Myles-stone Sansted  

Montana State fifth-year kicker Myles Sansted is on the Fred Mitchell Award Preseason Watch List. The Fred Mitchell Award goes to the top kicker in college football below the FBS level. 

Depends on Factors

On Tuesday, Griz linebacker Peyton Wing waxed poetic about how Montana’s high-flying offense is great preparation for the defense. 

“We lost some big dudes, but we brought in a lot of new guys in and have a lot of young guys that are good,” he said. “It’s fun playing against this team; it makes us a lot better.   

Then he was asked about matching up with Eli Gillman, the Grizzlies’ senior running back on the verge of several school records. 

“When he and I are in a telephone booth I’m very confident in myself,” he said of the Big Sky’s reigning Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year. “But when we get in space, you know? Eli, man. He’s special for a reason.”