MISSOULA – The Montana Grizzlies are just one week away from the first football game of the year against Northern Iowa. Throughout training camp and scrimmages the receiving corps has been a focal point for the offense, bringing experience, skill and raw talent to the table.
“I think they’ll be a strength of the team,” said UM coach Bobby Hauck. “There’s a good handful of guys in that group that have made plays throughout spring ball and training camp, and there are some young guys pushing them, so that should be good.”
The receiving group comes into the 2018 season led by junior Jerry Louie-McGee, senior Keenan Curran and junior Justin Calhoun, who together combined for just less than 2,000 yards last season.
The youngsters are also fighting for a roster spot. Samori Toure had 31 catches for an impressive 553 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2017 and redshirt sophomore Samuel Akem has shown signs of some serious improvement in training camp. Both receivers know the competition is tight, but they say it makes them that much better.
“There’s definitely competition, but it’s unspoken. We don’t really talk about it a lot, but we know who has good days, who has bad days, and yeah, I would say there’s a little competition there,” said Toure.
“I think it honestly makes us better having that unspoken competition, just knowing, ‘OK, I saw him do this, let me see if I can get one up,'” said Akem.
