BILLINGS — Billings West's Lane Humphrey will take his physical, hard-nosed play to Montana State in the future, as the Golden Bear senior linebacker will join the Bobcat football team next fall.
"He plays with an edge. He's a defensive coach's dream, where he's going to be physical, he's going to accelerate through tackles. He's going to go 1,000 mph and he sets that tone. He's one of those guys the last couple years that has a big hit every game," West head coach Rob Stanton said.
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"Just trying to give it my all. I don't really want to look back and think I didn't give it everything I had, because I think I'd be regretful. You don't want to be regretful in a thing you love to do," Humphrey said. "Play with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. It helps me a lot, I'd say, having a motor to me, but it's just how I play."
Humphrey is one of three Bears committed to play D-I football, as Walker Olson and Jack Ryan are headed to Missoula and the University of Montana. The trio spearheads West's deep, talented defense but will soon be on opposite sides of a bitter rivalry.
"They were always, 'Let's go to the Griz. Be the Billings West trio going to the Griz.' It would be the first time in a while three Billings West kids going to the Griz," Humphrey said. "It was a pretty cool thought, but at the end of the day it's about you in this process and not about your friends, so I thought this was the best thing for me in the long run."
Those three have one thing left to check off before heading to college — win a Class AA title, as they have last year's second-place trophy sitting in the weight room for motivation.
"I felt it pretty hard, and I'm not the best with losses. Losing to a team twice — once in the regular season and in the state championship — it's a lot," Humphrey said.
Humphrey and West will open the season Friday night with a chance at revenge against defending state champion Kalispell Glacier.
