Montana Tech announces 2025 football signing class; 26 in-staters to join program

BUTTE — Montana Tech on Monday announced its football recruiting class of 40 high school signees. Twenty-six Montanans will join the Orediggers in the fall.

"All of them are great competitors and will represent our program very well in the classroom, the community, and on the field," coach Kyle Samson stated in a press release. "These are the types of student athletes that we want in our program! These recruits are not only good athletes but great leaders in their schools and communities."

For Samson, winning the recruiting battle inside the state was a key to success for this recruiting cycle.

"Recruiting Montana kids is a huge priority for us," Samson said, "and we feel that we have done a great job getting a lot of the top players from our home state here to Butte."

Twenty-four of Tech's incoming players were selected for the 78th Annual Montana East-West Shrine Game on June 21 in Great Falls.

"This is a great recruiting class, and we are very excited about the potential that these young men have, especially the athleticism of this group from all positions," Samson said. "We feel this is a group that has great size and speed and there are some guys that will definitely have big impacts on our team in the very near future."

One emphasis was recruiting along the offensive and defensive lines. Fifteen members of the 2025 class play up front.

"We are extremely excited about our fronts on both sides of the ball in this class," said Samson. "You win championships upfront with your O-line and D-line, and we feel that these two groups have the potential to be very special here at Tech."

Samson said he is especially thrilled to be bringing in three hometown players — Tocher Lee, Sam Sampson, and Will Stepan — from Butte High. Another highlight of the class is the 2024 Montana Gatorade player of the year Merek Mihelish from Helena Capital.

"I really want to thank our coaching staff for doing a tremendous job to get these student-athletes to Montana Tech," Samson said. "I am very fortunate to have great assistant coaches on our staff who truly value relationships, and they have done a great job of identifying players who will be great fits for our team and our culture.

"I can't thank them enough for all their time, effort, and commitment to bringing in young men who will make our community of Butte proud.

"I also want to personally thank all of our campus community for helping us in our recruiting efforts as well," Samson continued. The whole Tech community is a big reason that these young men have chosen to come to Butte."

In 2024, the Orediggers enjoyed a 9-3 record and reached the NAIA playoffs for the second straight season. Tech finished with the No. 10 ranking in the NAIA top 25 poll.

2025 Montana Tech football signees