DILLON — Montana Western's football team is ready to turn the page from 2025.
The Bulldogs headed into that campaign as back-to-back Frontier Conference champions and coming off a quarterfinal appearance in the NAIA Football Championship Series.
Western ultimately fell short of its goals of a league 3-peat and third-straight playoff appearance, with tough losses to Montana Tech, Carroll College and the College of Idaho leading to the Bulldogs to finish the season at 7-3.
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Western opened its spring camp on Monday and the prevailing mindset is wanting to move on from the disappointment of last year and turn their full attention to the 2026 season.
"I think we just got to prove ourselves again," said senior running back Jake Humphrey. "Last year I felt was just kind of a bump in the road. We're here to compete everyday and we're looking forward to this year."
"Obviously 7-3 is an OK season but it's not up to our standard," said junior linebacker Canyon Sargent. "We're just going to keep working to get back to where we believe we can be and kind of build off each other."
The Bulldogs have a lot of key starters to replace, including linebackers Jace Fitzgerald and Keegen Muffich, receiver Jon Kirkley, defensive lineman Tyler Walker and quarterback Michael Palandri — who earned All-America honors following the 2024 season.
Finding Palandri's successor is a high priority for the Bulldogs. Western has two transfer QBs on its roster for spring ball alongside Kaden LaPlaunt, who redshirted with the Bulldogs last season.
"All three are very football intelligent guys and they have a lot of good knowledge and experience," said Western coach Ryan Nourse. "We're going to roll the ball out for them and get them lots of reps and see which guy can move the football down the field for us and get it to our best players."
The Bulldogs will conclude spring camp with their spring game set for April 25.
