HELENA — As several NFL rookie minicamps kick off this weekend, two former Carroll College standouts are going to get their shot at football’s highest level.
Former Carroll linebacker/defensive end Hunter Peck and former Carroll offensive lineman Andrew Devine earned minicamp invites – Peck with the Denver Broncos, Devine with the Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts.
For Peck, the tryout represents the continuation of a football career that nearly ended twice before the pass rusher could get an NFL look.
“I’ve been very blessed,” Peck told MTN Sports while revisiting the Nelson Stadium turf where he first made his mark on the college football world. “God has opened up so many doors for me in my football career. Right when I think it’s over, he’s opening up a new one.”
Peck earned Frontier Conference defensive MVP honors and an NAIA All-America selection following his senior season with Carroll in 2024. Peck was then able to transfer up the Division I level only because of a one-time blanket eligibility waiver granted by the NCAA that year to all non-NCAA athletes.
Peck parlayed that opportunity into a Big Sky All-Conference first-team selection with University of Montana, an invite to Montana’s Pro Day and now an NFL tryout.
“Yeah, it’s super cool,” Peck said. “All credit goes to Carroll for developing me into the man and the football player that I am today. And also, I just want to thank University of Montana for letting me show that development on a larger stage.”
Peck said the Broncos called him Tuesday — one day later than the typical last day for NFL teams to invite rookies to minicamp. Nevertheless, when Peck received his call from the Broncos, it was a full-circle moment for the Windsor, Colo., kid who vividly remembers cheering on Denver in Super Bowl 50.
“I was always watching the Broncos growing up,” Peck said. “I was a huge Tim Tebow fan. There’s a picture of me with my pads on. I put my pads on for my first time ever playing tackle football, and I’ve got a Tim Tebow jersey on. My mom and I read his book. We’re just the biggest fans of that guy and the Broncos organization as a whole. So, it’s a dream come true.”
And that NFL dream also remains alive for Devine, who went up against Peck in practice at Carroll for four years.
“Iron sharpens iron,” Devine told MTN Sports on Zoom while back home in Alaska.
Devine earned minicamp invites from two teams. The Chiefs hold their rookie minicamp first, this Friday-Sunday of this weekend, and the Colts hold theirs next weekend, May 8-9.
“When I first started this thing, I knew it was going to be a long shot — even to get an opportunity,” Devine said. “And so the fact that, like, all the things that had to go right for me to be here now getting this opportunity, it’s pretty remarkable. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. But I knew if I didn’t try, I was going to regret it. So, I gotta go all in.”
Devine came to Carroll as a 210-pound freshman in 2021. Fast forward to 2026 and Devine is a 6-foot-8, 320-pound behemoth with two all-conference selections. He participated in Montana State’s Pro Day in April.
Devine’s final season of college football ended in November as Carroll fell to rival Montana Tech in the NAIA National Playoffs Second Round. But Devine said even while stepping off the field for the last time as a Fighting Saint, he knew it wouldn’t be the final chapter in his football story.
“There’s no way. There’s no way I’m done,” Devine remembered thinking. “I’m just starting to get good at this thing, and I feel like I can get so much better. I feel like I’m not even close to reaching my potential. So, I give it a day to pray about it, talk to some people, and I’m like ‘Alright, I think this is what I’m supposed to do.’”
So for both Devine and Peck, an opportunity is what they wished for. And an opportunity is what they’ve now got.
