BUTTE — Montana Tech football's quest to build off one of the best seasons in program history began Thursday morning as the Orediggers opened fall camp.
Tech orchestrated an undefeated regular season in 2025, the first time in program history the team had accomplished that feat.
The Orediggers emerged as Frontier Conference East champions, then defeated Carroll College in the second round of the playoffs to earn their first postseason victory since 2016 before falling to College of Idaho at home in the quarterfinals.
HEAR FROM THE OREDIGGERS:
This team reached a lot of goals last season and is now focused on building off that campaign.
"The biggest thing is we got to do a little bit better than we did last year," said Tech coach Kyle Samson. "We didn't finish our goal of trying to win it all. That's a heck of a challenge, but complacency ... we can't let that set in. We've got to realize how we got here."
"We're proud of what we did last year but we didn't accomplish our ultimate goal, which is winning a national championship," said senior defensive back Christian Hansen. "A big motto for our defense this fall camp has been: 'And then some.' We've got to do everything we did last year and then some."
Tech graduated a solid senior class last season including the Orediggers' leading tackler in linebacker Tel Arthur and leading rusher in Wykece Johnson. But it also has plenty of key returners, notably in now-junior quarterback Jarrett Wilson, who threw for 2,845 yards and 30 touchdowns last season while adding six rushing scores.
"Last year battling for a starting spot and this year knowing my role going in," said Wilson, comparing 2025 to 2026. "I think just having so many guys return and knowing that we've got a lot of young guys that are going to step up as well."
Montana Tech will open its season with its annual Copper Game as the Orediggers get set to host Ottawa (Ariz.) on Thursday, Aug. 27. It'll be the first meeting between the programs.
