BOZEMAN — The Montana State defense is one of the highest-rated units in the country. The leader of the squad is defensive lineman Paul Brott.
His teammates have noted they play for him on Saturdays, because he's the "heart and soul of the team."
"There’s so many great dudes on that team, and to hear them call me that, it means a lot," the Billings native said about his teammates' description of him. "I mean, just a big honor."
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"He’s a nose guard, so there’s an unselfish nature to the position he plays too, that I think our guys see first and foremost," Montana State coach Brent Vigen said about why the team looks up to Brott so much. "It’s not about stats at that position, but it is about disrupting, and Paul disrupts quite a bit."
Brott also carries on a family legacy every time he takes the field, as his two older brothers, Wilson and Mitch, also made their mark on the program.
"It’s awesome I get to carry on their legacy, and not only their legacy, but it’s just the past teams," he said. "I feel like each year a new history is built and just keeps getting added on, so I feel like, just us as a team, (we) get to build more history, and I also get to build my family’s legacy."
Brott is a product of all the hard work put in on the field, in the weight room and film study — under the guidance of defensive coordinator Shawn Howe and defensive line coach Nick Jean-Baptiste.
"It’s intense being in that meeting room too, I mean, you know if you mess up on film," the captain said. "You don’t want that play to come up because they’re going to be honest. They’re going to keep it real with you. That’s what makes you great, they make you feel uncomfortable in there.
"It’s not always going to be, ‘Oh, you’re alright man. You’ll get it next time.’ It’s, ‘Alright man, what’d you do wrong here? Let’s fix it.’ And they taught everyone in that room to be very honest and just to attack it."
Now everything culminates to the final Brawl of the Wild for No. 41.
"When it’s Cat-Griz, everyone’s bought in, and watching every single play, and seeing what’s about to happen," Brott explained. "You can feel that energy in there. That intensity, and I think that’s what drives it, because those big plays, everyone knows what just happened, and I think that’s why they stick around in history and all that."
