BOZEMAN — The linebacker room at Montana State is one that boasts a lineage of legends, littered with over a dozen All-Americans and a slew of all-conference players.
This season, the group was a bit younger than years past, but they took intention into building depth since the winter months.
And, well, they might be as deep as they’ve been this season.
"We’ve got a room (where) we’ve got five guys playing," Montana State coach Brent Vigen said. "If you have five guys playing in some form, that’s a credit to him. That’s a credit to those guys taking the coaching."
Jody Owens is an MSU hall of fame linebacker from his playing years in Bozeman. This year, he moved to coach his former position at his alma mater and deserves the utmost credit for the depth this room has built.
"He’s been very demanding," Vigen said. "I think he’s got those guys coached up week in and week out."
MSU linebacker Bryce Grebe explained the mentality Owens brought into the room this year.
"He’s been talking about it since the spring," Grebe said. "We’re young. We need to build depth. People get hurt. The next guy has to be able to step up. Coach Owens really cares. He wants everyone to get better, even the scout guys. He’s always pushing them to get better."
Owens has a phrase he instilled in the room that’s resonated with Grebe.
"He’s always talking about the little things," the sophomore explained. "When you do little things, big things happen. As a young group like us, we’ve really been trying to figure out the little things. Because that’s what’s going to make the difference."
It's a motto that the entire defense will take on this latter half of the regular season.
"It’s either teams right now are getting better or they’re getting worse," Grebe said. "Just keep elevating our defense, finding little things within our defense to keep getting better at."
For Grebe, a Melstone native, the pride in being a linebacker at Montana State stems from carrying on the in-state tradition the room has held.
"There’s been a lot of Montana linebackers," Grebe said. "Troy (Andersen), Callahan (O’Reilly), all them guys, which I really take pride in being, following in their footsteps. I’ve just been trying to the best I can do. If I’m getting better, then the unit’s getting better, our team’s getting better."
The tradition continues this year, as Grebe is joined alongside Neil Daily and Cole Taylor as fellow starters. Daily is a Billings West grad, while Taylor went to Great Falls CMR.
Another key contributor this season has been Ryan Krahe, a Great Falls alum. In fact, there are six Montana-made players in the room.
The hometown rivalries can even find their way into the locker room.
"(It's) like crazy," Grebe explained with a laugh. "All these (Class) AA teams are playing, and they're always talking trash."
For the full conversation with Grebe, watch the Bobcat Insider.
