BOZEMAN — Rylan Schlepp is a big part of Montana State's tight end group, and is someone that teammates regard as one of the toughest players on this year's football team.
The last year hasn't been easy for Schlepp.
"It stemmed from the second game of the season last year when I tore the ligaments in my ankle," Schlepp said. "I was rehabbing throughout the season, and then midway through the regular season I tore the other ones in my other ankle, so it was a long rehab for the season."
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Schlepp had his first surgery a couple of weeks after Montana State's national championship win in January.
"I rehabbed one (ankle) until it was good enough to carry the weight of the other one and then I got the other surgery," Schlepp said.
Schlepp's attitude throughout the recovery process was no surprise to his tight ends coach, Jordan Walsh.
"He's been down before, so a couple of ankles, that's not going to get him down," Walsh said. "He's been persevering since he's stepped foot on campus. He's been doing an awesome job. He keeps working, grinding. improving. And for me as a coach, I love coaching him too."
That perseverance can be credited to Schlepp's experiences off the football field when he was growing up.
"I have ranching in my family, I spend every summer there," Schlepp said. "That's where I learned a lot of life lessons — hard work, dedication, everything's on you. It doesn't matter, you've gotta get the job done no matter what.
"There's a lot of factors you can't control, and you can kind of relate that to football too. We practice for a defense, but there's going to be things that go wrong, don't go our way, some things we don't plan for and that's the same thing with farming and ranching."
Walsh has seen this translate to the way Schlepp approaches football.
"If he's in the special teams meeting, he's getting guys right. If he's in the meeting room, he's getting guys right," Walsh said. "If he's on the field, he's always talking and trying to bring guys up, not even just in our (tight end) room.
And Schlepp's mindset has helped him live out a lifelong dream.
Despite growing up in Kalispell, an area with loyalty to the Montana Grizzlies, Schlepp had loyalty to the other program in the state.
"I always wanted to be a Cat (from) watching DeNarius McGhee, Cody Kirk, all those guys," Schlepp said. "And when I had the opportunity to come here when coach (Brent) Vigen offered me it was pretty easy for me to make a decision. I just knew I wanted to be a Bobcat."
Schlepp and the Bobcats will return to action against Eastern Washington on the road on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m. Mountain Time.
