The Leading Authority of the NFL Draft

Way out West—from what I’m told it’s where the deer and the antelope play—the University of Montana has built a powerhouse football program. The Grizzlies had their streak of 17 straight seasons of making a playoff appearance snapped last season. It was a record at the I-AA level, now known as the NCAA Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision, and the Griz are ready to begin a new streak in 2011. It is easy to get preoccupied with the big name schools like Alabama and USC but dig a little deeper and there is one tremendous football program out West, and what they have achieved is about as good as it gets in college football at any level.

Last weekend the Grizzlies defeated defending FCS National Champion Eastern Washington 17-14 as Montana played their first Big Sky opponent of the early season. “That ranked in the top three,” of things to check off his list said Trumaine Johnson, the Grizzlies senior defensive back. “We’ve been waiting for that game for a year.” In a game that came down to the wire it seems Montana has taken its first step towards starting a new streak of playoff runs in the Big Sky Conference.

Johnson enters his senior season on the NFL radar, ranking near the top of defensive backs that will be available for the NFL Draft when April rolls around. But for now he is basking in the life of being at Montana, “Five years from now I can say we beat those guys (Eastern Washington) my senior year.” He admits he thinks about playing in the NFL every day but the young man from Stockton, California says there are two more things he wants to check off his list before he leaves the ‘Treasure State’. Three games into the 2011 season, knowing that each game is a countdown of his college career leading to the lift off of his anticipated NFL career, Johnson says he is “going to take it one game at a time.”

Head Coach Robin Pflugrad said, “He’s really got it all,” in reference to Johnson, who was originally recruited as a receiver. Size is one reason Johnson has seen time on offense. He stands 6’2” and 205 pounds and prides himself on being a shutdown corner, saying he relishes the aggressive style his size allows him to use when playing opposite the opposing team’s number one receiver.

“All in,” says Johnson when it comes to school, grades, and how the team approached its weightlifting in the summertime. Ensuring that every Grizzly is ‘All In’ and ready to give it their all in 2011 is the motto the team is using as its rally cry to return to the playoffs and beyond.

It took just three weeks for Johnson to mark off one of his 2011 goals (beating Eastern Washington), but he will have to wait and win some more if he plans on crossing off the remaining two. On November 11, 2011 the Grizzlies will travel to Bozeman, Montana to take on their rival Montana State in the last regular season game of Johnson’s career in the Big Sky Conference.

If the Grizzlies stick to the motto of ‘All In’ then Johnson will be able to cross off his second check mark of his senior season and leave Bozeman with one mark remaining on the list.

“This is my senior year and I’m trying to win that National Championship,” says Johnson in reference to that final checkmark.

It was refreshing to hear the desire in his voice to when he talked about bringing that National Championship back, and while he admitted it’s “both a humbling and a blessing” to have so much attention focused on him at this stage of his career, Johnson is squarely focused on that final item on his checklist: bringing the title back to Missoula, Montana.
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