Montana Grizzlies 2026 Season Preview

Kennedy's Program Keeps Climbing

Bobby Kennedy took Montana to a 13-2 finish and a 7-1 mark in the Big Sky, and the power ratings back it up with the Grizzlies sitting at No. 2 nationally. That kind of season sets a high floor for 2026, with an experienced roster across the board even as the exact names shift through graduation and the portal. The bar for Kennedy now is not building a winner, it is proving last fall was the standard and not the ceiling.

Ah Yat Runs It Again

Montana's offense doesn't need reinvention, it needs Keali'i Ah Yat to pick up where he left off after throwing for 4,070 yards and 33 touchdowns behind an attack that ranked 3rd nationally in scoring and 4th in explosiveness. The bigger question sits on defense, where a unit allowing 258 passing yards per game (113th) and 400 total yards per game (87th) has to tighten up even with a veteran secondary back in the fold. If Ah Yat's efficiency papers over those cracks like it did in 2025, this offense can again outscore its way past a defense that ranks 50th in points allowed.

Keali'i Ah Yat is the established starter for a Montana offense that scored 41.0 points a game and ranked 4th nationally in explosiveness last season, and the job is his to run rather than defend. Jake Jensen's departure barely dents the picture given his limited 69 passing yards, and the passing attack that ranked 6th in the country in yards per game was never really about the backup anyway. Moses Lake product Brady Jay arrives as a developmental piece behind Ah Yat, giving Bobby Kennedy an experienced, explosive passing game built around a proven starter rather than a reset.

Montana's ground game was the quiet piece of a 41.0-point-per-game attack that leaned on the pass, ranking just 34th nationally in rushing yards per game even while the offense finished 4th in explosiveness. Malae Fonoti's 184 yards and 4 touchdowns are off the books, so the carries get sorted out between Dylan Paine, a transfer from Washington State, and Courtney Rogers, a high school signee out of Blytheville with no college stats yet. Bobby Kennedy still has a pass-first machine to lean on, but turning that explosiveness into a more balanced run game now falls to a room built on unproven newcomers rather than a known workhorse.

Michael Wortham's 85 catches, 1,224 yards and 10 scores walk out the door, and with Blake Bohannon and Drew Deck also gone, Montana loses the trio that anchored a passing attack that ranked 6th nationally in yards per game and helped power the No. 3 scoring offense in the country. Bobby Kennedy turns to the portal to answer that, bringing in Rice transfer Landon Ransom-Goelz, whose 6 catches and 63 yards were modest but give him game snaps to build on, plus Minnesota transfer Legend Lyons and Belgrade signee Wesley Ehret, both unproven at this level. The passing game's explosiveness, 4th nationally last season, was built on volume production this room no longer has, so Ransom-Goelz and Lyons carry outsized expectations to keep that identity intact.

Josh Gale, Evan Shafer and Jake Olson combined for every tight end touchdown on a Montana offense that scored 41.0 points a game and ranked 4th nationally in explosiveness, and all three are gone. Bobby Kennedy replaces that production with Hellgate product Evan Pyron and Skyview's Merek Fisher, neither of whom has a college catch on record, in an offense that leaned on the pass for 285 yards a game. That is a real void underneath the numbers, but Montana's passing attack was built on more than tight end targets, and this group has to prove it can be part of the answer rather than the engine.

Montana scored at 41.0 points per game and averaged 6.63 yards per play behind a line that has to be reassembled almost entirely for 2026, with nine linemen gone including Dillon Botner, Dylan Jemtegaard, Everett Johnson, Cade Klimczak and Patrick Matan. South Carolina transfer Campbell Vandiver and Prosser signee Josiah West arrive to take over at tackle, Lincoln Senter joins from C.M. Russell to fill a spot inside, and Owen Liechti comes in as a high school recruit out of Ankeny Centennial to add to the tackle mix. The passing game that produced 285 yards per game through the air can survive some early growing pains up front, but the rushing attack, already just 34th in yards per game on the ground, is the more exposed unit if this rebuilt front needs time to gel.

Montana's pass defense gave up 258 yards a game through the air, 113th nationally, and none of the edge rushers tied to that unit are back, with Hunter Peck (7 tackles, 1.5 TFL) and Kellen Detrick (0.5 TFL) both gone. Bobby Kennedy is rebuilding the pass rush almost entirely with newcomers, headlined by Mac Olsen, a 3-star signee out of Manti, alongside Elijah Rincon, a high school addition from Servite, and Derek Opitz from Capital. None carry prior stats, so the front's ability to speed up opposing quarterbacks now rests on how fast that trio develops rather than on anything proven on tape.

Montana's pass defense bled 258 yards a game a year ago, ranking 113th nationally, and the linebacker corps that watched it happen loses its top three tacklers in Caleb Otlewski, Solomon Tuliaupupu and Geno Leonard. Justin Eklund arrives from Bowling Green and Tanner Williams from San Diego State to fill that void, both undersized production numbers at their last stops but now handed a chance to start immediately in Missoula, alongside Kennewick product Cooper Neer. The front seven's run defense held up fine at 47th nationally, so the real swing factor for 2026 is whether Eklund and Williams can hold up in coverage and stop the through-the-air bleeding that sank last year's group in the loss to Montana State.

Montana's pass defense was the soft spot on an otherwise dominant 13-2 team, allowing 258 yards a game through the air (113th nationally) even as the front held up against the run. The fix comes via the portal: Devin Dunn arrives from Arizona after racking up 9 tackles, and Gabe Stroud joins from North Texas to shore up a cornerback room that lost Prince Ford, Kenzel Lawler and Justus Breston. With an experienced secondary still in the mix around those additions, Bobby Kennedy is betting Dunn and Stroud can turn last year's biggest defensive weakness into a strength rather than a repeat liability.

Ty Morrison's departure leaves a real hole after he hit 6 of 11 field goals with a long of 42 and accounted for 77 points on a 13-2 team, and long snapper Grayson Pibal is also gone. Bobby Kennedy has to sort out both specialist spots without any incoming names on the books yet, which makes the placekicking job the biggest unknown on a special teams unit that otherwise helped carry a Big Sky title contender.

Ah Yat's Receiving Corps

Keali'i Ah Yat threw for 4,070 yards and 33 touchdowns behind a Big Sky title run, but the man who caught 85 of those passes for 1,224 yards, Michael Wortham, is gone. Rice transfer Landon Ransom-Goelz arrives with modest production, just 63 yards on 6 catches, so an experienced receiving corps around Ah Yat has to manufacture a new go-to target for this offense to keep operating at the same level. If that group cannot replace Wortham's volume, a top-tier passer alone will not be enough to repeat 13 wins.

Grizzlies Cash Regularly

Montana did not just win 13 games in 2025, it beat the number doing it, covering 62% overall and 75% in Big Sky play while going 7-1 straight up against conference foes. Bobby Kennedy's group has been live even in the rare setbacks, splitting 2-2 against the spread versus ranked opponents rather than getting run off the field. The one soft spot is a single road-underdog outing that missed the number entirely, a small sample worth watching if Montana finds itself chasing points away from home in 2026.