Caleb Schreibeis interviews at the FCS Awards Banquet
Photo by: MSU Sports Information
With Award 'Sinking In', Schreibeis' Place in Bobcat History Becomes Clearer
12/19/2012 10:38:00 AM | Football
Buchanan Award also brings another step up for Bobcat football program
It took a while, but for Caleb Schreibeis…
“It's finally sinking in,” Montana State's senior defensive end said upon returning to Bozeman from Philadelphia, where The Sports Network named him the 2012 Buck Buchanan Award recipient as the most outstanding defensive player in the FCS during the past season. “It's such an amazing honor. To be around such great players, the award winners and the people the awards were named after, was amazing.”
Schreibeis capped his amazing senior season with an evening at The Sports Network's FCS Awards gala on Monday, chatting briefly with Jerry Rice and receiving considerable attention from Georgia Buchanan, the widow of the former Grambling State and Kansas City Chiefs star for whom the award is named. He and his parents enjoyed dinner at the same table as Eddie Robinson Award winner Criag Bohl, the head coach at North Dakota State.
Along the way, he also enjoyed a small taste of the Philadelphia experience in a few big bites, sampling the city's most famous cheesesteaks at both Geno's and Pat's (for the record, he prefers Pat's and enjoyed the uniquely Philly experience of Cheese Whiz on his sandwich). The trip from the airport to the world's cheesesteak ground zero to the Sheraton Society Hill wound through South Philadelphia, a unique sampling both of life in that city and of American history.
Schreibeis visited amiably with Payton Trophy candidates Eric Breitenstein from Wofford and Stony Brook's Miguel Maysonet, who squared off against Schreibeis and the Bobcats in an FCS Playoff game in Bozeman on December 1. And with an engineer's intellect he learned about the awards, those honored by the awards, and how they and his career fit into the big picture.
Each of the previous Big Sky Conference's Buchanan Award winners currently play professional football. Eastern Washington's Greg Peach is a standout in the Canadian Football League, while former Eagle J.C. Sherritt is the reigning CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player. Jared Allen from Idaho State is a dominant defensive end with the Minnesota Vikings, while Montana's Kroy Biermann helps anchor the Atlanta Falcons' defensive line.
Schreibeis has also patiently answered questions about his future, particularly whether it may involve shoulder pads and a helmet. “That would be a great opportunity,” he smiles. “I'll just have to wait and see what happens.”
But truthfully, Schreibeis' professional career has already begun. The 2012 Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-Region 7 selections has worked part-time at a small Bozeman engineering firm for several months. His immediate plan is to continue doing so while finishing his degree this spring with a light academic workload.
Schreibeis' selection as the Buchanan Award recipient caps an amazing 13 months or so for Bobcat Football. While each of the last two seasons ended with some degree of disappointment after losses to eventual National Championship Game participant Sam Houston State, a convincing argument can be made that respect for the Bobcat program is at an all-time high. To wit:
* Schreibeis is MSU's first Buchanan Award winner, and also the first Bobcat to take home hardware for a major national award (primarily the well-established Buchanan and Payton awards);
* Rob Ash landed 2011 Liberty Mutual FCS Coach of the Year honors, and was the 2012 AFCA Region 5 Co-Coach of the Year;
* Jody Owens was named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year and DeNarius McGhee league offensive MVP for 2012;
* Owens, a two-time unanimous All-Big Sky selection, became a two-time All-America selection as a consensus first teamer;
* Owens, McGhee and Schreibeis have each earned All-America honors for 2012;
*Junior receiver Tanner Bleskin earned Second Team Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, MSU's first Academic All-America since 2005.
While Schreibeis speaks thoughtfully, frankly and eloquently on most topics, the question of his place in Bobcat football history completely flummoxes him. “I really haven't thought about that,” he says candidly. “I don't know.”
There is one easy answer, of course. Schreibeis is MSU's first-ever Buchanan Award winner, holds the school record for forced fumbles in a season and career with eight, and his 23 career sacks is eighth-best in school history in spite the fact that MSU's defensive success limited him to essentially just two seasons as an every-day defensive player.
To those with a broader perspective – in other words, people not in the midst of their athletic career – the answer is much clearer. He may be the first Buchanan Award winner in school history, but more than breaking ground Schreibeis has enhanced an already sterling defensive legacy at Montana State.
And that legacy has always, it seems started up front. To watch Schreibeis in 2011-12 was to watch Dane Fletcher three years earlier – not stylistically, necessarily, but in a squint-your-eyes-and-enjoy-the-dominance sort of way. Watching Fletcher was to see another Bozeman High linebacker-turned-end, Nick Marudas, and to watch Marudas was to see a vastly different but equally productive Jon Montoya, who brought to mind Neal Smith, who was reminiscent of Mark Fellows.
Under current defensive line coach Bo Beck, who advocated bringing Schreibeis to Bozeman as a walk-on and throughout a career that began in humbly and ended in glory, Montana State's legacy of dominance has only grown. Fletcher earned All-America honors in 2009, tackle Dan Ogden did so in 2010, and Zach Minter was an All-America in 2011. That is hardly a new trend – starting with Bozeman High product Corey Widmer in 1990, the Bobcat D-line produced at least one All-America in 13 of the ensuing 23 seasons leading up to Schreibeis' selection this year.
In the Big Sky, that performance is even magnified. Since 1989, MSU defensive linemen have been named to the All-Big Sky First Team on 20 occasions, including three in 2001 and two in 2009. MSU has had at least one All-Big Sky first teamer in four straight seasons now, a string of success topped from 1989-93 and equaled from 2001-04.
As the dawn of 2013 nears, Brad Daly is a no-brainer as the Bobcat defensive line's next alpha dog. But Schreibeis burst onto the scene in 2011, as many had before him, and Beck's tutelage will likely lead to similar debuts next season. Preston Gale's time seems to be at hand after a lengthy apprenticeship, a pair of Taylors – Sheridan and Dees – join returning starter Craig Ashworth as possibilities inside, and untested Kris Cooper and Odin Coe are likely candidates for breakouts. Such speculation is fun, but fruitless. Only the grind of spring drills and fall camp can sort those issues.
Undeniable, though, is that Schreibeis' selection as the top defensive player in the nation is another step forward for a clearly ascending Bobcat football program. “I think it says that we have gained respect nationally,” Ash says. “Caleb has helped this program move forward, and maybe the fact that our program is well-respected nationally helped Caleb's case as the Buchanan winner. Hopefully that's true, that team success leads to individual success.
“And hopefully,” Ash continues, “we continue to enjoy both.”
“It's finally sinking in,” Montana State's senior defensive end said upon returning to Bozeman from Philadelphia, where The Sports Network named him the 2012 Buck Buchanan Award recipient as the most outstanding defensive player in the FCS during the past season. “It's such an amazing honor. To be around such great players, the award winners and the people the awards were named after, was amazing.”
Schreibeis capped his amazing senior season with an evening at The Sports Network's FCS Awards gala on Monday, chatting briefly with Jerry Rice and receiving considerable attention from Georgia Buchanan, the widow of the former Grambling State and Kansas City Chiefs star for whom the award is named. He and his parents enjoyed dinner at the same table as Eddie Robinson Award winner Criag Bohl, the head coach at North Dakota State.
Along the way, he also enjoyed a small taste of the Philadelphia experience in a few big bites, sampling the city's most famous cheesesteaks at both Geno's and Pat's (for the record, he prefers Pat's and enjoyed the uniquely Philly experience of Cheese Whiz on his sandwich). The trip from the airport to the world's cheesesteak ground zero to the Sheraton Society Hill wound through South Philadelphia, a unique sampling both of life in that city and of American history.
Schreibeis visited amiably with Payton Trophy candidates Eric Breitenstein from Wofford and Stony Brook's Miguel Maysonet, who squared off against Schreibeis and the Bobcats in an FCS Playoff game in Bozeman on December 1. And with an engineer's intellect he learned about the awards, those honored by the awards, and how they and his career fit into the big picture.
Each of the previous Big Sky Conference's Buchanan Award winners currently play professional football. Eastern Washington's Greg Peach is a standout in the Canadian Football League, while former Eagle J.C. Sherritt is the reigning CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player. Jared Allen from Idaho State is a dominant defensive end with the Minnesota Vikings, while Montana's Kroy Biermann helps anchor the Atlanta Falcons' defensive line.
Schreibeis has also patiently answered questions about his future, particularly whether it may involve shoulder pads and a helmet. “That would be a great opportunity,” he smiles. “I'll just have to wait and see what happens.”
But truthfully, Schreibeis' professional career has already begun. The 2012 Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-Region 7 selections has worked part-time at a small Bozeman engineering firm for several months. His immediate plan is to continue doing so while finishing his degree this spring with a light academic workload.
Schreibeis' selection as the Buchanan Award recipient caps an amazing 13 months or so for Bobcat Football. While each of the last two seasons ended with some degree of disappointment after losses to eventual National Championship Game participant Sam Houston State, a convincing argument can be made that respect for the Bobcat program is at an all-time high. To wit:
* Schreibeis is MSU's first Buchanan Award winner, and also the first Bobcat to take home hardware for a major national award (primarily the well-established Buchanan and Payton awards);
* Rob Ash landed 2011 Liberty Mutual FCS Coach of the Year honors, and was the 2012 AFCA Region 5 Co-Coach of the Year;
* Jody Owens was named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year and DeNarius McGhee league offensive MVP for 2012;
* Owens, a two-time unanimous All-Big Sky selection, became a two-time All-America selection as a consensus first teamer;
* Owens, McGhee and Schreibeis have each earned All-America honors for 2012;
*Junior receiver Tanner Bleskin earned Second Team Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, MSU's first Academic All-America since 2005.
While Schreibeis speaks thoughtfully, frankly and eloquently on most topics, the question of his place in Bobcat football history completely flummoxes him. “I really haven't thought about that,” he says candidly. “I don't know.”
There is one easy answer, of course. Schreibeis is MSU's first-ever Buchanan Award winner, holds the school record for forced fumbles in a season and career with eight, and his 23 career sacks is eighth-best in school history in spite the fact that MSU's defensive success limited him to essentially just two seasons as an every-day defensive player.
To those with a broader perspective – in other words, people not in the midst of their athletic career – the answer is much clearer. He may be the first Buchanan Award winner in school history, but more than breaking ground Schreibeis has enhanced an already sterling defensive legacy at Montana State.
And that legacy has always, it seems started up front. To watch Schreibeis in 2011-12 was to watch Dane Fletcher three years earlier – not stylistically, necessarily, but in a squint-your-eyes-and-enjoy-the-dominance sort of way. Watching Fletcher was to see another Bozeman High linebacker-turned-end, Nick Marudas, and to watch Marudas was to see a vastly different but equally productive Jon Montoya, who brought to mind Neal Smith, who was reminiscent of Mark Fellows.
Under current defensive line coach Bo Beck, who advocated bringing Schreibeis to Bozeman as a walk-on and throughout a career that began in humbly and ended in glory, Montana State's legacy of dominance has only grown. Fletcher earned All-America honors in 2009, tackle Dan Ogden did so in 2010, and Zach Minter was an All-America in 2011. That is hardly a new trend – starting with Bozeman High product Corey Widmer in 1990, the Bobcat D-line produced at least one All-America in 13 of the ensuing 23 seasons leading up to Schreibeis' selection this year.
In the Big Sky, that performance is even magnified. Since 1989, MSU defensive linemen have been named to the All-Big Sky First Team on 20 occasions, including three in 2001 and two in 2009. MSU has had at least one All-Big Sky first teamer in four straight seasons now, a string of success topped from 1989-93 and equaled from 2001-04.
As the dawn of 2013 nears, Brad Daly is a no-brainer as the Bobcat defensive line's next alpha dog. But Schreibeis burst onto the scene in 2011, as many had before him, and Beck's tutelage will likely lead to similar debuts next season. Preston Gale's time seems to be at hand after a lengthy apprenticeship, a pair of Taylors – Sheridan and Dees – join returning starter Craig Ashworth as possibilities inside, and untested Kris Cooper and Odin Coe are likely candidates for breakouts. Such speculation is fun, but fruitless. Only the grind of spring drills and fall camp can sort those issues.
Undeniable, though, is that Schreibeis' selection as the top defensive player in the nation is another step forward for a clearly ascending Bobcat football program. “I think it says that we have gained respect nationally,” Ash says. “Caleb has helped this program move forward, and maybe the fact that our program is well-respected nationally helped Caleb's case as the Buchanan winner. Hopefully that's true, that team success leads to individual success.
“And hopefully,” Ash continues, “we continue to enjoy both.”
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