Andy Austin works with a villager in Africa
Bobcats by the Numbers: 64
6/27/2013 11:09:00 AM | Football
Jeff Bolton was a spectacular lineman for the Bobcats
Every day we look at players who donned the jersey number corresponding to the number of days until the Bobcats open the 2013 season on August 29 against Monmouth. The list of MSU football players by the jersey number is based on preseason rosters. The set of available rosters is complete from 1946-81 and '83-present. Only the 1926-27, 1934, 1937 and 1941 rosters are available in the pre-WWII years. Corrections, additions, or rosters that fill out the set are welcome to blamberty@msubobcats.com.
#64
Andy Austin, OL: If you're shopping for an off-the-radar Bobcat to cheer for in 2013, you could do a lot worse than Andy Austin. The hulking guard from Billings West isn't likely to emerge as an All-America and potential NFL draft choice this fall, but he represents everything that's good about college sports. Austin has seen the field on special teams and moved up to second at a guard spot, but his prime contributions come as a person rather than a football player. A relentlessly upbeat and thoughtful psychology major, Austin shows up for team activities every day knowing there's no promise of playing time or any other individual glory. During his spare time, Austin is involved in an array of community service activities, not the least of which is Wheels of Change, a project run with his father which ships refurbished bicycles to African villages. Rural Africans are taught to use and maintain the bikes, setting up a self-sustaining life improvement that benefits an entire region. Austin is an accomplished photographer and an amateur diplomat, having hosted international delegations in Bozeman. Even if Andy Austin never plays another down of football for the Bobcats, he is a player we will all be proud to call our own for many years to come.
Spotlight Player: Trying to compose an All-Coach Mac Bobcat offensive line? Good luck with that. Specifically, good luck fitting Jeff Bolton into the mix. The big dude from Haley, Idaho, who was signed out of an MSU summer football camp after his high school coach, a former Cat himself, tipped him off to it, Bolton showed game-proven ability to dominate at all three positions. He was primarily a guard, but will always be remembered for perhaps the finest senior season in school history, when he won the Rimington Award as the top center in Division I-AA after never having snapped the ball in a game before moving to that position in September of 2005. Bolton was a key part of the 2003 and 2005 Big Sky Championships, and earned Second Team All-America honors as a junior and First Team honors as a senior. He was a dominant physical force and an easy-going and easy-to-get-along-with guy.
Notable #64s in the Bobcat Past: The idea of Bozeman as a bustling, diverse and burgeoning town must have seemed quite a ways off to the folks who lived here in the early 1960s. The town held about 15,000 and Montana State College less than one-third that total. It was a beautiful place with terrific people by all accounts, just much less of them. So when the local high school produced a star Bobcat, it was big news. Howie Ross was such a player, an all-state gridder for the local high school who became an outstanding Bobcat offensive lineman. Ross was all-state in football and state heavyweight champion as a wrestler, and also competed in both sports at MSC. An arm injury suffered in wrestling during his sophomore season buried him on the depth chart entering the 1962 football season, but Ross rose to the top of the list and started throughout the year. He anchored the left side of the O-line with Joe Tiller for two seasons, and was lauded for his quick and physical play. Howie Ross – and his brother Jerry behind him – were sources of local pride for their athletic feats. Howard Ross went on to a long career managing MSU's Fieldhouse.
Through the Years: Greg Dufek (1957-59), Howard Ross (1961-63), John Jernberg (1964-66), Garth Forney (1967-68), Mike Cronquist (1969), Allan Young (1970-72), Dave Mueller (1973-76), J. Daly (1977-79), Charles White (1980), Bruce Brockmann (1982-85), Kevin Elliott (1986-90), John Arias (1991), Andy Hauser (1992), Brian Archdale (1994-98), Jason Keyser (1999), Jeff Bolton (2002-05), Richard Boggs (2006), Nate Brooks (2007), Casey Dennehy (2008), Andy Austin (2009-)
#64
Andy Austin, OL: If you're shopping for an off-the-radar Bobcat to cheer for in 2013, you could do a lot worse than Andy Austin. The hulking guard from Billings West isn't likely to emerge as an All-America and potential NFL draft choice this fall, but he represents everything that's good about college sports. Austin has seen the field on special teams and moved up to second at a guard spot, but his prime contributions come as a person rather than a football player. A relentlessly upbeat and thoughtful psychology major, Austin shows up for team activities every day knowing there's no promise of playing time or any other individual glory. During his spare time, Austin is involved in an array of community service activities, not the least of which is Wheels of Change, a project run with his father which ships refurbished bicycles to African villages. Rural Africans are taught to use and maintain the bikes, setting up a self-sustaining life improvement that benefits an entire region. Austin is an accomplished photographer and an amateur diplomat, having hosted international delegations in Bozeman. Even if Andy Austin never plays another down of football for the Bobcats, he is a player we will all be proud to call our own for many years to come.
Spotlight Player: Trying to compose an All-Coach Mac Bobcat offensive line? Good luck with that. Specifically, good luck fitting Jeff Bolton into the mix. The big dude from Haley, Idaho, who was signed out of an MSU summer football camp after his high school coach, a former Cat himself, tipped him off to it, Bolton showed game-proven ability to dominate at all three positions. He was primarily a guard, but will always be remembered for perhaps the finest senior season in school history, when he won the Rimington Award as the top center in Division I-AA after never having snapped the ball in a game before moving to that position in September of 2005. Bolton was a key part of the 2003 and 2005 Big Sky Championships, and earned Second Team All-America honors as a junior and First Team honors as a senior. He was a dominant physical force and an easy-going and easy-to-get-along-with guy.
Notable #64s in the Bobcat Past: The idea of Bozeman as a bustling, diverse and burgeoning town must have seemed quite a ways off to the folks who lived here in the early 1960s. The town held about 15,000 and Montana State College less than one-third that total. It was a beautiful place with terrific people by all accounts, just much less of them. So when the local high school produced a star Bobcat, it was big news. Howie Ross was such a player, an all-state gridder for the local high school who became an outstanding Bobcat offensive lineman. Ross was all-state in football and state heavyweight champion as a wrestler, and also competed in both sports at MSC. An arm injury suffered in wrestling during his sophomore season buried him on the depth chart entering the 1962 football season, but Ross rose to the top of the list and started throughout the year. He anchored the left side of the O-line with Joe Tiller for two seasons, and was lauded for his quick and physical play. Howie Ross – and his brother Jerry behind him – were sources of local pride for their athletic feats. Howard Ross went on to a long career managing MSU's Fieldhouse.
Through the Years: Greg Dufek (1957-59), Howard Ross (1961-63), John Jernberg (1964-66), Garth Forney (1967-68), Mike Cronquist (1969), Allan Young (1970-72), Dave Mueller (1973-76), J. Daly (1977-79), Charles White (1980), Bruce Brockmann (1982-85), Kevin Elliott (1986-90), John Arias (1991), Andy Hauser (1992), Brian Archdale (1994-98), Jason Keyser (1999), Jeff Bolton (2002-05), Richard Boggs (2006), Nate Brooks (2007), Casey Dennehy (2008), Andy Austin (2009-)
Thursday, July 31
Monday, May 19
Wednesday, May 03
Wednesday, May 03
