Bobcats By the Numbers: #81
6/14/2015 1:46:00 PM | Football
Jersey number 81 has strong second-generation connections at MSU
Every day we look at players who donned the jersey number corresponding to the number of days until the Bobcats open the 2015 season on September 3 against Fort Lewis College. 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 will be welcomed enthusiastically via e-mail at: blamberty@msubobcats.com. Complaints about featured players also welcome, but possibly with less enthusiasm.
#81
Jacob Stanton, WR: Jacob Stanton enters his third year in the Bobcat program with the opportunity to compete for playing time at receiver and on kick teams. Stanton led Billings Central to a state title as its quarterback, earning all-state honors on that team, which his father coached. He was also a state champion in track, and was honored as the Midland Roundtable Athlete of the Year in Billings.
Spotlight Player: Bob Surdam was a good but unremarkable football player for the Bobcats during Montana State's great run in the late 1950s. He was an important member of the school's 1956 National Championship squad as a freshman, and a starter after that, Surdam is an interesting study of the Montana State program, and college football as a whole, during the 1950s. "Thinman" or "Bones", as he was commonly called, Surdam was unusually lanky at 6-3, 175. But he was also seasoned. He spent four years in the U.S. Air Force, and upon his arrival in Bozeman was "the tallest and oldest of returning picketmen (ends)," according to the school's 1957 media guide. He was part of a wave of U.S. service men not only in the post-WWII years but throughout the 1950s that flooded college athletics, in part taking advantage of the GI Bill. Surdam was married with a child during his time with the Bobcats, and was a very good player during a college football era when players were less drilled in football but far, far more drilled in life than those today.
Spotlight Game: Aaron Hill didn't have a great career at Montana State. He didn't even really have a great season in 2002, his only campaign as a Bobcat. But man alive, did he have some great games. Known as "Tiger" for his resemblance of golfer Tiger Woods, the Oregon State transfer was MSU's second-leading reciver with 721 yards and a team-high nine touchdown catches. He brought good bloodlines – his father, Jerry Hill, was an NFL star – and good friendships – he was a teammate at OSU with Junior Adams and Tyler Thomas – to Bozeman. He caught 16 passes in MSU's tumultuous first six games that year, but at the season's most pivotal moment he was at his best. Against Idaho State in a game best known as Travis Lulay's starting debut, Hill was magnificent. He caught eight passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, as the Bobcats lost on a controversial play at the end of the game. At NAU he caught six balls for 155 yards, and in the crucial win over Sac State – which gave MSU a tie-breaker in winning the league's automatic playoff berth after beating Montana – he caught six balls for 175 yards.
Noteworthy: While jersey number 81 hasn't necessarily produced some of MSU's all-time greats – no one has earned First Team All-Big Sky honors with that number on his back – it has been home of several relatives of great Bobcats. Toby Alt, the son of Bobcat Athletics Hall of Famer Dave Alt, wore it from 1977-80, while Eric East, whose uncle Ron is also in the Hall of Fame, was in it from 1995-98. For two years, Branton Sherman (2003-04) wore that jersey, a decade before his brother Richard gained fame as one of the finest cornerbacks in the NFL.
Through the Years: Bob Surdam (1956-57), Dick Nawotczynski (1959), Bill Cords (1960-61), Dick Larson (1963-64), Randy Pederson (1966-67), Tim Dunn (1969), Mark Nelson (1971), John McCaffrey (1973-75), Jeff Muri (1976), Toby Alt (1977-80), Mike Carle (1982), Mike Carrington (1983), Rob Fulton (1984-85), Von Narcisse (1986), Jerrod Watson (1987-88), Don Starke (1990), Scott Patchett (1991), Lance Reithmeier (1992), Mike Gollaher (1993-94), Eric East (1995-98), Seth Rorem (1999, Aaron Den Hartog (2000-01), Aaron Hill (2002), Branton Sherman (2003-04), Jevon Miller (2005), Kyle Begger (2006-2010), Michael Perryman (2011), Jacob Stanton (2013-present)
#81
Jacob Stanton, WR: Jacob Stanton enters his third year in the Bobcat program with the opportunity to compete for playing time at receiver and on kick teams. Stanton led Billings Central to a state title as its quarterback, earning all-state honors on that team, which his father coached. He was also a state champion in track, and was honored as the Midland Roundtable Athlete of the Year in Billings.
Spotlight Player: Bob Surdam was a good but unremarkable football player for the Bobcats during Montana State's great run in the late 1950s. He was an important member of the school's 1956 National Championship squad as a freshman, and a starter after that, Surdam is an interesting study of the Montana State program, and college football as a whole, during the 1950s. "Thinman" or "Bones", as he was commonly called, Surdam was unusually lanky at 6-3, 175. But he was also seasoned. He spent four years in the U.S. Air Force, and upon his arrival in Bozeman was "the tallest and oldest of returning picketmen (ends)," according to the school's 1957 media guide. He was part of a wave of U.S. service men not only in the post-WWII years but throughout the 1950s that flooded college athletics, in part taking advantage of the GI Bill. Surdam was married with a child during his time with the Bobcats, and was a very good player during a college football era when players were less drilled in football but far, far more drilled in life than those today.
Spotlight Game: Aaron Hill didn't have a great career at Montana State. He didn't even really have a great season in 2002, his only campaign as a Bobcat. But man alive, did he have some great games. Known as "Tiger" for his resemblance of golfer Tiger Woods, the Oregon State transfer was MSU's second-leading reciver with 721 yards and a team-high nine touchdown catches. He brought good bloodlines – his father, Jerry Hill, was an NFL star – and good friendships – he was a teammate at OSU with Junior Adams and Tyler Thomas – to Bozeman. He caught 16 passes in MSU's tumultuous first six games that year, but at the season's most pivotal moment he was at his best. Against Idaho State in a game best known as Travis Lulay's starting debut, Hill was magnificent. He caught eight passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, as the Bobcats lost on a controversial play at the end of the game. At NAU he caught six balls for 155 yards, and in the crucial win over Sac State – which gave MSU a tie-breaker in winning the league's automatic playoff berth after beating Montana – he caught six balls for 175 yards.
Noteworthy: While jersey number 81 hasn't necessarily produced some of MSU's all-time greats – no one has earned First Team All-Big Sky honors with that number on his back – it has been home of several relatives of great Bobcats. Toby Alt, the son of Bobcat Athletics Hall of Famer Dave Alt, wore it from 1977-80, while Eric East, whose uncle Ron is also in the Hall of Fame, was in it from 1995-98. For two years, Branton Sherman (2003-04) wore that jersey, a decade before his brother Richard gained fame as one of the finest cornerbacks in the NFL.
Through the Years: Bob Surdam (1956-57), Dick Nawotczynski (1959), Bill Cords (1960-61), Dick Larson (1963-64), Randy Pederson (1966-67), Tim Dunn (1969), Mark Nelson (1971), John McCaffrey (1973-75), Jeff Muri (1976), Toby Alt (1977-80), Mike Carle (1982), Mike Carrington (1983), Rob Fulton (1984-85), Von Narcisse (1986), Jerrod Watson (1987-88), Don Starke (1990), Scott Patchett (1991), Lance Reithmeier (1992), Mike Gollaher (1993-94), Eric East (1995-98), Seth Rorem (1999, Aaron Den Hartog (2000-01), Aaron Hill (2002), Branton Sherman (2003-04), Jevon Miller (2005), Kyle Begger (2006-2010), Michael Perryman (2011), Jacob Stanton (2013-present)
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