Photo by: Kelly Gorham
ALL-TIME BOBCATS: Tanner Bleskin
5/30/2019 3:00:00 PM | Football
Tanner Bleskin was a more gifted athlete than he was often credited with, turning that and hard work into an amazing career
MAY 30: Each day until Montana State's 2019 season opener the staff of Bobcats By The Numbers will offer a look at one of the players to make one of the school's all-time teams, in alphabetical order. On November 21, 1933, The Exponent announced 37 players selected by a panel of former players and coaches, divided into three teams that comprised Montana State's "mythical" all-time team. In 1969, the Billings Gazette's Norm Clarke conducted a poll to select the school's all-time team, and again in 2000 Bobcat Athletics and the Billings Gazette selected a third all-time team. The BBTN staff added players from the 21st century.
Tanner Bleskin, WR, 2010-13
ALL-TIME TEAM: 21st Century Addition
HONORS: Second Team All-Big Sky 2012, Third Team All-Big Sky 2013, Second Team CoSIDA Academic All-America 2012, First Team CoSIDA Academic All-America 2013.
A CLOSER LOOK: Tanner Bleskin was always a little more than people thought he'd be. He was faster than you thought, he was tougher than anyone had a right to expect, he was as smart as any player to ever pull on the Blue and Gold, and at the end of the day he was the most productive receiver in Bobcat history. A one-time Great Falls CMR quarterback who some thought had a brighter future in baseball than football, Bleskin was part of an offensive scout unit in the fall of 2009 that inspired whispered praise for its success against the varsity defense. The next year, while quarterback DeNarius McGhee was snagging Big Sky Offensive MVP honors as a redshirt freshman, Bleskin, his classmate, caught 33 passes, fourth on the Big Sky title-winning team. By the end of 2011 Cody Kirk had broken out and the trio that had so bedeviled the varsity defense two seasons before was doing the same to the Big Sky Conference. Bleskin caught 30 passes for 417 yards that fall, added a team-high 66 catches in 2012, and led the squad again with 64 more (for 964 yards) as a senior in 2013. Bleskin was the special blend of player that embraced the detail work – blocking and route-running drew him praise from opposing coaching staffs – while producing at a historic level. He finished as Montana State's all-time leader in receiving yards (2,816) and catches (193), and to top it off he was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America.
Tanner Bleskin, WR, 2010-13
ALL-TIME TEAM: 21st Century Addition
HONORS: Second Team All-Big Sky 2012, Third Team All-Big Sky 2013, Second Team CoSIDA Academic All-America 2012, First Team CoSIDA Academic All-America 2013.
A CLOSER LOOK: Tanner Bleskin was always a little more than people thought he'd be. He was faster than you thought, he was tougher than anyone had a right to expect, he was as smart as any player to ever pull on the Blue and Gold, and at the end of the day he was the most productive receiver in Bobcat history. A one-time Great Falls CMR quarterback who some thought had a brighter future in baseball than football, Bleskin was part of an offensive scout unit in the fall of 2009 that inspired whispered praise for its success against the varsity defense. The next year, while quarterback DeNarius McGhee was snagging Big Sky Offensive MVP honors as a redshirt freshman, Bleskin, his classmate, caught 33 passes, fourth on the Big Sky title-winning team. By the end of 2011 Cody Kirk had broken out and the trio that had so bedeviled the varsity defense two seasons before was doing the same to the Big Sky Conference. Bleskin caught 30 passes for 417 yards that fall, added a team-high 66 catches in 2012, and led the squad again with 64 more (for 964 yards) as a senior in 2013. Bleskin was the special blend of player that embraced the detail work – blocking and route-running drew him praise from opposing coaching staffs – while producing at a historic level. He finished as Montana State's all-time leader in receiving yards (2,816) and catches (193), and to top it off he was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America.
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