ALL-TIME BOBCATS: Dane Fletcher
6/17/2019 3:00:00 PM | Football
Dane Fletcher was exceptional at every sport he tried growing up in Bozeman, and playing for the Cats was no exception
JUNE 17: 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.
Dane Fletcher, LB, 2006-09
ALL-TIME TEAM: 21st Century Addition
HONORS: Big Sky Defensive MVP 2009, 1st Team All-America and All-Big Sky 2009, 2nd Team All-Big Sky 2008.
A CLOSER LOOK: The Bobcat program was still getting its feet underneath during Rob Ash's first couple of seasons. The tide change from Mike Kramer to Ash was dramatic. But amidst the transition there was brilliance. And no one was more brilliant, more shockingly dominant, than Dane Fletcher. He was a special teams warrior in 2006, making plays and accumulating penalties and otherwise drawing attention in ways that made veteran observers mostly drool with anticipation for what was the come. And what came was mostly amazing. He registered 51 tackles, 19 behind the line, as a sophomore in 2007, the first season for Ash and defensive coordinator Jamie Marshall. A year later he registered 14.5 tackles-for-loss and 6.5 sacks – in nine games. He blocked two kicks and forced and recovered two fumbles. As a senior, he made 17.5 tackles behind the line with seven sacks. He blocked two more kicks, and his five career blocks is tied for the most in MSU history. A brilliant NFL career followed, but here at BBTN there's a more immediate, more personal memory of him that will never leave. In the last game of his junior season, at NAU late in 2008, he impacted a game as much as any defensive player can. He registered three tackles-for-loss, including one sack. He blocked a quick kick for a safety and recovered a fumble that set up a Bobcat score. And he did it all in two-and-a-half quarters before a knee injury ended his season. It was stunning to watch him wreck the Lumberjacks that day. It's understandable that some coaches didn't vote him 1st Team All-Big Sky that season – wrong, but since he missed a quarter of the league season understandable – but he made up for it the next year by winning Big Sky Defensive MVP honors.
Dane Fletcher, LB, 2006-09
ALL-TIME TEAM: 21st Century Addition
HONORS: Big Sky Defensive MVP 2009, 1st Team All-America and All-Big Sky 2009, 2nd Team All-Big Sky 2008.
A CLOSER LOOK: The Bobcat program was still getting its feet underneath during Rob Ash's first couple of seasons. The tide change from Mike Kramer to Ash was dramatic. But amidst the transition there was brilliance. And no one was more brilliant, more shockingly dominant, than Dane Fletcher. He was a special teams warrior in 2006, making plays and accumulating penalties and otherwise drawing attention in ways that made veteran observers mostly drool with anticipation for what was the come. And what came was mostly amazing. He registered 51 tackles, 19 behind the line, as a sophomore in 2007, the first season for Ash and defensive coordinator Jamie Marshall. A year later he registered 14.5 tackles-for-loss and 6.5 sacks – in nine games. He blocked two kicks and forced and recovered two fumbles. As a senior, he made 17.5 tackles behind the line with seven sacks. He blocked two more kicks, and his five career blocks is tied for the most in MSU history. A brilliant NFL career followed, but here at BBTN there's a more immediate, more personal memory of him that will never leave. In the last game of his junior season, at NAU late in 2008, he impacted a game as much as any defensive player can. He registered three tackles-for-loss, including one sack. He blocked a quick kick for a safety and recovered a fumble that set up a Bobcat score. And he did it all in two-and-a-half quarters before a knee injury ended his season. It was stunning to watch him wreck the Lumberjacks that day. It's understandable that some coaches didn't vote him 1st Team All-Big Sky that season – wrong, but since he missed a quarter of the league season understandable – but he made up for it the next year by winning Big Sky Defensive MVP honors.
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