BOBCATS BY THE NUMBERS: 68 Days Until Kickoff and MSU's Battle for Center
6/28/2021 2:00:00 PM | Football
A look at the No. 68 in Bobcat football history...
Bobcats by the Numbers takes a look at current and past Bobcats whose jersey numbers correspond to the number of days remaining before Montana State opens the 2021 football season at Wyoming on September 4.
#68
Cole Sain, OL: When the time arrives in November, no one will be able to say that Cole Sain doesn't know what's at stake in the Treasure State's biggest football game. His unusual path to Bozeman testifies to that. Sain's dad John and uncle Mike both played football at Montana State, with John transferring from Western Montana when the Bulldogs football program was discontinued after the 1986 season. John was an Honorable Mention All-Big Sky choice in 1987. Cole grew up in southern California, playing high school football with Bobcat teammates Tyrel Thomas and Level Price Jr., and chose UM as his college destination. After playing for the Grizzlies in 2018, Sain transferred to Riverside CC in California and earned all-conference honors in 2019. The Bobcats lured him to Bozeman in January of 2020, and after a good spring he enters this preseason camp in August as the team's starting center.
Spotlight – Conrad Burbank: Rob Ash was a college quarterback who wrote a book on offensive football and loved the passing game. But he knew that establishing a championship program started up front. One of the players that helped Ash turn the Bobcats into a championship program was offensive lineman Conrad Burbank, a four-year starter (when healthy) who earned First Team All-Big Sky and Third Team All-America honors as a senior. He played among some great Bobcats, and helped the team to back-to-back Big Sky titles in 2010-11.
68 Tackles: Total compiled by Brad Daly during his Buck Buchanan Award season in 2013. Amazingly, 20.5 of those tackles came behind the line of scrimmage. Daly finished his career with 45 tackles-for-loss and 34 sacks.
Chronology: Rex Workman (1956), Joel Dominick (1967), Curt Brandon (1971-72), Ken Verlanic (1973-76), David Schranck (1977), Rich Beal (1978), Bob Fisher (1979-80), Mark Fellows (1981-84), Frank Cassidy (1985-86), Robyn Yovetich (1987), Derek Swanson (1988-89), Dino Sparaco (1990), Aaron Binns (1991-92), Eric Matthews (1993), Keith Erickson (1994), Josh Hausmann (1995-99), Ryan Wecker (2000), Josh Cavan (2001-02), Bryan Beniger (2004-05), Levi Stubbs (2006), Conrad Burbank (2007-11), Dillon Fraley (2012-14), Garrett Gregg (2015), Jarod Asche (2016-18), Hudson Klundt (2019), Cole Sain (2020-).
#68
Cole Sain, OL: When the time arrives in November, no one will be able to say that Cole Sain doesn't know what's at stake in the Treasure State's biggest football game. His unusual path to Bozeman testifies to that. Sain's dad John and uncle Mike both played football at Montana State, with John transferring from Western Montana when the Bulldogs football program was discontinued after the 1986 season. John was an Honorable Mention All-Big Sky choice in 1987. Cole grew up in southern California, playing high school football with Bobcat teammates Tyrel Thomas and Level Price Jr., and chose UM as his college destination. After playing for the Grizzlies in 2018, Sain transferred to Riverside CC in California and earned all-conference honors in 2019. The Bobcats lured him to Bozeman in January of 2020, and after a good spring he enters this preseason camp in August as the team's starting center.
Spotlight – Conrad Burbank: Rob Ash was a college quarterback who wrote a book on offensive football and loved the passing game. But he knew that establishing a championship program started up front. One of the players that helped Ash turn the Bobcats into a championship program was offensive lineman Conrad Burbank, a four-year starter (when healthy) who earned First Team All-Big Sky and Third Team All-America honors as a senior. He played among some great Bobcats, and helped the team to back-to-back Big Sky titles in 2010-11.
68 Tackles: Total compiled by Brad Daly during his Buck Buchanan Award season in 2013. Amazingly, 20.5 of those tackles came behind the line of scrimmage. Daly finished his career with 45 tackles-for-loss and 34 sacks.
Chronology: Rex Workman (1956), Joel Dominick (1967), Curt Brandon (1971-72), Ken Verlanic (1973-76), David Schranck (1977), Rich Beal (1978), Bob Fisher (1979-80), Mark Fellows (1981-84), Frank Cassidy (1985-86), Robyn Yovetich (1987), Derek Swanson (1988-89), Dino Sparaco (1990), Aaron Binns (1991-92), Eric Matthews (1993), Keith Erickson (1994), Josh Hausmann (1995-99), Ryan Wecker (2000), Josh Cavan (2001-02), Bryan Beniger (2004-05), Levi Stubbs (2006), Conrad Burbank (2007-11), Dillon Fraley (2012-14), Garrett Gregg (2015), Jarod Asche (2016-18), Hudson Klundt (2019), Cole Sain (2020-).
Players Mentioned
Leon Costello Press Conference: Kennedy-Stark Athletic Center
Thursday, July 31
A Conversation with President Dr. Waded Cruzado | Montana State Athletics
Monday, May 19
Big Cats, Little Trucks - Willie Patterson
Wednesday, May 03
Matt Houk Introductory Press Conference
Wednesday, May 03
