BOBCATS 125: Mac Bignell
5/27/2022 2:00:00 PM | Football
From one of the royal families of Bobcat Football, Mac Bignell enhanced that legacy
Leading to the 2022 season, the 125th anniversary of Montana State's first football team, we will look at 125 of the greatest Bobcats. You can find details here and a directory here.
Mac Bignell, LB, 2014-17
ALL-TIME TEAM: None previously
HONORS: 1st Team All-Big Sky in 2017, 2nd Team All-Big Sky in 2016
A CLOSER LOOK: Mac Bignell joined the Bobcat football program as a safety, and departed as a linebacker known for big hits and scrappy play. Bignell set a school record with nine career forced fumbles, and remains sixth in Bobcat history with 49.5 career tackles-for-loss. His career seen through statistics tells a vastly different story than it does seen through awards. He earned First Team All-Big Sky honors only once, as a senior, het he was among the league's most productive linebackers during all three of his seasons as a starter. Bignell logged 101 tackles as a sophomore, with 20.5 coming behind the line of scrimmage. He also forced four fumbles that season. The Bobcats didn't play well defensively as a unit that season, but Bignell emerged as a star. In 2016, Jeff Choate's first season as head coach, his 97 tackles again led the team. He also logged 14.5 tackles for loss with three sacks, and forced two more fumbles. As a senior in 2017, Bignell registered 93 tackles, the most on the team for the third straight season, forced another fumble, and came up with the only interception of his career. Bignell's signature individual moment came early in his career, when his hit on a Black Hills State receiver earned national recognition as a play of the day.
Bignell came from one of the greatest families in the history of Bobcat Football, a program defined since the very beginning by family. Mac's father Joe is one of MSU's greatest players ever, and his brother Nate and cousins Clay and Brian all played for the Cats.
FROM TEAMMATE AND FORMER BOBCAT SAFETY WEST WILSON: " Mac and I redshirted as safeties together, I stayed at safety and he moved to linebacker and I thought, 'What an idiot.' Great quote looking back. If you took a bunch of Montana natural resources and a pair of cleats and mix them together in a potion you'd get Mac Bignell. He was missing a tooth for half the time we played together. The guy was just hungry to hit people and get dirty. I will always remember his hit our sophomore year on Gold Rush. He sent that guy to another planet."
Mac Bignell, LB, 2014-17
ALL-TIME TEAM: None previously
HONORS: 1st Team All-Big Sky in 2017, 2nd Team All-Big Sky in 2016
A CLOSER LOOK: Mac Bignell joined the Bobcat football program as a safety, and departed as a linebacker known for big hits and scrappy play. Bignell set a school record with nine career forced fumbles, and remains sixth in Bobcat history with 49.5 career tackles-for-loss. His career seen through statistics tells a vastly different story than it does seen through awards. He earned First Team All-Big Sky honors only once, as a senior, het he was among the league's most productive linebackers during all three of his seasons as a starter. Bignell logged 101 tackles as a sophomore, with 20.5 coming behind the line of scrimmage. He also forced four fumbles that season. The Bobcats didn't play well defensively as a unit that season, but Bignell emerged as a star. In 2016, Jeff Choate's first season as head coach, his 97 tackles again led the team. He also logged 14.5 tackles for loss with three sacks, and forced two more fumbles. As a senior in 2017, Bignell registered 93 tackles, the most on the team for the third straight season, forced another fumble, and came up with the only interception of his career. Bignell's signature individual moment came early in his career, when his hit on a Black Hills State receiver earned national recognition as a play of the day.
Bignell came from one of the greatest families in the history of Bobcat Football, a program defined since the very beginning by family. Mac's father Joe is one of MSU's greatest players ever, and his brother Nate and cousins Clay and Brian all played for the Cats.
FROM TEAMMATE AND FORMER BOBCAT SAFETY WEST WILSON: " Mac and I redshirted as safeties together, I stayed at safety and he moved to linebacker and I thought, 'What an idiot.' Great quote looking back. If you took a bunch of Montana natural resources and a pair of cleats and mix them together in a potion you'd get Mac Bignell. He was missing a tooth for half the time we played together. The guy was just hungry to hit people and get dirty. I will always remember his hit our sophomore year on Gold Rush. He sent that guy to another planet."
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