Achieving folklore status

Hauck: Rarely-mentioned Dwyer most popular Griz teammate

Four years ago, neither Griz players nor Griz Nation had heard much of Kalispell's Brandon Dwyer.

Sure, he lettered in football, track and basketball at Flathead High School and was a team captain on each of those teams as a senior.

Sure, he was a key member of the Braves as a sprinter when the team earned three straight Class AA state track and field titles.

And sure, he was an all-state selection in prep football as a wide receiver, cornerback and punt returner.

But for four years as a University of Montana football player, the 5-foot-10, 206-pounder has been buried on the depth chart at wide receiver and then at cornerback. His only playing time has come on special teams.

Then Saturday came.

It was Senior Day at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Dwyer, along with high school teammate and current Griz legend Lex Hilliard, were honored before the game with 20 other senior players. Former NFL coach Jerry Glanville had his Portland State Vikings in town, trying to help dethrone the Grizzlies from winning their 10th straight Big Sky Conference championship. It was the final regular-season home game for the fourth-ranked Montana Grizzlies.

… And Dwyer played his best game as a Griz.

Not only did the special teamer have two monster hits on the kickoff coverage and punt coverage units as well as an onside kick recovery (that ended up being nullified by a penalty), he made the play of the season, according to UM coach Bobby Hauck.

He threw a PSU blocker into his punt returner to force a fumble and then recovered it on the Vikings' 16-yard line with 8 minutes, 9 seconds left before half. Three plays later, the Grizzlies took a 24-10 lead en route to a 34-31 victory.

"That may be the best play that anybody on our team has made all year," Hauck said. "That was a big, big, play."

Dwyer said he had been waiting for that opportunity all year.

"I got a good release off the line and from the guy who was holding me up," he said. "I got to the returner a little early and I've been waiting for a situation like that all year where throwing my blocker into the returner would work. Everything just kind of lined up and I was able to knock him into the punt returner. The ball came out and the next thing I knew I was on top of the ball. Everybody was slapping me on the helmet and was grinning really hard. That's all I remember."

As expected, Dwyer won the UM's special teams player of the week award.

It was his second such award of the season. He was also honored after the Weber State game and then served as a team captain for the Eastern Washington game. He will be a team captain again on Saturday against Idaho State.

"Everything lined up for me," Dwyer said. "I've been telling everybody, 'Every blind hog gets an acorn once in a while.' It was nice to be able to do it. I had some of my best friends, who I was able to get tickets for, come down and watch the game. So I was happy to be able to play so well in front of them and in front of my parents on Senior Day."

Hauck said Dwyer played like "his hair was on fire."

"He is the poster boy for a guy who is sticking to it, working hard and keeping his mouth shut," Hauck said. "There is nobody on the football team more popular with his teammates than Brandon Dwyer. He's a guy that walked in here and nobody knew his name and now he's got folkhero status on our team."

Griz players call him the team clown.

"He is our resident funny man," junior linebacker Tom Martin of Columbus said. "He always comes up with a good joke, it seems like. Just the other day, Coach (Mike) Gerber was giving us a hard time on the stretch line. So Dwyer came up with a 'Stretch Line Nazi' paragraph and got in a good-natured ribbing of coach Gerber."

While everything lined up for Dwyer on Saturday for everyone to take notice, the Griz coaches honored him more than a month ago for his play in a game that he registered no statistics. That was the Weber State game.

"He did a great job in everything he does," Hauck said. "He made plays on every unit. It was nothing spectacular because in the positions he plays, he doesn't show up in any of the stat sheets. But he was in on about 25 kicking plays and he didn't have a single bad play.

"I'm really proud of Brandon and am pleased that everything has worked out for him."

No. 3 Montana is on track to host at least one playoff game, starting Nov. 24, and possibly three. The opportunity remains to see No. 30 live in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

And who knows? Maybe No. 38 (Hilliard) will become Montana's all-time leading rusher in the same game.