Smithwick-Hann commits to Griz
Class AA All-State quarterback and Glacier senior Shay Smithwick-Hann has committed to play football for The University of Montana next fall.
The 6-foot-4 standout met with incoming head coach Robin Pflugrad and other members of the new Grizzly coaching staff recently and agreed to sign a national letter of intent on Feb. 3, the first day that recruits can officially join a program.
Smithwick-Hann threw for more than 1,800 yards and ran for more than 700 yards this past season and helped lead Glacier to a 7-3 regular-season record that put the Wolfpack in the Class AA playoffs for the first time in the school’s three-year history.
Both Montana and Montana State offered full-ride scholarships for football, but Smithwick-Hann said in the end playing in Missoula had been a lifelong dream.
“Growing up you always watch (the Griz) on TV, you always watch them when they play the ’Cats, you always watch them when they’re in the playoffs,” he said. “They’ve won the Big Sky Conference championship every year this decade. I mean there’s not a better program in the nation than The University of Montana, and that was something I wanted to be a part of. It’s something that you dream of as a little kid, and to just step foot in Washington-Grizzly Stadium has always been a dream of mine. Now it’s going to come true, so I’m pretty excited.”
Smithwick-Hann, 18, said he will be given a chance at quarterback but could also see time at tight end, a position his father Jim played at UM in the 1970’s before being drafted in the NFL by the then-St. Louis Cardinals.
“The goal for me is to play quarterback,” Smithwick-Hann said. “They feel good about my opportunity to play quarterback ... but they also feel good about me as a tight end in that spread offense. My dad played tight end so the position kind of runs in the family and that would be a fun opportunity. Whatever I can do to get on the field.”
Last season, the Grizzlies had one of the top-ranked offenses in the nation and went 14-1, losing in the title game of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.
In late December, Pflugrad replaced seven-year head coach Bobby Hauck, who left Montana with a 80-17 overall record and took over head coaching duties at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Montana currently has five quarterbacks listed on the roster (three seniors and two sophomores).
In three seasons at Glacier, Smithwick-Hann passed for 5,584 yards and 37 touchdowns. Last season, he threw for 1,896 yards and nine touchdowns and had 724 yards rushing with 13 scores. He also is currently leading the boys varsity basketball team in scoring with roughly 15 points-per-game.
“A lot of the credit goes to my parents and my sister Grier and (Glacier head football coach) Grady Bennett, just the way they brought me up and the things they’ve done for me to get me to the point where I am,” Smithwick-Hann said. “I have great people around me, all the credit goes out to those people.”
The new Montana heading coaching staff will introduce this year’s recruiting class at the Griz Football Signing Day reception at 5:30 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel Edgewater in Missoula on Feb. 3.
UPDATE (1/27) — The Flathead Valley Grizzly Scholarship Association chapter will be holding a Grizzly Football Social on Feb. 4 at the Hilton Garden Inn and Convention Center in Kalispell from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Head coach Robin Pflugrad along with Athletic Director Jim O'Day and other members of the UM staff will introduce the newest Griz recruit during the evening's events.
For more information, call 243-6481.