Grizzlies' Reynolds bows out of historical career

MISSOULA - That familiar eye-black was still smeared across Chase Reynolds' cheeks as he very slowly stood up at the end of the postgame press conference in the Adams Center after Montana State's victory over Montana last Saturday.

As he stepped out of the spotlight of the television cameras and microphones, Reynolds held his right arm tight against his chest with a blank gaze on his face as if he were rewatching the game against the Bobcats on a screen inside his head.

Even the announcement that came at that point didn't seem to get his attention: The senior from Drummond who went from eight-man football to the college football record books, ended up with 4,604 career yards, three short of the all-time school record held by Yohance Humphrey (1998-01).

The words settled into silence and the mood around the room dropped even lower, although no one at the time knew for certain the future, that this was it for Montana. This is where the season ended.

Reynolds silently made his way to the exit, still watching that video in his head. In the background, Montana senior quarterback Justin Roper said with regret in his voice that he wished he would have decided to run the ball one more time so Reynolds could own the record; three whole yards is all, just about 10 feet.

Quietly and almost to himself, as he walked out of the room Reynolds said, "Oh well." And then he was gone.

The Montana football program is in a rare state these days.

The streak of 25-straight winning seasons is still intact, but a few pillars in the dynastic structure have cracked.

For the first time in 18 years, the Griz are not playing in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

For the first time since 1998, the Griz don't own the Big Sky title or at least a share of it.

The loss to Montana State was only the second in Washington-Grizzly Stadium and the first since 2002.

Then there's the loss of another strong senior class that played in two straight-national championships.

This year's group of graduates is headlined by an all-time great in Reynolds.

Although the homegrown running back ended his career just shy of the yards mark, Reynolds still owns school records for most touchdowns (59) and rushing touchdowns (52) and is third all-time in the same two categories in the Big Sky Conference record books.

"He's represented our state and one of our state universities extremely well. I'm very impressed with him," MSU head coach Rob Ash said after Saturday's game.

Symbolically, Reynolds' shoulders were worn out at the end. A chronic injury flared up during the Bobcat game and took Reynolds out in the second quarter until midway through the third. By the press conference, Reynolds looked as though he could barely lift his right arm and said plainly "I've had pretty bad luck with my shoulders."

Game after game throughout his career, the 6-foot, 190-pounder, who started out as a skinny wide receiver four years ago, bared everything he could atop those narrow shoulders. Pain and injury followed, slowed him down and sent him to the sidelines, but not for long.

"You got a heart of a lion in a guy like Chase Reynolds, who gave everything he possibly could," Montana athletic director Jim O'Day said. "When you watch him walk around this place right now you wonder how he even gets out of bed. But he gave everything he had the last couple of weeks, certainly even though he was beat up. He's just a warrior. He's an absolute warrior and a great person. He worked hard for every one of those yards. All of these seniors, they will really be missed."

First-year head coach Robin Pflugrad said during the press conference he was proud of all the seniors for putting forth the effort that has embodied Griz football throughout the years.

"That's something no one can take away from them, their spirit," Pflugrad said. "I hope they realize that after awhile. I hope they understand that."

Despite Montana's current standing, O'Day said he believes the future is bright.

"I know that the coaches and everybody right now, as you sit back you're a little down about it, but the sun is going to shine again," O'Day said on Monday. "We have to go on about our business and get better, which we will.

"Certainly at the University of Montana we would have loved to have been (in the playoffs). It didn't happen for us this year," he added. "This has been really a rebuilding year in many instances. We lost a lot of kids the last two senior classes. Our kids fought hard and our coaches coached hard but at the end of the year we just fell a couple points short. Basically we needed to get one more Division 1 win."

O'Day said the recent decision to remain in the Big Sky Conference instead of opting out for a move to a Football Bowl Subdivision conference was the right one. Although nothing of consequence resulted in the study this time around, the process of looking at the viability of moving up helped give the school a good idea of what needs to be improved, he said.

"We know we can move on with that decision having been made. We also know it will probably come up again in the future, who knows when with the changing winds of the NCAA," O'Day said. "Anything can happen at any time. But for right now we know where we're at so we can plan accordingly. The other thing that it allows us now is to start concentrating on these things we knew we needed to look at, i.e. facility improvements, looking at adding another female sport; some of the things that we probably put off awhile and now we know those are situations that we have to attend to."