Heir Unapparent

If you asked Glacier football coach Grady Bennett in 2019 who would be leading not only his team at quarterback but the entire state in passing, he might have guessed anyone but Gage Sliter.

True, three years ago the Wolfpack had a 6-foot-3 QB in JT Allen. But Bennett, as coaches do, was looking down the road. Of all his underclassmen QBs, Sliter was the smallest.

“As a freshman, even as a sophomore, it was hard to believe he could be a varsity quarterback,” Bennett said. “Gage was little. He wasn’t very strong, and wasn’t real quick.”

Sliter estimates that as a freshman he was maybe pushing 5-foot-8.

“I was probably 145 pounds,” he added. “One-forty-five, 155, in that range.”

Told that the 2020 program listed him as a 6-foot, 170-pound sophomore, he laughed: “Yeah, that might be a stretch.”

Now, he’s 6-1 and 185. He throws a deep pass so nice that he’s piled up 2,149 yards through seven games. The senior credits his receivers: The talented 2021 senior class gave way to a new crew that has helped keep his numbers remarkably consistent.

He also feels fortunate that quarterback coach Dustin Haines joined the Glacier staff in 2020.

“We spent tons of time working together in the offseason,” Sliter said.

Bennett, for his part, credits Sliter.

“We were looking around thinking, ‘Oh, boy, what are we going to do,’ “ Bennett remembered. “But he has worked so hard to not only be a good quarterback, but he’s turned himself into a good athlete. It’s really been impressive. Now he’s a guy who can make plays and extend plays.

“It’s just amazing what he’s turned himself into. He has transformed himself completely, just through hard work and commitment.”

Going into Friday’s 7 p.m. Crosstown battle with Flathead, Sliter is among the top tier of quarterbacks in Glacier’s history. He has at least two games left and sits third on the school’s career touchdown list with 44, having passed Shay Smithwick-Hann (41 from 2007-09) with four TDs against Butte last week.

It was his third four-TD game of the season and his career, which is more than anyone in Glacier history not named Brady McChesney (who had 13). But McChesney never had a seven-touchdown performance and Sliter did, in the Wolfpack’s opener with Belgrade in August.

That broke the school record of six by Leif Erickson in 2015;

Did Sliter envision all this? In a word, yes.

“I’ve played quarterback since fourth grade,” he said. “In middle school I was nowhere near the biggest player on the field, but I wasn’t the smallest. I didn’t really grow until late freshman year, and early sophomore year.”

One other possible blessing in disguise was the Covid pandemic in 2020.

“I spent a lot of time during quarantine in the weight room, and made huge jumps there,” he said. “I grew, too — that helped, obviously. But the weight room really helped, in every facet.”

The yards have piled up even though so much talent graduated off last year’s team. It’s hard not to miss the likes of Tate Kauffman, Connor Sullivan, Luke Bilau and Jake Turner, not to mention running back Jake Rendina.

At the same time he wouldn’t trade Cohen Kastelitz, Kaid Buls, Kole Johnson, Bridger Smith, Evan Barnes and Van Scholten for anyone. Together, along with Kash Goicoechea and Alex Hausmann, they’ve caught 21 touchdown passes.

Last year Sliter threw 23.

“Guys are stepping up and making plays,” he said. “It’s pretty fun, when you’ve got three or four guys out there that can play. And the big guys up front (Ben Winters, Rylan Hall and Henry Sellards are returning starters), you can’t give those guys enough credit.”

The rub is that last week’s win over Butte snapped a three-game losing streak, albeit against the best the Western AA has to offer: Missoula Sentinel, Helena Capital and Helena. All were one-score games.

“We had a stretch there where we were 0-3, and that was tough, bedacus we knew we were one or two plays away in each game,” Sliter said. “But we learned and grew up a lot, with a young team. We just have to figure out how to win those games late.

“We’re super happy to be rolling and looking forward to finishing this season out.”

Bennett remembers fondly when an undersized sixth-grader named Gage would birddog his summer camps. Not much has changed.

“I was at two Griz camps (this past summer),” Sliter said. “Their 7-on-7 camp and their quarterback camp. Then I drove out to Montana Western’s camp.”

There were also visits to Colorado University, Colorado School of Mines, Montana Tech and Carroll College. In July Sliter attended Marty Mornhinweg’s passing camp.

Montana offered a spot, though Sliter said that the two sides will “revisit that later.” He hasn’t committed.

“After the second Griz camp, I had a great conversation with Coach (Bobby) Hauck,” he said. “I want to focus on high school football until late November. Then I can concentra on colleges.”

“All of that’s a great story,” Bennett, who played quarterback at Montana, noted. “He has become a really good quarterback. But he’s also such a good person. He’s a great leader and takes leadership seriously.

“The one quality I like so much is he’s so unflappable. That’s probably the No. 1 quality a quarterback needs, is poise.”

Flathead is next. Rivalry games get tense, and Glacier can’t afford to take the 1-6 Braves lightly or absorb another loss.

“It’s pretty fun playing in the state of Montana,” Sliter said. “Everybody has their idea of who’s going to be good before the season. But you can’t really tell until you play that guy on Friday.”