Bridger Smith happy to be back with the Pack

A budding receiver working out with a who’s-who of Salt Lake City-area quarterbacks, Bridger Smith didn’t figure he’d wind up in Kalispell, Montana, his sophomore year of high school.

That’s what happened — his mom’s a traveling chef, and Smith found himself walking the halls of Glacier High in the fall of 2022 while she put together a catering business.  

There was football: The Wolfpack was having another strong season, going 7-4 with Gage Sliter throwing for 3,175 yards. Smith had 393 of those yards, on 22 catches with four touchdowns.  

He wasn’t happy. 

“I was kind of having a tough time getting used to being here,” said Smith, who’d spent his freshman year at Pleasant Grove, a 6A school in the Utah city of the same name. “My sophomore year I was more just selfish: Why this happened, or why I wasn’t getting the ball more. I wasn’t about the team.” 

In the spring of 2023, just as track and field season was getting underway, Smith decided to move back to Utah and live with an aunt. He was set to play at Lehi High, another 6A school. And then he had an epiphany. 

“When I got there, I missed the whole culture of Wolfpack football, all that,” he said.  

Within a few weeks he called Wolfpack coach Grady Bennett. 

“One of the coolest phone calls I’ve ever had,” said Bennett. “He said, ‘I made a huge mistake, I have to come back.’ Just realizing the special culture we had, and how much he liked playing Wolfpack football, it was just really cool.  

“He came back and the growth he’s had.  ... he’s grown so much as a leader, being selfless, knowing it’s about the team. I could go on and on, but as a coach, gosh, it’s why we do what we do.” 

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With the emergence of Cohen Kastelitz, who had 46 catches for 938 yards that 2022 season, Smith became the second and sometimes third receiving option. Yet while Kastelitz, who now is at Montana Tech, zigged and zagged his way to No. 2 on Glacier’s career receiving list, Smith still piled up some stats. 

Six games into his senior year, Smith is No. 9 in career receiving yards with 1,159. He just moved Glacier boys basketball coach Evan Epperly (1,154 from 2012-13) down to No. 10. 

“I’ve got a bigger mark to prove,” Smith said this week. “We’ve got a lot of season left.” 

The season continues Thursday with the annual Crosstown game with Flathead, at Legends Stadium. The Wolfpack is coming off a loss, 35-14 at Helena Capital. 

It’s the second straight season Glacier’s program has been upended in surprising fashion; last fall Butte posted a wild comeback win. 

“I think last year we knew we had a really talented team, and we kind of walked in expecting to win,” Smith said of a squad that recovered to make the State AA title game. “This year we didn’t necessarily have that mindset – we just started winning football games. 

“I think it was good our younger guys to see and understand that we’re beatable, and if we don’t play together as a team, we won’t get where we want to be.” 

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Bennett noted that when Smith got to Glacier High he was a polished player. 

“He came in with route-running techniques and skills of an older player,” said the coach. “You can’t press him off the line of scrimmage. He gets open, catches the ball. He jumps out on tape.” 

In middle school, Smith said, he was already honing that technique, working his way into 7-on-7 camps with older players — including Jackson Dart, the current starting quarterback at Ole Miss.  

“Seventh and eighth grade, playing older kids,” he said. “I’m big on really mastering my technique. I’ve always done the extra steps to perfect my route running. That’s always been a big thing.” 

Given the skill of Dart and future Oklahoma State Cowboy QB Jet Niu and Isaac Wilson (Zach Wilson’s little brother is a Utah Ute), Kalispell must have felt like a world away. But hold on. 

“I’ve been blessed,” Smith said. “My sophomore year I got to play with Gage Sliter. That was awesome.” 

Sliter moved on to the Montana Grizzlies and the last two falls Jackson Presley — he has committed to Boise State — has been slinging it for Glacier. Meanwhile Smith committed to the Griz in August, picking them over Montana State and Dartmouth. 

He jumped out on tape, obviously, but that isn’t Bennett’s favorite part. 

“Bridger has grown as much as anyone I’ve ever coached,” he said. “He’s a very, very good route runner, one of the best I've coached if not the best. But I don’t even think about that when I think I talk about Bridger.” 

While his mom works out of state, he lives with Glacier assistant coach Connor Fuller and his wife Keriann and keeps running those routes, happy back in the Flathead Valley.   

“I think he was kind of looking at this program as Small Town, USA,” Bennett said. “It took 2-3 weeks back to realize, wow, our program is special and I have to come back. It was confirming for us, but also neat to have him see that.” 

“I wasn’t about the team,” Smith said. “When I came back, I was more bought into the program, and more selfless.” 

    Glacier wide receiver Bridger Smith (1) picks up yardage after a reception in the first quarter against Billings Senior at Legends Stadium on Friday, Sept. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider