MSU-N Game Day Feature: Out of the darkness, comes the light

He plays for a team nicknamed the Lights. But in four seasons at Montana State University-Northern playing football, Kagen Khameneh hasn't seen the brightest of times. In fact, he's been through some of Northern's darkest days.

And in those dark times, Khameneh has watched many of his former teammates give up on the Lights, give up on football and essentially disappear. He's also played through not one, not two, not even three, but four coaching changes at MSU-N.

So, if Khameneh wasn't who he was, he might have been one of the one's to just disappear too. But, that's not who Kagen Khameneh is. Never has been.

Instead, the former Missoula prep standout, and senior tight end for the Lights, has endured. For many reasons, loyalty, dedication and character among them. And then there's something else – Khameneh is a student playing football. In other words, he came to Northern to get a degree, and played football as a means to do it.

"I guess, school is one of the big reasons why I have stuck this out," Khameneh said ahead of his second-to-last home game as a Light. "Honestly, that's a big one. I'm going to graduate in May, and going to school here has been really good for me. I love Northern. I've really enjoyed being a student here."

Khameneh won't just graduate in May, he'll do so with honors, with a biology degree. And while school has been a big focus over the four years he's been at MSU-N, relationships have made a big difference too.

Through turbulent times that started when the head coach who recruited him, Mark Samson, was essentially forced to resign, Khameneh said that the relationships he's built have kept him coming back to the practice field, kept him coming back to try and help a struggling program find some medium of success.

"The friendships I've made here, that's been huge for me," he said. "Like take Sam Mix, he's one of my best friends, and I look at what he went through, and I think, if he comes back, I can come back. I've just always felt it was important to come back, keep working hard, show my friends who are doing the same thing, and my teammates that, no matter what has happened, I still care. I'm still going to go out there and play hard.

"So being with the other guys," he continued. "Fighting out there with my teammates and some of the best friends I've ever had, that's a big part of it. Those friends, those guys like Sam and Tyler Craig and Zach McKinley, who fought and have gone through the same things as I have, those guys are why I'm still here."

No question, Khameneh has set an incredibly great example for any athlete on how to handle adversity. And in reality, he's had plenty of practice at handling adversity, and it started long before he came to Northern.

In high school, Khameneh suffered a couple of diagnosed concussions, and walked away from football after his sophomore season. For a time, and especially after watching former Missoula prep standout Dylan Steigers tragically pass away from concussion-related issues while playing football at Eastern Oregon, Khameneh was sound in his decision to give up football.

But, as time went on, and with his final year of high school approaching, Khameneh said the itch to play returned.

"Honestly, in high school, football wasn't that big of a deal to me, and I didn't even play my junior year," he noted. "But, after not playing, I kind of started to feel like I had made a big mistake. And things started to change. I decided to start playing again, and I dedicated myself to making up for what I missed. When you love football, and you don't have it, that's when you realize how much you love it and how much you do care."

His senior year at Missoula Sentinel, Khameneh was back in the pads, feeling good, and he started to garner attention because of his size and athleticism. And that's when then Northern offensive coordinator Kyle Samson came calling.

"I didn't know if I was going to play college football or just go to school," Khameneh said. "But when Kyle Samson recruited me, I was like, that's exactly who I want to play for. I'd play for that guy any day, anywhere."

And while Khameneh actually never got the chance to play for the younger Samson, as he later became the head coach at Flathead High, he was at Northern, and literally months into his collegiate football career, he was on the field, playing the 2014 season under then interim head coach Jake Eldridge.

"I didn't think I would play until my junior year really," Khameneh said. "But they put me out there a lot on special teams, and by the end of my freshman year, I was playing a lot at tight end."

Tight end was a perfect fit for the 6-3, 240-pound Khameneh. And, in his time at Northern, every one of his coaches, and many around the Frontier Conference, have noted how good of a tight end he's been. And yet, adversity and challenges have reared their head, even when it comes to the position he plays.

For all of his ability, all of his athletic prowess, and for having appeared in an incredible 32 games, including 27 starts, Khameneh has seen few balls come his way. In fact, for his entire career, he has just 48 receptions for 429 yards and a lone touchdown. In his final campaign for Northern, even when the Lights have had a more wide-open passing attack, he has just eight catches for 45 yards.

And if Khameneh were a selfish football player, and a different kind of person, he may have more than just frustration with the lack of targets and the lack of numbers that have certainly cost him a serious a look at All-Conference accolades. But, again, that's just not who Khameneh is.

"It has been frustrating at times," he said. "Because I feel like I'm a really good football player and I do think I can be weapon. But honestly, my first three years, we had Zach (McKinley), and we ran the ball a lot, and my job was to block for him. And trust me, I loved it. It was special to be able to play with Zach.

"But at the end of the day, I don't know exactly why I haven't gotten more looks," he continued. "But I've always felt that the most important thing to me was the team. I've went out there every single day accepting my role and doing the best I can to help my team. If that's been blocking more than catching passes, than that's what I was gonna do, and do it as well as I possibly could. The team has always mattered more to me than stats and stuff like that."

Not only has Khameneh, a two-year captain, been one of the most unselfish players Northern has ever had, because of how much he cares about his team, he's also been one of the most reliable, and dependable. His blocking during McKinley's historic career has not gone unnoticed, but something else may have – and it's something Khameneh says, even through a career that his seen his teams win just five games, he's extremely proud of.

"The thing that I really take pride in is, I've always been there," Khameneh said. "I've never missed a game. From the first game they put me in my freshman year, I've been there. I haven't missed a spring or a fall camp. That's something I feel really good about. I've done everything I can to help my team and to help Northern."

Indeed. There's no telling where the Northern program would be without the leadership and integrity of Khameneh. Through some of the most trying and difficult times any college football program has endured, Khameneh has been an influence in every right way a student-athlete can be. He's played the game, and played it the right way, and he's been a model student-athlete. Those are things no one can ever take away from him.

He's set an example for every football player that has come through Northern's program in his time as a Light, whether they've chosen to follow it or not. That's what leaders do. And, as he gets ready to exit stage left, with a mere three games remaining in his MSU-N career, he'll set that same example.

"The message I would leave the younger guys, the guys that are thinking about quitting or if being here is the best thing for them," he said. "Think about others before you think about yourself. Think about your teammates, the guys you work so hard with in winter conditioning, and spring ball and practice. Those were the best times for me, and I wouldn't have traded any of it. So I say, think about your teammates, your friends and your family, before you think about yourself. That's what I've always tried to do in my career."

You haven't tried to do that Kagen - that's exactly what you've done. And no matter what the scoreboard says, or what your career stats don't say, because of what you've done in your time on the hill in Havre, Northern, on the football field and off it, is better off because of who you are, and what you're about.