National signing day is a big day for Northern

Outside of playing for a national or conference championship, today is one of the biggest days in college football. And it’s a big day with no one putting on the pads and cleats.

It’s national signing day around the country, and from the top high school prospects heading to places like Alabama and Ohio State, all the way down to schools in the Frontier Conference, today is about building the next great team.

Today is an important day for the Montana State University-Northern Lights. New head coach Aaron Christensen is expected to announce his first recruiting class at Northern this afternoon. Northern enters this morning with 15 verbal commits, and the Lights recruiting class could grow to as many as 25 players before the class is finished.

Christensen has been hard on the recruiting trail since he arrived in Havre back in early January, and his first class as Lights’ head coach will include a number of players who should have an immediate impact for the Lights starting next fall.

Of course, it’s also a huge day for Montana’s two major college football programs.

Like Christensen at MSU-N, new University of Montana head coach Bob Stitt will announce his first recruiting class as a Grizzly later this afternoon. Stitt was hired back in December to replace the retired Mick Delaney, and his first class should feature between 25-30 new players, even though Montana is in its second year of a four-year NCAA probation which includes the loss of four full scholarships for each of those years.

Among the new Grizzlies expected to sign their letters of intent today are a couple of NCAA FBS transfer quarterbacks in former Idaho Vandal Chad Chalich and former University of Hawaii QB Eric Prater. Both players are currently enrolled at UM, and will be part of a ferocious battle for the Griz’ vacant quarterback job. Also already enrolled is one of UM’s top recruits in quarterback Willy Pflug. Pflug hails from Oregon, and he graduated from high school last semester in order to enroll early at UM.

Wide receivers are expected to be a big part of Stitt’s first class. UM has as many as six verbal commitments from receivers including Montana standouts Holden Ryan of Billings Central and Dalton Daum of Butte High, both of whom had preferred walk-on offers at FBS programs like the University of Washington and Wyoming. The Grizzlies also recently landed 3-star Corvallis standout Jesse Sims. Sims was set to attend Oregon State, but a coaching change at OSU led him to decommit. Sims is considered the top high school prospect in Montana from the Class of 2015. He chose between UM and Montana State in the end. Sims is projected to play defensive end for the Griz, who are expected to sign around 10 defensive players today, including Washington State transfer Markel Sanders at the safety position.

In Bozeman, the Bobcats will announce head coach Rob Ash’s 10th recruiting class this afternoon at the Stadium Club inside Bobcat Stadium. The Cats are expected to announce around 30 new signees today in what will be a big and important class for MSU.

The Cats ranked near the bottom of the Big Sky Conference in total defense last fall, and Ash has tried to shore up those problems with the likes of junior college transfers Bryson McCabe (S), Zach Stern (LB), Shiloh LaBoy (LB) and Joe Naotala (DT). The Cats also landed a pair of former FBS defenders in former Cincinnati linebacker Marcus Tappan and UAB safety Desman Carter.

Among Montana State’s top in-state recruits they’ll announce today, Belgrade safety Brayden Konkol is very familiar to Havre fans. Konkol played quarterback and linebacker at Belgrade, but is projected as a strong safety for the Bobcats. MSU has also received commitments from both of the Class AA MVPs from this past fall in Glacier quarterback Brady McChesney and Wolfpack linebacker Josh Hill.

In the battle for Big Sky bragging rights when it comes to recruiting, as of this morning, the Bobcats had received 10 verbal commitments from Montana high school players. Konkol, Hill, McChesney, Skyview’s Mitchell Brott, Helena Capitol’s Walker Cozzie, CMR’s Bryan Wilkes, Butte Central’s Marcus Ferriter, DGS’s Kash Perry, Skyview’s Tre’Von Strong and Glacier’s Logan Jones are all expected to sign with MSU today. The Grizzlies had received seven verbals from Montana players, including Ryan, Daum, Sims and Big Sky’s Colin Bingham, as well as Glacier’s Andrew Harris and Bigfork’s Josh Sandry. Butte Central quarterback/kicker Danny Peoples will also sign with the Griz today.