Hauck, Sneed, and Olson to represent Montana at Big Sky Football Kickoff

Montana head football coach Bobby Hauck and the Grizzlies' offensive and defensive team MVPs from 2018 will represent UM at the Big Sky Conference Football Kickoff next week in Spokane, Wash.

Dual-threat quarterback Dalton Sneed, record-breaking linebacker Dante Olson, and Hauck will appear at the league's annual event slated for July 14-15 at the Davenport Hotel.

On Sunday, coaches and student-athletes will spend the day in broadcast content production for ROOT Sports and various other media outlets from around the league.

On Monday, preseason interviews with the UM delegation will be broadcast live on the conference's streaming platforms Pluto TV (Ch. 531) and WatchBigSky.com as part of a schedule featuring all 13 of the league's head coaches and two student-athletes from each institution.

Hauck will be interviewed at 11 a.m. local time (noon mountain) while Sneed and Olson will be interviewed at 2:07 p.m. local time (3:07 p.m. MT).

Fans can also follow Griz football's social media feeds on Twitter (@MontanaGrizFB), Instagram (@montanagrizfootball), and Facebook (@MontanaGrizFootball) for updates and interviews throughout the event.

Local and national media organizations covering the conference will get one-on-one interview opportunities with head coaches and student-athletes on Monday as well.

As usual, the league will also announce its preseason All-Big Sky Conference teams in addition to the coaches and media preseason polls on Monday morning.

Sneed returns for his senior season after a breakout junior season where he led Montana in rushing and passing to earn the Big Sky Newcomer of the Year award. He amassed 3,398 total yards, and averaged 308.9 yards per game, ranking him No. 9 in the nation and No. 2 in the Big Sky for total offense.

Against Sacramento State, he exploded for 440 yards of total offense and four touchdowns. With 206 yards and three TDs on the ground, he set the school record for the best single-game rushing performance by any UM quarterback and produced the 8th-best overall rushing game in program history.

Olson re-wrote the Grizzly history books in 2018, shattering the school record for single-season tackles with 151, and posting two of the top single-game tackling performances in team history.

He finished third in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award, was named to seven different All-America teams, and was the only Grizzly named first-team All-Big Sky.

Olson was also celebrated for his academic prowess and community service, named to the FCS ADA Academic All-Star team, Academic All-Big Sky, and named the GoGriz.com Person of the Year for his work volunteering to mentor a class of underprivileged kids.

So far in 2019, he has been named to the Athlon Sports and HERO Sports Preseason All-America teams.

Montana opens the 2019 season at South Dakota on Aug. 31, with the home opener slated for the following week against North Alabama in Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Sept. 7.

2019 Big Sky Football Live Stream on Pluto TV Ch. 531

Monday, July 15
9:00 a.m.             Jay Hill, Weber State
9:10 a.m.             Troy Taylor, Sacramento State
9:20 a.m.             Tim Walsh, Cal Poly
9:30 a.m.             Bruce Barnum, Portland State
9:40 a.m.             Demario Warren, Southern Utah
9:50 a.m.             Rob Phenicie, Idaho State
10:00 a.m.          Dan Hawkins, UC Davis
10:10 a.m.          Paul Petrino, Idaho
10:20 a.m.          Chris Ball, Northern Arizona
10:30 a.m.          Jeff Choate, Montana State
10:40 a.m.          Earnest Collins Jr., Northern Colorado
10:50 a.m.          Aaron Best, Eastern Washington
11:00 a.m.          Bobby Hauck, Montana
11:10 a.m.          Dan Hilsendeger, My Place Hotels
11:30 a.m.          Jahque Alleyne & Kevin Kassis, Montana State
11:43 a.m.          Kevin Thomson & Caelan Barnes, Sacramento State
11:56 p.m.          Kenton Bartlett & Charlie Taumoepeau, Portland State
12:09 p.m.          J.J. Koski & Kitu Humphrey, Cal Poly
12:22 p.m.          Zach Larsen & Jay Green Jr., Southern Utah
12:36 p.m.          Mitch Gueller & Kody Graves, Idaho State
12:49 p.m.          Nas Anesi & Jake Maier, UC Davis
1:02 p.m.            Jacob Knipp & Luke Nelson, Northern Colorado
1:15 p.m.            Noah Johnson & Lloyd Hightower, Idaho
1:28 p.m.            Rashid Shaheed & Jonah Williams, Weber State
1:41 p.m.            Case Cookus & Anthony Sweeney, Northern Arizona
1:54 p.m.            Jayce Gilder & Dylan Ledbetter, Eastern Washington
2:07 p.m.            Dante Olson & Dalton Sneed, Montana
2:20 p.m.            Tom Wistrcill, Big Sky Conference

MORE ON SNEED

2019: Sneed is poised for an outstanding senior season as the incumbent starter and returning Big Sky Newcomer of the Year … Played sparingly in the Spring game, but put up 5 attempts with 4 completions for 65 yards and a touchdown in one drive

2018: Named Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year ... All-Big Sky Honorable Mention QB ... Led team in rushing and passing, to earn Montana Football's Offensive MVP Award … Averaged 308.9 yards of offense per game (#2 in the Big Sky conference, #9 in the nation) ... Rushed for a career-high 206-yards against Sac. State, more than any QB in Montana history, and the 8th-best overall rushing game in school history ... Finished his first year at UM with 2,723 passing yards - the 18th-best season in UM history ... Sneed joined the team in time for spring drills and won the starting job for the 2018 season in fall camp ... In his first showing as a Grizzly, Sneed led his team to a victory over the then-ranked #13 UNI Panthers. He recorded 248 yards through the air (67% completion rate, 26-39 with no interceptions) and 58 yards on the ground along with one rushing TD and one passing TD ... In his second performance as a Grizzly (vs. Drake, 9/8), threw for 2 TD and 278 yards while also rushing for 65 yards and another touchdown ... Sneed threw for 229 yards and 2 TDs and added 42 yards on the ground at Western Illinois (9/15) ... Exploded for a three rushing touchdowns on career-high 206-yard rushing performance (best single-game rushing performance by a quarterback in Montana history, 8th-best overall in UM history) on 16 carries vs. Sacramento State (9/22). He also threw for 234 yards and another touchdown against the Hornets in Montana's Big Sky Conference opener ... Had another impressive performance throwing for 285 yards (season-high) and 3 passing TD's (passing TD season-high) in a win over Cal Poly (9/29) ... Sneed put on another show vs. #6 UC Davis (10/27) passing for 230 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for an additional 50 yards ... Sneed put on a scoring clinic at Southern Utah (11/3) with 422 yards of total offense (323 passing, 99 rushing) along with his 5 passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown ... Provided the spark his team needed in a road victory over Idaho (11/10) with 349 total yards of offense (220 passing, 129 rushing) along with 4 TDs (3 passing, 1 rushing) on the day ... Sneed finished the season passing for 354 yards and 2 TDs against rival Montana State (11/17)

2017 - Fort Scott CC: Transferred to Fort Scott Community College in Kansas… Played in eight games for the Greyhounds… Threw for 1,257 yards and seven touchdowns, completing 136 passes in 231 attempts, over a 63 percent average… Rushed for 295 yards on 79 attempts with a long of 42 yards... All-KJCCC honorable mention.

2016 - UNLV: Started six games for the Rebels as a redshirt freshman… Broke a UNLV school and Sam Boyd Stadium record with a 91-yard touchdown run – the longest offensive play in Rebel history – narrowly avoiding being sacked in the end zone for a safety… Posted the second-most total offensive yards on the team that season, passing for 632 yards and rushing for 348 more for a total of 980 total yards in nine games, an average of 108.9 per game… Completed 39 passes on 88 attempts with two interceptions… Passed for five touchdowns with QB efficiency of 118.85… Posted a career high day against Hawai'i, going 19-27-0 passing for 279 yards with two scores.

2015 - UNLV: Redshirt season

High School: A three-year letter winner at Horizon HS under coach Kris Heavner... Ranked as a three-star recruit by both 247 Sports and ESPN ... Listed as the No. 79 pro-style QB and No. 28 overall recruit from his state in the 247 Sports composite rankings... Earned All-State Division I honorable mention as a senior and an All-State Division I first team selection as a junior ... Passed for 3,565 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushed for 984 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior ... Threw for 3,740 yards and 44 touchdowns as a junior ... Also a two-year letter winner on the baseball team.

Personal: Parents are Mike and Tracey Sneed of Scottsdale, Ariz. ... Has two sisters, Tori and Riley ... Uncle Taber LeMarr played football at Wyoming and the University of San Diego ... Majoring in communications.

MORE ON OLSON:

2019: Named to the Athlon Sports and HERO Sports 2019 Preseason All-America teams ... Spring 2019 President's List – 4.0 … Academic All-American Big Sky … Returns for his senior season after shattering the school record for single-season tackles (151) in 2018 … All over the place in the first spring scrimmage, Olson had a team-high 5 tackles … Logged 2 tackles in the Grizzlies Spring game.

2018: Finalist for the STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award ... Athlon Sports All-American ... Phil Steele 2018 FCS Defensive Player of the Year ... Phil Steele Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year ... Phil Steele First-Team All-American ... AFCA First-Team All-American ... STATS FCS First-Team All-American ... Walter Camp Foundation All-American ... Associated Press First-Team All-American … American Football Coaches Association First-Team All-American ... HERO Sports First-Team All-American ... Led Division I football in total tackles (FBS and FCS) in the regular season with 151 ... Broke Kendrick Van Ackeren's school record for single-season tackles (130) … Selected as First-Team All-Big Sky Conference by the league's coaches ... Awarded Montana Football's Steve Carlson MVP Award … Awarded Montana Football's Defensive MVP Award ... 2018 GoGriz.com Person of the Year... FCS ADA Academic All-Star ... 2018 University of Montana President's List (4.0 GPA) ... Named ROOT Sports Big Sky Defensive Player of the week on 9/3 ... Named College Sports Madness Big Sky Defensive Player of the week on 9/3 ... Repeated as ROOT Sports Big Sky Player of the Week on 9/8 ... Was named STATS FCS National Defensive Player of the Week on 9/8 as well .... Repeated as College Sports Madness Big Sky Player of the Week on 9/8 ... Named ROOT Sports Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week for a third time on 10/1 after posting 24 tackles against Cal Poly ... Against UNI (9/1), Olson led the Grizzly defense with 13 total tackles ... Also recorded an interception which he returned 26 yards, a sack for a loss of 9 yards, one PBU and one QB hurry ... Was named the ROOT Sports Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week after the UNI game ... Against Drake (9/8), Olson recorded 16 tackles, 2 sacks (career high), 3.5 TFL's (career high), one forced fumble and one PBU ... Olson recorded 11 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, half a sack, one QB hit, and an interception that he returned 25 yards in a well-rounded performance vs. Western Illinois (9/15) ... Against Sacramento State (9/22) recorded 15 tackles, 1 sack, 1 PBU, and a QB hit ... Against Cal Poly (9/29) Olson earned Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for the 3rd time in 5 weeks putting up 24 total tackles (career high and 2nd best single-game tackling performance in UM history) ... Against Portland State (10/6) put up 19 tackles, half a sack, 2 TFL's and 2 forced fumbles ... Olson put up 8 tackles and one half of a TFL in a matchup against North Dakota (10/13) ... Olson added to his impressive season totals with a 13 tackle and one sack performance vs. #6 UC Davis (10/27) ... Leading his team in tackling, Olson contributed to his team's road victory over Idaho (11/10) with 10 tackles and a QB hit on the day ... Olson completed his break-out season with an 18 tackle performance against rival Montana State (11/17)

2017: Second Team All-Big Sky on Special Teams… Academic All-Big Sky … Hauck Family Special Teams Player of the Year… Recorded 38 tackles, 16 of them solo … Had 2 TFLs and one sack against Idaho State for a loss of seven yards … Blocked a kick against Northern Colorado … Logged QB hurries against Savannah State and Eastern Washington … Played in all 11 games for UM … Once again awarded the William (Robi) Robertson Memorial Athletic Scholarship at the annual Lindsay Awards Banquet

2016: Academic All-Big Sky... Hauck Family Special Teams Player of the Year …Olson played in 11 games as a redshirt freshman at linebacker … Recorded 29 tackles, seven of them solo … Had two tackles for loss for six yards, also recorded a sack … Had back to back games with seven tackles against Miss. Valley State and Sacramento State … Recorded both tackles for loss and also his only sack in the Miss. Valley State game... Awarded the William (Robi) Robertson Memorial Athletic Scholarship at the annual Lindsay Awards Banquet.

2015: Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year… Was a redshirt freshman

HIGH SCHOOL: Olson was a four-year letterman in football at Cascade Christian HS, where his team won four conference championships (10-3 in 2011; 13-1 in 2012; 12-2 in 2013, and 8-3 in 2014) in a row... Three-year team captain and defensive player of the year.... Also led his team in tackles for three seasons...Voted defensive MVP of his conference and the state two times... His senior year he had 135 tackles, 5 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles; rushed for 583 yards and 8 TDs... named to the state's All-Star Football Game... A three-time all-state selection at linebacker and tight end (as a senior) ... His prep coach was Jon Gettman.... Also lettered in basketball and tennis.

PERSONAL: Olson carries a 3.87 GPA .... A Management major … His parents are Linda and Jeff Olson of Medford … His dad Jeff was the former head football coach at Southern Oregon University … Serves as a pen-pal mentor to a class of underprivileged kids in Northern California

University of Montana Athletics

Hauck, Sneed, and Olson to represent Montana at Big Sky Football Kickoff

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