The Hall of Famers: Colt Anderson

If there is an archetype of a Montana football player, it's Colt Anderson.

Ask if there is an archetype of an Alabama player, and someone like Derek Henry might come to mind. Ohio State? Maybe a Zeke Elliot or Joey Bosa. Physical specimen-type dudes that were highly recruited and lived up to those expectations.

But at Montana, it's different. It's often-times a small-town guy with no stars next to his name who gets a shot as a walk on and learns how to out-work the guy above him on the depth chart. Rinse and repeat for five years, and before you know it that no-name is a star and goes on to be a bigger star under brighter lights.

So is the story of Anderson, who grew up a Butte-tough kid starring in three sports, took a shot at playing for the Griz as a walk on, worked his way to the top of the depth chart, and ended up an All-American.

From there he did it all over again in the NFL, earning a shot as an undrafted free agent, working his way onto the field, and earning a nine-year career thanks to a blue-collar work ethic and a nose for special teams.

Now he's doing it a third time as a coach. Starting-off as an assistant on a lowly Cincinnati Bengals squad and helping lead them to an AFC championship and an appearance in Super Bowl LVI. He's progressed again, and now plies his trade as the Special Teams Coordinator of the Tennessee Titans.

Some might call it luck (and to be fair, no one accomplishes as much in life as he has without a break or two going your way), but really, it's hard work. It's Butte-tough, play sports every day as a kid, lock your tail in the weight room, hard. damn. work. And from the time he was young, he was almost destined to fulfil that Montana archetype role.

This week that legacy comes full circle as Anderson returns to UM to officially be inducted into the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame as an incoming member of the class of 2024 in a Friday banquet and Saturday on-field recognition.

What is lucky, however, is the simple fact that he is making it back to Missoula at all. NFL coaches just don't get that kind of time off in the fall.

The Adams Center was reserved over a year ago for Friday's event, and when voting concluded in May, the NFL schedule hadn't been released. So, it was understood by the committee that maybe Anderson wasn't going to be able to make it home, and that was OK. We'd press on without him.

But some divine force blessed us all with a Titans bye this weekend, and we're all the luckier for it as he makes his way back to his home state to celebrate a legendary career.

GoGriz.com sat down with Anderson for a Q&A ahead of the festivities.

Thanks for taking the time, Colt. Looking forward to having you back in Missoula!

You grew up a three-sport athlete in an athletic family in Butte, America, a sports-crazy town who wears its toughness on its sleeve. Your dad coached you at Butte High, and your brothers were college-level athletes as well. How do you think that upbringing helped you become another shining example of a Montana walk-on turned All-American.

"Growing up in Butte, sports were really in my DNA. Like you said, I had uncles that played for the Cats and Griz, my dad coached me in pretty much everything I did, and I idolized my two older brothers and wanted to follow in their footsteps.

But everyone always asks me what it was like growing up in Montana – fishing and hunting and all that. And to be honest I tell them my summers, my nights, my time off was spent at the gym or on a field. It's just the way I was raised was with sports and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Growing up in Butte was pretty special though. The whole Butte, America, thing is something I take pride in. I'm proud to be from Butte. People like to give it a hard time, but at the end of the day I think they ultimately respect people from Butte and what they're all about. I wanted to be all about that, so I always tried to live up to that persona."

When you showed up in Missoula to try to earn a spot on the team, what was your mentality like then, and what was it when you eventually earned a spot and started working your way up the depth chart?

It was a humbling experience, especially that first year. Most college players, they were the best on their high school team, so to go there and be surrounded by the best in the state and the surrounding area – you get humbled pretty quickly and you find out you're not as good as you think you are.

So, in that moment I realized I had a lot of work to do. I knew I had to get bigger, I had to get stronger, I had to get faster. Thank God we had some strength coaches that took me under their wing and truly showed me how to work. Up until then, I'd go to the weight room but I wasn't getting true work done. So, some of those coaches, Mike Gerber especially, gave me the tools and the work ethic I needed to take my training to the next level.

There are a million memories from a hundred different Griz games that feature Colt Anderson, but on in particular stands out, not only in my head but thousands of other Griz fans as well. The moment Montana beat MSU just by running out of the tunnel in throwback uniforms in 2008. How does that stack up in the list of great Grizzly memories?

"You know, the brotherhood you develop playing football at the University of Montana is truly special. To share that moment with the fellow seniors that were there for four or five years was pretty neat.

I remember Bobby Hauck walking into our team meeting the morning of the game, and there was whispers that could be a surprise, but when he opened up the black Nike duffel bag and pulled out the old school jerseys, the classroom just erupted. That's a memory I'll never forget.

We realized quickly that this wasn't going to be a truly special moment if we didn't win the game. So, if I remember correctly, they marched down the field on their first drive. Shann Schillinger had a phenomenal touchdown-saving tackle, then we had a goal line stand, and the rest is history.

But it was such a cool moment to share with, the whole team, but specifically the seniors. We knew that was our last regular season game, and to go out like we did was awesome. I still have a picture hanging in my house, just the awe of the crowd. You can see them in the background, jaws open and just how surprised everyone was. There was truly a moment of silence until everyone realized what's going on, and then it just erupted. And still gives me goosebumps thinking about it.

Well, let's move forward in your career a bit. You obviously got your shot in the NFL, but what were some of the lessons learned as a walk on at Montana that allowed you to essentially start over and do it all again, working your way through practice squads to become a nine-year NFL vet?

To be honest, comparing the two is weirdly similar. As a walk on you get humbled and you realize no one feels sorry for you and you have to put the work in. I felt the same way about being an undrafted free agent and going to the Minnesota Vikings where they had all these draft picks and guys that were established NFL players, and they weren't going to hand you anything.

So, I quickly resorted to the training I learned at Montana to keep putting in the work, and if I did that, good things were going to happen. And ultimately, they did. It took me a year and a half to finally get on the field with the Eagles getting me off the practice squad. I knew I was going to get one shot, and I didn't want to let that opportunity slip by.

Well now that you've had a while to digest it as we head into Hall of Fame weekend, what does it mean to you to come back to Missoula and become a Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer?

If I'm being honest, it hasn't hit me yet. I've been a little busy in season (laughs). But guys like Tim Hauck and Dave Dickenson, I idolized those guys growing up. So, it's kind of a dream and I'm not sure I believe it yet, but it's such a cool deal. I followed guys like that through their careers. I mean, Dave Dickenson's aunt was my fourth-grade teacher in 1995 when they won the national championship. So from that moment I decided I wanted to be a Montana Grizzly.

When I got to Montana, I go into Bobby Hauck's office on an unofficial visit and who's there but Tim Hauck telling me he's going to coach the safeties. So, I'm very blessed and lucky to have had things fall into place and to have the support around me – my coaches, my family – people who pushed me, supported me, and helped me fulfill my dreams.

You still return to Butte in the off season and are obviously still very involved in the community there with the Dream Big Foundation. All these years later, looking at how far your career has taken you, what does the town still mean to you?

Butte's home. It's home for my wife and I and our family. We're both born and raised there. My parents, her parents, most of our siblings, they're all there. So anytime we can get home and give back to a community that was so gracious to us and gave us everything we wanted is near and dear to our hearts. Any time we have we like to get back there. It's a special place. Not just Butte, but the state as a whole.

University of Montana Athletics

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