Griz football standouts honored with annual team awards

Montana football head coach Bobby Hauck announced the winners of the 2025 Grizzly team awards on Wednesday, honoring the program's top performers of the past season.

This year's recipients of the Steve Carlson Team MVP Award as well as Offensive and Defensive MVPs were named alongside three positional awards and three awards for "most inspirational player," "hardest hitter," and the "player who best exemplifies Griz football." Also named were the winners of the Hauck Family Special Teams Player of the Year Award and the Scout Team Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year.

A total of 13 players were honored for their work in 2025. Voting for the majority of the awards was conducted by the players, with the coaching staff selecting Scout Team Players of the Year and Offensive and Defensive MVPs.

The 2025 Steve Carlson Team MVP Award went to record breaking receiver Michael Wortham who rewrote Grizzly record books in his lone season at Montana. He was a consensus All-America honoree after being named to the first team on at least half of the FCS recognized All-America lists published annually, including those by the AFCA, Stats Perform, Associated Press, and FCS Central/Sports Illustrated.

Wortham set a new single-season school record with 2,431 all-purpose yards, finishing only 90 yards shy of the single-season Big Sky record. He caught 85 passes for 1,224 yards, the second-most catches in a season ever at UM (by just two catches) and the sixth-most total yards receiving. His 782 yards of kickoff returns are also the third most ever at UM and making him one of just five players with more than 700 in a year.

Wortham was selected to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl in January, one of the nation's top all-star showcase events. He was the only receiver named to the East squad's All-Practice team at the end of the week.

This year's Offensive MVP went to Montana's first quarterback since 2002 to be named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award in breakout star Keali'i Ah Yat. The sophomore guided one of the best offenses in program history in 2025, helping set new program marks for total points (615, beating the 2009 record of 537), total yards (6,855 to beat the 2004 record of 6,416), total touchdowns (84, beating the '04 & '19 record of 69), and a completion percentage of 68.9 (341-495). He was named second team All-American by Stats Perform and Sports Illustrated and was a first team All-Big Sky nod as well – the first for the Griz since Craig Ochs in 2004.

Ah Yat became just the second player in program history to eclipse 4,000 passing yards in a season with an FCS-best 4,070 that led to 33 TDs over the air – also a top three season total at UM.

2025 was one of the most accurate seasons for a passer at UM as well, completing 325 of his 470 attempts with just nine interceptions for a new school record .691 completion percentage, surpassing Ochs' 2004 record of .686 and just shy of the Big Sky record of .704. Those 325 completions are also a school record, beating Ochs' and Dave Dickenson's tied record of 309. Ah Yat's accuracy led directly to a dearth of turnovers on the year, giving up just nine interceptions – tied for the fourth fewest in modern program history dating back to 1991.

Linebacker Peyton Wing was named this year's Defensive MVP by the Grizzly coaching staff. Led by Wing with four picks, Montana finished the year at +14 in the all-important turnover differential thanks to an FCS top three total of 25 takeaways, paced by 21 interceptions - the most for the Griz since 2009.

The junior was Montana's third-leading tackler with 78 stops and logged the second-most tackles for loss on the team with 8.5. He was named a second team All-American by Sports Illustrated and earned an All-America honorable mention by the Associated Press. He was a first team All-Big Sky pick at linebacker and was named Big Sky Player of the Week after logging three sacks at Sac State. He also earned Academic All-District honors.

For the third consecutive season, Eli Gillman was named the winner of the Terry Dillon Award for the team's top back or receiver becoming just the third Grizzly ever to three-peat as its recipient.

After his second-straight season rushing for 1,000-plus yards, Gillman was named Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year, Montana's first since 2002 and the program's first running back to earn the title.

He rushed for a Big Sky-best 1,540 yards (third-most in the FCS) and 21 touchdowns, the third-most ever in a single season at Montana in both categories in 2025. He averaged a league-high 102.7 yards per game with an average of 6.2 yards per tote. He also caught 33 passes for 240 yards and two TDs this year, giving him 1,780 all-purpose yards (eighth-most in program history and 7th in the FCS), and a total of 138 points scored on 23 TDs. Both of those totals are tied with Chase Reynolds for the third-most ever in a season at UM.

He's now on the cusp of shattering Montana's rushing records and has several Big Sky records in his crosshairs entering his senior season. With 3,677 rushing yards he is fourth on UM's all-time list, needing just 394 more yards to become the all-time leading rusher. With 49 rushing TDs he needs just four more to break the UM record and nine to break the Big Sky record. Cooper Kupp's Big Sky points record of 464 is also within reach with Gillman sitting at 318 points scored.

Helping open running lanes for Gillman and protect Ah Yat in the pass game was Cannon Panfiloff, this year's winner of the Paul Weskamp Award for outstanding offensive lineman. He was an All-American and first team all-conference pick on an O-line that gave up just 23 sacks this year, the second fewest in the last decade. That equals just over. 1.5 per game, allowing UM to rack-up over 457 yards of offense per game.

Panfiloff started 30 games and appeared in 41 total contests as a Grizzly. He was named second team All-America by Stats Perform, third team by Sports Illustrated, and received an honorable mention from the Associated Press.

On the opposite line is Hunter Peck, this year's winner of the Sims-Miller Award for outstanding defensive lineman. Peck led the Grizzly defense in sacks (4.5), was second in QB hurries (4) and was third in TFLs (8) in 2025. He earned first team All-Big Sky defensive honors at UM and was a two-time All-American and the Frontier Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Carroll before that. On Tuesday he was named Academic All-American for the second time in his career as well, maintaining a 3.70 GPA with a degree in biology, a minor in chemistry, and graduate certificate in business with an eye toward med school.

Ian Finch of Missoula and Tanner Huff of Butte were named the co-recipients of this year's Hauck Family Special Teams Player of the Year Award for their standout seasons in the kicking game. The duo, one a receiver and one a safety, each made their presence known on special teams, combining for 28 tackles, one blocked kick, and one fumble recovery between them. Huff is now a two-time Special Teams Player of the Year after winning the same award in 2024.

The Tony Barbour Award for the player "who best exemplifies outstanding practice habits and makes an unselfish contribution to the betterment of the Grizzly Football Team" went to Havre native Kellen Detrick, who worked his way into a starting job at D-End as a senior, starting all 15 games and put in 34 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, and four sacks.

This year's Pat Norwood Award winner for most inspirational player went to Missoula native Geno Leonard, who endured multiple injuries throughout his career but emerged as a key backup at linebacker his senior season and totaled 26 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, a half-sack, an interception, and a QB hurry.

Named after a Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer and former NFL Defensive MVP Doug Betters, Solomon Tuliaupupu earned the Golden Helmet Award for the hardest hitter as a fearsome second team All-Big Sky linebacker. Tuliaupupu logged 43 tackles, 5 TFLs, a pair of sacks and forced fumbles.

The future of Grizzly football was also honored by the coaches. Linebacker Sam Merriman was the recipient of the Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year Award, while quarterback Drew Price was named Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year.

2025 Grizzly Football Team Awards

Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year
• Sam Merriman

Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year
• Drew Price

Hauck Family Special Teams Player of the Year Award
• Tanner Huff*
• Ian Finch

Terry Dillon Award
Honoring the outstanding back or receiver – was established in 1964 following the accidental death of former Grizzly Terry Dillon.
• Eli Gillman*

Tony Barbour Award
Given in memory of a loyal Grizzly Fan. It is presented annually to a UM player "who best exemplifies outstanding practice habits and makes an unselfish contribution to the betterment of the Grizzly Football Team."
• Kellen Detrick

Paul Weskamp Award
Established in memory of Paul Weskamp, a tackle on Ed Chinske's 1954 Grizzly Team. The award honors UM's outstanding offensive lineman and was established by citizens of Ronan.
• Cannon Panfiloff

Sims-Miller Award
The Sims-Miller Award is given in memory of two great Grizzly defensive linemen the world lost too soon in vehicle accidents. Jesse Sims, from Stevensville, lettered for UM from 2016-19 and carried on Montana's legacy #37 jersey tradition. Larry Miller was a two-time All-American on UM's 1969 and 1970 Big Sky Champion teams and was also a conference champion wrestler. The award honors the team's outstanding defensive lineman.
• Hunter Peck

Doug Betters Golden Helmet Award
Honors the best tackler and hardest hitter on the team. It was set up on a nation-wide basis by Coca-Cola in 1967.
• Solomon Tuliaupupu

Pat Norwood Award
Pat Norwood was a four-year starter at offensive tackle for the Grizzlies (1979-82) from Billings who died of cancer in 1983. This award is given to the most inspirational player, who oftentimes had to overcome an injury.
• Geno Leonard

Offensive MVP
• Keali'i Ah Yat

Defensive MVP
• Peyton Wing

Steve Carlson MVP Award
Given to the team's most valuable player in memory of former Grizzly football player who died in 1977.
• Michael Wortham

*- Two Time Award Winner

University of Montana Athletics

Griz football standouts honored with annual team awards

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Players Mentioned

Keali'i Ah Yat

Kellen Detrick

Ian Finch

Eli Gillman

Tanner Huff

Geno Leonard

Sam Merriman

Cannon Panfiloff

Hunter Peck

Drew Price

Solomon Tuliaupupu

Peyton Wing

Michael Wortham

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