Montague football brings lots of youth, but also enthusiasm to new season

MONTAGUE — As Montague coach Phil Koops closes in on year two at the helm of the Wildcats, everyone in the program - players and coaches alike - is growing more comfortable with one another, in and out of their football lives. That comfort zone, hopefully, could lead to success on the field in 2026.

"They're a little different, but I'm learning to like them," Koops chuckled. "They're a little unique. Maybe they aren't exactly what a coach would draw up as a great captain or a leader, but they do it in their own way, and I feel like we're gelling in how that fits us. We've got to be the best version of us. One of the things they said on our senior trip, Merrick (Snellenberger) talked about, 'We've just got to be us.' When they're in their vibe, and they're having fun playing the game, and they're communicating with each other, they could be pretty good."

Snellenberger is part of probably the Wildcats' most important position group this year - the big guys up front. Any coach will tell you the line is important, but never more so than when it's an unknown, and it doesn't get more unknown than replacing all five starters on the line.

It's not like the tools aren't there. Snellenberger brings great size as a 300-pound plus body that will be hard for opponents to move, and at the moment he's slotted as a tackle. The other tackle, Van Thommen, isn't quite as big as that, but he brings impressive athleticism. He played tight end at younger levels, but as Koops said, "he just keeps getting bigger," so it made sense to put him on the line.

A third lineman to watch will be a familiar name for Wildcat fans - freshman Jace Collins. The son of former coach Pat Collins and younger brother of state champion quarterback Drew, Collins, already possessing good lineman size, has been assigned the all-important job of center. 

"That's a big challenge, not only to play center, where you snap the ball every time, but to play varsity football as a freshman," Koops said. "But if anybody can do it, it's (Jace). He's a big kid, and he's been around a lot of football. He and his brother are very old souls, so they both talk to you like they're 40 years old."

The line will be charged with protecting a new quarterback after Eli Petersen's graduation. The most likely man to take the snaps is sophomore Max Dyer, who has put in a lot of time to get better since last season. Koops saw quick improvement from Dyer in summer 7-on-7 work and believes he'll benefit from having a year in the offensive system.

"Pretty rapidly, our completion percentage started going up," Koops said. "We started throwing less interceptions. The game slowed down a little bit after the first couple times playing 7-on-7. That was good. He's a very well-built kid."

While Dyer will have a new line in front of him, he'll also have two enviable weapons at his side, both returning all-West Michigan Conference Lakes players: Cole Moss and Dane Roesler. Moss exploded onto the scene early last season with a five-touchdown game against Orchard View and quickly cemented himself as the team's most explosive player. Roesler was mostly a defensive ace last year and will continue to be so, but should see an expanded role on offense too. Levi Auger, who played some defensive back a year ago in his first taste of high school football, will get some chances to touch the ball too.

The 'Cats may benefit from a schedule a bit less brutal to start than it was for Koops' first season, which opened with consecutive games against Forest Hills Eastern and Oakridge. The Wildcats still open with a playoff team - they visit Division 6 Napoleon - and then play Hart, which narrowly missed the playoffs a year ago, but Montague shouldn't be overmatched now that Koops and the players have a year under their belts together.

"We feel like the schedule sets itself up a little bit better for a bunch of young guys as opposed to last year," Koops said. "We started 1-4 and we had the toughest part of our schedule at the beginning. It's not like that's flipped, but it's a little bit more spread out. You don't feel like we're hitting murderer's row all in a row here, where maybe it felt like that a little bit last year."

While there are obstacles to overcome, there's reason to hope the Wildcats could make a return trip to the playoffs if they can devise the right combination up front.

"We're excited to see how much year two means," Koops said. "That's a thing. How much of a jump do we take, not off of speed and strength or talent, but how much of a jump do we take off of a little bit more depth in knowledge? We just know what we're doing, and we're confident in it a little bit more than we were the year before."