Walk-on football players – guys who are not offered scholarships out of high school but instead are encouraged to earn a spot on the team with their practice performance – have long been a staple of University of Montana football.
With just 58 available football scholarships, which can be halved to offer more players money for school, many players from the state’s high schools are asked to come to the Missoula campus and pay their own tuition while trying to impress coaches to the point where they are offered financial aid.
It is a tough road and admittedly few make it through the rigors of being cannon fodder on the scout team their first year. Maybe, if they’re good enough, they will eventually make it to a special team unit where they play a headhunter role – happy to be wearing maroon and silver uniform, but scrambling for attention from coaches.
The list of success stories is notable and includes guys like Tim Hauck, who left a legacy of hard hitting at UM, eventually played more than a decade in the National Football League and currently coaches at Nashville after a similar stint at UM and UCLA.
Coaches are quick to take the responsibility when they miss a guy who may have been injured late in his high school career; who isn’t playing the position he is best suited for; or who just doesn’t fit the team’s need when he graduates from high school.
And they’re just as quick to point out to future high school players in similar situations the successes of players who persevered and etched an indelible mark on the Montana program.
Marc Mariani serves as an example to any aspiring college football player that success is more about heart than where you come from or how large you are in stature.
Mariani, who came to UM after earning 10 Blue Pony letters in football, basketball and tennis, where his team won four straight state titles, redshirted in 2005 and while, playing in 14 games in 2006, did not have a reception.
He caught 15 balls for 231 yards as a third-year sophomore when he began to establish himself as one of the league’s premier kick and punt returners and was named honorable mention all-league.
And by his junior campaign, he was not only a first-team all-conference selection as a wide receiver-returner, but also named a Sports Network All-American.
In 2009, his senior campaign, Mariani was the team’s leading receiver, a unanimous choice for the Big Sky All Conference team and methodically moving up the career list in several categories.
But in the first round of the FCS playoffs against South Dakota State, he was at his finest – not just with his exploits on the field, which by the way were extremely notable, but in his actions on the sidelines.
With the Grizzlies trailing by 27 points with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter, the six-foot, 185-pound Mariani prowled the sidelines, encouraging, being sure that every player realized they were in Griz country and the season was not going to end in Missoula at the hands of the Jackrabbits.
Moments later, when reinserted on the kickoff return team, he started the Grizzlies back on a memorable revival with a 98-yard scoring kickoff return and in the next 19 minutes caught a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Andrew Selle, the second of which gave Montana its first lead, 55-48, with 94 seconds remaining.
On the afternoon, Mariani caught a career-high 12 passes for 171 yards to move into second on the all-time receiving list; returned six kickoffs for 178 yards; brought back six punts for 40 yards and compiled a school record 389 all-purpose yards to become UM’s all-time leader in that category.
His game-winning TD reception was his 27th, and he surpassed Etu Molden, Mike Erhardt and Shalon Baker for the most scoring catches in Grizzly history.
When there’s a moment to catch my breath – I’m still pinching myself to reality – Montana’s record-setting comeback will take its rightful place as one of the greatest games I have ever been a part of.
But Mariani’s performance both on and off the field ranks right up there with the exploits of Dave Dickenson, who led the Grizzlies to their first National Championship in 1995.
Is there any wonder why – no matter what the score – I drink the Grizzly Kool-Aid?