After I did my desktop wallpaper for the Griz this year, which features Lex Hilliard, Jr. All-Big Sky and potential All-American RB, I was struck by the fact that I didn't feature a Griz QB. That's odd this season because of UM's amazing tradition of producing not only All-Big Sky, but All-American QBs.

I'm particularly thinking of the last five Griz starting QBs. Beginning with Dave Dickenson (what a beginning!), Montana has produced five straight All-American and Payton candidate QBs: Dave Dickenson, Brian Ah Yat, Drew Miller, John Edwards, and Craig Ochs.

Of that group, one was the Payton winner (Dickenson), one was the runner-up (Ah Yat), one was third (if I remember right-Miller), one was fourth (Edwards), and one arguably would have been the winner had the post-season been counted by the voters (Ochs).

That is an unbelievable level of consistent top-notch performance, probably unmatched in I-AA history.

Three of the five had games in which they hit the unreal 500 yard-level in passing yardage (Dickenson, Ah Yat, and Miller). One still has several I-AA all-time records and a bushel of Big-Sky all-time records (Dickenson), one still has several Griz and a couple of Big Sky records (Ah Yat), and one has a couple of Big Sky and Griz records (Miller). Four of the five (Miller, Dickenson, Ah Yat, and Ochs) passed for better than a .650 season's completion percentage, a phenomenal rate in any league, one of them twice (Miller) and one of them three times (Dickenson-in fact, Dickenson's completion percentage topped .670 three straight seasons).

One helped the Griz win a I-AA record-tying 24 straight games (Edwards), one passed for 1500 yards (in one playoff season!-Dickenson), and one had his best game as a Griz in the championship game (Ochs).

These five QBs have taken the Griz to five of the last ten I-AA championship games, a record unmatched in I-AA history.

This is not to say that the Griz had slouches in the past at QB, and is no slight to Marty Morhinwheg, Brad Lebo, Bert Wilberger, and the other past Griz QB greats, but this last 5-QB stretch has been simply amazing.

For all of you Griz fans who slammed John Edwards' arm strength, questioned Brian Ah Yat's toughness, lambasted Drew Miller's lack of foot speed, or wondered if Craig Ochs would last a season, and who are now worried about young Mr. Bergquist, please remember this: The Griz have had a wondrous, unreal run at QB, which makes the QB position a tough one to fill in the eyes of Griz fans, and...we don't rebuild, we reload!

And yes, as a Griz fan I would have to include Dave Dickenson in any initial class of I-AA Hall of Famers -- .679 career completion percentage in regular season games, and counting the playoffs, over 13,486 yards passing, only 28 interceptions, and 116 TDs. For his career, in 7 playoff games, his completion rate was an astounding .762 -- against the best I-AA had to offer for competition! He threw for over 400 yards 4 times in 7 playoff games. In 1995, counting the playoffs, he threw for 5,676 yards. Not to mention that he led I-AA in total offense twice, once by more than 1,000 yards over his nearest competition. Amazing stuff, especially when you consider that he looks more like an accountant than a football player, which is why you'll never see him on Sundays. In Montana, he is known simply as "The Legend of the Fall", or "Super Dave".