Hi-Line Athlete Profile, Tommy Wilson, MSU-N Football

When Tommy Wilson was trying to decide where to go after junior college, his main focus was finding a school where he could compete and potentially start right away at quarterback.

But in addition to getting a chance to compete for a starting job, Wilson also wanted a chance to play against some of the best teams that the NAIA has to offer, which made Montana State University-Northern, a member of the vaunted Frontier Conference, a perfect destination.

Not only did the Lights give Wilson a chance to compete for their starting quarterback job, a competition he later won, but playing for MSU-N will also gave him a chance to play against the best, like he will Saturday when Northern hosts sixth-ranked Montana Tech at Blue Pony Stadium for its home opener. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

"That was a huge part of it," Wilson said of competing against schools like Tech. "I had heard of the Frontier Conference a little before I came here and I knew that there were a few teams that are always competing for playoff spots and the national championship. So that was definitely something that made me want to come here. I wanted a chance to play against some of the best teams in the country."

Playing against the Orediggers, who have earned at least a share of the Frontier title the past two seasons, gives Wilson a chance to do just that. Of course when it comes to starting games at the quarterback position, Wilson is far from a newcomer.

After spending his freshman season playing for Peru State, an NAIA program out of Nebraska, Wilson transferred to College of Sequoias, a junior college in California and while playing for the Giants, Wilson started nine games, threw for 1,809 yards, and tossed 14 touchdown passes, compared to nine interceptions. He averaged 234 total yards per game and also scored eight rushing touchdowns.

While Wilson didn't have a wealth of experience coming to Northern, he had more experience as a starter than the other quarterbacks he was competing against, which may have ultimately, given him the edge.

"I think coming here and coming from basically the same offense, really helped me," Wilson said. "We ran pretty much the same thing at (College of Sequoias) so that made it a pretty smooth transition for me, since I was already used to playing in an up-tempo offense."

It took nearly all of spring football and fall camp for Wilson to lock down the starting job, but last Saturday in Billings, in his first start, he was minutes away from leading Northern to its first win on the road since 2014. The junior quarterbacked the Lights to over 400 yards of total offense, including 324 total yards himself. He completed 27-of-48 passes for 298 yards and threw two touchdown passes, while also rushing for 26 yards and a score.

Beyond that, Wilson also threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns to help rally Northern from a 24-13 deficit. His 36-yard touchdown pass to Beau Wilhelm gave MSU-N a 25-24 lead with just over a minute to play, however a kickoff return for a touchdown on the ensuing kick by Rocky Mountain College gave the Battlin' Bears a 32-25 win.

Yet, even though his first start didn't end the way he hoped, Wilson and his teammates will have a chance to redeem themselves Saturday against heavily-favored Montana Tech. Wednesday, following practice, the Havre Daily News caught up with Wilson for five questions.

HDN: So how did you wind up coming to Northern from California?

Wilson: "I was talking with coach (Aaron) Christensen and I was trying to see what the right fit was and I thought that with Northern, I had the ability to come in and play right away. I wanted to be able to come in and compete, I knew the job was open going into the spring and as a junior college transfer, all I wanted was a chance to compete and play right away."

HDN: You said you ran a similar offense before to Northern's, but as a quarterback, how do you like the up-tempo offense?

Wilson: "I like going quick and I think that having so many snaps in an up-tempo system, basically the same one that we run here, kind of helped me get a leg up."

HDN: So here at Northern, you run mostly out of the shotgun, when is the last time you have taken a snap under center?

Wilson: "It's been a long time since I have taken a snap under center. I had three or four last season in junior college, but all of those were just quarterback sneaks."

HDN: What are you looking forward to the most about the home opener Saturday?

Wilson: "I am just looking forward to getting everybody in the town out to the stadium and hopefully giving them a good show and showing them what we can do and trying to get the whole crowd and the whole town behind the football team."

HDN: You guys obviously were close to winning last week, what can you guys take away from that to help you try and upset Montana Tech?

Wilson: "We just have to know that we put ourselves in a position to win a game, which is all that you want to do. We did the things we needed to, to be able to win the game. We also saw some mistakes that we made, so we know if we can continue to play like that, but clean up some of those mistakes that we made, we should have a chance to be in every game that we play."