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Manhatten's Cal Holgate, the son of former Havre Blue Pony Eddie Holgate and MSU-Northern Hall of Fame basketball player Dani Davison is transferring to Northern to play wide receiver for the Lights. Holgate was at NCAA Division II Minot State this past fall and is part of the first list of signees for Northern's 2019 recruiting class.
Andrew Rolin is into his second year of recruiting as head coach of the Montana State University-Northern Lights. And while Northern was a young team in 2018 and has a wealth of returning talent, Rolin has been busy the lasts several months, busy bringing even more talent to Havre.
On Monday, Rolin announced his first list of signees in the 2019 Northern class, and it includes several connections to Havre. Among the 20 new Northern signees is Manhattan High standout and Minot State University transfer Cal Holgate. A former Montana All-State selection, Holgate is the son of former Havre Blue Pony Eddie Holgate and former MSU-Northern basketball star Dani Davison. Holgate is a 5-9, 170-pound wide receiver who figures to have an immediate impact for the MSU-N offense.
Also coming to Northern are three Flathead High Braves. Their head coach in high school was former Northern All-American QB Kyle Samson, who recently took a job as the new offensive coordinator at Montana Tech. The Flathead trio includes linebacker Gunnar Landrum (5-11, 185), defensive lineman Part Hammond (6-3, 200) and running back Jonathan Baker (5-10, 200). All three players helped the Braves reach this year's Class AA state championship game.
Overall, Rolin announced the signing of six players from Montana, including another with ties to Northern in Geraldine-Highwood's Mavrick McKinlay (DL 6-2, 265), who is the younger brother of MSU-N junior Wyatt McKinlay. Also on the list of Montana recruits is Great Falls High offensive lineman Duante Janikula (6-6, 240).
The list of signees also includes six transfers, including Holgate. Also transferring into Northern is a pair of WR's from Ottawa-University in Arizona in Tim Robinson (6-3, 190) and Hunter Lane (6-2, 191). Offensive lineman Marcus Perez (6-3, 270), of Sacramento City College, defensive back Drew Andrews (5-11, 175), from Iowa Wesleyan and quarterback Steele Ware (5-10, 170) from Dakota College round out the transfers.
"I'm really excited about our mid-year transfers," Rolin said. "We brought in guys who we feel can have an immediate impact. And as always, iron sharpens iron, so when you bring in talent, it's going to help cultivate the talent that's already on our roster."
Not only did Rolin bring in several key transfers, as well as plenty of talented players from the Treasure State, he also brought in plenty of out-of-state players from the high school ranks, which has created a very balanced first signing class.
"Overall, our assistant coaches did a really nice job of bringing in guys from successful programs, guys who fell in love with Northern, guys who are all in with us," Rolin said. "And you look at this list, it's a nice mix. We have kids from Montana, kids from all over the western United State, and some really talented transfers. So it's an exciting group."
Out-of-state high school signees include, defensive end Joey Quitugua II (6-0, 220) from Boise, Idaho; Lucas Child (6-2, 270) an offensive lineman from Lindon, Utah; Sam Sanders (6-0, 215) a linebacker from El Dorado Hills, California; Noah Thompson (6-0, 180), a WR from Las Vegas; Hunter Riley (5-10, 195), a safety from Bakersfield, California; Titus Pullam (6-4, 205), a long snapper from Mesa, Arizona; Denman Brinkman (6-3, 270), an offensive lineman from Fair Oaks, California; and Clayton Watterson (5-10, 190), a LB from Vacaville, California.
And while Northern signed more than 20 players thus far, Rolin isn't done recruiting. He said he expects the 2019 class to grow to 35-plus players when all is said and done, and he noted that, his second recruiting cycle has been one that has been much easier in many ways than his first.
"I was really excited, and thought our first recruiting class was great," Rolin said. "But, this time around, we were at a much greater advantage because we weren't behind the 8-ball anymore. We've been here, we've cultivated those relationships, and we understand our roster and understand our needs as opposed to last year when we came in so late in the recruiting game. So this year, we were at a much greater advantage, and we were able to be very detailed and specific in our recruiting, and we were able to go out and get those guys. So I'm really excited about this class so far. We've got a lot of talent, a lot of guys who can have a great impact on our program, and they're all great kids."
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