THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Edwards (Coeur d'Alene), Casey (Sandpoint) provide a North Idaho flavor to today’s FCS championship game

His high school coach wasn’t surprised that Kale Edwards, who played quarterback at Coeur d’Alene High, is now in his first year as a starting defensive end as a redshirt junior at Montana.

“He played quarterback like he was a defensive end at times,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said of Edwards as a Viking. “He was very physical, very intense. He seeked contact. He was a really good defensive player for us, but we needed him at quarterback. It doesn’t surprise any of us who coached him that he made his way to the D-line, because he likes the physicality of the game; he likes to mix it up with anybody.”

In his highlight film, Brandon Casey can be seen delivering pancake block after pancake block as the left tackle at Sandpoint High.

Four years later, he’s in his second year as the starting right tackle for the Griz.

“He’s just the full package,” Sandpoint coach Ryan Knowles said of Casey. “The genetics — how many guys are capable of being an athletic 6-6, 280 — those guys don’t come around long. He wasn’t quite that when he left here, but he was pretty dang close. I’ve got a picture in my office of the four captains from his senior year, and he’s 8 inches taller than the rest of them. He was a beast here, and his work ethic is second to none.”

Edwards and Casey, along with Montana tight ends coach Bryce Erickson, who was Lake City High’s head football coach for two seasons, provide a local tie to today’s FCS championship game between No. 2 seed Montana (13-1) and top seed and defending champion South Dakota State (14-0) at 11 a.m. on KXLY.

EDWARDS, IN addition to playing quarterback at Coeur d’Alene, also played safety, then linebacker, for the Vikings.

Normally, QBs who also played on defense would be protected a bit by their coaches on that side of the ball.

But in Edwards’ case …

“We actually had a lot of designed runs in for him, so we couldn’t say that,” Amos said. “We knew what his strengths were, and we played to them. That gave us the best chance to win games, and he certainly was not afraid of running the ball, and being physical as he ran the ball.”

He ran for 584 yards and 18 touchdowns, and passed for 22 TDs as a senior at Coeur d’Alene, and was second-team all-Idaho at quarterback in 5A. He also had offers from Idaho, Idaho State, Montana State and MSU-Northern.

Edwards, now 6-5, 235, was Montana’s defensive scout team player of the year in 2019, his redshirt season. He made the transition to defensive end the following year, seeing limited action. 

Early in his Griz career, Edwards made his mark on special teams. 

In 2022, he saw action in 11 games, with two sacks, a forced fumble, and a fumble return for a touchdown.

This year, Edwards made the key defensive play against Idaho, with a strip-sack of Vandal quarterback Gevani McCoy that a teammate recovered to seal Montana’s 23-21 win at the Kibbie Dome in October. 

This season, he has 32 total tackles, including 9.5 tackles-for-loss, 4.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles.

“They kept moving me closer to the ball, so that was a change, for sure,” Edwards said earlier this year, on a weekly Montana football show. “Learn how to play in the trenches. I think I’m still learning, honestly, but yeah, just getting stronger, and filling out that frame. … keep the weight on, and use my athleticism as well as I can.

“I had confidence in myself last year,” Edwards said. “This year, I managed to put on a little bit more weight, and got more used to playing the position. I didn’t get tons of reps when I first switched, and it was a big wake-up call two seasons ago. Last year I got to play a little bit more, and started to get a feel for it a little bit more.”

Amos said Brian Holgate, Coeur d’Alene’s defensive line coach, is a huge Griz fan, and has watched Edwards and Montana in person several times.

“I think his skill set allows him to be an effective pass rusher,” Amos said. “He’s a three-down guy. They don’t take him off the field on pass downs, so they must think he can bring something to the pass rush game as well.”

“Kale’s a big-framed guy, long-levered guy that can run,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said this summer, at the Big Sky football media days in Spokane. “Unfortunately over the last 18 months, he’s had to battle a lot of injuries, so it’s probably, to a degree, hampered his development a little bit. He’s played well, but I think the sky’s the limit for him. Really excited for him this fall, for the most part been able to put that (injuries) behind him. I’m excited to see him go this fall, I hope it really goes well for him.”

Amos, who coached future Griz star Tim Bush when he was head man at Kellogg High for two seasons, says he likes to check in with college coaches where his former Viking players are playing.

The feedback?

“He’s someone they’re really excited about, and he’s had a really good year for them,” Amos said. “The thing that people like about him is, he’s just tough. He’s just a tough kid, and those guys are invaluable. You can’t really coach tough.”

CASEY WAS determined to be a three-sport athlete at Sandpoint, and actually ended up playing five — football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse and track and field.

(Let’s pause a moment to imagine teams defending Casey, who is now 6-5, 305, on the lacrosse field).

A 3.8 student, Casey was a two-time all-league football player for the Bulldogs, and ranked the 17th top recruit out of Idaho by 247 Sports.

“He really helped establish our weight room culture that I’m so big into,” said Knowles, a former Sandpoint standout on the D-line, who coached Casey at his alma mater his final two seasons. “He has really long arms, and usually long-armed guys don’t bench press a lot, and I’m watching him bench 325 in high school … that’s just not normal. Not fair. … and it came from hard work.

“Brandon’s a self-made guy; worked hard and has really earned everything that he’s accomplished, and set a really high ceiling for his future.”

Casey, whose uncle, former Sandpoint star David Parker, played football at Idaho in the 1980s, also had offers from Idaho, Idaho State, Eastern Washington and Montana State. Late in the recruiting process, he received an offer from Oregon State, but stayed true to his verbal commitment to the Griz.

“I remember when Coach Hauck was in his first stint there and how dominant Montana was,” Casey said when he signed. “That was another reason why I came, was to return to that dominance and win another national championship.”

At Montana, he started two games as a freshman, started all 13 games at right tackle last year for the Griz, and has started every game this season, when he was recently named first-team all-Big Sky.

“Early in my career here, I had a lot of good mentors … I think that played a big role,” Casey said in an interview earlier this season. “And just the coaching, taking the coaching, trying to get better every day.”

“Casey’s doing great,” Hauck said this summer. “He kind of got thrown into the fire a little bit, and I think offensive linemen struggle at an early age, generally speaking. … I really think his best football is in front of him. I love his work ethic. Those guys don’t come in as grown men; they work their way in the weight room to get bigger and stronger, and ready for the battle in the trenches.”

Knowles said Casey is the only Division 1 recruit he’s coached at Sandpoint in his six seasons as Bulldog coach.

“Just a great ambassador of Sandpoint,” Knowles said, “and he’s going to be a great ambassador of Montana when he moves on from there. And all signs trend to him getting a shot at the next level. Hopefully he gets that right shot.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.

  

    MARK NELKE/Press Montana right tackle Brandon Casey, from Sandpoint High, lines up for a play in a game at Idaho in October.