DILLON — As an underclassman, Carter Curnow was fairly certain that collegiate basketball was his future.
But after being part of a Dillon football team that stormed to the State A championship last November after seeing the Beavers' playoff runs end in disappointment his freshman and sophomore seasons, he realized the gridiron is where he felt most at home.
"I was dead set on playing college basketball," said Curnow, now a senior. "But how things panned out, I ended up loving this and it just kind of fell in the right place. And I ended up having an insane love for the game of football."
That love for the game led to the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Curnow announcing his commitment to Montana State University's football program last month. He'll join the Bobcats in the fall of 2025 where he'll reunite with former Dillon quarterback Kee Christiansen. Curnow, who led Dillon in tackles last season with six per game and also came up with three interceptions, chose MSU over offers from Montana and Nevada, which is heading into its first season under former Montana State head coach Jeff Choate.
Excited to announce my commitment to @MSUBobcats_FB, thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way! @bvigen @CoachBobbyDaly @CoachTWalker pic.twitter.com/kMzTLgacP0
— Carter Curnow (@curnow_carter) July 19, 2024
"The coaches were awesome to me, the atmosphere is great over there," said Curnow. "I like Bozeman, I love all the guys over there, I know quite a few of them. It felt like home and it was just the right decision."
Curnow's commitment to the Bobcats is set to continue a trend of Dillon having at least one former player on MSU's roster in a streak that dates back to offensive lineman Kyle Godecke's freshman season at Montana State back in 2011. Godecke was the lone Beaver at MSU until defensive lineman Monte Folsom arrived in Bozeman in 2013. Then in 2017 Troy Andersen and R.J. Fitzgerald began their freshman seasons.
But Dillon head coach Zach McRae pointed out that he's proud of all of his former players who go on to play college football.
"It's humbling to watch some of the guys that come through our program and then go play on Saturdays — whether that's the six guys that we have playing for Montana Western, whether it's the two guys we have playing for the College of Idaho, the two guys playing for Montana Tech, the four guys playing for Carroll, and now the two with the Bobcats," said McRae. "Those young men continue to grow and meet some of their goals. It's pretty special as a coach."
And with a solid core of seniors graduating after last season's champion run, McRae knows that he's going to be counting on Curnow on both sides of the ball and will be looking to him to assume a strong leadership role with this 2024 squad.
"At the core of it, he's a first-class dude," said McRae. "So he's easy to root for, he's easy to lean on. And us coaches lean on him just as much as the players do."
But before Curnow departs for MSU, he still has his senior season ahead of him where he'll look to help the Beavers defend their state football and basketball titles after claiming championships in both sports in 2023-24.
"It's kind of surreal that I'm a senior, it feels like yesterday we were freshmen and I was looking up to the seniors," said Curnow. "So it feels awesome and I'm super excited to see what I can do as a leader and take these guys as far as we can go."
The Beavers open their season at home against Stevensville on Sept. 6.
