BUTTE — Trevor Hoffman and his teammates have been on standby long enough. They'll finally get to launch this weekend.
"I can't wait to get out there on Saturday night and ball out with my guys," said the redshirt junior on Sunday as the Montana Tech football team officially embarked on its first "game week" since November 2019.
The Orediggers, who along with Montana Western opted out of the Frontier Conference spring season, will welcome No. 21 Eastern Oregon to Bob Green Field on Saturday for Tech's annual Copper Game. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m.
"It's been a long time and we've been preparing hard these past two weeks during fall camp," Hoffman said.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Renton, Washington, native was quarterback Jet Campbell's go-to guy during Tech's 2019 season, when the Orediggers went 6-4.
Hoffman racked up a conference-leading 1018 receiving yards, more than all other Tech receivers combined. He also hauled in touchdowns against 52 receptions for a 19.6 yards per catch average and averaged 101.8 yards per game.
In a season where the focal point of Tech's offense was its bruising running back trio of Blake Counts, Tyler Folkes and Jed Fike, Hoffman still found a way to shine.
But, ever humble, he'll give the credit for that success to anyone but himself.
"Got to give credit to the O-line for giving the quarterback time to get me the ball," Hoffman said. "Just from repetition and practice and getting reps with Jet and it all came together and we had a good year and are looking to do it again."
Tech head coach Kyle Samson, who will finally get make his college coaching debut on Saturday after being hired in January 2020, knows what an asset he has in Hoffman.
"Definitely one of the best players in this conference, but also a great leader for us," Samson said of Hoffman, who's also a team captain. "His leadership skills have grown tremendously. Really excited to see what No. 6 can do this year."
Hoffman and his teammates have had plenty of time to bond and solidify their team chemistry during their extended holding pattern the past 21 months. He believes that's going to translate to a potent offense.
"I think our offense is gonna be really dangerous this year," Hoffman said. "We have some other threats and I think that'll help me out with defenses cause we're gonna put a lot of stress on them. And they can only double-cover one guy."
