BILLINGS — As the Montana Football Hall of Fame inducts its 2024 class later this month, one new member was certainly capable of running through a wall, and willing to for teammates.
Chase Reynolds ran through just about everything else and it ultimately led him to a six-year career in the NFL.
Maybe most impressive was the powerful running back's high school career which was hatched in the tiny town of Drummond — population barely hovering around 300. Reynolds was a man-child in high school, averaging over 10 yards per carry and collecting several other school records on the way to earning three straight 8-Man football championships.
Then he went on to set rushing record after record with the Montana Grizzlies.
But what a lot of people may not remember: Griz head coach Bobby Hauck moved Reynolds to receiver as a redshirt freshman. The former Trojan didn’t tally a single catch. When Hauck shifted him back to a rusher, all Reynolds did was run over the Big Sky Conference. Naturally, he earned all-conference and All-American attention, plus was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award presented to the nation’s top offensive player at that level of football.
Undrafted out of UM, Reynolds played his way into the NFL, first picked up by the Seattle Seahawks before spending six years with the Rams. He was mostly a special teams player and led the Rams in tackles at that position with 16 in 2014.
Something else casual fans — and even most Griz die-hards — don't know: Reynolds spent a little time with Garth Brooks in the Billings area in 2017 when the megastar country singer was in town to play five concerts. The two teamed up for a kids roping camp at the Laurel Horse Palace.
Drummond’s Chase Reynolds, proving to the world you don’t have to play for a big school to reach the big time.
The Montana Football Hall of Fame ceremony starts at 6 p.m. June 22 at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center.
