As Griz fall drills heat up, Henry Nuce answers questions

As the Montana Grizzlies work their way through the first week of fall camp, head coach Bobby Hauck and co-defensive coordinators Roger Cooper and Tim Hauck find themselves with some NFL-sized shoes to fill on the D-line.

Gone to the two-time defending world champion Kansas City Chiefs is Alex Gubner, last year’s Big Sky Defensive MVP and the man who made it all go for Montana’s historic D that allowed the third-fewest rushing yards in the FCS. 

But in college football, it’s always “next man up” as the Grizzlies look to reload on the defensive front and put up even more historic numbers. 

Chomping at the bit to get back out there and prove himself is Henry Nuce, a junior from Kalispell that was forced to sit and watch as Montana rolled to a Big Sky championship last year while he recovered from injury. He returned for the playoffs and made an immediate impact. Now back to full health, he’s poised to be one of Montana’s defensive leaders. 

GoGriz.com sat down with Nuce for a Quick Chat after Tuesday’s practice. 

Thanks for chatting with us Hank. You missed the bulk of Montana’s season last year with injury but made it back to the playing field for that epic run to the FCS title game. You had a sack and a forced fumble in your first game against Furman. What was that like having to bide your time before getting a shot, then making the most of it? 

It was incredible getting back on the field. Sitting on the sideline for the whole year through the highs and lows, then coming back and winning the Big Sky championship – being on the sideline was killing me. So, to be able to get back out their earlier than when the doctors thought was just a blessing. And it was just so much fun. First game back was a black out playoff game under the lights. It was awesome. 

We know you’re just a couple days into it, but how has fall camp been treating you so far? 

So far so good. We haven’t had the pads on yet but I really like what I see. I think the defense is coming together really well. We have a lot of transfers, but I think we’re melding together. It was a great start to camp and it’s looking like it’s going to keep getting better. 

Last year’s defense was so incredibly good. Leading the league in rush defense, turnover margin, third down defense… we could go on. What did that playoff run teach you and what is the goal for this year’s D? 

The goal is to go to Frisco and bring it back this year. That’s what it always is, and that’s where we’re aiming. But we have to take it one game at a time first, so we’re really looking forward to that first game. 

I feel like we proved a lot of people wrong last year by going down there. That gives us a huge amount of confidence knowing that we can overcome any obstacle that comes our way. We just gotta go do it. 

It’s tough losing a guy like Gubby, but Coach Hauck and the staff have brought in some veteran guys with great experience like Pat Hayden and Andres Lehermann, plus getting Kash (Noah Kaschmitter) back is another huge help. What’s it been like in camp finding the next great defensive leaders? 

The defense has really brought it the last few years. We have some big shoes to fill. It’s hard to replicate what a guy like Gub did. He was such a good leader and got everyone motivated. But I think out whole D-line has stepped up this year, and other areas too. We lost great linebackers like Braxton (Hill), Levi (Janacaro), and (Tyler) Flink – we had a lot of shoes to fill, but the defense has really stepped up and we’ve got some great leaders.