Les Leininger
Bobcats By The Numbers: 83
6/6/2013 3:12:00 PM | Football
A pair of Montanans share the spotlight
Every day we look at players who donned the jersey number corresponding to the number of days until the Bobcats open the 2013 season on August 29 against Monmouth. The list of MSU football players by the jersey number is based on preseason rosters. The set of available rosters is complete from 1946-81 and '83-present. Only the 1926-27, 1934, 1937 and 1941 rosters are available in the pre-WWII years. Corrections, additions, or rosters that fill out the set are welcome to blamberty@msubobcats.com.
#83
Manny Kalfell, WR: Manny Kalfell and several of his current Bobcat teammates were part of one of the great moments in Bozeman sporting history, starring on Bozeman High's 2010 undefeated state championship team. A receiver, Kalfell had some good moments during the spring and enters the fall in competition for playing time at receiver and on kick teams.
Spotlight Player: It's not hard to figure out that here at BBTN, we favorites. It's also not hard to figure out a lot of those guys come from the late '90s and early '00s. Pat Carahasen is one of those guys. He was a good receiver for Montana State in the era that bridged the Cliff Hysell-Mike Kramer years, catching 74 balls for 807 yards as a Bobcat. But Carahasen was part of something bigger. He joined the MSU program in the 1998 recruiting class, which means that, like fellow signees Ryan Henning and Willy Jacobsen and Ryan Johnson and Mike Quast and Corey Robinson and he was betting on the come. Those guys were betting that an old-school coach with new facilities would turn around a historic but struggling program.The 1997 season gave hope, because immediately after the seven-win season ended construction began on the football stadium renovation. It's probably not a stretch to say that the 1997 and '98 recruiting classes are the most important back-to-back classes between the early 1980s and the mid-2000s, because these are the guys that got Bobcat football back on its feet again. Carahasen was a big part of that, a solid route-runner and blocker who was also stabilizing factor in a receiving corps that seemed in constant flux.
Notable #83s in the Bobcat Past: Les Leininger was a great player for the Bobcats, an All-Big Sky and All-America selection who is also a member of the Wendy's Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame. For as a good a player as he was on some great Bobcat teams, Leininger will also be remembered for a moment of candor after the Bobcats won the 1976 National Championship. Asked on national television by Dave Dial what it was like to play eight-man football at tiny Westby, his reply was something like, 'You line up and run your (butt) off.'
Through the years: Tom Hier (1956), Jim Rice (1957-58), Bob Durado (1959-61), Don Croner (1963), George Schoonmaker (1964-66), Bob Womack (1967-68), Kerry Pickett (1969), Bob Partee (1970), Doug Morrison (1971-72), Les Leininger (1973-76), Ron Ranieri (1977-80), Bryan Compton (1982-83), Paul Rogers (1986), Von Narcisse (1987), Kevin McGovern (1988), Jay Yahnke (1989), Jason Ward (1992), Marc Bragg (1993-96), Ryan Erickson (1997), Pat Carahasen (1999-2002), Demetrius Williams (2003), Mike Brown (2004-06), Colby Kinna (2007), Reil Cornelius (2008-10), Manny Kalfell (2011-)
#83
Manny Kalfell, WR: Manny Kalfell and several of his current Bobcat teammates were part of one of the great moments in Bozeman sporting history, starring on Bozeman High's 2010 undefeated state championship team. A receiver, Kalfell had some good moments during the spring and enters the fall in competition for playing time at receiver and on kick teams.
Spotlight Player: It's not hard to figure out that here at BBTN, we favorites. It's also not hard to figure out a lot of those guys come from the late '90s and early '00s. Pat Carahasen is one of those guys. He was a good receiver for Montana State in the era that bridged the Cliff Hysell-Mike Kramer years, catching 74 balls for 807 yards as a Bobcat. But Carahasen was part of something bigger. He joined the MSU program in the 1998 recruiting class, which means that, like fellow signees Ryan Henning and Willy Jacobsen and Ryan Johnson and Mike Quast and Corey Robinson and he was betting on the come. Those guys were betting that an old-school coach with new facilities would turn around a historic but struggling program.The 1997 season gave hope, because immediately after the seven-win season ended construction began on the football stadium renovation. It's probably not a stretch to say that the 1997 and '98 recruiting classes are the most important back-to-back classes between the early 1980s and the mid-2000s, because these are the guys that got Bobcat football back on its feet again. Carahasen was a big part of that, a solid route-runner and blocker who was also stabilizing factor in a receiving corps that seemed in constant flux.
Notable #83s in the Bobcat Past: Les Leininger was a great player for the Bobcats, an All-Big Sky and All-America selection who is also a member of the Wendy's Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame. For as a good a player as he was on some great Bobcat teams, Leininger will also be remembered for a moment of candor after the Bobcats won the 1976 National Championship. Asked on national television by Dave Dial what it was like to play eight-man football at tiny Westby, his reply was something like, 'You line up and run your (butt) off.'
Through the years: Tom Hier (1956), Jim Rice (1957-58), Bob Durado (1959-61), Don Croner (1963), George Schoonmaker (1964-66), Bob Womack (1967-68), Kerry Pickett (1969), Bob Partee (1970), Doug Morrison (1971-72), Les Leininger (1973-76), Ron Ranieri (1977-80), Bryan Compton (1982-83), Paul Rogers (1986), Von Narcisse (1987), Kevin McGovern (1988), Jay Yahnke (1989), Jason Ward (1992), Marc Bragg (1993-96), Ryan Erickson (1997), Pat Carahasen (1999-2002), Demetrius Williams (2003), Mike Brown (2004-06), Colby Kinna (2007), Reil Cornelius (2008-10), Manny Kalfell (2011-)
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