The FCS Daily Dose is a blog-style article series featuring an assortment of news, rumblings, quick-hitters, and commentary on various topics. A new Daily Dose will be published multiple times a week to keep the FCS discussion going throughout the long offseason.
For April 3, 2024, let’s talk about…
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Where Will Clifton McDowell Go Next?
Clifton McDowell has been a journeyman in his college career.
The 6-foot-4, 224-pound quarterback was at FBS Louisiana in 2019 and 2020. He transferred to JuCo Kilgore College in 2021, and then went to FCS Central Arkansas in 2022.
In the transfer portal again last offseason, McDowell originally committed to FCS Southern before flipping to Montana.
It ended up being a momentous transfer flip in the FCS landscape.
McDowell quickly went from a rotational QB for the Grizzlies at the beginning of the season to the guy. He stabilized an ugly quarterback situation in September and didn’t lose a game as a starter until the national championship, a stage Griz faithful have longed to return to. McDowell was named the Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year as he finished the season 160/274 passing for 2,026 yards, 13 touchdowns, and four interceptions with 753 yards rushing and nine more scores.
On Jan. 9, two days after the 23-3 national title loss to South Dakota State, McDowell entered the portal again. It was a surprise to some. Not a surprise to others. He signed with FBS Temple on Feb. 7. And then on March 25, it was reported that McDowell was back in the portal.
Where will he land next? There is some scuttle that a return to Montana is a possibility. How likely, though, who knows?
Colter Nuanez of ESPN Missoula said Tuesday on Nuanez Now: “As I reported yesterday on this show, he is sniffing around Montana and perhaps trying to make his way back onto the Griz football team. The last we had heard, sources say that they were going to have a team vote to see if McDowell could come back to the Griz roster.”
McDowell took some flak, but also some understanding and support, from the passionate Montana fan base when he entered the portal in January. Griz and other FCS fans certainly chimed in when he went back into the portal last week. But players are more understanding of portal entries than fans are. Would the Montana locker room want McDowell to return? Would it be welcomed? Awkward?
Montana coaches are doing the right thing in reportedly having some sort of team vote on it.
Programs are different in how they handle portal entries. And of course, every portal entry is different with varying reasons.
Examples: UC Davis RB Ulonzo Gilliam entered the transfer portal after the 2021 season but returned to the team later that offseason. At some schools, once you enter the portal, you won’t be welcomed back. There were rumblings that some NDSU transfers last offseason hoped to return to the Bison after not getting the FBS offers they expected, but those interests in returning were turned down.
It would be quite the dynamic if McDowell returned to Montana. But also, that about sums up the current landscape of player movement. The FBS saw this with Kadyn Proctor going from Alabama to Iowa and then quickly back to Alabama.
How would Montana fans feel about a potential McDowell return?
On one hand, McDowell did lead the Griz to the FCS national championship game for the first time since 2009. He helped turn around a tough start to the season where Montana wasn’t playing like a Top 25 team. He was good with spurts of greatness throughout the season. And if he played at that level in his first year as a starter, what can he accomplish in 2024 with more development?
On the other hand, McDowell wasn’t too sharp in the playoffs. Montana’s offense was limited deep in the bracket. And McDowell might have a ceiling that isn’t high enough to win an FCS title. The bar to win a national championship is so high, and adequate QB play isn’t enough unless you have an elite defense and multiple pros on the offensive line for a dominant run game.
Montana is very high on young quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat, who will be a redshirt freshman in the fall. He’s the son of Griz Hall of Fame QB Brian Ah Yat. There is a good chance that Ah Yat and McDowell were going to be in the QB1 battle heading into 2024. Perhaps not having a guarantee of the starting job was a reason McDowell left. Or perhaps there were other reasons he transferred that are more understanding.
Montana also brought in Logan Fife, an FBS transfer from Fresno State to battle for the starting job. Fife, who originally committed to Minnesota in December before decommitting, started six games in 2022 and 2023 at Fresno State.
We’ll see if anything comes of this. Nuanez is super well-sourced. So there is at least some smoke of McDowell potentially coming back.
Can he lead Montana to a national championship win? We don’t know. But is he the best option to get the Griz in a position to do so? Maybe.
Besides the quarterback question, Montana’s offense is otherwise loaded.
The Griz have four offensive linemen back with starting experience. The uber-talented WR trio of Junior Bergen, Aaron Fontes, and Keelan White return. All-American TE Cole Grossman is back after missing all of 2023 due to surgery. Eli Gillman returns at running back after winning the Jerry Rice Award alongside the veteran and a productive Nick Ostmo in the backfield.
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