MISSOULA — Montana wide receiver Brooks Davis wasn't all that interested in playing football growing up.

Enter Dave Fogelstrom, the head football coach at Heritage High School in Brentwood, California.

"I played baseball my whole life," Davis said after being one of the stars of the Grizzlies' spring football game on April 11 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium as he prepares for his redshirt freshman season this fall.

"The head football coach at my high school, he's good friends with my family. He would pull me out of class two to three times every week just basically telling me I have to play football. One time I just gave it a chance and the rest is history."

Fogelstrom knew the family from coaching Davis' older brother in water polo. He had been amazed by Davis' speed and aggressiveness on the basketball court and wanted him to come out for the football team.

He approached the underclassman in 2022 late in Davis' sophomore year of high school. Davis was a devout baseball player, so his calendar in the spring and summer had already been filling up.

"I wasn't going to give up on him," Fogelstrom said. "I just kept pulling him out and going, 'Hey, let's see how we can work this.' He's like, 'Well, my family, they're not big on me playing football.' The mom, I had known her, so she trusted me with her son. Then his dad said we'll take the calendar to coach Fogelstrom and let's see what workouts you can attend during the summer.

"He brought me his baseball calendar and probably 80% of the days during the summer were filled full of baseball. I circled maybe eight to 10 days saying can you make just these days, can you be here for us. He said yes. That was kind of the foot in the door to get him interested in football."

Davis got his first taste of football at De La Salle High School's passing tournament the summer before his junior year. He had no practices to prepare or time to get in reps with quarterbacks.

It didn't take long for Fogelstrom to see he had someone special with Davis' sprinting speed and hand-eye coordination.

"He knew absolutely nothing about football," Fogelstrom said. "I had him stand next to me and I called a play in the huddle. Finally, I was like, 'Alright, here's what I'm going to have you do. You're going to go stand over there.' He didn't know the formation. He didn't know the play.

"I literally just drew it up on my hand like you would in the backyard. I said, 'This is what you're going to run, just this little, simple curl,' and he goes, 'Got it.' He lined up and ran a curl. I told the quarterback you're throwing him the ball. He caught it and then spun back outside and outran everyone for like a 40-yard touchdown.

"That's the very first time he ever did anything for us ever. Then he jogged back and he goes, 'Was that good?' I go, 'Yeah, that's great, just keep doing that.' His parents were in the stands and they suddenly got excited about football. That's how it started."

That first season, Davis carved out a role as a deep threat on play-action passes to stretch the field by tracking down the ball just like he did as a center fielder in baseball. He primarily ran post routes, fade routes and hitch routes.

He ended up hauling in 18 passes for 428 yards, an average of 23.8 yards per reception. He also caught five touchdowns in 10 games.

"The speed was something very unique with him," Fogelstrom said. "He had what I like to say is game speed. He was as fast as he needed to be. In basketball, if there was a loose ball, he was the one who got to it first.

"Once he came out in football, we couldn't overthrow him. I would tell quarterbacks, 'Look, try to overthrow this kid.' As soon as he saw the ball, there was an extra gear there. When we saw that just the first few times that he was with us, we're like, 'This kid's pretty special.'"

Davis had entered a team that had multiple senior standouts at the skill positions that year. Receiver Jeremiah Ruffin would go on to play at UC Davis and running back Devon Rivers would move on to Fresno State.

Davis received offers from FBS teams Air Force and Army as well as FCS teams San Diego and Montana in the spring after his junior season. He also had interest from fellow FBS teams Cal and San Jose State and FCS teams Sacramento State and UC Davis.

"He was around some really good players with a great work ethic," Fogelstrom said. "He already had a great work ethic. But he saw what it took to go to the Division I level and he really took it to heart.

"We knew that he had this natural talent and skill set to be a successful wide receiver. He just had to commit to football, which he didn't really do until after that junior season when he saw exactly how good he could be."

Davis gave up baseball in the spring of his junior year. He flashed his speed in the 100- and 200-meter dashes on the track, setting PRs of 10.86 and 22.02 seconds. He also ran on the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

He even started lifting weights, Fogelstrom said, so he could become a more formidable football player. He played his senior year at 6-foot and 171 pounds after he committed to Montana in July 2023.

"A lot of the other schools, like San Jose State and Cal, they would meet him and talk to him, but they have this kind of preset notion that wide receivers all need to be 6-3 to 6-5, and he didn't fit that mold," Fogelstrom said. "I'm glad Montana gave him a chance because I think there's more to being a wide receiver than just being tall."

Davis showed that as senior as Heritage reached the North Coast Section Division II semifinals in 2023. He totaled 987 yards and six touchdowns on 54 receptions in 12 games even while regularly seeing double coverage, Fogelstrom noted.

He set the school's single-game record with 168 receiving yards and finished his career with five of the top 11 marks in that category. He closed with 72 catches for 1,415 and 11 touchdowns in 22 career games.

"Going into his senior season, he understood a little bit more about leverage, putting DBs on their heels," Fogelstrom said. "We started to add some comebacks to his routes and some deep crossing routes.

"His biggest development was just as a leader. Every kid suddenly was looking to him each and every day to set the tone for practice. He ran every route 100 miles an hour. I think that inspired everyone else to work hard."

Davis arrived at Montana ahead of the 2024 season ready to work as he entered into a loaded receiver room. Junior Bergen went on to be drafted by the San Francisco 49ers this spring. Keelan White is anticipated to be picked highly in the CFL draft this week.

Sawyer Racanelli transferred to FBS team Wake Forest while Aaron Fontes, Xavier Harris and Ryan Simpson were veteran seniors. All six of those guys are now gone but left an impact on Davis.

"They kind of took me under their wing and showed me the ropes," he said. "I'm still a little new to football, so it was great learning from those veteran guys like Aaron, X, Junior, Rac, Simp, everyone. I'm kind of just falling behind them."

Davis redshirted as a true freshman and didn't play in any games. He watched on as the Griz posted a 9-5 record and were eliminated in the second round of the FCS playoffs.

He called it "a big jump" going from watching from the sideline to now playing. As he works for a bigger role, he has had to make adjustments to the level of competition.

"I'd say the speed and the size of these guys," he said of the biggest differences from high school to college. "Just looking over and seeing the safeties, linebackers, compared to high school it's a whole different level."

The receiver room includes fellow highly touted redshirt freshman speedster Lekeldrick Bridges and senior Drew Deck, among others. They've been catching passes from Keali'i Ah Yat, Luke Flowers and others since last year.

The Griz hit the transfer portal for quarterback Jake Jensen as well as receivers Michael Wortham and Korbin Hendrix before spring camp. They have since added another receiver transfer in Blake Bohannon.

"I love all these guys," Davis said. "They're like brothers to me. Even though they're new, it kind of feels like I've known them my whole life. We're really close. I think that's what creates the best team."

Montana head coach Bobby Hauck praised the speed and "juice" of the young guys playing receiver at the conclusion of spring camp. Jensen closed the spring feeling like that group had "a lot of weapons."

Davis flashed in the spring game when he caught a 69-yard touchdown pass from Flowers on a trick play in which he showed his speed by outrunning the defenders. He totaled 73 yards on two catches while being targeted twice.

"I've been working with these guys a lot, so we kind of picked it up quick," Davis said of working with the different QBs in UM's competition. "My roommate, Luke, he's a quarterback, so we spend a lot of time together. He's the one who threw me the touchdown, so I think that just goes to show the connection we have."

Still relatively new to football, Davis said it's the competition of the game that he has come to love. Whether this fall is his time to shine on the field remains to be seen.

Whenever he gets that chance, Fogelstrom sees high potential, just like he did less than three years ago when Davis had never played football.

"I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised at what he can do at that level," he said. "He has a burst of speed that is going to be definitely something that other teams have to prepare for.

"He's a guy who can be a game changer. He can take it the distance. He doesn't take plays off. You can't relax against him even for a second. He's a fearless kid who wants to be coached. Who wouldn't like that?"