Treasure Valley’s most recruited football player makes his choice — a national FCS power
Joey Elwell has earned the nickname “Chef Joey” for all his pancake blocks for the Mountain View High football team.
That physical nature earned the 6-3, 230-pound senior tight end nine scholarship offers from FCS programs across the country. But Chef Joey announced his verbal commitment last week to Montana, becoming one of the first known commits of the Grizzlies’ 2019 recruiting class.
Elwell chose Montana over Montana State, Idaho, Idaho State, UC Davis, Portland State, Northern Arizona, Georgetown and St. Francis. He said his final three were Montana, Montana State and UC Davis.
“It’s just a really great coaching staff, and I have a really great relationship with their tight end coach,” Elwell said of Montana. “I really like what they are selling up there.
“It’s a great tradition up there, they’ve got really great football fans and they treat them great every day. With coach (Bobby) Hauck back, it looks like they are back to their winning tradition.”
Elwell does a bit of everything in Mountain View’s offense. The Mavericks put him on the line of scrimmage, split him out wide and even line him up in the backfield when they need extra muscle to run the ball.
He hasn’t produced much in the stat column so far — six catches for 35 yards, 11 carries for 57 yards — as defenses have focused on containing him. But he remains one of the 5A SIC’s toughest players to tackle and one of its most punishing blockers, traits that will serve him well in Missoula.
Montana uses an H-back similar to Mountain View, so the transition to the next level won’t require much of a learning curve.
“He looks like he has a college body already,” Mountain View coach Judd Benedick said. “They just need to work on building his strength to a college level and building his speed to match the college level. He’ll work at it, and it won’t take him long to figure it out.”
Elwell started his football career as a linebacker and didn’t play tight end until his freshman year at Mountain View. Because he always preferred the physical side of football, he’s not bothered that he hasn’t gotten the ball much this fall.
“I’ve got no complaints about it,” Elwell said. “That’s my favorite part about football, getting physical with guys.”
Elwell was a first-team 5A SIC selection last fall and earned second-team 5A All-Idaho honors.
Montana currently has four Idaho natives on its roster, including Mountain View grad Josh Buss. Buss converted from running back to linebacker in Missoula and was the only FCS player on the watch list for college football’s top linebacker this fall.
Elwell joins Declo running back Keegan Duncan (Boise State) as the only Idaho high schoolers committed to a Division I football scholarship so far this fall.
This story was originally published September 27, 2018 at 4:57 PM.