Reality is still sinking in for Brock Osweiler, who three years after graduating from Flathead High School is now a quarterback for a storied NFL franchise and working alongside two of the greatest signal callers ever.

"It's all pretty surreal," he said in a conference call Thursday, less than a week after being drafted by the Denver Broncos. "I'm so fortunate to be going to a great situation."

Osweiler, 22, is fulfilling a dream he's had ever since growing up in the Flathead Valley, standing in knee-deep snow tossing a football at a target, focused on playing professional football.

"My entire life, my soul vision, since I was 7-8 years old, was to be a quarterback in the NFL," he said.

Today, he's playing for one of his home state's favorite franchises.

"I could not be any happier with the situation I'm going to and the city I'm going to," he said. "It's such a special opportunity."

The Broncos, under the guidance of former NFL great John Elway, the team's executive vice president of football operations, had their eye on Osweiler. After Osweiler announced he would forego his senior year at Arizona State University, Denver was one of the first teams to contact him. Elway and head coach John Fox talked extensively with Osweiler at the NFL Combine. By draft time the Broncos were trading around picks and positioning themselves to be able to take Osweiler with the 57th overall pick.

He said he wasn't very surprised to get a phone call from Denver last Friday night. Immediately after the pick was announced, Elway expressed his excitement about landing the 6-foot-7 quarterback.

"Mr. Elway's been great," Osweiler said. "He has full confidence in me and that's why he said he drafted me. He sees a very bright future for me."

Osweiler said the former Bronco great shared some lasting advice in one of their first conversations since the NFL Draft.

"He basically just told me 'embrace the situation, have fun with it but work your tail off. If you continue the work ethic you showed at ASU, you'll be just fine,'" Osweiler said. "I can only thank him for putting me in the situation I'm in, to be able to sit behind a future Hall of Fame quarterback and pick his brain every day."

Osweiler said he looks forward to learning from one of the game's best – Peyton Manning. Manning joined the Broncos this offseason, making the team an immediate contender. Denver has one other quarterback on the depth chart, 26-year-old Caleb Hanie.

Osweiler said the challenges he faces right away will be learning Denver's complex offense, which centers around a quarterback like Manning who constantly reads defenses at the line of scrimmage and makes changes accordingly. Nevertheless, Osweiler is relishing the challenge ahead.

"My job sitting behind Peyton is not only to push him and get him prepared for each game each week, but also to learn from him on a daily basis," Osweiler said. "It's not his job to babysit me or pass the torch. It's my job to be looking over his shoulder and learn from him and find out why he's so great."

Osweiler said he's been working on his throwing motion and training in preparation for the upcoming rookie mini camp.

And as he arrives on the big stage of the NFL, he doesn't seem to forget where he came from.

"Kalispell is truly the place that shaped me into the person I am today," he said. "Kalispell taught me my work ethic and my determination. A lot of that credit goes to my parents, but also the good old Flathead Valley."

RELATED: Brock Arrives on the Big Stage

RELATED: Brock Outtakes: Interviews with McCarvel, Bennett and Erickson

 

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Local professional boxer Jesse Uhde will be back in the ring this week at the latest installment of Burton Boxing's "Friday Night Fights" inside the Trade Center at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.

There are two sanctioned pro fights and five semi-pro fights scheduled for the May 4 event. Doors open at 6 p.m. and fights begin at 8 p.m.

Uhde, a local fighter who recently achieved his dream of fighting professionally, is scheduled to take on Chris Asher from Bozeman. In the second pro bout, John Jay Mount from Elmo squares off against David Otis from Belgrade.

Presale tickets can be purchased at Burton Boxing, FattBoys Bar and Grille and at the fairgrounds. The event will be family friendly. For more information, call 406-393-2247.

 

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As I write this the Flathead River is ripping through Columbia Falls at more than 43,000 cubic feet per second. That’s about where you want the river if your goal is to float from Teakettle to the lake in record time. For now river fishing is toast. And that goes for pretty much every river west of the divide.

Still, fishing must go on so I pulled the drift boat out of the garage for the first time this season.

 

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Anglers keep lugging in lake trout on Flathead Lake. Another 2,899 were caught over the seventh weekend of Spring Mack Days, hiking the total to 21,963.

Entering the final weeks of the event, the $10,000 tagged lake trout remains shifty along with five $5,000 catches, 10 fish worth $1,000 and a ton more worth between $100 and $500.

Susan Martin of Polson with a large lake trout weighing over 14 pounds caught last Saturday.

Don Beville from Lakeside continues to lead all anglers for total catches with 824. Mike Benson from Lonepine is runner-up with 760. Missoula's Tracy Powers leads all women with 242 followed by Susan Martin from Polson with 188.

Youth anglers have turned in 1,020 fish.

Mack Days continues until Sunday, May 20. The final 10 days straight are open to fishing starting March 11. The conclusion of the event is at Blue Bay. A fish fry for the anglers will begin at 4 p.m. and awards and lottery drawing will begin at 5 p.m. All fish are to be turned in by 4 p.m.

Ryan Shima still has the largest entry with his 42.5-inch, 24.5-pound entry. Jason Mahlen has the smallest at 6.5 inches.

For more information visit the Spring Mack Days website, or call 406-883-2888 (ex. 7294).

Spring Mack Days Leaderboard
Through Seven Weeks
Men
Don Beville, Lakeside, 824
Mike Benson, Lonepine, 760
Craig Morigeau, Polson, 714
Steven Benson, Four Lakes, Wash., 634
Scott Bombard, Missoula, 627
Danny Smith, Hot Springs, 616
Jason Mahlen, Kalispell, 616
Jerry Benson, Plains, 613
David McDaniel, Polson, 496
Larry Schmill, Missoula, 480

Women
Tracy Powers, Missoula, 242
Susan Martin, Polson, 188
Nicole Peters, Missoula, 91
Deana Knipe, Polson, 83
Debra O’Hara, St. Ignatius, 43

Youth 13-17
Connor Kowalski, Florence, 187
Tanner Murry, Columbia Falls, 183
Garett Beville, Lakeside, 113
Kobe Cox, Charlo, 81
Roger Guillory, Kalispell, 62
Brady Wieble, 24

Youth 12 and Under
Garett Vaughan, Charlo, 167
Dylan Hodgson, 37
Danner Shima, Kalispell, 34
Carson McDaniel, 23
Autumn Powers, 18
Alex Moran, 15
Kailey Schrader, 13
Adam Schrader, 13

 

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On the wall over my drawing board, beside my desk in my office in our home, on the side of a ski hill, 100 feet from a chair lift, hangs lots of memorabilia. Each of these conjures up images of stuff that I have done or photos of faraway places that I would like to have visited when I was a lot younger and stronger.

One is a large poster of Gary Lopez at the Pipeline in Hawaii riding a wave that is over three times as tall as he is. It brings back a lot of memories of getting smashed by what I used to think were big waves. In the early 1940s, the waves we rode were nowhere near that big, but we got smashed and pummeled in 50-degree water long before wet suits and light surfboards were invented.

 

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A radio-collared woodland caribou that wandered into northwestern Montana from British Columbia has been returned to Canada after some medical treatment.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists received a report Thursday that the radio collar from a caribou was emitting a "mortality signal" from the mountains south of Eureka. The female caribou was one of 19 from northern British Columbia that were released last month near Cranbrook, about 40 miles north of the U.S. border.

 

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As a young girl, Lexy Boschee started going to her dad’s track practices at Flathead High School. Jerry Boschee was the girls track coach for the Braves at the time and little Lexy was fascinated by all of the athletes sprinting and throwing shot puts and, especially, jumping over bars.

Something about high jumping captivated the girl. She stared and asked questions until Bill Epperly, Flathead’s high jump coach, decided there was no harm in letting her give it a try. Let her have some fun, he figured.

 

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I went on a carnivore’s rampage toward the end of winter. I found myself with a glut of locally harvested protein. Well, some was local. The birds came primarily from the Sweet Grass Hills, which is local only by Montana standards.

Montanans have a different perception of distance compared to folks who live in more urban areas.

 

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