Montana State lands defensive lineman Tripp Johansen after official visit

Montana State turned a June 19 official visit into a July 3 commitment from Tripp Johansen, adding a 6-foot-2, 265-pound defensive lineman whose profile fits the Bobcats’ championship template up front. The pledge matters because Montana State is still recruiting like a team with title equity, and Johansen’s decision came after he drew a wide mix of interest from Nevada, Northern Arizona, Idaho State, Army, Navy, Harvard, Cornell, Lehigh and Penn.

The Bobcats offered Johansen on May 28 after he spoke with defensive coordinator Bobby Daly, and the visit to Bozeman appeared to close the gap. Johansen said the experience was “amazing,” pointing to the food and ziplining, and he spent time with defensive tackle Graysen Schneider and other players around a fire talking about Bobcat football and life. That kind of scene is part of Montana State’s pitch: the program can show recruits what daily life looks like beyond the practice field, not just what it looks like on Saturday.

Johansen also connected with head coach Brent Vigen and defensive line coach Nick Jean-Baptiste, whose NFL experience gives Montana State another clear selling point in the trench. Jean-Baptiste’s background and the staff’s continuity help explain why the Bobcats keep landing linemen who fit the same mold, physical players who are expected to buy into development and depth instead of chasing immediate headlines.

Johansen brings production that backs up the interest. Willamette finished 10-1 in 2025 and reached the OSAA Class 6A quarterfinals before losing 27-20 to Central Catholic on Nov. 14, 2025. Across that season, Johansen posted 73 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery, numbers that put him among the state’s most disruptive defenders. He earned All-State honorable mention recognition and said he was second in Oregon in both tackles for loss and sacks.

That production, paired with the recruiting traffic around him on July 3, is what makes the commitment stand out. Montana State did not simply collect a regional body for the rotation. It beat out a national spread of FCS, military academy and Ivy League programs for a defender who says, “You never have to beg me to go to the weight room. Sometimes you have to beg me to get out of the weight room.” For a Bobcats program trying to defend its standing in the FCS race, that is exactly the kind of addition that keeps the front line supplied with more than just depth.