Montana State lands running back DaKari Releford Jr. over Ivy League schools

DaKari Releford Jr. gave Montana State another recruiting win with real national reach, committing after an official visit to Bozeman and choosing the Bobcats over Harvard, Yale, Air Force, Columbia, Dartmouth and Northern Colorado. For a program built on running the ball and winning at the top of FCS, the pickup says as much about the Montana State brand as it does about Releford’s talent.

The offer trail started on February 23, when Releford spoke with tight ends coach Jordan Walsh and running backs coach Josh Firm. The first call caught him off guard, but the conversation quickly turned into something more serious, and the relationship kept building from there. By the time Releford got to Bozeman for his official visit, he said the fit was obvious. The coaches and support staff made him feel like family, and the campus, the people, the facilities and the education all pushed Montana State to the top. He also met Brent Vigen, who laid out where Releford could fit in a program that has already reached the FCS national title game twice under Vigen, including a 15-0 run in 2024 before the Bobcats fell in the championship game.

That pitch matters because Montana State is not selling empty ambition. It is selling proof. Vigen’s teams have been on the biggest stage in 2021 and 2024, and the Bobcats have turned that success into a recruiting edge that travels beyond the northern Plains. Releford’s decision showed that clearly. Montana State did not just beat a regional FCS rival for a Colorado backfield piece; it beat academic giants and service-academy competition for a player who valued the full package.

On the field, Releford brings the kind of production that fits Montana State’s run-first identity. MaxPreps listed him with 1,601 rushing yards on 207 carries, a 7.7-yard average, 20 rushing touchdowns and 21 total touchdowns as a junior. Colorado coverage also showed how he carried Fountain-Fort Carson’s offense, including a stretch where he had 683 yards and 10 touchdowns and multiple games with more than 100 yards, including one outing with 213 total yards and two scores and another with 147 yards and three touchdowns on just eight carries.

Fountain-Fort Carson finished 8-4 and entered the 2025 Colorado 5A playoffs as the No. 17 seed, beating Cherokee Trail 14-7 before Cherry Creek shut it down 56-0 in the second round. Releford leaves that level of competition and steps into a backfield pipeline where Montana State keeps stacking speed, skill and production. Over the next two seasons, he projects as the kind of runner who can grow into touches behind the Bobcats’ bruising identity and deepen a room that keeps feeding Vigen’s championship standard.