Jon Maletz BOZEMAN EDITOR
Carter will figure it out.
Such was Gallatin High School football coach J.P. Flynn’s typical refrain when adverse circumstances arose on the gridiron, and this was as tall a task as any. Literally.
It was the fall of 2024. Fourth-and-7 at the 30-yard line. Billings West appeared poised to score. Imposing Bears tight end Moose Ludwig, a 6-foot-4, 250-plus-pound Texas Tech commit and Montana Gatorade Player of the Year, was a lock to receive the ball. Flynn called on his precocious pupil, one generously listed at 5-9.
Carter Dahlke, then a two-way junior standout, was vastly outsized, but not overmatched. He latched onto Ludwig in man-to-man coverage. When the pass fluttered across the middle, Ludwig was hit with both the ball and No. 3 in blue and silver; the star was wrapped up short of the sticks and tossed backward onto the turf.
The threat was neutralized. Momentum was altered. Dahlke’s status was cemented.
“We get the ball back and kind of blow the game open,” Flynn recalled recently. “I just knew — if I hadn’t already — that Carter wouldn’t back down from anyone.”
Or any challenge.
Much has been required of the young Montana State receiver this season. Try being tasked with filling in for a legend in the middle of a bid to repeat as Football Championship Subdivision champions. In his hometown, no less, mere miles across the interstate from where Dahlke and three older brothers spent hours wearing out the backyard grass while tracking down passes from their father, the designated quarterback. And so soon after settling into a new routine on the MSU campus.
Such circumstances could overwhelm anyone. But this is no ordinary freshman.
He took down a Moose.
“He has excelled extremely fast, a lot faster than anyone I’ve seen, and certainly faster than me,” fellow Bobcats receiver Dane Steel gushed. “I told him in fall camp, ‘Dude, you’re like 10 times better than I was the day I showed up.’ He makes plays, he does things right on the field. He doesn’t question anything. We even have a class together, and he’s always making sure I’m going to be there.”
Added MSU receivers coach James Price, “It was really when I got here in January, just meeting him and being around his positive presence. I said, ‘OK, this kid’s pretty special off the field.’ That typically translates to a special player on the field.”
It sure has.
Inserted in place of injured star Taco Dowler, who left Sept. 19’s win over Central Connecticut State with a concussion that has sidelined him ever since, Dahlke hauled in a 47-yard, first-quarter touchdown toss from Patrick Duchien one week later. He finished with seven catches for 117 yards in the 28-14 triumph at Northern Arizona.
It would be the first of three consecutive 100-yard efforts from Dahlke, a first for a Bobcats freshman and third for the program (Eddie Sullivan, Chip Hobbs). In recent weeks, he spearheaded two of the season’s top offensive outbursts for the Big Sky’s premier scoring offense. And he has done so in style.
Mere moments into a Halloween bout with visiting Cal Poly, before most had found their seats, Dahlke secured the opening kickoff and sprinted upfield. After first finding a crease, he collided with but bounced off two Mustangs defenders before exploding up the near sideline. He soon cut straight across the field and scampered untouched into the end zone, igniting Bobcat Stadium.
It took just 18 seconds.
“I still don’t remember the first half of that,” he joked on a recent afternoon while lounging on the couches at the Bobcat Athletic Center. “Toward the end, I just remember that I was really tired and I was trying not to get tackled by the kicker.
“This whole experience, I’m definitely trying to stay grounded and not take it for granted. I was talking to Taco the other week, and he was like, ‘What did you expect at the beginning of the season?’ I said, ‘I was hoping for 200 yards and maybe a touchdown.’ … I’m really grateful for this opportunity, for this place, for this fan base, and doing it in Bozeman is what makes it so special.”
Dahlke would add a 44-yard touchdown connection with quarterback Justin Lamson and a fourth 100-yard receiving effort to his expanding tally as MSU routed Cal Poly, 61-7. He leads the Bobcats with 46 catches and 702 yards through 10 games.
His emergence has been a pleasant development for a surging MSU squad eyeing a league title and top postseason seed. But a surprise?
Hardly.
“Nothing that kid does is shocking,” Flynn said. “Honestly, we’ve really known he was going to be this good since middle school.”
In those days, Sacajawea and Chief Joseph middle schools would square off under the lights. Everyone would get the chance to play, Flynn recalled, before Dahlke was summoned. It was common for five of his six touches to result in scores.
The dominance continued in his freshman year with the Raptors, where his stint on junior varsity lasted shorter than summer conditioning.
“We usually go to (camp at MSU) and bring a JV team and a varsity team. And very quickly, the guys that were down at the JV level were like, ‘Yeah, we’re wasting his time,’” Flynn said.
“The thing about Carter is, he’s extremely hard on himself, which in turn makes his work ethic pretty unbelievable for a player of his caliber. I kind of believe it’s like that little-brother mentality; he always has something to prove, and his football IQ, his understanding of the intricacies of the game, is really unmatched. … I always called him a one-rep learner. He was a cheat code out there.”
Added Dahlke, “Being the youngest, constantly getting beaten up and coming in and crying to my mom, always losing, I think my drive to be the best started right there. I love my brothers, but I always had that thought in the back of my head that I wanted to be better than them, and then that just kind of turned out to make me the best version of myself.”
That version resulted in a landmark four seasons at then-fledgling Gallatin, where Dahlke helped the Raptors secure four consecutive Class AA state semifinal berths. All told, he piled up nearly 6,000 all-purpose yards, averaged nearly 19 per reception, 9 per carry and found the end zone almost 50 times, according to MaxPreps.
Colleges came calling during a breakout junior campaign in which he caught 58 passes for 1,208 yards and 13 touchdowns — in addition to that eye-opening tackle.
MSU was always at the front of the line. Flynn, a former Bobcats All-American and NFL offensive lineman, never prodded, though he always hoped Dahlke would stay home.
Coaches across town were banking on it.
“When I got here in early January 2025, we had really shifted into recruiting, and he was a name we heard about right away,” MSU offensive coordinator Pete Sterbick said. “You turn on the film and can see pretty quickly what everybody was talking about.”
On the first day of spring ball — Dahlke enrolled early — Sterbick finally saw that talent up close.
“Just watching him move in space, even just in drills that we weren’t even running against the defense, just watching his ability to get his foot in the ground and change direction and reach the football and his burst upfield — it was really a bunch of things,” Sterbick recounted. “Then you get into those situations where they’ve got to try to tackle him, and he’s hard to bring down. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, there’s something there.’ He has never seemed overwhelmed.”
“It’s always good for everyone, whether it’s a zero star or a five star, to let them come in and develop a little bit,” position coach Price added. “Going through spring and the fall, it was really like ‘Boom goes the dynamite.’ He showed some flashes and we knew he was going to have a big role.”
But this big? Dahlke is cognizant it materialized so soon largely because of Dowler’s unavailability, a fact he grapples with as the two have forged a deep bond over film sessions and Qdoba outings.
“He really took me in during the spring when he had no reason to,” Dahlke said. “Just his leadership and the person he is really brought me close to him, and we’ve developed a great friendship. … I’m so blessed to have him here. I thank God he stayed because he’s really affected my time here and made me not only a better player, but a person.
“My calling card was always that I was going to be the Next Taco — I was told that a lot. I was completely OK with that, especially after I got to know him.”
Teammates and coaches won’t heap such pressure on Dahlke’s shoulders. Even Flynn has backtracked after catching flack online for suggesting his former player may have already surpassed the Billings product, whose decorated Bozeman tenure has included the decisive overtime grab in January’s national title game.
Dahlke doesn’t invest any energy on the debate. There is too much season ahead of him and the Bobcats. Too much to learn from a roster and a receivers room brimming with talent. Too much work to do to become the best possible version of Carter Dahlke.
That has always worked out before.
