Kroy Biermann

“He was just flat fierce” – Biermann’s long NFL career lands him in Montana Pro Football HOF

By COLTER NUANEZ

Bobby Hauck has coached very many players who are considered among the best to ever come through the University of Montana football program.

During his two stints and 13 total seasons, Hauck has coached a multitude of All-Americans on both sides of the ball. And Hauck’s teams have had among the best special teams standouts, both in terms of specialists and returners, in the history of FCS/Division I-AA.

The Montana Pro Football Hall of Fame is littered with players who cut their teeth with the Grizzlies under Hauck’s tutelage, including a pair of inductees for the Class of 2025.

And if you ask the all-time leader in wins in Montana and Big Sky Conference history, he knows one thing definitively.

“We’ve had a lot of great, great players over the years,” Hauck said in May of 2025. “We’ve won a lot of games and when you really boil it down, that’s why. We’ve had a lot of really great defensive players. In terms of defensive line play, and probably defensively, it’s clear that Kroy Biermann is the greatest.

“He had special ability in terms of his physical gifts as well as his mental actuality for the game. But also, his attitude, how he approached it, that all went into making him one of the best.”

Biermann affirmed his reputation at Montana with one of the most legendary senior seasons in the history of the conference. In 2007, Biermann became the first Montana Grizzly to win the coveted Buck Buchanan Award winner as the top defensive player in the country.

That unforgettable 15-sack season came right after an 11-sack campaign in 2006 that helped Biermann earn All-American honors for the first of two such nods to end his Griz career.

If being the best Hauck defensive player in an era where offenses rule the day isn’t enough to affirm his legacy, Biermann has one of the most formidable NFL resumes of any former Grizzly or any member of the Montana Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Biermann played nine seasons in the NFL, including eight with the Atlanta Falcons after they selected him in the 5th round of the 2008 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-3, 255-pounder became a starter for the Falcons after a five-sack second season in 2009. He was a stalwart in the Falcons’ front seven rotation, playing end and linebacker for most of the next four seasons, starting 22 games and playing in 66 games before a torn Achilles almost derailed his career in 2013.

Instead, he bounced back and then some, starting 15 games and racking up career-highs in tackles (75), solo tackles (41) and tackles for loss (8). He also led Atlanta with 4.5 sacks.

“His drive, his competitiveness and the way he elevates our defense are second to none,” former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn said in 2015 ahead of Biermann’s last season in Atlanta.

Biermann’s NFL tenure is among the longest by a former Grizzly ever. Tim Hauck, Bobby’s brother and the current defensive coordinator for the Grizzlies, played 13 seasons in the NFL. Former offensive lineman Scott Gragg and defensive lineman Mike Tilleman each played 10. Colt Anderson, who’s still coaching in the NFL and played at Montana for three seasons with Biermann, played nine years in the NFL.

After growing up on the Crow Reservation in Hardin as a do-everything athlete who not only played linebacker and fullback but also kicked and punted during football season while also wreaking havoc on the wrestling mat during the winter, Biermann then transformed into one of the fiercest defensive ends in history of Division I-AA.

During his nine seasons in the NFL, he played 114 games and started 37 of them. He was a special teams stalwart while also piling up 331 tackles, 37 tackles for loss and 23.5 sacks. He had a pair of picks and scored three touchdowns.

It all amounts to one of the most impressive football resumes by a Montanan in the history of the Treasure State.

“He was flat fierce, ever since he stepped on campus in Missoula, in the way that he played and that’s what carried him in the NFL,” Hauck said. “He was big, fast, strong, good with his hands, and flat mean on the football field, a true football guy. He was genuinely awesome to coach.”

Biermann grew up in an athletic family in Hardin in the heart of the Crow Indian Reservation. The Crows have long been known as fierce warriors who are also wonderful basketball players. But Bierrmann is not Native American nor did he play hoops.

He faced an uphill battle to chase his football dreams considering that no player from Hardin had ever received a Division I football scholarship before Biermann came along.

Biermann earned eight letters at Hardin High School: three in football; three in wrestling; and two in track. He was a first-team All-State pick and team captain as a junior and senior at linebacker. He was chosen first-team All-Conference at running back in 2002 and 2003. He participated in Montana's Annual East-West Shrine Game.

Biermann was also one of the state's premier wrestlers at the Class A level and placed second in the state as a junior and senior. His senior year in wrestling, he was team captain, had the most take-downs and most pins, and was voted his team's Most Valuable Wrestler.

In a story from the Montana Television Network, former Sidney head coach Mike Grear told Richie Melby: “A real tribute to (Biermann) is that he didn’t play on a great high school team. They were pretty good, but for kids that have ability and work hard, maybe their team struggles, it’s a real tribute to those kinds of kids that, ‘OK, when I get to that step I have to make myself better,’ and that’s what he did. He’s a lot like (former Glendive and Montana State offensive lineman) Mike Person in that he finally got into a position where he could excel with his abilities, and he made the most of it.”

During his time with the Bulldogs, Biermann would roam around and basically either chase down ball carriers or bring pressure from all over the field. The pursuit and tackling skills are what helped Hauck project Biermann as a college defensive end.

“You had to game plan against him because he played inside linebacker and you never knew where he was coming from,” Grear told MTN. “You knew he was coming, I mean, it was part of their defense, he was coming on just about every single play, it was just hard to figure out where he was going to come from. That took a lot of work because he definitely did a lot of damage in your backfield if you didn’t get him picked up.”

Biermann was also a sort of diamond in the rough. Because he had spent most of his high school career trying to make weight in wrestling, he had plenty of room to grow. Hauck identified him as the next great Griz pass rusher early on. But Montana had to keep Biermann a secret while also holding off the Ducks.

“He did so much in high school, I think he even punted and kicked,” Hauck remembered with a chuckle, acknowledging a dynamic that years later to Biermann being Atlanta’s kickoff specialist in a game for exactly one contest and three kickoffs. “But really saw him as a defensive end. We had a guy named Mike Murphy who was like Kroy was as a young player, good off the ball, good with his hands.

“Kroy’s athletic ability and his speed had to be utilized as a pass rusher. But when we were recruiting him, we didn’t want to talk about him too much. It was us and Oregon and nobody else was even sniffing around him. We were just glad to get him, obviously.”

In college, Biermann made an impact early before exploding into national prominence during his junior and senior years.

Biermann’s talent, instincts and high motor helped get him on the field early. His relentless work ethic in the weight room and during the off-season helped him blossom into a two-time All-American.

On multiple occasions, Hauck has called his former star defensive player's weight-room numbers "freakish.'' Biermann never shied away from the weight room, and never shied away from hard work. He combined speed, strength, and great athleticism to become one of the premier defensive players in FCS football.

"I was raised to work for everything that I wanted,'' said the 6-foot-3, 255-pounder told the Big Sky Conference for their 50th anniversary series of the top 50 athletes in league history, a list which Biermann finished 23rd. "I committed myself to that. I was raised to give it my all. My nature is to never give in, never settle, and to keep pushing for higher goals. It's in my blood and in my bones. I work hard to help the team win. I've always loved the team sports, the camaraderie of the guys, and how you work together and function together.''

As a true freshman at UM in 2004, he registered 22 tackles and three sacks. The following season, he had 48 tackles and three sacks. As a junior in 2006, he greatly enhanced his production, recording 76 tackles - 14 for loss - and 11 sacks. He earned First Team All-Big Sky honors for the first time.

“He played at a time where you developed guys, they played some, then they played a lot when they became THE guy,” Hauck said. “Then he became THE guy and man was he special.”

Behind Biermann, Montana enjoyed an 11-0 regular-season in 2007 before a heart-breaking upset home loss to Wofford in the first round of the playoffs that also ended fellow HOF inductee Lex Hilliard’s UM career.

Biermann spearheaded a defense that allowed just 14.8 points per game. Biermann was named an All-American by Walter Camp, the Associated Press, the Sports Network, and the American Football Coaches Association. On the eve of the national championship game, he became the first Montana Grizzly to win the Buchanan, given annually by The Sports Network to the top defensive player in the nation.

"It was a great honor,'' Biermann said. "I know the coaches, and the media relations people in Missoula put a lot of time and effort into putting a campaign together to make me noticeable to the media and the fans. There were some great football players that year. Again, without the coaching, my family and my mentors that would not have been possible. To be the first guy from Montana to win it was great. I was born and raised there, and I love that state.''

Biermann finished his career with 33 career sacks, which ranks fourth all-time in league history. He had 192 total tackles - 43.5 for loss - and 10 forced fumbles. In the spring of 2008, he was selected in the fifth round by the Atlanta Falcons.

He gutted out a long career while enduring a very public life due to his marriage to a reality TV star. But most around Montana will remember him for his durability, his toughness and his fearsome persona when he wore maroon & silver.

“From the ranches of Hardin to the roaring stadiums of the NFL, Kroy Biermann carried the grit, power, and pride of Montana every step of the way,” wrote former Griz defensive tackle Craig Mettler, an All-Big Sky DT who played alongside Biermann for three seasons.

“Agility and explosion met attitude every time Kroy lined up. Kroy didn’t just play football, he attacked it. From his first fall camp drill as freshman in 2004 to his last play in 2007, every snap was a statement.

“Winning the Buck Buchanan Award was no accident—Kroy Biermann was the embodiment of dominance at the FCS level, setting a standard the Big Sky Conference still chases on the defensive side of the ball.

“Kroy Biermann’s game was part speed, part strength, and all heart; the kind of player that leaves a legacy long after the final whistle.”