The 6-foot-5, 315-pound sophomore from Billings emerged as Montana's starting right guard at the end of spring drills this season after showing off the special combination of bulk, strength and attitude that made him a favorite of head coach Bobby Hauck.
"Colin is the player in our offensive line group who can lead just by how darn hard he plays," Hauck said of Dow in this year's media guide. "He's a battler."
After rebounding from a difficult 2005 season that saw his father pass away from an illness, Dow has come to be known as one of the biggest, smartest, meanest nice guys on the Montana roster.
The one-time track star and student body president at Billings Senior High School isn't afraid to crack a joke, bench presses almost 400 pounds and took it very, very personally when Grizzly fans jeered UM's sometimes anemic offense last week against Idaho State.
Q: Bobby Hauck says you're a guy who "plays angry." What do you think he means by that?
A: To play angry to me means that my main objective is to beat the guy in front of me on every play, possibly causing or inflicting pain.
Q: Being as you're known as a nice guy off the field, how do you get prepared to go out and be so mean during the game?
A: It's kind of a natural evolution, but I think the biggest step is buckling up that chin strap and just knowing that it's time to go to work, it's time to get nasty. It's kind of like a switch.
Q: Do you feel pretty beat up when you wake up on Sunday morning?
A: I definitely feel like I got as much punishment as I dished out. Sunday morning is definitely proof of that. Honestly, I sometimes feel like I got hit by truck.
Q: People always hear horror stories about what goes on in the trenches. What's it really like to play the line?
A: Really, I love playing O-line because you've got big guys who get down and grind every play. Guys that generally get no glory for doing a good job and a lot of blame if they mess up. Every play we're guaranteed to get hit and it's that mentality that everybody down there has. They're some of the guys that I respect and admire the most.
Q: You were student body president at Billings Senior High School. What were some of the serious political agendas that you pursued as president?
A: Making sure that we got to paint tiles in the senior hallway, putting on a senior citizens' dance and also balancing the budget.
Q: Seriously, are you interested in politics?
A: I am pretty interested. I'm a poly-sci major. I think that there's a lot of pretty messed up things that go on in politics, but that people shouldn't give up on it. It's still the way America expresses its opinion and that's something not to be taken for granted.
Q: Can you ever see yourself going for a career in politics?
A: Right now I tell people that I just want to be a high school government teacher, but if the right cause comes along I could see myself getting active in some way.
Q: The question everybody wants to know: How much can you bench press?
A: Oh jeez. Just today, after a little shoulder injury, I was able to put up 345 pounds once after doing a whole other workout. I think my max is somewhere in the neighborhood of 375.
Q: Why are offensive linemen so often among the smartest guys on a football team?
A: Because we do the nasty job that nobody knows about. We need to know what the receivers are doing, what the running backs are doing, where the quarterback is rolling out, where the running back wants to press the hole ... and we have to make all that possible for all those guys. We have to know our job inside and out.
Q: What are the best and worst parts of being 6-foot-5 and around 315-pounds?
A: The best part is being able to go downtown and move people out of your way. The worst part, the most awkward part, is dancing with a girl and not knowing who to make eye contact with while you're looking over the top over her head. And also wondering if she feels your love handles.
Q: The Grizzly offense has taken some heat from the fans in recent weeks for sputtering a little bit. Does it affect you to hear the home fans booing when you come off the field?
A: I'm glad you asked that question ... Every one of our guys hears what those fans say when we run off the field or up the tunnel. I guess the piece of advice that I would give those people (who boo) is that they always have the ability to enjoy the game from their own living room, if that's the only reason they come to games. I guess I just hope they know we're out there fighting all the time, whether we get a first down or whether we don't.
Q: You lost your dad last season. How did he affect you growing up? Did he affect you becoming a football player?
A: My dad was probably the sole reason I became a football player. He was the guy that pushed me continuously. He was a dad that wouldn't let me be satisfied because he knew that I could always be better. I thank him for that every day that I play football.
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