Dante Olson (born January 6, 1997) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played college football at

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

Early life and high school

Olson first began playing football in second grade, primarily playing right tackle on the offensive line and sometimes played fullback. He was bullied in middle school for being overweight, and developed an eating disorder, was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and contemplated suicide. As a freshman at

Cascade Christian High School Cascade Christian High School is a private Christian high school in Medford, Oregon, United States. History Cascade Christian High School was founded in 1977 by Grace Christian Schools, a ministry of the First Baptist Church, and was housed ...

, Olson was cut from the football team. He tried out for the basketball, baseball and tennis teams. By his senior year, he was three-time captain on the football team and helped lead Cascade Christian to a state championship. He posted 135 tackles, including 11 for loss, three interceptions, seven passes defensed, one sack, one forced fumble and a defensive touchdown. Olson committed to

over an offer from Cal Poly.

College career

Olson redshirted his freshman season and mainly played on the scout team and special teams. He earned Montana's special teams player of the year as a sophomore. He became a starter on defense in 2018 and he made 151 tackles, earning seven All-American honors and finished third in voting for the FCS defensive player of the award. Olson started 25 of 47 games at Montana and as a senior, Olson set the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

's single season record for tackles with 179 and made 26 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, three interceptions, five forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He had 14 tackles against

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. He received the 2019

Buck Buchanan Award The Buck Buchanan Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding defensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football, and was first given in 1995 after the Walter Payton Award was d ...

for the top defensive player in the FCS, earned the FCS Athletic Directors Association Defensive Player of the Year honors, and was a consensus All-American. Olson set Montana's all-time tackling record with 397. He earned a degree in business management with a 3.91 grade-point average and was one of 12 finalists for the

William V. Campbell Trophy The William V. Campbell, formerly the Vincent dePaul Draddy Trophy, is awarded by the National Football Foundation to the American college football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance. It i ...

. Olson participated in the East-West Shrine game and Montana head coach

Bobby Hauck Robert Lawrence Hauck (born June 14, 1964) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Montana, a position he held from 2003 to 2009 and resumed before the 2018 season. Hauck was also the head footba ...

called Olson "one of my favorite guys all-time." At the NFL Combine, he posted a 42-inch vertical jump, one of the best for a linebacker, but his 4.88-second 40-yard dash was considered to hurt his draft stock.

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

After going undrafted in the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

, Olson signed an undrafted free agent deal with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. Olson was waived on August 26, 2020. He was re-signed to their practice squad on October 8, 2020. He was released on November 2.

Edmonton Elks

Olson signed with the

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

of the CFL on March 31, 2021. He retired from football on June 24, 2021.

Personal life

Olson is the son of Linda Olson and former

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oreg ...

football coach Jeff Olson. He has an older sister and his older brother played wide receiver at SOU. Olson is a Christian. He served as a pen-pal for third grade children at Gerber Elementary School in

Gerber, California Gerber is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tehama County, California. Gerber sits at an elevation of . The 2010 United States census reported Gerber's population was 1,060. History Gerber was platted in 1910, and named after the Gerber family, o ...

encouraging them to attend college and finally met them in September 2019.

References

External links

Montana Grizzlies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Dante 1997 births Living people Players of American football from Oregon American football linebackers Montana Grizzlies football players Sportspeople from Medford, Oregon Philadelphia Eagles players Edmonton Elks players