Boltz strengthen linbacking corps with addition of K.J. McCrae out of Portland State

There was then 43-year-old coach Fentress trapped in a car with three 20-somethings who were talking about life, dating, their days in college and football.

The year was 2011 and Fentress was driving Portland Monarchs safeties Aaron Dickson and Andrew Fuller, along with linebacker K.J. McCrae, to an away game.

All four passengers had played football at Portland State but one did so when Ronald Reagan was president and the other three were in diapers. The generational differences were obvious and Fentress found the conversation to be quite entertaining.

“They had me laughing for the entire three-hour drive,” Fentress said. “I kept interrupting them to ask what certain phrases or colloquialisms meant, which reminded me how old I am but it certainly was entertaining.”

Unfortunately for Fentress’ drive-time entertainment and the Monarchs, McCrae was forced to leave the team early in the season after becoming a police officer in Salem.

But football hadn’t quite left the former all-Big Sky star’s blood so he left the force and this year played football for the Green Bay Blizard of the IFL. An injury cut his season short and now he’s rejoining Dickson and Fentress with the Portland Boltz, who also feature former PSU linebackers Tolo Tuitele and D.J. Robinson. READ MORE