Junior Bergen (born October 23, 2002) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Montana Grizzlies The Montana Grizzlies and Lady Griz are the nicknames given to the athletic teams of the University of Montana, located in Missoula, Montana, Missoula. The university is a member of the Big Sky Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fieldin ...

and was selected by the 49ers in the seventh round of the

2025 NFL draft The 2025 NFL draft was the 90th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Lambeau Field and its adjacent Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26, 2025 ...

Early life and high school

Bergen is the 6th of 8 children in his family. His father, Simon Bergen, is a former Billings Outlaw player of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

. He attended

Billings Senior high school Billings Senior High School is located in Billings, Montana, United States. It is part of the Billings Public Schools District, and opened in 1940. Billings Senior High School is a comprehensive public institution. Notable alumni *Stanley Anderso ...

, where he played basketball and football. He played as a receiver in his sophomore and junior year, and primarily as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

in his senior year. At that role, he was a dual threat, throwing 1,186 yards and 13

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s, and rushing for 905 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was listed as a two-star recruit by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a large ...

, and had college offers from several schools. Bergen initially committed to

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

before deciding to accept a full

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

at the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana, United States. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. Fall 2024 saw total enrollment hit 10,811, marki ...

. He reportedly had not determined at the time which position he was going to play.

College career

He began studying and playing at the

in 2021. He played his freshman year as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

, where he had nearly 500 yards, before switching to receiver halfway through the season. He also was named the team's punt returner near the end of the season. Despite never previously fielding a punt, he averaged 17.5 yards per punt, the second highest in the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

. In his sophomore year, due to injuries, Bergen did have a slight decrease in yard production, though he did increase his punt and kick return attempts from 8 to 26. In Bergen's junior year, he led his team in receptions with 58. In the FCS semi final, he also set a school record with his 5th punt return for a touchdown in his career, and he threw the game winning two points attempt in the FCS semi final. This led him being named to the AP second team All-American all-purpose player and first-team All-Big Sky receiver & punt returner. In the FCS championship game, Bergen had four receptions for 25 yards in the 23-3 loss against

South Dakota State South Dakota State University (SDSU or SD State) is a public land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota, United States. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest university and is the second oldest continually operating universit ...

. By the end of Bergen's senior year, he held the school record for most average yards per punt return with 16.71, and he set the FCS record for most punt returns for a touchdown with 8. He finished his college career with 4,468 all-purpose yards, the 6th most in University of Montana history. He was an honorable mention all-purpose player for the FCS All-America team.

College statistics

Professional career

Bergen was not invited to the

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

. However, he did participate in the University of Montana's

pro day The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

on April 3, 2025. Notably, his

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

time was within the top 10 receivers who participated in the NFL Combine, and his 17

bench press The bench press or chest press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench. The bench press is a Compound movements, compound movement, with the primary muscles involved ...

es would have been tied for third for all receivers. Bergen was selected by the

with the 252nd overall pick in the seventh round of the

. Though he was listed as a wide receiver in the draft, according to the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the 49ers

Kyle Shanahan Kyle Michael Shanahan (born December 14, 1979) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta ...

, the team intends to have him play as a

. On May 9, Bergen signed a four-year contract with the 49ers worth $4.3 million.

References

External links

Montana Grizzlies bioSan Francsico 49ers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergen, Junior 2002 births Living people Players of American football from Montana Sportspeople from Billings, Montana American football wide receivers Billings Senior High School alumni Montana Grizzlies football players San Francisco 49ers players