New Georgia QB commit Ryan Montgomery is "all business"

Findlay (Ohio) High On300 quarterback Ryan Montgomery visited Georgia the weekend of March 16, and he put all his cards on the table while sitting their watching film with Bulldogs offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and assistant quarterback coach Montgomery VanGorder.

“I told them this is where I want to be,” Montgomery stated. “I told them I’m all business. I don’t care about anything else. Just football and getting better and my passion for football.

“I think that lit a spark under Coach Bobo and Coach Gummy and told that I’m really serious about this and I’m going to be the right fit for a place like Georgia.”

It ultimately did as the four-star Montgomery is now part of this 2025 Georgia recruiting class. He announced his pledge to the Bulldogs Wednesday afternoon, choosing to play for head coach Kirby Smart and the staff over his other finalists in Florida and South Carolina.

But at the time of that March visit, the 6-foot-2 1/2, 215-pound Montgomery was one of three signal-callers the Bulldogs staff was investing a lot of time in. Carrollton (Ga.) High five-star Julian Lewis and Royersford (Pa.) Spring-Ford On300 recruit Matt Zollers were the other two. 

“I know I wasn’t the No. 1 guy on their board,” Montgomery said, adding he almost didn’t take the visit in March. He’s now certainly glad he did. 

But as Bobo, VanGorder and company continued to talk with Montgomery, they learned he was wired the way they want their signal-caller to be. As the dialogue continued into April, Montgomery had June official visits planned to each of his finalists but told Bobo he was going to make his decision sooner.

“It got to the point, am I in or not?” Montgomery said he asked.

This past Thursday, Bobo called Montgomery and told him he was indeed in.

“He told me I had a committable offer to the University of Georgia,” Montgomery said. “When he told me that I knew in the back of my mind my recruitment is over. This is where I want to be. I’m going to commit there.”

By the end of the weekend, Montgomery did just that.

“Ryan always strived to play for an elite program,” Montgomery’s father Mike said. “We are excited he got to end up on an elite program with elite coaches, elite staff, elite facilities and elite teammates.”

Montgomery is an elite competitor

As a junior Montgomery completed 70 percent of his passes for over 3,300 yards and 38 touchdowns with another 10 rushing scores. This past winter he helped lead the basketball team on a deep run in the state playoffs. He’s darn near a scratch golfer and as Bobo and VanGorder are realizing, he is as competitive as it gets.

“He’s always been uber-intense,” Montgomery’s mother Chrissy said. “Always wants more, wanting to be the best in anything he did. Here is a crazy example. There was AR (advanced reading) points, this was in the third, fourth and fifth grade. You got points for the sort of books you got to read. I remember him coming home and it got to the point he was so focused on only winning he wouldn’t talk to anyone in the house. If he had a down moment he was reading. If we went to dinner he was reading. It was a point of time our punishment for him was putting the book away. It boiled down to nobody in that class, and there were intelligent kids, nobody would beat him in AR points.”

Montgomery now looks forward to dedicated reading of that Georgia playbook.

“His inner-competition,” Chrissy continued. “We were walking on egg shells when he was younger. We’d play outside as a family and he spent a lot o time sitting on the front stoop because he didn’t know how to handle it. He didn’t know how to have fun. He made everything so competitive for our family (Ryan’s older brother Luke was an All-American offensive line prospect that now plays at Ohio State) and it wasn’t fun to play kickball for the family. He had to sit on the stoop till he had fun. I didn’t matter if it was golf or pickle ball with family over Christmas, oh my gosh the latest Christmas pickle ball catastrophe. That is Ryan through and through.”

Mike Montgomery, who played his college football at Miami (Ohio), calls his son a perfectionist. 

“He’s sickly good at everything he does that kind of thing,” Mike said.

The middle of three boys, Montgomery started playing football in the seventh grade and that came natural too. Before freshman year he earned his first offer, from Michigan, after performing well in camp. That started what was nearly a three-year recruiting process that in addition to his three finalists saw offers come in from Auburn, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee, Miami and Texas A&M among others.

“Obviously it was a huge blessing,” Montgomery said. “I know that not many kids get these opportunities I have and I definitely don’t take that for granted. It’s all blessing from the man above.

“It’s been crazy and pretty hectic and been a long process with many ups and downs and twists and turns along the way. I couldn’t be more happy where I am in the process.”

Georgia checked all the boxes for Montgomery

Former offensive coordinator Todd Monken offered Montgomery back in April 2022, and when he left for the NFL, Bobo picked up the recruitment from there.

“Georgia checked pretty much all of my boxes,” Montgomery said. “I’d say obviously just winning and having the winning history and competing for National Championships and winning at the highest level year in and year out was huge. Also stability. It’s really hard to find that nowadays in college football. I know Coach Smart and Coach Bobo are not going anywhere. Stability played a big part in why I chose Georgia. 

“Also the school in general. I love campus there. Every time I step on campus I get a second-home feeling. Super comfortable there. Another thing how intense practices are and how big football is down in the SEC, in Athens and in Georgia. At a school like Georgia every game is going to feel like a National Championship and you’re not going to have any easy games in the SEC. There’s going to be no off days. Just how they approach things, practice wise, how intense practice is and being able to compete against the very best every day. It’s going to make me a better player and make me a better person and I’m really looking forward it.”