Monty Montgomery on Tulane: 'I don’t like those guys’

This weekend, Ole Miss and Tulane will meet in a top-25 matchup. When that happens, it will be their 73rd meeting, largely due to being relatively close to one another and the Green Wave once being an SEC school. For Ole Miss linebacker Monty Montgomery, the connection is even closer than that.

In his year with Tulane, Montgomery never saw the field, instead taking a redshirt before he began a string of transfers. First, he went to Hutchinson Community College, before going to Louisville, and now Ole Miss. However, Montgomery’s time with the Green Wave hasn’t left a soft spot for Tulane.

“It’s gonna be exciting to watch, man,” Monty Montgomery said. “I don’t like those guys, but I respect them.”

Tulane had massive amounts of success last season, winning the Cotton Bowl. A major piece of that success came down to quarterback Michael Pratt. However, Montgomery doesn’t know much about Pratt personally.

“No, he wasn’t there when I got there, but I heard a lot about him. He’s a great quarterback.”

In Tulane’s opener, the Green Wave dominated a tough South Alabama team by a score of 37-17. Pratt played a massive part of that win, and it forced Monty Montgomery and the Ole Miss defense to take notice.

“Yes, that was a great game by him,” Montgomery said. “He’s a dual threat and we have to contain the passer, and I feel like we’re gonna do a great job this week containing him. Lot of sacks — you should expect that.”

Ole Miss also dominated in its opener against Mercer, beating the Bears 73-7. Monty Montgomery made his presence felt with two tackles in the game.

Lane Kiffin on facing Michael Pratt

Ahead of the game, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin knows it’s going to be tough for his defense to go up against Michael Pratt.

“The quarterback, basically, played as well as you can on air last week with one incompletion,” Kiffin said. “He’s very savvy, a veteran, sharp, accurate. A really good player.”

Michael Pratt is now in his fourth season as Tulane’s starting quarterback. He has a career completion percentage of 59.7 percent and has thrown for 7,499 yards and 72 touchdowns. Pratt also has 900 career rushing yards and 23 rushing touchdowns. Against South Alabama, Pratt went 14/15 for 294 yards and four touchdowns.

The game between Ole Miss and Tulane will take place at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans.