Penn State locks up another four-star in RB London Montgomery
Penn State picked up another quality in-state prospect Monday with the addition of running back London Montgomery. A native of Scranton, Pa., Montgomery admitted before he even had a scholarship offer that Penn State was his favorite school, growing up about 150 miles from State College.
After rushing for nearly 2,400 yards and 36 touchdowns last season at Scranton Prep, Montgomery would land that offer in the beginning of March. By then, he had already taken two visits to Penn State, once for a game and then for a junior day in January.
Montgomery then returned in mid-April for back-to-back visits, seeing a spring practice April 15, followed by the Blue-White Game seven days later. Once he wrapped up his official visit in June, it was clear that the Lions were in a strong position.
“It’s definitely a dream come true,” Montgomery said. “Watching TV, watching Saquon [Barkley] and all that. I always wanted to play in front of 107,000 fans at Penn State. It’s definitely a dream come true.”
He went on to add, “I went to other places, but I never had the feeling like I had at Penn State. I came out of there feeling like home. I’m very close with Coach [Ja’Juan] Seider and Coach [James] Franklin, but it’s the whole staff really that I’m close with now. I feel like I can tell those guys anything now. But I also think it’s a place where I can succeed and compete.”
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Between regional recruiter Phil Trautwein and members of Penn State’s recruiting staff, it was truly a group effort with Montgomery. But with Seider being his position coach, that bond proved to be key.
“Coach Seider is a real cool coach,” Montgomery said. “I know what kind of personality I’m going to get from him when I go there. He’s just a real cool coach. I think I can tell him anything. It’s the same with Coach Franklin. They’re very relatable. They know how to coach and connect with their players.”
Including Penn State, Montgomery totaled two dozen scholarship offers. Programs like Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State and West Virginia all made a push, but two ACC schools gave him the most to think about.
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“It was really Boston College and Virginia Tech. Mainly Boston College,” Montgomery said. “I’m really cool with Savon Huggins. I feel like I can tell him anything. He’s been like a mentor to me. He’s young and he went through this process before. We had a great bond. It’s more than football, so that was tough, but I just felt Penn State was best for me.”
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With his recruitment now behind him, 2022 is setting up to be a massive year for Montgomery. He has a long list of different goals, most importantly getting Scranton Prep to the PIAA AAA state championship game in Hershey. Last year, they lost to Wyomissing in the semifinals, which is home to one of his future teammates, five-star offensive linemen Jven Williams.
But he has a few personal goals for his upcoming season as well.
“One of my goals for the season is to be a better leader. I want to appreciate my linemen more, even though I already do, humbly,” Montgomery said. “I’d love to get like 4,000 yards and 50 touchdowns. I’ve always set my goals incredibly high. I got injured a bit last year so I couldn’t hit all of those goals. I just want to shoot for the stars this season.”
With the addition of Montgomery, Penn State now has 12 four-star prospects committed in its Class of 2023 and 17 committed players total. Montgomery, who ranks in the On300 at No. 273 overall, is expected to be the only running back in this year’s class.
Including Williams and Montgomery, Penn State now holds commitments from six Pennsylvania prospects in this year’s class. DT Jameial Lyons, TE Joey Schlaffer, CB Lamont Payne and WR Yazeed Haynes are the other four.
The Nittany Lions also moved up one spot in the On3 Consensus Team Rankings to No. 9 overall in the Class of 2023.
