This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting details the recruiting decision made just now by 4-star Findlay High School QB Ryan Montgomery. He ranks as the nation’s No. 14 QB and the No. 170 overall prospect for 2025 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 15 QB and at No. 184 overall.
The entire Georgia football coaching staff did its job recruiting Ryan Montgomery. Mike Bobo did and so did analysts Montgomery Van Gorder and Brandon Streeter.
They all did, including a great initial gesture by former offensive coordinator Todd Monken before and when he offered Montgomery.
Those current and former staffers all had a hand. That said, the biggest catalyst he’s a ‘Dawg today would be the Georgia football program itself.
Montgomery committed to UGA moments ago among a final group that included Florida and South Carolina.
He committed to what he continually saw on the practice field. The future NFL bodies. The competition. The blood, sweat and tears.
Let’s also not forget Kirby Smart barking like he’s in an Ivory soap commercial at times on the mic.
The 4-star Ohio QB, with a brother on the OL at Ohio State, knew what he wanted to find in his college football fit. Once he saw the ‘Dawgs get after it on the practice field, the ideal vision was always Georgia.
It took both parties a while to get to where we are today.
Montgomery was one of three ideal targets for Georgia in the 2025 recruiting class. That’s a position group made much more vital in this recruiting cycle because of the late 2024 flip from 5-star QB Dylan Raiola to Nebraska. Georgia went from not needing a QB in its 2025 class to kicking its mighty recruiting machine into overdrive to land one of these three names.
- 5-star Julian Lewis (still committed to USC)
- 4-star Matt Zollers (He chose Missouri earlier this month)
- 4-star QB Ryan Montgomery
If we’re being honest here, there were times that Montgomery and his family did not know where they stood among that pecking order in Athens.
There were also times that Georgia probably didn’t know either with all the moving pieces these days of transfer portal movement and name, image and likeness (NIL) becoming a big factor in inducing college decisions these days.
Montgomery and his family had hoped to be committed by February. Then they set a timetable recently of early May for their decision. They decided they didn’t want to wait any longer to find that ideal college fit.
Georgia eventually landed on Montgomery and we will detail that in this space. It can be stated here that it is debatable whether or not Montgomery is the most talented prospect for UGA among those three.
Lewis and Zollers are talented and high-ceiling prospects in every right.
It is easier to gauge Montgomery’s skill set as perhaps the top schoolboy passer to come out of his slice of Ohio. Now combine that with his mental makeup. Those two qualities make him an ideal fit for the program.
Montgomery is as good a fit for Georgia as any of those three names. That’s the opinion here.
He doesn’t mind waiting and developing for his turn in Athens. He also wasn’t going to seek a heavy NIL payout to play for the “Dawgs either. While some wondered this winter if the ‘Dawgs might change their approach for the right QB prospect this spring, the decision here made by Montgomery shows they don’t have to.
While that last paragraph will likely capture a lot of attention, there’s also the fact the Georgia staff made comparisons to Montgomery involving current starter Carson Beck. That’s both for their cerebral approach to preparing to win and how they play the quarterback position.
There was something that Montgomery said back in January that pretty much sums up his approach to a potential career at UGA.
“No matter where I go, my mentality going in is I’m going to compete for the starting job,” he said back in January. “I’m going to get the starting job. Obviously, that’s going to be super hard to do as a true freshman. You know it is more likely that’ll not happen at a place like Georgia.”
“But that’s just going to be my mentality going in and I know if Georgia ends up being the place if I don’t start year two or year one or year two I think I will be perfectly fine knowing that I am going to keep getting developed and keep getting those practice reps and when my number is called and the time is right I’m going to go out there and perform really well.”
Montgomery also wanted to play in the SEC. His final group of schools reflects that.
It was always Georgia on his mind, though.
“They are the standard in college football. I know if I go there I’m going to get developed probably better than anywhere else under Coach Bobo and Coach [Kirby] Smart,” he told DawgNation back in January.”
His father shared his view of all of that.
“Things did happen quickly here,” Mike Montgomery said. “I think from our perspective, we’ve always held Georgia in very high regard.”
But nobody in the Montgomery family would’ve guessed back in March that he’d be committing to UGA this week. That’s just being honest here.
“I don’t want to speak for Georgia’s staff but I also know they have their process as well,” Mike Montgomery said. “Obviously, they were not recruiting one quarterback, right? So for us, it was just a matter of we need to do our due diligence and find out what our next-best option is as we narrow things down.”
“It was pretty much most people knew it was South Carolina, Florida and Georgia for the last several months if not beyond. And then if Georgia did not want to take Ryan for whatever reason, what is our next-best option and we thought we had two really nice options behind Georgia. But we knew if Georgia came in and really went kind of quote-unquote ‘all in’ for Ryan that because of what comes with Georgia we knew we would probably jump on that opportunity.”
“That’s kind of how it played out. It is pretty amazing how God has a plan and things work out for a reason. But I wouldn’t have known if we were going to Georgia if you called me a month ago. It would’ve been kind of up in the air.”
Sentell’s Intel time: Why is he such a good fit?
Montgomery makes sense because he is a very talented QB who saw the DNA of the program and wanted to be in Athens.
He didn’t need to be convinced or recruited to play for UGA.
History has shown us that when things get hard in Athens (and they will) the players with those mindsets usually endure and eventually rise to the top.
That’s been especially true at the quarterback spot.
Check out Montgomery’s junior highlights below.
Check out his 2023 stat line below:
- 2023: Completed 71 percent of his passes for 3,377 yards with 38 touchdowns. Led team to an 8-3 record. He also ran for 257 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Montgomery has been excited by the sudden change in his recruitment.
“It was fun as parents to kind of watch him kind of get that off his chest and then now he’s kind of had a little pep in his step,” his father Mike Montgomery said. “Ever since that moment. Obviously, it is fun calling Coach Smart. We called Mike Bobo. We called ‘Gummy’ Van Gorder whom I’ve known for a long time. Then also a nice side story is Brandon Streeter. That’s a big deal, too.”
“Brandon recruited both of my boys very hard when he was at Clemson. I’ve got a lot of respect for Brandon and I’m thankful he’s at Georgia now as well.”
That early May timeline morphed into today with his top choice. If the staff needs him to come back down, he’ll be happy to return to Athens for another weekend in June.
“I know Ryan is excited to dig in and build some rapport with the current commits there and then obviously help the staff any way that he can for any targets they are pursuing in the class.”
His high school coach, Stefan Adams, summed up Montgomery with the Toledo Blade in November. That was after he was named the All-Blade Player of the Year for their coverage area.
“He’s obsessed in the best way possible,” Findlay coach Stefan Adams said. “Sometimes we have to tell him to relax. This isn’t a hobby for him. This is a lifestyle, and he takes it very seriously. He has a very high football IQ that allows him to dice up defenses because he anticipates so well. Of course, his arm is special, but his obsession with game prep allows him to be his best on Friday nights.”
That aligns with the type of player that Montgomery has always aspired to be. He wanted to pour out an obsessive effort at an elite program.
“Ryan has kind of got an elite mindset I would say,” his father Mike Montgomery said. “I think he’s very talented as well but I know people pick apart those talent sides of it. But between the ears, I’d put him up against anybody. That’s mainly his work ethic and God-given smarts as well.”
That Toldeo Blade Player of the Year story detailed a couple of important traits. There were two games against rival schools when Findlay got down early by a 14-0 deficit.
Montgomery brought them back and had “fun” doing it.
When Georgia reached out to the family recently about whether or not he’d be willing to become the quarterback in this class, the family took that information and considered it. They had begun to warm to the thought of playing for one of his other two finalists
It didn’t take long. Maybe just a matter of days. Then they sat down and talked about it.
“I want to go to Georgia,” Ryan Montgomery said. “Done deal.”
That’s the reason why this story is going up today.
Ryan Montgomery to Georgia football: The backstory to know here
Montgomery got his first college offer from former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh after a camp in the summer of 2021. That was when he was heading into his freshman year of high school. He had yet to play high school football.
That put him on the map, but it has equated to a long college recruitment for the two-sport athlete at Findlay High School in Ohio.
He’s now the eighth commitment in Georgia’s 2025 class as the quarterback anchor for the group. He will take his official visit to UGA to help build the class on that loaded May 31-June 2 weekend. The only other school he will visit is to go up to Ohio State to support his older brother with the Buckeyes.
What is Georgia getting here? His father, Mike, shares the best possible description here.
“What they are going to see with Ryan is he is a very very hard worker,” his father said. “He’ll fit the culture very very well. He’s uber-talented. He’s always been talented. He’s a kid that is good in everything [sports] like most quarterbacks are. All different sports. Super competitive. So they’re going to be impressed with the way he carries himself when he gets to campus and the time he puts in.”
“He’ll be a great fit for the culture and he’s looking forward to building rapport with recruits that are committed alike and that they are going after. He’s not a very very loud kid. He will when he needs to be but just know that he’s vocal toward he needs to be vocal to and he will be one of the hardest workers on the team. I’m very confident in saying that.”
We’ll have more to come on Montgomery to Georgia to come on DawgNation.com.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
