Ryan Montgomery does not hide his narrative, and we will not either.

Montgomery knew exactly where he wanted to attend college from the beginning. Montgomery traveled to Georgia for the first time between his freshman and sophomore years. He had never been to Athens, but he had formed a bond with then-OC Todd Monken. Montgomery recalls leaving that trip confident that Georgia was the best option for him, even if the Bulldogs didn’t realize it at the time. He did.

Everything may have worked out in the end, but it didn’t always appear that way.

That’s okay. It was sweeter that way.

Many high school hopefuls would avoid the journey. Montgomery embraces it. Montgomery mentions the “ups and down” of his “roller-coaster” recruitment throughout his live commitment. The name of that ride was Becoming Georgia’s No. 1. It did not happen overnight.

Even in this space, we’ve discussed various scenarios in which Georgia would sign Missouri commit Matt Zollers or USC commit Julian Lewis. Montgomery has always heard the name Lewis mentioned before his own. Zollers was the name that emerged at the start of this year, the one Montgomery previously believed would keep him from fulfilling his dream of committing to Georgia. Montgomery states unequivocally, “I wasn’t the top guy on the board throughout the majority of the process.”

But the young man of great Christian faith, who included Isaiah 41:10 in his social media bio, was not discouraged. He was confident that Mike Bobo, Montgomery VanGorder, and Kirby Smart would finally agree he was the ideal fit.

Montgomery’s Hail Mary heave occurred on March 16.

He returned to Athens, knowing he was still not the top choice: “I knew I wasn’t the best guy on the board at the time.” Many quarterbacks, if not most, have much too huge egos to deal with what Montgomery went through. Oh, you don’t want me the most. Oh, you don’t realize my greatness right away? In that case, please allow me to quickly commit to South Carolina or Florida because it appears that they are more interested in me.

He fought the demons of pride and traveled to Athens. He sat in on spring practice and fell deeper in love with Georgia, as he had with each previous visit to the Classic City. However, this visit marked a turning point. Perhaps more importantly, it was the turning moment.

So Montgomery lay it all out for Bobo: “I just said, ‘This is the place for me. I know I want to be here. “I know I’ll thrive here.”
Bobo began to believe, too. After practice, Montgomery sat in the team conference room with Bobo and Montgomery VanGorder to watch post-practice footage. We’re discussing the whole practice. This session lasted more than three hours, nearly three and a half. This is what Montgomery enjoys doing. That is who he is. Give him three hours over a photo shoot any day of the week.

However, the film session was not the main agenda item. Montgomery couldn’t leave the room without telling everyone how he felt. Montgomery’s place on the Georgia quarterback board was permanently altered at that point.

“I told Georgia that I didn’t want to wait much longer. “I told them throughout the process that this is where I want to be,” Montgomery stated.

During that conversation, Bobo and his colleagues had a moment of clarity. Why isn’t he our number one guy? How many other prospects will sit here for three hours looking at practice footage after seeing the same practice? Who has the courage to question their position on the board and make their voice heard before it’s too late?

Montgomery stepped out of the meeting room, unsure whether his message had been received. But as he walked down the corridor, out of Butts-Mehre, possibly for the last time, Montgomery’s roller coaster began its final ascent…and it would never stop.

“My dad actually told me that, when I was walking out of the meeting room down the hallway to leave the facility, Coach Bobo told my dad (Mike Montgomery): “Mike, this is going to work out. “I believe this will work out.”

March 23: Georgia takes its 2026 QB. Jared Curtis communicated to other quarterbacks earlier than planned about what the room might look like.

Matt Zollers committed to Missouri on April 2nd.

It is unclear what happened in the nine days between Zollers’ vow and Montgomery’s disastrous April 11 phone conversation, but it made no difference. On April 11, Bobo rang. Montgomery picked up, unsure if this meant the end of his dream.

Quite the contrary.

Bobo had a message for him that Montgomery wasn’t expecting: “Coach Bobo gave me a call and told me I had a committable offer, that I was a top priority now, and that I was the guy they really wanted now.”

“After that call, in the back of my mind, I knew it was wraps in terms of my recruitment,” he told me. “Georgia was the top spot for me.”

Who made the final decision?. Was it Bobo? Did Kirby Smart recognize the ideal personality fit?

Georgia’s quarterback room has looked drastically different from everyone else’s since 5-star Justin Fields transferred years ago. Georgia’s under-recruited JUCO transfer became the program’s all-time winningest player. It has toyed with Wake Forest transfers who have never played. Nebraska has missed out on a 2023 quarterback and had a quarterback who was the face of the recruiting class turn down the program in the closing seconds. Heck, Georgia will have two quarterbacks on its roster this season who will have sat at Georgia for at least three years before making their first start.

Nobody else has negotiated the unpredictable waters of quarterback recruiting like Georgia, and Montgomery is the most recent example.

Montgomery isn’t sure when or if his number will be called as Georgia’s starting quarterback. Montgomery knows it will be a battle the entire time he is on campus, with the nation’s top quarterback following him. Georgia has been honest about their pursuit of a spring transfer QB to get to four, and Montgomery embraces it — so much so that the first reports of Jaden Rashada’s mutual interest with Georgia surfaced while we were on the call having this talk.

Montgomery is not going to run.

“I think throughout my whole recruiting process, I’ve come to learn you can’t take things too personally,” Montgomery said in an interview. “I’m here for the long haul. I’m not going to leave after a year or two because I’m not seeing the field as much as I’d want. It might take some time, and that’s okay. I’ll be happy because I know we’ll win at a high level and that I’ll continue to develop. I’m going to be in this for the long term.”