James Montgomery Story

I am sure that the reasons will be amplified in time, but for now, it is official that James Montgomery is being released from his scholarship, and will not be playing for the Bears next year.

There was a bunch of talk on Blog and on some recruiting sites as to why he may be transferring, his badmouthing the Cal program, and comments about his not wanting to compete. Most of that is a bunch of crap whipped up by crazed bloggers and scuzzy reporting.

Let's be clear here - he is a 19 or 20 year old kid. He is unhappy with playing on the team, and is leaving the team. I am sure that there are many issues - you do not up and transfer schools just because you are afraid you may not start, or just because you have some issues with the school spirit. There are probably a host of reasons going back for years. I applaud the guy for making a decision that seems to be his alone - he did not want to be at Cal, he is relieved that he was released from his scholarship, and he is happy to be leaving. It does not appear that he has been given any assurances by any other programs that he is going to come in and start.

For the Bears, this is a small blow. He is a very good college running back. I think we have better, but that is yet to be seen on the field. I think that Montgomery at the end of the season was producing at the second string more effectively, and was coming on well. So I think we will miss him from a football perspective. But we do have four backs that are supposed to be as good or better, so I think that there is a sense that this is OK.

Last year, we lost a good QB in Kyle Reed. That was a blow to the team, but frankly, I think over time we will see that it was fine. We have three quality QBs on the team today, and we will have plenty of running backs.

Here is what I think happened. He did not want to go to Cal but his parents became infatuated with the program, and they wanted him to stay close to home. So they signed up. But he never really wanted to come here.

While here, he made some friends, and played some good football. But he was not the starter - Forsett was - and he probably was pissed off about his lack of playing time last year. He also saw some writing on the wall - Best was getting good yards, and while I do not think Best is an every down kind of back, maybe that was not getting through to Monty.

So anyway, he sees that there is a new, great back every year. Best, Deboski, Slocum, Vareen. He is not the only featured guy. When you are compromising on a school that is not your first choice, when you are not going to be playing every down, that can be depressing. Especially for a young guy.

Then, to top it off, you get a knee injury, and you can not practice. So you are concerned that you will be cut out of the picture. An injury is very hard on a player - you definitely feel left out. So that - on everything else, can cause you to do something that you may not otherwise have done, and you quit.

If football is really what you think you are going to do for the rest of your life, and you are not confident in your position on the team, then you better do something about it. The choice is either get better and elevate your game (difficult to do if you are on crutches) or else seek a better playing field. So he took his future into his own hands. You have to give him credit for that.

A lot of Cal fans can not get over the fact that someone would not want to graduate from Cal. But it is not the only school in the world, and it is not for everyone.

Good luck to James Montgomery.

GO BEARS!!