Philip Montgomery - New OC

[TitanTiger 20,472]

Per Jay Tate at Rivals. Excellent offenses at Baylor under Briles. Strong run game. 

[jknighton 310]

I like it. Good hire. IMO

[JDUBB4AU 5,112]

Great hire. Punishing offenses . He has to recruit . 

[woodford 3,655]

WDE. Hope he’s ready for a real, but rewarding challenge. 

[BornAU76 398]

What do we know about this guy?  Anyone have the cliff-notes?

[TeamZero77 1,784]

Been a damn good day for Auburn!!

WDE

[Eagle-1 3,821]

Excellent !

[AUINSY 2,228]

I find this interesting. RGIII was asked a curious question. Earlier in the season, he was asked and responded said that Robby Ashford reminded him most of himself of any player earlier on in his college career.
 

RGIII: “Griffin shared his thoughts with Connor O’Gara on the Saturday Down South podcast, and it’s a potential up-and-comer in the SEC. He had a quick answer about which quarterback reminds Griffin of himself. ‘Robby Ashford. When I was a freshman, I was like Robby. I wasn’t a 1-read guy, I was a half-read guy. That’s what he is right now,’ Griffin said. ‘He drops back and it’s like he’s out of the pocket. That’s what I was, but I was a very dynamic runner. Robby’s a little bigger and stronger than I was when I came in as a freshman, but I was faster, so I got away with a little bit more when I was a freshman than he is right now.’”

For Ashford to continue his growth as a quarterback, he needs development from the coaching staff. ‘Watching him throw the football, I definitely think he has the potential and if (Bryan) Harsin is the coach or he gets a coach that can really develop him as a passer, like I had with Art Briles and (current Tulsa coach) Phillip Montgomery, then I think he can turn into something extremely special.’”

Who’s our new OC? None other than Philip Montgomery.
 

RGIII goes on: “We just gotta give these kids time to develop because how I came into college is definitely not how I left college, and maybe college football fans and coaches need to understand that,” Griffin said. “You’ve gotta go in and mold (Ashford). Ashford could turn into a guy like Hendon Hooker at some point in his career if he gets the right coaching.”

Al.com’s link regarding Montgomery: “A claim to fame for Montgomery was his work as a quarterbacks coach at Baylor in 2011 during Robert Griffin’s Heisman Trophy-winning season. Montgomery worked at Baylor from 2008 until 2014 before becoming the Tulsa coach.”

Maybe this was their intention, maybe not. But these were very specific statements earlier on the season, and out of all of the coaches possible, it’s curious that this specific coach just happened to be the one brought on. We’ll see what happens…

RGIII source: https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/auburn-football/which-qb-reminds-rgiii-of-himself-rgiii-has-a-surprising-sec-answer/
Al.com source: https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/2022/12/hugh-freeze-hires-offensive-and-defensive-coordinators-at-auburn.html

Edited December 12, 2022 by AUINSY

[NoALtiger 3,850]

Excellent hire, maybe this will at least stop a little of the crying going on around here over the coordinators/staff. Freeze clearly has a plan and is working it. 

[AURex 1,994]

1 hour ago, BornAU76 said:

What do we know about this guy?  Anyone have the cliff-notes?

QB/RB coach at Houston 2003-2007
OC/QB coach at Baylor under Art Briles 2008-2014 - coached Heisman QB Robert Griffin
Head Coach at Tulsa 2015-2022 - AAC championship game against Cincinnati in 2020

Maybe he can lean on his history of coaching RG for a Heisman, and Cadillac's success coaching RBs, the two can become a real force recruiting skill players.

But ya know, Freeze will have a heavy hand in the Auburn offense. This is looking optimistic.

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by AURex

[TeamZero77 1,784]

I wonder where Coach Freeze will put Kent Austin? According to Freeze himself, Kent Austin is the big reason quarterbacks are successful in Freeze's system. Then to read that Phillip Montgomery was RG III's quarterback coach and developed him into a Heisman winner, wow!!!!

It's a dream come true!! With Freeze, Montgomery and Kent Austin, we have 3 legit QB developers and that should bode well in the portal and for our current QB room. WDE

[AUinMS9528 1,086]

I don’t remember what year it was, but I’m thinking it’s when CPM was at Baylor, I was watching a game where Baylor was down to their 4th string QB due to injuries (this guy was a WR), and I was impressed with how prepared he was!   And they were still going lightning fast (like 6 seconds from whistle to snap!!!!). So yeah, I can get behind this dude as OC and QB coach!!!

[TigerVII 108]

6 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

Excellent hire, maybe this will at least stop a little of the crying going on around here over the coordinators/staff. Freeze clearly has a plan and is working it. 

No - most of the posters crying over the DC and OC were vehemently opposed to Freeze to begin with. You can't make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time.  Winning is the only thing that will shut them up (at least  90% of them - the other 10% are worried bammers or people who can't ever be content with anything.)

[AURex 1,994]

Well, NO, a lot of the posters were not opposed to Freeze being hired, they have been anxious for him to name an OC and DC because critical for recruiting HS and portal. I'm glad he has announced names, if not finalized contracts. And I hope the new OC and DC will jump on the recruiting mission as vigorously as the position coaches (and Freeze himself) have done.

 

[RunInRed 16,400]

[DAG 33,979]

This hire right here is off the charts

[GreenTiger 1,005]

Hope the recruits want to come play for him! 

[Sizzle 3,912]

Just now, GreenTiger said:

Hope the recruits want to come play for him! 

They will. The name of Auburn alone recruits itself, you just have to have coaches who actually care about recruiting which we have now 

[Sizzle 3,912]

1 hour ago, TeamZero77 said:

I wonder where Coach Freeze will put Kent Austin? According to Freeze himself, Kent Austin is the big reason quarterbacks are successful in Freeze's system. Then to read that Phillip Montgomery was RG III's quarterback coach and developed him into a Heisman winner, wow!!!!

It's a dream come true!! With Freeze, Montgomery and Kent Austin, we have 3 legit QB developers and that should bode well in the portal and for our current QB room. WDE

He’ll probably have Austin do the QB’s and Montgomery might do WR’s or something 

[JDUBB4AU 5,112]

59 minutes ago, RunInRed said:

If this doesn’t scream success I don’t now what does. Fantastic resume. 

[GwillMac6 20,670]

8 hours ago, Sizzle said:

He’ll probably have Austin do the QB’s and Montgomery might do WR’s or something 

I think Austin will be off the field. When you bring in a guy like Montgomery and his track record with QB’s and his high profile you def have him coaching the QB’s. 
 

 

[GwillMac6 20,670]

10 hours ago, JDUBB4AU said:

Great hire. Punishing offenses . He has to recruit . 

Both of our coordinator hires are not going to be strong recruiters. Which is fine when I believe all of our position coaches so far are all in their 30’s or younger besides Crime Dawg. And freeze is the best recruiting head coach we have had since???? So yah this is new territory for us having a great recruiter as a head coach. That just lifts up the rest of the staff and really sets the tone on the trail. Past AU coaches it was the assistants who had to lift up the head coach.

[GwillMac6 20,670]

Some stats and notes about our new OC. 
 

Starting his coaching career at Houston coaching the quarterbacks and running backs for the Cougars, Montgomery moved into a co-coordinator role for the 2006 season and immediately the group improved in every category. That first season, Houston’s offense finished eighth nationally in passing (277.8 yards per game), 28th in rushing (168.2), seventh in total offense (446) and 10th in scoring (33 ppg). One year later the Cougars were up to 501.9 yards per game and 34.5 points 
 

From there he moved to Baylor where he would eventually oversee one of college football’s best offenses under coach Art Briles. A co-coordinator in his first five seasons in Waco, Montgomery helped the offense improve dramatically. Averaging 28 points per game in year one and just 20.7 in year two, Baylor jumped up to 31.1 points per game in year three before going for 45.3 in 2011 and 44.5 points per game in 2012. 
 

The name that did most of the damage was Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III. In his first season as a redshirt freshman in 2008, RG3 threw for 2,000 yards and 15 touchdowns while adding 843 yards and 13 more scores. By the time he was done as a senior, Griffin would put up video game numbers for the Bears. In the 2011 season, Griffin completed 72 percent of his passes for 4,293 yards and 37 touchdowns with only six interceptions. He also added 699 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns on the ground 

 

Taking over as the coordinator alone in 2013, Montgomery’s Baylor offense led the nation in scoring (52.4 points per game) and total offense (618.8 yards per game) with quarterback Bryce Petty leading the show. That season he threw for 4,200 yards and 32 touchdowns with only three interceptions. On the ground, former Auburn recruit Lache Seastrunk led the way with 1,177 yards for a group that ran for 3,376 yards and scored 47 touchdowns. 

 

In his final year with the Bears, Montgomery helped them lead the nation again in scoring (48.8 ppg) and total offense (581.3 ypg). They threw for 4,757 yards and 38 touchdowns with only eight interceptions and added 2,800 yards rushing and 43 scores on the ground.

[AEAugirl 9,632]

Very, Very, VERY excited about Montgomery.  

We are going to have the offense we always dreamed about that Malzahn never delivered.   Get a dynamic WR coach and let’s go.  

You also have THREE very reputable QB coaches on staff in Freeze, Montgomery, and Kent Austin. 

 

[AEAugirl 9,632]

1 hour ago, GwillMac6 said:

Both of our coordinator hires are not going to be strong recruiters. Which is fine when I believe all of our position coaches so far are all in their 30’s or younger besides Crime Dawg. And freeze is the best recruiting head coach we have had since???? So yah this is new territory for us having a great recruiter as a head coach. That just lifts up the rest of the staff and really sets the tone on the trail. Past AU coaches it was the assistants who had to lift up the head coach.

It seems to be the model a lot are going to.  Neither of Saban’s coordinators are great recruiters but he has a staff of position coaches that can recruit their 🍑 off.