Montoya leads Bobcats by example
8/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Jon Montoya is the rarest kind of athlete.
The senior from Brandon, S.D., enters his senior season having already accomplished a considerable amount. On the football field, he has earned All-America mention twice in a three-year span for exploits that include 23 career sacks, the sixth-best total in school history. In the classroom he has been named First Team Verizon Academic All-America, becoming the third player in school history so honored as an underclassman and the fifth player to earn both All-America and Academic All-America honors.
None of that, however, is what endears the defensive end most to his head coach. “Somewhere along the line, Jon Montoya decided he was going to be the most reliable and strongest person in the lives of everyone he touches,” Kramer said. “He has a constancy about him that is remarkable. He is honest and strong and just a beautiful, beautiful person.”
Kramer is not alone in doling out praise for the preseason All-America who racked up a team-high 9.5 sacks last year. “Jon is remarkable for how he lives his life, what he believes in, what’s inside his heart, how he goes about his business every day,” said MSU defensive line and Assistant Head Coach Joe O’Brien, himself an All-America defensive lineman in the Big Sky Conference at Boise State in the mid-’90s.
O’Brien says that Montoya is far more responsible than the typical player for the rise to dominance of the Bobcat defense, particularly in the defensive line. “The biggest reason our young (defensive linemen) are so good right now is Jon Montoya,” O’Brien said. “He is always coaching, always teaching. And he’s very good at it.”
It’s no accident that Montoya puts so much energy and time into teaching his teammates. One day soon, he’ll be doing that for a living. “I enjoy teaching thoroughly, and I love being with children,” says the elementary education major. “I like that role. I think I have a gift in that area.”
Montoya will student teach this fall at an area Christian school, the culmination of his education in education. He has found the journey fulfilling. “This last year, especially, I’ve learned so much,” he said. “Your first three years at MSU you’re learning a lot more content and what not, but in the last year they teach methods, so you spend the morning in class learning how to teach, and the afternoons in a class teaching.” Montoya taught at Heritage Christian and Longfellow Elementary in Bozeman last spring.
A segment of any Bobcat practice rarely passes when Montoya doesn’t actively assist a younger teammate in some aspect of development, a function of his interest in education, he sayd. “I think to a degree there is (carryover from learning as a player to teaching),” he said. “When you go from being a learner as football practice to teaching in a classroom, I think that’s neat. You learn what good teaching looks like and what is effective in a teaching situation.”
On the football side, Montoya plays a large part of arguably the best defensive front in Division I-AA. “Jon has extraordinary discipline,” O’Brien said. “He is a true technician. But as nice a person as he is, nobody is more violent or aggressive from snap to whistle on every single play than him. His instincts off the ball separate him from everyone else.”
Montoya is excited about the upcoming season, in which MSU will defend a Big Sky Championship for the first time since the 1984 National Championship. Particularly, he relishes his linemates. “This is such a special group,” he says of a line that includes fellow end Adam Cordeiro, a senior, and tackles Ray Sebestyen and Beau Clark. “The older guys have a special bond because we really love and care foreach other so much off the field, and because we have such a great relationship with Coach O’Brien.”
Montoya is one of six Bobcat captains this season, but he’s the only MSU player in recent memory to serve a second term as a team captain. He was one of three captains during last year’s championship run, but says having such a big group of captains makes things easier on each of the individuals.
“These guys have been quiet but hardworking players on the field,” he said. “Now it’s time to take that experience and use it in a leadership role, and let it rub off on the younger players. We have some guys that are loud and crazy, and some that are quiet and calm by nature. We have a good mix.”
Ask a Bobcat coach about life a few months down the road when players like Jon Montoya who helped raise the program from an 0-11 season during 2000 to a Big Sky title in 2002 have graduated and moved on, and that coach will likely refuse to do so by turning away. But it’s clear that Montoya’s presence will remain in the Bobcat program for years to come.
“The reason those young players (in the defensive line) are so good right now is Jon Montoya,” O’Brien said. “I don’t know that I’ve been the guy the last two years that has been responsible for teaching them so much as Jon has. In the beginning I taught Jon, but since then he’s been coaching and helping the young players, especially those at his position, constantly. He has a special ability to communicate, and he gets a lot of the credit for what these young players will accopmlish. His presence will be here long after he has gone on to different things.”
The senior from Brandon, S.D., enters his senior season having already accomplished a considerable amount. On the football field, he has earned All-America mention twice in a three-year span for exploits that include 23 career sacks, the sixth-best total in school history. In the classroom he has been named First Team Verizon Academic All-America, becoming the third player in school history so honored as an underclassman and the fifth player to earn both All-America and Academic All-America honors.
None of that, however, is what endears the defensive end most to his head coach. “Somewhere along the line, Jon Montoya decided he was going to be the most reliable and strongest person in the lives of everyone he touches,” Kramer said. “He has a constancy about him that is remarkable. He is honest and strong and just a beautiful, beautiful person.”
Kramer is not alone in doling out praise for the preseason All-America who racked up a team-high 9.5 sacks last year. “Jon is remarkable for how he lives his life, what he believes in, what’s inside his heart, how he goes about his business every day,” said MSU defensive line and Assistant Head Coach Joe O’Brien, himself an All-America defensive lineman in the Big Sky Conference at Boise State in the mid-’90s.
O’Brien says that Montoya is far more responsible than the typical player for the rise to dominance of the Bobcat defense, particularly in the defensive line. “The biggest reason our young (defensive linemen) are so good right now is Jon Montoya,” O’Brien said. “He is always coaching, always teaching. And he’s very good at it.”
It’s no accident that Montoya puts so much energy and time into teaching his teammates. One day soon, he’ll be doing that for a living. “I enjoy teaching thoroughly, and I love being with children,” says the elementary education major. “I like that role. I think I have a gift in that area.”
Montoya will student teach this fall at an area Christian school, the culmination of his education in education. He has found the journey fulfilling. “This last year, especially, I’ve learned so much,” he said. “Your first three years at MSU you’re learning a lot more content and what not, but in the last year they teach methods, so you spend the morning in class learning how to teach, and the afternoons in a class teaching.” Montoya taught at Heritage Christian and Longfellow Elementary in Bozeman last spring.
A segment of any Bobcat practice rarely passes when Montoya doesn’t actively assist a younger teammate in some aspect of development, a function of his interest in education, he sayd. “I think to a degree there is (carryover from learning as a player to teaching),” he said. “When you go from being a learner as football practice to teaching in a classroom, I think that’s neat. You learn what good teaching looks like and what is effective in a teaching situation.”
On the football side, Montoya plays a large part of arguably the best defensive front in Division I-AA. “Jon has extraordinary discipline,” O’Brien said. “He is a true technician. But as nice a person as he is, nobody is more violent or aggressive from snap to whistle on every single play than him. His instincts off the ball separate him from everyone else.”
Montoya is excited about the upcoming season, in which MSU will defend a Big Sky Championship for the first time since the 1984 National Championship. Particularly, he relishes his linemates. “This is such a special group,” he says of a line that includes fellow end Adam Cordeiro, a senior, and tackles Ray Sebestyen and Beau Clark. “The older guys have a special bond because we really love and care foreach other so much off the field, and because we have such a great relationship with Coach O’Brien.”
Montoya is one of six Bobcat captains this season, but he’s the only MSU player in recent memory to serve a second term as a team captain. He was one of three captains during last year’s championship run, but says having such a big group of captains makes things easier on each of the individuals.
“These guys have been quiet but hardworking players on the field,” he said. “Now it’s time to take that experience and use it in a leadership role, and let it rub off on the younger players. We have some guys that are loud and crazy, and some that are quiet and calm by nature. We have a good mix.”
Ask a Bobcat coach about life a few months down the road when players like Jon Montoya who helped raise the program from an 0-11 season during 2000 to a Big Sky title in 2002 have graduated and moved on, and that coach will likely refuse to do so by turning away. But it’s clear that Montoya’s presence will remain in the Bobcat program for years to come.
“The reason those young players (in the defensive line) are so good right now is Jon Montoya,” O’Brien said. “I don’t know that I’ve been the guy the last two years that has been responsible for teaching them so much as Jon has. In the beginning I taught Jon, but since then he’s been coaching and helping the young players, especially those at his position, constantly. He has a special ability to communicate, and he gets a lot of the credit for what these young players will accopmlish. His presence will be here long after he has gone on to different things.”
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