Ohio State kept one of the top in-state football prospects home on Thursday when ESPN Junior 300 offensive lineman Luke Montgomery committed to the Buckeyes.
Montgomery had a top list that included Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson, Oklahoma and Notre Dame. He's the No. 69 prospect overall and a 6-foot-5, 260-pound lineman from Findlay, Ohio, who's ranked No. 2 in the state.
"I kept going back to other schools and Ohio State was the top school. I was always thinking to myself, how does this compare to Ohio State, because that was the No. 1 school," Montgomery said. "And I'd always come back and think I still wanted to go to Ohio State. To be honest with you, a lot of people thought it would take me not that much time to commit after I got the offer.
"But just because you love a school doesn't mean that's the right fit for you, and I wanted to make sure out of all the schools I visited that was for sure the right fit, and fortunately enough it was."
Montgomery had taken several visits to Michigan, and there haven't been too many battles recently between the Buckeyes and the Wolverines, but Ohio State won out. The staff was also able to fend off Clemson, which came into the state of Ohio in the 2022 class and signed ESPN 300 offensive lineman Blake Miller, and also signed ESPN 300 offensive lineman Jackson Carman out of Ohio in the 2018 class.
Montgomery was born in Columbus, Ohio, before moving to Findlay, and grew up a fan of Ohio State. He wanted to take his time with the process, though, and make sure it was a good fit for him. He didn't want to make a decision solely off of his fandom and come to regret a commitment.
"It's just a dream that came true and I was obviously fortunate enough that it fit my personality and the coaching staff fit, as well," Montgomery said. "But one thing that I really thought about was if I was a normal student, where would I want to go to without Coach [Ryan] Day or all the other coaches. If the coaches weren't there, what school would I want to go to? And I thought that'd be Ohio State."
The coaching staff told Montgomery he will start out at tackle, but can slide inside if that doesn't work out. He's capable of playing in either spot and said he's willing to play wherever the coaches feel best.
Despite having so many schools after him, Montgomery feels as though he has done his due diligence and his decision is made. He purposely took his time with the process so he could make one decision and end his recruitment for good.
"I'm not one of the kids that's going to take all the visits. This is kind of also why it took a lot more time than other people would have thought, is I don't want to be that person," Montgomery said. "I feel like that's really disrespectful to the school that you committed to, and the only reason I would consider visiting other schools is if something crazy happened. If there was something going on at Ohio State or something happened, but besides that, I will not be going anywhere."