Earlier this week, reality started to set in for Ryan Montgomery.
The 2025 quarterback realized Friday could be the last time he and his brother Luke, an Ohio State 2023 offensive lineman commit, play on a football field together.
Entering Friday’s road matchup with Lima Senior with a 4-5 record, Ryan, Luke and their school, Findlay, need a win to qualify for the high school playoffs. Additionally, Findlay would miss the playoffs in the unlikely event it wins and all three teams below it in the conference standings are also all victorious on Friday night.
Either way, Ryan is savoring any moment he can that involves Luke lining up to protect him at left tackle.
Just an older brother protecting his younger brother. pic.twitter.com/ud1LzDEVU4
— Garrick Hodge (@Garrick_Hodge) October 15, 2022
“That’s definitely hit me the past couple of days,” Ryan told Eleven Warriors of his time with Luke winding down. “Especially leading up to this game because if we lose, we’re out of the playoffs. So I just want to play as many more games as possible with my team and with my brother because there’s a chance we might not be able to play ever again.”
Happy Birthday Big Bro!! Love ya man @lukeMonty8 pic.twitter.com/UiBDtzVqdH
— Ryan Montgomery (@RyanMonty2025) October 5, 2022
Over the year, Findlay has experienced an up-and-down season. The Trojans started 1-4 before rattling off three straight wins but had that winning streak snapped on Oct. 14 on Luke’s senior night, falling to St. John’s Jesuit 18-10. Despite the back-and-forth 2022 campaign, Ryan appreciates all the memories on the field he has with Luke, dating back to a season ago when he started most of the season for Findlay at quarterback as a freshman and helped lead the Trojans to a few playoff victories.
Ryan Montgomery passes for a decent gain with a clean pocket partly thanks to Luke with a few minutes left before halftime. pic.twitter.com/PxyWoDBSdc
— Garrick Hodge (@Garrick_Hodge) October 15, 2022
“It’s definitely a very surreal moment,” Montgomery said of how appreciative he is that Luke is his left tackle. “I’ve enjoyed every second of the ebbs and flows of our season this year and last year with my brother. It was our first high school sport playing together, so I thought that was cool. I’ve enjoyed every second of it, and from my parents’ standpoint, I know it was a super surreal moment for them too.”
Unfortunately for Ryan, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound quarterback may not start the regular season finale, as he’s missed a good portion of this week’s practices with a shoulder sprain on his throwing arm. He’ll be a game-time decision on Friday but desperately wants to suit up, considering the stakes of the game for Findlay.
“I’m really hoping I can play, but we’ll have to see,” Montgomery said.
Ryan Montgomery throws a dart for a touchdown pass to bring Findlay with 8, trailing 18-10, with 7:52 left. pic.twitter.com/LmSpN9SkhD
— Garrick Hodge (@Garrick_Hodge) October 15, 2022
While the Montgomery brothers’ time together playing high school football is nearing its end, that doesn’t mean it has to be the last time they ever play organized football on the same team. When Luke committed to Ohio State in February, he announced that he’d take on a vocal role as a peer recruiter for the Buckeyes. Since then, he has certainly delivered on that promise. But it’s hard to forget who his first identified target was that he wanted to help bring to Columbus.
“This guy behind me,” Luke said in February, referring to Ryan.
Ohio State offered Ryan last fall as a freshman, a rarity for the Buckeyes, who don't typically offer a signal-caller early into their prep career. To this day, he’s one of two quarterbacks OSU has offered in 2025, with the other being five-star quarterback Colin Hurley. Considering Luke is the most vocal peer recruiter on social media in the 2023 class, it should come as no surprise he’s still incessantly trying to sway his brother toward joining Ohio State.
“Yeah, I’d say so,” Ryan said when asked if Luke is still adamant about him joining him at Ohio State. “He also realizes I’m a completely different person than him and that I’m going to visit as many different places as I can. Especially at the quarterback position because each team is taking one a year and some teams will take one every two years. It’s that important of a position. But ultimately, at the end of the day, he keeps telling me that I know where home is. I’m taking it day by day and enjoying the process.”
It’s difficult for college coaches to have consistent contact with Ryan at the moment, considering he’s an underclassman and college coaches cannot yet contact him directly. Still, he remains a priority for the Buckeyes and quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis.
“Everything has been pretty quiet because it’s hard for coaches to get ahold of recruits my age because coaches can’t call me directly,” Ryan said. “But I had a good conversation a couple of weeks ago with Corey Dennis. He was just checking in on me and seeing how things were going, seeing how the season was going. He told me to enjoy every moment through the recruiting process, but ultimately, he said he wanted me to know where home was for me. So that was pretty cool.”
Ryan took a gameday visit to Columbus earlier this fall for the Notre Dame season opener and said he had an impressive experience at Ohio Stadium.
“It was a great atmosphere for a top-five matchup at The Shoe,” Montgomery said. “It was awesome, and there were more than 100,000 fans there. They were all pumped for the game because of how big it was for both teams. For Ohio State to come in and take care of business against a good Notre Dame team, that meant a lot. Offensively, they have dudes, to say the least.”
The 2025 signal-caller has also visited Georgia, Michigan and Tennessee this fall and will visit Penn State this weekend. He plans to return to Michigan on Oct. 29 for its rivalry contest with Michigan State and also take a second visit to Ohio State on Nov. 26 when the Buckeyes host Michigan. The Montgomery family is also considering a return trip to Georgia on Nov. 5 and would also like to take a visit to Clemson if possible.
Earlier this summer, Ryan said he’d heavily consider a commitment before his junior year started to solidify his place in a team’s recruiting class. But after taking numerous visits, he’s decided to slow things down a bit more instead.
“Most likely not anymore,” Ryan said on if a commitment sometime next summer was still possible. “I’ll most likely narrow it down, whether that’s publicly or just within our family. But I’ll definitely cut down the list before next season. From a commitment standpoint, I’m not so sure because after taking all these visits again, it just shows how tough of a decision it will be and I don’t want to rush it.”
