The David Montgomery football story is one people have seen before. Raised by a single mother. Saw a brother go to prison for murder. Could’ve easily fallen down the same path of drugs, violence, and eventual death. Instead he fought to get out of that life, made himself into a high school football legend and earned a scholarship to college.
He became the workhorse at Iowa State, going over 1,000 yards rushing his final two years and carried them to their two best finishes in almost two decades. Everybody agrees he changed the entire culture of the programs. This due both to his personality and his work ethic. A big reason why the Chicago Bears were so drawn to him.
As it turns out, there are some amazing stories of his exploits in college. His former running backs coach, Lou Ayeni, had a great one he told to Adam Hoge of WGN.
Coaches tend to know that whenever they get a phone call late at night from a player, it’s almost never good. Usually an arrest or some kind of injury situation. Ayeni thought this was the case for a freshman Montgomery after a loss to Oklahoma State. The kid had gotten himself in trouble. Turns out it was a revelation of how ferociously competitive he is.
“I’m in my bed and my phone rings. It was like 2 o’clock in the morning. And when you get calls like that as a coach you’re thinking, “Oh no. What’s going on?” I see it’s David. I answer it and was like, “Hey what’s going on?” And he was like, “Coach, I need some help.” I’m just like, oh no. What happened? It’s his freshman year, what’s he doing?
He’s like, “I need some help, I need the password.”
“What?”
“I need the password.”
“Password for what?”
“I’m at the office. I’m trying to watch this game. I need the password to this computer.”
I’m like, oh my goodness. “
Matt Nagy coined the slogan “Be Obsessed” when he first arrived in Chicago as head coach. Seeing this story, it’s no wonder the Bears zeroed in on Montgomery with such zeal in the 3rd round. His mental attitude encompasses everything they look for in a football player.
He’ll be bringing that same insatiable appetite for winning with him into the Bears locker room. A place already overrun with similar personalities. With this, winning won’t be a desire anymore. It will be an expectation.
