November 17, 2012; Baton Rouge, LA, USA LSU Tigers defensive end Sam Montgomery (99) against the Ole Miss Rebels during a game at Tiger Stadium. LSU defeated Ole Miss 41-35. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Height: 6’3″

Weight: 262 pounds

Position Rank:

Drafted By:

40 Yard Dash:  4.81

Bench Press:  DNP

Vertical Jump:  34.5″

Broad Jump:  114″

2012 Statistics

Career Highlights (via LSU athletic site)

2011 Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Finalist
2011 First-Team All-American (FWAA, FoxSportsNext.com)
2011 Second-Team All-American (SI.com)
2011 Third-Team All-American (AP, Rivals.com)
2011 First-Team All-Southeastern Conference (AP, Coaches)
2011 SEC Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week (Alabama)
2011 SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week (vs. Kentucky)
2010 Freshman All-SEC (Coaches)

One of college football’s most dominant defensive ends … Finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award as a sophomore and will be a candidate for the national defensive end award again in 2012 … Terrific athleticism with great size and a high motor … A returning first-team All-American who teams with Barkevious Mingo to form one of the nation’s most terrorizing defensive end tandems … After missing the final eight games of the 2010 season to a knee injury, turned in a dominant sophomore season … Has played in 19 games with 16 starts … Recipient of the Toby Caston Award for outstanding performance in 2012 spring drills … One of two LSU players on the watch list for the 2012 Lott Trophy, which recognizes achievement on and off the field … Racked up 67 tackles, 19.5 tackles for a loss of 88 yards and 11.0 sacks for a loss of 71 yards in two seasons … Needs just six sacks to crack the LSU career top 10 in sacks … Gifted athlete who also starred on the basketball court in high school.

SOPHOMORE SEASON (2011)
A first-team All-American as selected by the Football Writers Association of America … Also recognized as a second-team All-American by SI.com and a third-team All-American by the Associated Press … Played in all 14 games with 11 starts at right defensive end … Led the team and ranked sixth in the SEC with 9.0 sacks, which finished as the fourth-highest total in LSU single-season history … Ranked second on the squad and eighth in the SEC with 13.5 tackles for a loss of 63 yards … Posted at least half a sack in eight of 14 games … Finished ninth on the team in total tackles with 49 … Tallied 2.0 tackles for loss and one sack versus Arkansas … Credited with one sack against Western Kentucky and one against  Georgia in the SEC Championship Game … Named SEC Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week with Arkansas’ Jake Bequette after he set a career high with two sacks and tied his career best with six total tackles at Alabama … Tied his career high with six tackles against Auburn and added 1.5 TFLs and one sack … Named the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week after his performance against Kentucky when he tied his career high with six tackles and two TFLs and earned 1.5 sacks … Combined with Tyrann Mathieu to record LSU’s first sack of the season against Northwestern State as he finished with five tackles, one TFL and half a sack … Made the start at right defensive end and tallied four tackles with a team-high 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble recovered by Eric Reid in the opener against Oregon.

REDSHIRT FRESHMAN SEASON (2010)
Started the first five games of the year before sustaining a season-ending right knee injury in the first quarter of the Tennessee game … Despite the injury, still earned Freshman All-SEC honors by the league coaches … Ended his season with 18 tackles, 6.0 TFLs and two sacks … Tied his career high with six tackles and two tackles for loss against West Virginia … Tallied a career-high six tackles with 1.5 TFLs versus Mississippi State … Displayed his explosiveness again at Vanderbilt by recording his second sack in his second career game … Started against North Carolina in his first career appearance and was outstanding with four tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss and one sack … Earned the starting position at right end during fall camp.

FRESHMAN SEASON (2009)
Redshirted as a true freshman in 2009.

Scouting Report/Player Notes

Sam Montgomery is one of the most wildly talented players we have in this draft. I had him going into the season as a sure-fire top five selection. However, that top five grade will never pan out 10 times out of 10 when you take games off, and that’s exactly what Montgomery did in 2012. At the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine, Montgomery admitted to the media that he took some of the easier games off last season, and also made bets with his teammates about what kind of stats they could rack up. The problem is, Montgomery’s stats didn’t measure up to the expectations ANYONE had set for him or any of his teammates. He finished 9th on the team in tackles, and had eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss, which were nearly identical numbers to the season prior. Montgomery also put on quite a bit of weight for the 2012 season, which was admirable on paper, but didn’t really help his draft stock any, to be honest. Whatever team takes Montgomery is getting a first round talent, but taking a huge risk in my opinion. If he takes easy games off in college, what’s he going to do with an NFL contract? What incentive will he have to be as dominant as we know he can be? A team with a stable locker room and coaching situation should draft this kid. Here’s my pre-season evaluation:

Montgomery has about as quick a first step as I have seen in quite some time. His numbers as a RS Sophomore back that up with 13 TFL and 9 sacks heading into the national championship game. He has insane athletic ability and great length, and he is still growing into his frame and has a ton of room to grow as a pass rusher as well. LSU’s defense is full of playmakers, but I think even individually this guy stands out as one of the best defensive players I’ve seen in college ball. He has elite upside and I think he should be a top five pre-season graded player by most outlets, and if he’s not, you might have to question why. He is relentless in his pursuit and has a great motor, and he looks like he just flat out has fun playing the game. Motivated by the death of his brother, a life-changing event that can shape a man as an individual, something that teams will look into as well. Bottom line–this kid is a beast and he is going to have to do a lot to make me un-impressed next season. He is what baseball fans would call a “five-tool” player and I think he has the potential to be an elite NFL pass rusher.

Video Highlights (via YouTube)

Measurables

6’4″ 245 pounds

Reported 4.44 40 yard dash coming out of high school

Scouting Report

Montgomery has about as quick a first step as I have seen in quite some time. His numbers as a RS Sophomore back that up with 13 TFL and 9 sacks heading into the national championship game. He has insane athletic ability and great length, and he is still growing into his frame and has a ton of room to grow as a pass rusher as well. LSU’s defense is full of playmakers, but I think even individually this guy stands out as one of the best defensive players I’ve seen in college ball. He has elite upside and I think he should be a top five pre-season graded player by most outlets, and if he’s not, you might have to question why. He is relentless in his pursuit and has a great motor, and he looks like he just flat out has fun playing the game. Motivated by the death of his brother, a life-changing event that can shape a man as an individual, something that teams will look into as well. Bottom line–this kid is a beast and he is going to have to do a lot to make me un-impressed next season. He is what baseball fans would call a “five-tool” player and I think he has the potential to be an elite NFL pass rusher.

This one is for all the marbles..unless Alabama wins then who knows?

Tomorrow the “National Championship Game” will occur between the Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers. I don’t have a big of an issue with the game as many people do, but clearly if Alabama wins there will be a lot of dissension among college football voters, some even acknowledging that they won’t vote for Alabama to be National Champions even if they win the game. As a side note: if people hated the idea of having these two be in the title game they could have done something about it in the polls, I  may be wrong but I thought Oklahoma State might have been number  two in the computers it was the human polls that put Alabama back in the game.

Anyway, with all that being written, it’s clear that there are bevy of draft prospects that will be drafted from both teams. Between the two starting defenses (22 players) there may be as many as 20 draft-able prospects over the next two or three drafts, which is borderline insane.

The best linemen prospects in this game, however, are all redshirt sophomores so it will be interesting to see how many, if any, declare for the 2012 nfl draft.

To start things off we’ll talk about the LSU defensive line vs the Alabama offensive line and we’ll have many more of these types of previews over today and tomorrow.

NFL mocks is all about draftable prospects so let’s start there.

The Alabama Crimson Tide have two linemen who will receive grades between the first and second round in this draft if they decide to come out though there are whispers/reports that neither one will.

The first is versatile offensive linemen Barrett Jones (scouting report). The last time Alabama and LSU played Jones got injured early (but still played) before that though Jones shows better than anticipated athleticism against arguably the best defensive line in the country. Jones is a player who has been asked to play all along the line and has done well wherever he’s played (except he hasn’t played center). Jones is quicker than he often gets credit for, who really does a good job of getting to the second level to make blocks in space. At 6’5 311 pounds he doesn’t have ideal size and his arm length could be criticized a bit, but a really solid player.

On the other side is the talented redshirt sophomore D.J. Fluker. Fluker has great size at 6’6 335 pounds and really plus athletic ability, he’ll be in the conversation as a first round pick if he decides to wait until next year.

In the middle of the Crimson Tide line is one of the best centers in the class in Will Vlachos (scouting report). Vlacho is smart and will do a great job on Sundays making all of the calls along the offensive line. He’s really short for an OL at 6’1, which is less of a problem for centers and isn’t a great athlete. He is however, gritty and strong. He’s hard to move off his space, but he can be taken advantage of by longer defensive linemen.

On LSU there are a tremendous trio of redshirt sophomores who could all be first round picks next year (they are that good). The first is DT Michael Brockers. Brockers is the redshirt sophomore I think is most NFL ready, even though he has things to improve on too. He’s really long and lean and could even add more weight to is 6’6 306 pound frame. Brockers can play in the N.F.L. right now as a run stopper, though he has a ways to go as a pass rusher. Plays with great functional strength.

Barkevious Mingo (video  of him)

Mingo has a name that sounds like it came straight from J. K. Rowlin’s Harry Potter, and you could say you can see his magic on the field. Mingo is a terrific athlete who is long, lean and fluid. At 6’5 240 pounds, he doesn’t yet have the size to play defensive end at the N.F.L. level, but if he decides to declare for the 2012 N.F.L. draft could easily work himself into the first round discussion with his physical abilities and a down pass rusher class. But he has the speed and natural pass rush abilities to likely be one of our top 15 prospects heading into the 2013 N.F.l. draft.He will often be up against D.J. Fluker

Sam Montgomery (draft breakdown video of him)

If you manage to stop Brocker and Mingo then you still have to contend with LSU most statistically productive pass rusher Sam Montgomery. This year Montgomery has 9 sacks. Listed at 6’4 245 pounds, he’s another guy who doesn’t yet have the bulk to play down every play as a 43 defensive end. But is another guy who has tremendous speed and hustle. He’s also done a good job of playing with leverage.He will draw Barret Jones tomorrow.

Bennie Logan DT

Just when you thought LSU had enough talented sophomores who could end up being first round picks they throw another one at you. You begin to see why they are the #1 team in the Nation. Logan is 6’3 287 pounds. He’s also a redshirt sophomore and draft eligible this year.

There you have it folks if you’re looking for linemen in 2012 (or sounds like maybe 2013) this is the game for you. Alabama’s offensive linemen are talented and among the best in the country while on the other side of the ball LSU’s defensive linemen (projected 34 OLB) are extremely talented. I don’t see any scenario in which Vlachos ends up in the first round, but the other six linemen could all eventually be drafted in the first round of the 2012 or 2013 N.F.l. draft.

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