Iowa Football Recruiting: LB Jayden Montgomery Commits to Hawkeyes

After more than a year of quiet on the recruiting trail thanks to COVID-19 restrictions on visits, the flood gates are starting to open. The NCAA recently lifted their ban on on-campus visits across both college basketball and football and the Iowa Hawkeyes have wasted little time getting their top targets on campus.

For Hawkeye football, that’s meant lining up a slew of visitors for their annual big official recruiting weekend at the end of the month. But it’s also meant getting some priority names on campus in smaller groups or individually early in the month. We’ve already seen a number of big names make it to Iowa City in the first week since things opened up and on Tuesday night, they got their second commitment in less than a week as legacy Hawk Jayden Montgomery pledged to Iowa.

Montgomery is the son of former Hawkeye defensive lineman and current Green Bay Packers defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery. The second generation Hawk was on campus on Tuesday for a visit when the Hawkeyes offered. He wasted no time giving his pledge.

The Suamico, Wisconsin product plays both linebacker and running back as a prep at Bay Port High, the same school that produced projected starting left tackle Jack Plumb. At 5’11” and 210 pounds as a high school junior, Montgomery is physically near ready for the next level. His frame is a bit small coming in under 6’, but what he lacks in sheer length he more than makes up for with athleticism and explosion.

Rated a 3-star prospect by 247 Sports, Montgomery shows good instincts on film. He has a nose for the ball and is a force to be reckoned with once he commits. He jumps off the screen as he shoots out of a cannon to close gaps and bury ball-carriers.

As a junior, Montgomery finished with 59 tackles, 10 TFL, 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles in just four games due to a COVID-shortened season. Those numbers extrapolated over a full season get pretty gaudy for a player in the Green Bay area.

At the next level, Montgomery projects as a linebacker and will likely find himself in the middle. He has the quickness to play in coverage, but seems primed to be a guy who dominates in the run game.

With the addition of a second Wisconsin native in the month of June, Iowa now stands at four total commitments in the class. Just Gowrie native Aaron Graves hales from the Hawkeye state. Iowa is again expected to take roughly 20 commits in the class. Look for several of those spots to be filled later this month as the Iowa staff continues to fill up the calendar with official and unofficial visits.

Welcome aboard Jayden Montgomery!