Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana is one of the greatest NFL players of all-time and arguably the best to ever throw a football. The Tulane Green Wave are hoping that his son follows in his father's footsteps.
According to a report from the Associated Press, the school has received a letter of intent from the Hall of Famers son, junior college quarterback Nick Montana. Last season Montana threw for 2,652 yards and 22 touchdowns while playing at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif.
The school said that Montana is enrolling in classes this spring, meaning he will be able to participate in spring practice and compete for the starting job next fall.
Green Wave coach Curtis Johnson said that bringing in Montana was something he had been looking at for a while and that he should be able to fit into his pro-style system. Montana will work towards a business degree at Tulane while he attends the school.
"Joe can't play for us," Johnson said to NOLA.com. "The most impressive thing about him is he's a winner. His winning percentage is tremendous. I think he lost one game in high school - maybe a couple. ... I think that's one of the things we need. We need a guy who is a winner."
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback has two years of eligibility remaining after spending time at the University of Washington. As a highly-touted prospect coming out of high school in Los Angeles, Montana committed to play football at Washington and spent two years with the program, mostly spending it on the bench. He redshirted as a freshman and didn't receive much playing time during his second season.
Montana went to Washington to work with head coach Steve Sarkisian, who had coached NFL quarterbacks Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Mark Sanchez.
"He's an awesome coach," Montana said to the Associated Press at the time. "You just have to look at all the guys he's put into the pros."
Montana led his high school team to a 27-1 record, but couldn't jump past Keith Price while with the Huskies. He was considered one of the best recruits brought in during the 2010 class, but couldn't get any steady playing time. Montana instead transferred to Mount San Antonio, where he led the team to an 11-1 record last season and won numerous junior college awards and brought the team a division title.
Montana won first-team All-Southern California Football Association honors and had three 300-yard passing games during the season. He also threw for a career-high 330 yards while completing 20-of-29 passes with two touchdown passes at Saddleback on Sept. 1.
"I was sold on Tulane after my official visit," Montana said to NOLA.com. "I was very impressed with Coach Johnson and the coaching staff and I really liked the system and the direction the program is heading. I knew Tulane was a great academic school and I look forward to studying for my business degree. I also hope to help lead the team into conference title contention and playing in bowl games. My expectations are very high and I am looking forward to joining the team and getting started this spring."
Tulane will benefit from having a high-profile transfer and will give Montana a chance to compete for the starting job with freshman Devin Powell and walk-on Jordy Joseph, as well as incoming freshman passers Tanner Lee and Reginald Bell, who committed to Tulane already.
"It makes for a good competition," Johnson said. "It makes for really good competition. Now, you have two guys coming from throwing backgrounds. Both have leadership qualities and one is just a little more experienced than the other but the other kid is more familiar with the offense we are running right now."
The program will be moving to the Big East in 2014 and is playing in its final year in Conference USA. Overall during his playing career, Montana is 38-3 as a starter, including his high school record and his 0-1 record at Washington.
Last season Tulane went 2-10, finishing last in the West division of Conference USA with a 2-6 record. The team opened the season with five straight losses before defeating SMU 27-26 on Oct. 13. Tulane lost its next game to UTEP before rebounding with a 55-45 victory over UAB. The Green Wave finished the year with four straight losses, including a 40-17 defeat in the season-finale to Houston.
The team was ranked 99th in the nation in points against and 123rd in rushing, but were one of the top passing teams in the nation, ranking 33rd with 279 yards per game. Senior Ryan Griffin threw for 2,771 yards and 20 touchdowns, but will no longer be with the team after graduating.
Montana will help cushion the loss of Griffin, who completed over 62 percent of his passes and was solid towards the end of the season, throwing for nine touchdowns over the final four games.
