Luke Montgomery has always been grateful to be a Buckeye, but he's especially grateful that he's not a Wolverine.
After Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore became the latest scandal to befall Ohio State's great rival, with his firing for an inappropriate relationship with a staff member and subsequent arrest in December, the Buckeye offensive guard voiced his satisfaction with picking OSU during his recruitment. Moore has since pleaded guilty to malicious use of a telecommunications device and trespassing, though his felony home invasion charge was dropped.
"Thank goodness I didn't go there," Montgomery said of Michigan on Tuesday. "Just with what's going on in the past few years. I think (the Wolverines) did a great job recruiting me. I wish them all the best, everyone on that staff and stuff like that. I hope that some of them find the Lord and can come back and be with the people they love. I wish them the best."
Montgomery wishes them all the best off the field anyway. On it, he's overjoyed to have collected his first pair of gold pants in 2025, which were awarded to him and his teammates on Tuesday. Ohio State beat Michigan to snap its four-game losing streak in The Game, 27-9, this past November.
“Being an Ohio kid and being here now and understanding what the rivalry really means, then, going into my third year, losing two times, I really wanted those gold pants," Montgomery said. "Now we’ve got these ones, but I’ve got one more year left, so we’ve got to get another one.”
A second pair of gold pants would bring Montgomery's final career record to 2-2 against the Wolverines. That would be the same record his girlfriend's father, Jerame Tuman, a former Michigan football player, had in The Game. So, beyond all the typical rivalry stakes, there will be important bragging rights on the line for him this year.
"I need to get to 2-2 because my girlfriend's dad played up north in Michigan, and he's 2-2 against Ohio State," Montgomery said. "So for the arguments that will be had in the future, I need to win this next one (laughs)."
Ohio State will hope to hold Montgomery's serve in those arguments when its rivalry with Michigan is renewed on Nov. 28.
