Luke Montgomery is making sacrifices to tap further into his potential this offseason. Great sacrifices.
Countless numbers of his favorite fried chicken sandwiches have been barred from his taste buds.
“Fried chicken,” Montgomery said of his favorite food he had to give up on his improved diet. “It got me pretty good. Every Monday night, putting down a buttermilk chicken sandwich from Hudson 29. Pretty freaking good.”
Entering his senior season with 16 starts under his belt, Montgomery is dedicating his full self to a better season at offensive guard and a better close to the campaign for the whole of Ohio State’s offensive line after a brutal close to the 2025 season from the unit.
“We want to be the Joe Moore Award winners,” Montgomery said. “I think that's the top of the line for us. There's no excuse not to be. That's our standard, and that's where we want to be.”
Montgomery’s weight might be a bit up this spring, but his body fat percentage, more importantly, is way down. The plan designed by Buckeye strength and conditioning coach Mick Marotti and Ohio State’s nutrition staff is working. That said, when Montgomery’s football career is over – ideally a long time down the road – he doesn’t plan on checking in at above 300 pounds for long.
“I've actually gained a little bit of weight,” Montgomery said. “I've lost some fat, some body fat, which is good. I don't like being this big. Someday I'll be really skinny, but hopefully not for a while. But just the offseason program and Coach Mick and stuff helped me. I think I'm starting to really fill into my body.”
Eating prepared meals in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center is one thing, but the big change for Montgomery has been eating better when he’s in his campus apartment. Some of his favorite lean meals include burger bowls, specifically with Whole Foods’ pickle de gallo, steak with sweet potato fries and Costco’s chipotle chicken.
“I've really done a good job (changing my diet),” Montgomery said. “I like to cook now. I do it every night. I don't go out for dinner, I go to the grocery store. So just that, and I think that overall I just want to continue to have stamina throughout the season. I think through the end of the season I was getting a little tired with practice and stuff, and I think that's normal, but I think I could have done a better job with the recovery standpoint and what I put in my body to help me.”
The desire for more stamina at the end of the season aligns with how Montgomery’s first full year as a starter played out this past season.
He did a fine job through the regular season for Ohio State, enough to earn second-team All-Big Ten honors from the conference’s coaches and media and not allowing a single sack, per Pro Football Focus. Then he allowed a combined three sacks in the Buckeyes’ losses in the Big Ten Championship Game against Indiana and College Football Playoff quarterfinals against Miami. The Buckeyes’ front as a whole surrendered a combined 10 sacks in those two contests.
“I think you learn most from adversity,” Montgomery said. “Those are two pretty great teams, obviously, and both were in the national championship (game), and you learn a lot from it when you go against great players like that. It’s only going to help us in this upcoming season, and obviously with that comes experience, and we’re very experienced up front.”
“I think you learn most from adversity.”– Luke Montgomery
Ohio State’s offensive line was met with harsh criticism this offseason, not just from those two outings, but also from a lackluster run game that finished 51st nationally with 4.55 yards per carry. Montgomery felt the critiques were justified.
“It comes with the position,” Montgomery said. “I think the motto is we've come through adversity, and now it's time to go. We're an experienced line. There's no excuses. We've got to get rolling. We understand that. We took that, and we're going to implement it now, and we're pretty pissed off. It's going to be a lot of fun this season.”
Beyond shaping his body, Montgomery is working to build his ball knowledge this offseason, as well as honing down on the finer points of his technique. He said technical breakdowns were a primary issue for him and the offensive line vs. the Hoosiers and Hurricanes.
“My overall IQ of the game and stuff like that, not just knowing the front seven, but also knowing what they can do in back coverage, the DBs,” Montgomery said. “Watching film and going from there. And obviously, just knowing every position pretty easy in the back of my head.”
Ohio State returns ample experience on the offensive line alongside Montgomery. The Buckeyes have 87 total starts logged between Montgomery, center Carson Hinzman, tackle Austin Siereveld and tackle Phillip Daniels.
Hopefully, that experience reaches them toward the Joe Moore Award they crave and not the trenches of the end of last season. Then perhaps Montgomery can reward himself with a few chicken sandwiches.
“I think the experience matters in the tight-knit games, and we’ve got a lot of those this upcoming year,” Montgomery said. “I think everything happens for a reason, and this upcoming year, we’ve got a gauntlet. (Our experience) it’s going to show in the games in the fourth quarter.”
