A look at Auburn’s offensive coordinator Phillip Montgomery’s past quarterback successes

Montgomery’s former quarterbacks should have Auburn fans dreaming big.

Matthew Jacobs | Apr 12, 2023

A look at Auburn’s offensive coordinator Phillip Montgomery’s past quarterback successes /

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Auburn head ball coach Hugh Freeze has quite the reputation for being a quarterback “whisperer”. That is rightly earned. However, the offensive coordinator he brought in has a bit of the whisperer himself. Phillip Montgomery comes in having led some of the most prolific offenses in college football for the past 17 or so years.

In 2016, he took an anemic Tulsa offense and turned it into the first team in FBS/DI history to have a 3,000-yard passer, two 1,000-yard rushers, and two 1,000-yard receivers. An NCAA record that still stands. He did this, once again, in Tulsa. His offenses with Houston and Baylor are legendary. Phillip Montgomery’s offense is designed to get results out of the quarterback. regardless of the skill level.

So, what kind of quarterbacks has he turned out? More NFL-caliber quarterbacks than any other coordinator. Take a look for yourself:

He turned quarterback Dane Evans, a three-star quarterback that didn’t have a lot of hype coming out of high school, into a star that ended up playing a bit for the Philadelphia Eagles before becoming a solid CFL quarterback. He is currently playing well and might end up back in the NFL.

He tutored Kevin Kolb for three years. Coached him up to Conference USA MVP. Turned him into a second-round pick, once again by the Philadelphia Eagles, and played a lot of professional football before concussions got the better of him. Another guy that nobody was big on coming out of high school. Montgomery got him to the NFL

Houston’s standout Case Keenum was another of Montgomery’s guys. Keenum set the all-time NCAA Division I passing touchdowns record by throwing 9 touchdowns against rice. Most career pass completions: 1,546. Most career passing yards: 19,217. Most career passing touchdowns: 155. Most career games with 300+ passing yards: 39. Most games with 300+ passing yards in a single season: 14 (tied with Tulsa's Paul Smith). Most seasons passing for 5,000+ yards: 3. Most seasons passing for 4,000+ yards: 3 (tied with four others). Most career total yards: 20,114. Most career touchdowns responsible for, on and on. You might have heard of him? He wasn’t recruited with any aggression for any school outside Texas. Yet, his NFL career started with the Texans, and he has played for 9 other teams before returning for his third stint with the Texans in 2022. More collegiate awards than you want to see typed here. Not bad for a kid that really had no juice until Montgomery started working with him.

Bryce Petty. Montgomery landed a top fifty prospect here and did not waste him. Threw for right at or over 4000 yards both years he started. Tossed a staggering 62 touchdowns to 10 interceptions while adding 21 rushing touchdowns in his two years of starting. Earning him Big 12 Player of the Year awards and a fourth-round selection by the New York Jets. Played well in the NFL despite being riddled by injuries which forced him out very early in his career.

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Baylor’s Nick Florence landed under Montgomery’s tutelage around 2012. His stat line for that season? 286 for 464 at 61.6% completion percentage. That is with 4,309 yards, 33 touchdowns to 13 interceptions with a 157.5 quarterback rating. That got him All-American honors. He still holds Baylor’s single season yardage record. Which is saying something the passing offenses they had over the years. Florence chose to not enter his name in the NFL draft, stating that he would have made a team. I respect that choice. He wanted to continue his education and is still a member of Baylor’s athletics department. However, there were several NFL teams interested in him when he was done. In my estimation that is another quarterback that was a relative unknown that was NFL caliber once Montgomery was finished with him.

Wait, wasn’t there another guy? Hmm. Oh. That’s right. Montgomery does have one more name on this list. Heisman Trophy winner, Robert Griffin III. Griffin was a 4-star recruit out of (trivia answer here) Okinawa, Japan. He played his high school ball in Texas and was one of the top five recruits coming out. He went with Baylor over several SEC schools and is further proof that Montgomery can polish high ranking recruits as well as get others to play above their potential. Griffin's school records and awards would add over a thousand words to this article. Suffice to say, Heisman Trophy winner will stand on its own.

What does all this mean? It doesn’t take a rocket-surgeon to realize that mixing Montgomery’s offenses and schemes with Freeze’s offense and schemes is the stuff of defensive coordinators nightmares. There will be some bumps at first, but once they get their SEC players in place there is no reason this shouldn’t be one of the most potent offenses seen in a very long time. It’s a great day to be an Auburn Tiger with thoughts having a prolific offense dancing in your head. Strange feeling, eh?

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Published Apr 12, 2023

MATTHEW JACOBS

Author/Writer. Staff contributor for Sports Illustrated's @TheAuburnDaily and @Braves_Today Auburn Tigers (WDE) and Braves fan. Christian The previous host of the Zen Shark Blog, Author of Needs No Translation, previously covered the Memphis Grizzlies, The Tennessee Titans, and Manchester City.