I'll have up a Q&A with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren later today... here are a couple quotes he gave me on the quarterback that has seemingly excited everyone that has attended a preseason practice:
We're only a few practices in, but what have seen early on from true freshman quarterback Steven Montez?
“Huge, huge upside. I am really excited about Steven. Everything that we were excited about during the whole recruiting process has shown itself. It is nice to finally get him here and be able to work with him. He has a really strong, powerful arm. I think he might have the strongest arm of the whole group. Right now we're working on some things fundamentally to get him more consistent with his accuracy. He is a really athletic kid, he has run around and done some things when the play has broken down already in camp that have been pretty impressive. And some throws he has made off-balance, there are just some things that you can't teach a quarterback that he can do. That has really excited us as a staff. I think right now it is just him getting comfortable with the system and then becoming more consistent with his accuracy, and throwing more catchable footballs. Sometimes he is trying to knock guys over and it is only a 10 yard throw. That is just something when you make that transition from high school to college that a lot of guys go through. But really excited about him. He has been very eager to learn the system and I really look forward to his development.”
You guys had Montez in at one of your camps so you got to see his potential first hand but he was kind of under-the-radar because he is from El Paso. Throughout his recruiting process, were you nervous that other power conference programs were going to discover his ability?
“No question. I spent a lot of time in El Paso in December and January. If anybody needs a recommendation on a good Mexican restaurant in El Paso, come see me. We did feel like he was a steal and he was a little bit under-the-radar, a little bit under-recruited. During that process, myself and [head] coach [Mike] MacIntyre and the whole staff were a little bit worried that someone was going to come in because he had a really good senior season. And he is also a really talented basketball player. If you were a coach and you went to sit down and watch him play a basketball game, you'd be really excited about his athletic potential. We were real scared but we had a really good relationship with the family and the coaching staff there at Del Valle. It ended up working out.”
