Ohio sophomore quarterback Ryan Montgomery has connection with Liam Coen

Quarterback Ryan Montgomery with UK coach Mark Stoops and offensive coordinator Liam Coen at UK’s Junior Day. (Twitter Photo)

He’s one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the 2025 recruiting class but does Kentucky really have a legitimate chance to land four-star  Ryan Montgomery of Findlay, Ohio?

The 6-3, 210-pound sophomore quarterback already has a scholarship offer from two-time defending national champion Georgia. He has one from Ohio State and Notre Dame. Others who have offered Montgomery along with Kentucky are Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, Tennessee,  Miami, North Carolina, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Toledo, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Miami (Ohio).

He did not grow up an Ohio State fanatic but his family did cheer for the Buckeyes — and his older brother Luke was part of Ohio State’s recent signing class and the offensive lineman is already enrolled at Ohio State.

“We are college football fans,” said Mike Montgomery, Ryan’s father. “It has been fun meeting people and watching games while the boys have been recruited. We are Ohio State fans but not fanatics. You have got to separate fandom with recruiting. Ryan is a pretty smart kid and being a fan of a team will have zero impact on his recruiting decision. He is not a fan of Michigan and he has a great rapport with those guys.”

Surprisingly, Ryan Montgomery has not had a “ton of contact” with UK recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow even though the family knows he is “Mr. Ohio” when it comes to Kentucky recruiting.

They made contact with then UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen in 2021 before he left for the Los Angeles Rams. Mike Montgomery thought it “made sense” to stop by Kentucky when they were on other recruiting visits. They did last year and enjoyed talking with offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello.

“Ryan was really intrigued with his knowledge of the pro game,” Mike Montgomery said.

That led to another trip to Lexington to meet with coach Mark Stoops, Marrow and Scangarello that went well. They intended to come back when UK hosted Georgia — “Georgia is high on his list,” Mike Montgomery said — but had a conflict. Kentucky director of recruiting Chase Heike told them to put Jan. 28 on their calendar for UK’s Junior Day.

“I was impressed it was planned that far in advance. Other schools had not done that. We thought it would be fun to catch a basketball game and see who they hired (as offensive coordinator). We booked a hotel and came,” Mike Montgomery said.

Kentucky brought Coen back and the Montgomery’s had been impressed with what he did with quarterback Will Levis in 2021. Now he had spent the last year working with quarterback Matt Stafford in the NFL.

“We couldn’t have been more impressed with him,” Mike Montgomery said. “He has a big personality and is super relatable. Rich was not as outgoing but that was okay with Ryan because he knew his X’s and O’s so well.”

Coen did a 45-minute film session for all the offensive recruits at Junior Day.

“Ryan ate that up. He would show Stafford running a play and then Will running the same play at UK. He said, ‘If you want to go to the pros, we’ll get you ready for that,’” Mike Montgomery said. “With an older boy going to Ohio State, we have met a lot of people (coaches). He (Coen) was about as impressive as anybody with his personality and knowledge.”

Impressive enough to keep Kentucky in the running for an Ohio State fan who already has an Ohio State offer?

“As far as being in the final group, that’s too early to tell,” Mike Montgomery said. “Are they worthy of a trip back? That is how we look at things now. I would say he (Coen) earned the right for us to come back. Ideally we will watch a spring practice and break down some film after that.

“I think a lot of Stoops. I like the stability he has brought to Kentucky. But Coen is a game changer for them. He told us he has to focus on that (20)25 class rather than live in the transfer portal. Long term he knows he needs to find high school quarterbacks to develop. So as long as they foster that relationship with Ryan, I feel pretty sure we will be back.”