Montgomery let team down
by Joey Martin - posted Tuesday, March 12th, 2013 @ 9:02 pm

So what did you think about Sam Montgomery's statement saying he had large bets with teammate , such as who would get more sacks last season and the even more outlandish statement of holding back on certain Saturdays and taking games against inferior opponents off?

I guess that answers questions I had for my son Jake about where in the world was Sam Montgomery in certain games.

Actually, I think Montgomery took more than a few games off. A guy who will make a lot of money at the next level should have had more than 37 total tackles last year.

Kevin Minter had 130, Lamin Barrow totaled 104 and Eric Reid had 91. Jalen Mills, a freshman, finished with 57 and Craig Loston had 55.

Mingo finished with 38.

Sure, I realize Montgomery is covering one side of the field as compared to the other guys in the middle.

Montgomery did lead the team in sacks with eight, with two coming against his native state of South Carolina.

He had no sacks against Idaho, Towson, Florida, Texas A&M or Arkansas.

Maybe if he gives maximum effort LSU can build a substantial halftime lead and get some of the back-up talented freshmen valuable playing experience.

The Florida game was 100-plus degrees on the field, so I imagine the taking off of games just carried over to the field in that one.

Montgomery had nine sacks for LSU as a sophomore in 2011.

He was on the cover of LSU's game program against Washington last season.

Underneath his picture were a few sayings that he wrote for the cover shot.

Those included: "No one is going to give you a map, make your own path; Be unforgettable or be forgotten; I have climbed too high to fall today and It takes heart, courage and focus to be #1.

Evidently, that book is sitting in the fiction section.

I hate this revelation coming out now because Montgomery showed so much class giving props to Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M, Montgomery had no sacks against Johnny Football and one assist and one sack.

I wonder if he would get up for that game this year.

It's also disappointing after you see a guy like Minter being taken to the dressing room to receive fluids because he has been all over the field against Florida the entire game..

Then comes word that LSU coaches were not high on Montgomery to NFL coaches and that he was not well liked by his teammates.

OK, if anything is ever going to come out about what happened before the LSU-Alabama BCS game (you'll never convince me everything was kosher), it looks like Montgomery may be the one to let the cat out of the bag somewhere down the road.

And as bad as Tyrann Mathieu's exploits were before last season, one thing you have to say about him is that he never took a game or play off.

It didn't matter who LSU played, Mathieu was looking to make a play.

I said last year LSU was missing Mathieu's swagger.

Something tells me Mr. Mathieu would not have been happy with Montgomery's play last year.

It's just another example of when great things happen on the field, it is a result of hard work before and during the year and great chemistry.

And not taking a day off.

You can bet Les Miles will be stressing that during spring drills this year.

And he will be looking for more Kevin Minters instead of Sam Montgomerys.