Jamar Montgomery is revving up for a breakout senior season

BOULDER — Jamar Montgomery is happy with the work he put in during spring camp.

“Obviously, I play outside linebacker so I want to make sure I emphasize my pass-rushing ability,” Montgomery said. “With these 15 practices, I did that.”

Montgomery, a senior, figures to be a key piece of the defense in 2022. Last year he was deployed primarily on third downs to provide a pass rush but his role on running downs grew as the season progressed, in part because of injuries.

A lot has changed at CU since the end of last season, with six defensive starters leaving, leaving Montgomery’s exact role TBD. Montgomery isn’t concerned about the departures.

“We always have that mentality here at CU, next man up mentality,” he said. “We’re going forward with the guys that we have.”

One of the outgoing starters is Montgomery’s former position-mate, Carson Wells, who is headed to the NFL Draft this week.

“I love that guy,” Montgomery said. “I miss him a lot. I’ve learned a lot from him off the field, not even really talking about football. We obviously have the same traits when it comes to playing football but off the field he’s a great man.”

Replacing Wells will take a group effort. Montgomery will be involved. Guy Thomas is likely to retain his starting job. Joshua Gustav, Devin Grant, Alvin Williams, Chance Main and others will factor into the conversation as well. The Buffs have plenty of options.

“Best depth we’ve had since my first year in 2019,” Montgomery said of the outside linebackers. “Everyone’s versatile. Everyone has their attributes and what they’re good with.

The competition becomes even stiffer given that the Buffs are expected to use more of a 4-3 base defense this time around, which will capitalize on the experience of the defensive linemen. The outside linebackers should continue to hold down their edge roles but will spend more time with their hand in the dirt, as we saw in the spring game on Saturday. For the most part, the Buffs ran two outside linebackers on the edges with two linemen in between, but when Terrance Lang returns he could fit better on the edge than inside.

Ultimately, defensive coordinator Chris Wilson will decide where to put all of the pieces at his disposal, and there are plenty of combinations. It could help Montgomery’s case that he’s now working with Wilson as his position coach, after Wilson coached defensive linemen in Boulder for the past two seasons.

“He’s a hard-nosed guy, what I’m used to growing up when I first started playing football,” the Birmingham, Alabama native said. “Everything he brings to the table I’m used to it and I love it.”

The battle for reps will be intense this fall among Colorado’s outside linebackers, but Montgomery’s name should be near the top of the depth chart.