Impact newcomer

Paul Petrino spent most of fall camp referring to explosive freshman running back Richard Montgomery as a stud. His position coach, Jason Shumaker, simply calls him a steal.

Despite a monster senior year at Atlantic Coast High in Jacksonville, Fla., Montgomery was hardly recruited by FBS schools. But when Petrino was hired in December, Montgomery’s high school coach, Kevin Sullivan, clued him in on Montgomery.

“His high school coach had sent players to Coach before, and they’ve had a great experience and they’ve learned a lot and been successful,” Shumaker said. “Montgomery (5-foot-8, 180 pounds) was the biggest head-turner in fall camp, with speed to get around the edge and a powerful lower body that allows him to shed would-be tacklers. He’s expected to start in Week 1.

“He’s hard to tackle, he’s fast, he’s tough,” Petrino said. “(We’ve) just got to keep getting him better and he can be really, really special.”