Pressure fuels David Montgomery as Iowa State prepares for Texas

It's hard to bring Iowa State running back David Montgomery down on the field, that much has been established.

After the Cyclones' last game against Akron, Montgomery led the nation in broken tackles with 36, nine more than the next closest player, according to Pro Football Focus.

But as hard as it's going to be for Texas' players to tackle Montgomery on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Jack Trice Stadium, Montgomery might be even harder to take down off the field.

Growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, Montgomery was supposed to fail.

'People don't make it out from where I come from,” the star sophomore running back said. 'It's expected for you to fail. When you get the opportunity to break the chains and change lives back home, that motivation right there drives you along.”

Right now, Montgomery is supposed to be in Cincinnati peddling drugs on the street. He feels the pressure of breaking the mold.

'It's something you deal with every day,” Montgomery said. 'When you have people telling you that you're going to fail or you're going to be on the corner of the street selling drugs and doing what everybody else back at home is doing - it fuels me.

'It's pressure, but everybody has pressure. Pressure does two things - it either explodes pipes or it creates diamonds.”

Fans can see that motivation when Montgomery takes the ball from quarterback Jacob Park. He refuses to go down, even if a player tugs on his face mask and three defenders meet him at the goal line. Montgomery has found a way to make sure the ball has made it into the end zone.

It doesn't matter if it's Iowa All-American linebacker Josey Jewell or a cornerback bold enough to try to tackle him one-on-one in space, Montgomery has taken them head on.

'No. 32 is a really good football player for us,” Coach Matt Campbell said. 'Putting the ball in his hands and allowing him to be great is going to be really important for us.”

Texas and its front seven, led by Poona Ford, is going to provide the next challenge for Montgomery. Campbell said the Longhorns' defense was the best defense the Cyclones played against last season.

Remember when Jamaal Tinsley said Phog Allen Fieldhouse was 'just another gym” in 2001? Well Montgomery did his best impersonation of that now-famous line.

'It's just a defense,” Montgomery said. '(Our offense) is going to prepare the same way just like everybody else on the team is going to prepare the same way. They're fast, they're bigger guys but we're just going to play our game.”

Montgomery doesn't shy away from challenges, he thrives from them.

Whether that's on the field, or off it, in a leadership role.

If you didn't know the second-year running back was a leader, that's OK. Sometimes he doesn't even realize it.

'I take a lot of pride in my leadership, sometimes I don't even know I'm doing it,” Montgomery said. 'Sometimes I think it just happens.”

Tackle Sean Foster said Montgomery set the tone in the offseason by coming into Bergstrom every chance he got. It started with just Montgomery, but by the end of the summer, he had the whole offense in for extra workouts.

'He was extremely hard working in this offseason,” Foster said. 'He really took me under his wing, which is kind of weird because I'm a lot bigger than he is. It was really cool to have him push me all offseason and all summer to get the best out of me. To this day I really appreciate it.”

Foster said Montgomery is one of the great leaders on Iowa State's team.

'During points in the summer I struggled but then he helped me get through some big, big parts of the summer where I needed to persevere like during camp and stuff like that,” Foster said. 'He helped me get through a whole bunch of stuff, personally, and just building a bond between us.”

Montgomery loves taking people under his wing, even if they are 9 inches taller than him.

While his football leadership is important to Iowa State, Montgomery is there for his teammates away from football, too.

'My thing is, I don't ever want to see anybody down or someone in a bad place, because I've been in a bad place before and I know how it feels,” Montgomery said. 'Just for me to be that person that somebody can always come to and talk to is always great because it lets people know that they're never by themselves.”

Not only does Montgomery refuse to go down, he refuses to let his teammates go down.

He brings out the best of everybody, that's why his linemen love blocking for him.

'Blocking for David is unbelievable,” Foster said. 'He's one of those guys that just does not quit.”

Each time Montgomery breaks a tackle on Thursday using the drive and determination he grew up with, his molecular structure will shift. The pressure from each hit and the pressure of failure make him more and more diamond-like.

The pressure will fuel him, just like it has his whole life.

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