When Stanley Montgomery started his high school football career at Archbishop Ryan, he had plenty of size and potential.
What he didn’t have was a smile.
At least not one that he showed often.
“I just remember,” Archbishop Ryan head coach Mark Ostaszewski told Nittany Sports Now, “like, man, this kid’s going to be a mean mf’er out there.”
It didn’t take long for Montgomery to show that he meant business.
On a Thursday night during that freshman year, the players gathered for a team dinner. This is a common ritual for programs across the country.
Although parents brought sodas for the occasion, Oztaszewski told the team to lay off and stick to water. The next game was the next night, after all.
An upperclassman grabbed a soda, and Montgomery wouldn’t have any of it.
“He kind of smacked his hand and looked down like, ‘What are you doing?’ Ostaszewiski remembers. “Coach said no sodas.”
“It was just like I was like, wow. That’s a freshman telling an upperclassman what to do. People don’t go against Stanley.”
Those who have tried to go against Montgomery on the field haven’t done too well for the most part, to the point where, at least once, he was triple-teamed in a game.
This success had led Montgomery, a 6-foot-3, 290-pounder, to be Penn State football’s highest-rated Class of 2027 commit thus far.
247 lists him as the No. 65 overall player in the country, as well as the No. 6 overall defensive lineman from his class and the No. 5 player in Pennsylvania, and he wouldn’t have been able to get to that level without keeping a mean streak on the field.
But along the way, Montgomery found his smile, with his experience on the wrestling and track & field teams (shotput) helping him come out of his shell.
Ostaszewski remembers what he told Montgomery’s parents, who were nervous that he wouldn’t come out of his shell.
“By the time this is all over,” he said, ‘He’ll start smiling, because every time I met with him, he was always just mean mugging. So, now he’s this kind of like social butterfly where he’s saying hello to everyone. He has the biggest smile on his face.”
The Archbishop Ryan staff felt that this young man would be recruited starting his freshman year.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.But they wanted to see him dominate.
It happened in spurts when Montgomery was a sophomore, and he committed to Syracuse in June, when he was still unrated by 247.
Then, boom.
45 tackles. 19 tackles for loss. 8 sacks in 2025.
“During his junior year, it was just nonstop,” Ostaszewiski said. “He was just a force. So that’s where I kind of realized, like, all right, he’s. Not only is he going to get recruited (to major schools), but he’s going to be able to play there.”
Despite playing in Philly and visiting Penn State multiple times, Montgomery never received an offer until this past January, just over a month after Matt Campbell took over as head coach.
Four days after visiting Penn State in late January, Montgomery de-committed from Syracuse, and from there, it felt like a matter of time before Montgomery would commit to Penn State.
Archbishop Ryan defensive coordinator Lee Marvel IV told NSN that Montgomery’s physical presence stood out to Penn State, and he also fits the culture Campbell and company are trying to build, and that the staff made Montgomery a priority right away.
“He shows everything that those guys are preaching within the culture of Penn State football,” Marvel said. “It was with the first week that they all got there that they were at our school and showing interest. Stanley had some interest with the previous staff, but you could tell it was, ‘hey, we like you, but we’re not one hundred percent sure about you.’ Where this new staff was no doubt about it, ‘Stan’s our guy’ type of feeling.”
“He always loved Penn State,” Ostaszewiski said, “and then I think the coaching staff, on top of that, really, really made it happen.
So what NFL defensive lineman does Montgomery remind his coaches of?
The answers may excite Penn State fans.
“We’re in Philadelphia, and we saw Fletcher Cox for a long time,” Marvel said. “He was explosive right on his feet and body. So I guess off the top of my head, it might be Fletcher Cox from the Philadelphia Eagles.”
“I wanna say like a little bit of Aaron Donald,” Ostaszewiski said. “I don’t know, like short and stocky like that. Just the explosiveness and power that he has. The way he just can like… he’ll be powering people, and then he just swim moves off them with such ease. He’s a great run stopper, and I think his pass-rushing ability is underrated.”
Overall, Marvel feels Penn State is getting a “stud,” and expects him to give Penn State fans plenty of reason to smile.
“As good of a football player,” he said, “he’s that type of person as well. You know, he’s probably going to leave Ryan as maybe the best player ever at Ryan. And yeah, he’s also probably the most popular kid in school. And he’s just a great person who works hard and just happens to be six three, three hundred pounds and incredible at football. So it’s a great combination.”
