Kirby Smart spoke recently about what he’s learned this spring from true freshman QB Ryan Montgomery.

His answer? Not so much. The Ohio native’s trajectory is still a work in progress.

“I haven’t been able to see much with Ryan,” Smart said at a recent press conference. “You know, he’s coming off an ACL. That’s not something [easy] for a kid [who’s not had] a long career to be able to do. We’re not asking him to do that. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He gets to throw some ball drills to receivers, but I can’t judge that. I mean, that’s not a real play.”

It appears that won’t be the case for much longer.

DawgNation has learned that Montgomery is making good progress recovering from a serious knee injury that robbed him of all but a few plays of his senior season on August 12 of last year. He had surgery on September 12. It was an ACL and MCL tear, with some meniscus repair also involved.

“I’m attacking [the rehab] every day,” Montgomery told DawgNation in November. “I’m the type of person that when I get fixated on something, that’s the only thing I am thinking about.”

“Just trying to get back as soon as possible. My goal was to be back 100 percent by spring ball. Obviously, that’s going to be a hefty goal. Especially with the meniscus and MCL being in the injury as well, so definitely a hefty goal, but I’m going to keep striving for that and do everything I can to have a slight chance to maybe be back fully for spring ball.”

That now puts him about six months out from surgery. ACLs normally take five to six months to come back from. ACL and MCL repairs generally trend to a six-to-nine-month timeline for a return.

Montgomery’s care has been led by the team surgeon for the Cleveland Browns. DawgNation was told he’s trending toward an ACL-only recovery here.

There’s more positive news to that timetable.

He’s started to ramp up this week to more involvement in practice in 7-on-7s, half 7-on-7 looks, and 1-on-1 routes on air. The only limitation is keeping him away from any potential drills that might involve contact to protect his knee at this time.

There won’t be any live pass rush. The smart move there is just to avoid any potential contact and anyone falling on his leg. He’s also running and lifting and doing all sorts of plyometrics at this time.

The expectation is that he will be able to “cut loose” well in advance of fall camp. Perhaps as early as late May or sometime in June. The goal is to have him practicing without a brace by the middle of the season, if not sooner.

“Chomping at the bit” would be the phrase that best describes his mindset. Montgomery is a grinder and an achiever. In all things. He’s shot a 78 on the links at his local country club. That’s a solid score for a high school senior, but he did that at the age of 12.

His father, Mike Montgomery, told DawgNation last fall he knew Ryan would attack this rehab with “his hair of fire” until he got back. It appears he is doing just that.

His knee injury came at the end of a 1-yard scramble. Montgomery was taken down by a hit that flipped him in the air.

A realistic goal for Montgomery for next season would be to claim the No. 3 spot on the depth chart at quarterback behind likely starter Gunner Stockton and backup Ryan Puglisi.

He’d battle preferred walk-on sophomore Colt Ginn and true freshman Hezekiah Millender-Hale for that role. Millender-Hale, a 3-star out of Clarke Central, was a part of the 2025 recruiting class with Montgomery.

Georgia freshman QB Ryan Montgomery was with the Bulldogs for the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame in New Orleans. He’s bouncing back nicely from the season-ending knee injury he suffered in the first game of his senior year in Ohio. (Jeff Sentell/ DawgNation) (Jeff Sentell/Dawgnation)

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How are things going for Ryan Montgomery at Georgia so far?

DawgNation also spoke to Montgomery’s long-time QB trainer about his progress. Brad Maendler, who has a long client list that includes Penn State starter Drew Allar, saw Montgomery throw recently when he came back home before spring drills.

“So first of all, I would say that clearly the Georgia weight room program is working well for him,” Maendler said while laughing. “You can already see. He was already a physically advanced kid, but he looks more like a man right now in a short amount of time.”

He also got to see Montgomery in action.

“He was doing movement things when I got there with one of the people he’s working with over there,” Maendler said. “I was surprised he was able to do some of the things he did. I was really pleased with that. He’s not going to do any hard cutting, but just kind of the movement things and the jumping it looked pretty darn good.”

“Velocity is looking good. I think it is just stamina right now. It is the thing he just hasn’t thrown a lot. He’s still learning to trust putting weight on that back leg. So it is a little less involved in creating a really good load with what you want to do to jump-start your velocity. It is loading that back glute and that hip joint. He’s just learning to trust that. He’s probably using more arm right now than he’s used to using because he’s usually such a high-level kind of hip thrower where the hips are doing most of the work. So the ball pops, but he just couldn’t go as long as he usually is able to go. That’s probably the biggest thing I saw.”

Montgomery came into this fall preparing but not settling for a redshirt season. He showed his long-term mindset on the day he announced his commitment to Georgia. That’s when he said, “for the next three to five years,” when declaring he was going to Georgia instead of the normal “three to four years” most elite recruits trot out these days.

He also picked up on Montgomery’s thoughts on his first few months as a Bulldog.

“He loves it there,” Maendler said.

The 6-foot-3 freshman completed 69 percent of his passes as a junior for 3,377 yards and 38 scores. He also ran for 257 yards and 10 scores on the ground en route to an 8-3 season. That boosted his career totals to 7,584 career passing yards and 89 touchdown passes in just three seasons of high school football.

He also told Maendler the mental load for a UGA quarterback is a lot. Georgia signal callers have to absorb and process a lot of information.

“He’s wired the right way,” Maendler said. “He’s built for this type of stuff. … He’s kind of a pro’s pro in that he doesn’t get super high and doesn’t get very low. I know that’s kind of cliche, but that’s exactly the way he is.”

“Even if he’s really down, you’re not going to see that. He’s just a really really steady guy.”

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