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Chasing a Dream Through Grief: The Rise of Tyren Montgomery

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Chasing a Dream Through Grief: The Rise of Tyren Montgomery
Tyren Montgomery’s road to the senior bowl
  

After his mom’s cancer returned, Tyren Montgomery left basketball at LSU to return home. He picked up football from scratch, made it to Division III John Carroll, and earned the first Senior Bowl invite in school history.


Undersized, late to the game, and undrafted out of high school, Tyren Montgomery broke records at John Carroll and became the only DIII player invited to the 2026 Senior Bowl...


The NFL Draft is almost here. The stage is set in Pittsburgh, and rising stars are waiting to hear their names called. This is the day every young player dreams of - breaking through, reaching the best league in the world, turning pro. Players spend their whole lives working for this moment.


Not every dream starts young. Some are lifelong, others come from experience, challenge, and adversity. Seven years ago, Tyren Montgomery didn’t even own cleats. If you wanted to find him, the hardwood was your best bet.

  


The 6-foot-1 senior guard captained his high school basketball team, burning opponents from deep and breaking ankles with sharp change-of-direction moves.

 
Growing up in Texas, a state known for producing high school basketball superstars, he dreamed of playing Division I hoops. Then, making it to the basketball capital of the world.


“In my dreams, I’m seeing you and your brother in the NFL. You’re getting drafted,” his mom, Tara, used to tell him. “Mom, I’m going to the NBA,” he always brushed her off.

  
Undersized but extremely athletic, Montgomery chased his dream. He got into LSU and planned to walk on to the basketball team in his second semester.

  
Then adversity hit. “Hey, you've got to come home,” his dad said over the phone. His mom was getting sick. Again. She had already beaten cancer once, but in May 2020 she got the dreaded news: her cancer was back. Stage four.

  
“Basketball just wasn’t as important anymore,” Tyren said. He went home to be by her side.


The COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. Tyren tried to get a job, but with everything shut down, nothing came through. It was just him and his brother Kam at home, looking for anything to keep some normalcy. One day they were throwing a football in the backyard. Knowing Tyren had never played before, his brother was impressed with his skills.


“He was like, ‘Look, bro, you could really do this,'“ Tyren said.


From Zero to Cleats

That talk lit a fire in Tyren. A new passion unlocked. The more he threw and caught the football, the more he loved the game. Suddenly, basketball didn’t matter. Something bigger took hold.


But Tyren was starting from scratch. He didn’t know football terminology. He’d never heard of a route tree. Most important, he had no tape to send schools.

  


So Montgomery got creative and recorded his own workouts. “I ended up having like some workouts, some routes that I was running just out on air by myself, and I uploaded them to Facebook,” he said.

  
He put his best training clips into his first highlight reel, going all-in on himself. Still, the start wasn’t as smooth as he wanted.

  
Tyren sent his tape to every school he could think of. The replies had a common thread - his athleticism, catches, and running were impressive. But could he do it in a helmet and shoulder pads while defenders chased him down?

 
Living nearby, he tried to walk on at the University of Houston first. But after football players got an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic, the team didn’t have a roster spot for him.



Breaking Through at Nicholls and John Carroll

After hearing “no” over and over, his effort paid off when Nicholls State University took a chance on him. Academic issues with his college credits kept Montgomery ineligible in 2022, but he finally suited up in 2023. He played eight games and posted 171 receiving yards on 12 catches. An injury cut his debut season short.

  
After recovering, Montgomery entered the transfer portal with no Division I eligibility left. His options shrank, but the best one showed up.


“Are you kidding me!!! Please have him call me!!” That was Jeff Behrman’s response after watching his film. Behrman, head coach at John Carroll University, saw something. The Blue Streaks compete in Division III but have a rich tree of NFL alumni.


“The thing I was most impressed with was that this was somebody who had a dream and they were willing to do these unusual things, they were willing to leave their comfort zone and chase this dream, and we have been the lucky beneficiaries,” said JCU athletic director Brian Polian.


“'Look, you know I got aspirations of playing in the league', and he was like, 'Look, we can help you', so that was what really sold me, and I went to John Carroll, and that's - the rest is history,“ said Montgomery.


His two years in Ohio brought broken records, accolades, and praise. Tyren instantly became the team’s top wide receiver, posting 1,071 receiving yards on 57 catches in his first season. In year two, he racked up 1,528 yards and 119 catches with 15 touchdowns, earning All-American honors.



Cracking the Senior Bowl

His resume earned him invites to the American Bowl and the 2026 Senior Bowl. He was the only Division III player there, showcasing his game alongside top seniors. He became the first John Carroll player ever invited. Only 130 prospects made the cut.


“The records and stuff, that's amazing too, but I feel like I wouldn’t have been able to do that without my quarterback, Nick Semptimphelter, and my coaches, Coach B, Coach Trav, Coach Rover, all the people that believed in me,” Montgomery said.


His final collegiate season was his breakout, but it carried heavy weight. It brought the highest highs of his football career and the lowest lows of his life. His mom died from cancer three months before his senior year started.




“I was in a tough place,” Montgomery said. “I’d tell myself she was asleep and hadn’t woken up yet. There were times at practice I’d just start crying and have to excuse myself. I’d look into the stands during games, and she wasn’t there. My dad was very supportive. He’d always tell me, 'You know your mom would want you to keep going'.”


Football became his escape and a way to honor his mom by chasing the dream she once saw for him. In his final season, 28 of 32 NFL teams sent scouts to John Carroll to watch Tyren Montgomery.

  
Buzz grew around his name and the NFL. He started showing up in mock drafts. The Senior Bowl was his last chance to make his case, and he delivered. Even the best corners couldn’t stop him.


“If you are looking for the small-school standout of the Senior Bowl, it’s clearly been Montgomery,” NFL.com’s experts Lance Zierlein and Eric Edholm wrote.




“Montgomery had the highlight catch of the early practice with an acrobatic grab over the head of talented San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson on a one-on-one deep ball. That play was emblematic of the athletic ability and competitiveness that have put Montgomery firmly on the radar for NFL scouts,” the praise continued.

  
It’s been an unconventional path - from hardwood to gridiron - but no less meaningful. He needed time and adversity to find his real passion, and through relentless work, he caught up fast. He’s proven he belongs.


He plans on watching the NFL draft with his family and friends in Houston. “If my name is called or not on draft night, I’m sure I’ll break down,” Montgomery said. 


“I’ve been holding in a lot of emotion for years. So just being able to sign with a team is going to be a lot, because this is what my mom was talking about.”






The work he’s put in, plus his mother’s belief, makes him sure he was always meant for this. She saw the dream before he could.


And now Tyren strives to finish what they started together. “I felt like it was my calling in life,” Tyren said. “It just makes sense to me. Everything within football just makes sense. Secondhand nature.”





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