Tulane University graduate
student Christian Montano (Orange, CT)
has been selected as Walter Camp’s 2019 Connecticut Player of the Year.
The
award is presented to the top college football player who is a resident and/or
played scholastically in the state of Connecticut. The award is voted on by the
Walter Camp Football Foundation membership.
Montano
is the first player from Tulane to receive this honor. Montano
started all 12 games at offensive center for Green Wave (6-6), who earned a
berth in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Jan. 4 versus University of
Southern Mississippi.
Montano
has been a catalyst in the Green Wave’s offensive attack that averages more
than 33 points and 455 yards of total offense a game. Tulane’s rushing attack has totaled 2,775
yards in 2019 – the fourth highest total in school history.
Montano
graduated in 2018 from Brown University (B.A. economics), where he was a
three-year starter and Second Team All-Ivy honoree at center for the Bears. He
is a two-time semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy and received an
award for independent science research about the effects of fertilizer runoff
on local aquatic habitats. Montano donated bone marrow to save a man’s life and
has since met and formed a strong relationship with.
In
2019, Montano was a semifinalist the Jason Witten College Man of the Year award,
which is presented the Division I college football player who has demonstrated a record of
leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity and sportsmanship both
on and off the field.
A
native of Orange, Montano played scholastically for head coach Joe Linta at
Hamden Hall Country Day School.
Montano, along with the members of the 2019
Walter Camp All-America team and Player of the Year Joe Burrow (LSU) and Coach of the Year Ed Orgeron (LSU), along
with other major award winners (Man of the Year-Curtis Martin and Distinguished
American-Chris Berman), will be honored at the organization’s national awards
banquet, presented by David McDermott Lexus of New Haven, on Saturday, January
18, 2020 at the Yale University’s Lanman Center.
Walter Camp, “The
Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp –
a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with
developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals
and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp
Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in
1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of
selecting annually an All-America team.
Visit www.waltercamp.org for more information.
Connecticut Player of the
Year
Presented to the top college football player
who is a resident and/or played scholastically in the state of Connecticut. The
award is voted on by the Walter Camp Football Foundation membership.
2019 – Christian Montano, C,
Tulane
2018 – Zach Allen, DE,
Boston College
2017 – Ervin Philips, WR,
Syracuse
2016 – Noel Thomas, WR,
Connecticut
2015 – Tyler Matakevich, LB,
Temple
2014 – Tyler Murphy, QB,
Boston College
2013 – Kevin Pierre-Louis,
LB, Boston College
2012 – Bjoern Werner, DE,
Florida State
2011 – Silas Redd, RB, Penn
State
2010 – John Moffitt, OL,
Wisconsin
2009 – Aaron Hernandez, TE,
Florida
2008 – Kory Sheets, RB,
Purdue
2007 – Mike McLeod, RB, Yale
2006 – Kory Sheets, RB,
Purdue
2005 – John Sullivan, C, Notre
Dame
2004 – Anttaj Hawthorne, DT,
Wisconsin; Dan Orlovsky, QB, Connecticut
2003 – Dan Orlovsky, QB,
Connecticut
2002 – Niko Koutouvides, LB,
Purdue
2001 – Dwight Freeney, DE,
Syracuse
2000 – Peter Mazza, LB, Yale
1999 – Bobby Myers, DB,
Wisconsin
1998 – Carl Bond, RB,
Connecticut
1997 – Kyle McIntosh, RB,
Syracuse
1996 – Tarek Salah, LB,
Wisconsin
1995 – Tarek Salah, LB,
Wisconsin
1994 – Jason Miska, LB,
Auburn
1993 – Chris Zingo, LB,
Cornell
1992 – Curtis Eller, LB,
Villanova
1991 – Corey Vincent, DL,
Holy Cross
1990 – Rob Thomson, DB,
Syracuse
1989 – Terry Wooden, LB,
Syracuse
1988 – Glenn Antrum, WR,
Connecticut
1987 – Bill Romanowski, LB,
Boston College
1986 – Richard Comizio, RB,
Pennsylvania
1985 – Tom Patton, DE, Holy
Cross
1984 – No recipient
1983 – Steve Young, QB,
Brigham Young
1982 – Mike Marshall, DB,
Southern Conn.
1981 – Richard Diana, RB, Yale
www.waltercamp.org
