Tulane’s Christian Montano Named Walter Camp Connecticut Player of the Year
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
