Harrisburg’s Dawson Montfort will take his punishing style of play to the gridiron of McKendree University.
The senior running back will play fullback at McKendree after signing his National Letter of Intent on Thursday. Montfort becomes the first full-scholarship football player to have played under head coach Jason Roper since he took over the program in 2006.
Montfort did his research on McKendree, and after turning down offers from Southern Illinois, Illinois State and other Division I programs, chose McKendree College to take his game to the next level.
“They run the kind of offense that uses the fullback a lot. Fullback there gets about 20 carries a game,” Montfort said. “That’s what I like to do, I like to run the ball. I wouldn’t want to go somewhere to be a fullback just to block.”
Montfort excelled running the ball in Harrisburg’s straight-T offense in 2009 as he rushed for more than 1,000 yards and scored 20 touchdowns as the Bulldogs rallied from a 1-3 start to finish with a 6-3 regular season record, a SIRR Ohio championship and a playoff berth.
Football was not always the go-to sport for Montfort, who started his career at Harrisburg High School on the links as a golfer and not on the football field. Montfort did not join the football team until his second year of school after being asked by Coach Roper.
And when spring comes around, Montfort goes from punishing defenders to pummeling the baseball as he mans first base for the Bulldogs baseball team.
Roper said he was proud to see one of his players move on to a place where they would be happy.
“Dawson’s a great kid that comes from a great family and he’s a good student who had an outstanding senior year,” Roper said. “It’s because of his hard work. He’s done everything his coaches have asked him to do. A lot of times you get kids who come up with their own plan, but if I told (Dawson) to run a marathon and told him it would make him a better football player he would do it.”
