Montgomery is Devils' dual threat

Followers of football in Southeast Missouri may not be overly familiar with Chaffee's Charlie Montgomery.

And if they happened to see him play varsity football, their image is in need of an update -- either he was much younger or injured.

Red Devils coach Charlie Vickery knows Montgomery, and he talks enthusiastically about the football ability of his 6-foot-2, 176-pound senior. His only problem is assigning an exact position on offense, referring to him as both a receiver and running back.

"He's elusive," Vickery said. "He's got good speed, but he doesn't have great speed. It's hard to get a good lick on him.

"And he's got great hands. He catches the ball extremely well."

Chaffee wide receiver Layton Tenkhoff tries to spin away from Fredricktown defensive back Christian Parsley during last week’s football jamboree at Chaffee High School. Tenkhoff led the Red Devils with 38 receptions for 659 yards and eight touchdowns last season. (Adam Vogler ! avogler@semissourian.com)

However, a productive junior season eluded his grasp, and if he's flying under any radars, that likely is the culprit.

Montgomery was the Red Devils' leading receiver as a sophomore, when he posted more than 800 yards of total offense that ranked only second on the squad to then 1,000-yard rusher Tyson Estes, who now plays for Southeast Missouri State.

A much bigger role was anticipated for Montgomery in 2012, especially after a summer of intense preparation that included 7-on-7 games, camps and weight lifting. All was going well until practice the day before the preseason jamboree.

"I ran a sweep to the right, and I just got tackled by the ankles and it just bent the wrong way, bent too much and hyperextended it," Montgomery said. "It was hurting pretty good. I didn't know if it was sprained or a break."

He thought he got good news when he learned his left ankle was not broken.

"I've heard before that a sprain can take longer than a break, but to me a sprain sounds better than a break," said Montgomery, who had not previously sustained a serious injury in a sport he took up in third grade. "I didn't know how long it would take to heal. It was worse than I thought it would be."

Gayle Sayers, also known as the "Kansas Comet" during his college days, dazzled NFL opponents while a member of the Chicago Bears in the 1960s with his speed a fluid running ability.

In the coming months, he learned about the severity of high ankle sprains. He would not be 100 percent until basketball season.

A season of promise turned into a season of enduring.

He missed the Red Devils' season-opening victory over Grandview and played sparingly the next two weeks.

"He was torn up," said junior Peyton Montgomery, Charlie's younger brother and the Red Devils' quarterback. "He could barely practice with us, and he tried to get back so fast he just kept re-injuring it."

The Grandview win was followed by a four-game losing streak. A 3-7 season ultimately ended with a first-round loss to Thayer in the Class 1 District 1 tournament.

"He wasn't happy at nights, and games we lost he felt he probably could have helped us, but then when we put him in he was still limping and everything," Peyton said. "Honestly, he tried to get back and couldn't. Even in the last game against Thayer, he was probably only at 80 percent."

Charlie accumulated just 57 yards total offense over the first four weeks -- 50 yards on 18 carries and 7 yards on two receptions.

His numbers improved thereafter, with three catches for 92 yards in Week 5 against Scott City, but it wasn't the year he or anyone else anticipated.

"During the end of the season I'd say I was about 85 percent, but I could still tell there was something there," Charlie said. "I could tell it wasn't right."

He finished with 520 yards of total offense, which was well short of his sophomore total. He did lead the team with 271 yards rushing and nine touchdowns, and on defense he tied for the team lead with four interceptions. Not bad for an injured player.

And that builds the anticipation for a two-legged Charlie Montgomery who is hungry for his senior season.

"He's worked harder in the weight room this year than he's ever worked," Vickery said. "That's a good sign going into his senior year that he wants it to go well."

Senior receiver Layton Tenkhoff has seen the fire that burns inside his understated, laid-back friend.

"He's worked 10 times harder this offseason than last season," said the 6-foot-3 Tenkhoff, who led the Red Devils with 38 catches for 659 yards as a junior. "We're going to get farther than we did because this is our last year and we're doing everything we can."

Tenkhoff said the addition of a healthy Montgomery gives an added dimension to the up-tempo spread offense the Red Devils adopted last year.

"Our running game and everything else, it opens it up," Tenkhoff said.

Vickery plans on using Charlie as a central figure and dual threat in a balanced attack that also returns second-leading receiver Devon Yahn, a third tall target at 6 foot 2.

"We'll mix it up a little bit because we've got to get him a lot of touches, but we have a lot of skill people that can handle the ball," Vickery said. "But the more touches, the better he's going to be."

Peyton said with another year of familiarity with the offense and with his brother healthy, the team will be able to add more sets and give defenses more to think about.

"We have Devon as a threat, then Charlie and Layton," Peyton said. "That's three good threats. When Charlie was back against Scott City and vs. Jefferson, that's when we could use them, all three, and spread out our offense a lot so the defense didn't know we were just going to Layton or just going to Devon."

While Charlie had a trying season last year, he said he's been reminded by his dad and grandparents that the upside is it wasn't his last.

There's one season left to make amends. He's healthy, and he'll be wearing braces on both ankles in an attempt to stay that way.

"I want to get some back that I didn't get last year," Montgomery said. "I just know this is my last year and I've got to make every play count."

Vickery believes area football fans and teams have yet to see the real Charlie Montgomery.

"They haven't," Vickery said. "He's got a lot of natural ability. He uses that, and working like he has in the offseason, I think that will make him even better than you've seen in the past."