LSU's Sam Montgomery little too honest at NFL combine

Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

INDIANAPOLIS — At least Sam Montgomery gets points for being honest.

The linebacker auditioning for NFL teams this week at the scouting combine admits he didn't play to his potential when LSU would beat up on inferior opponents.

He says "effort wasn't needed."

"Definitely some weeks that we didn't have to play the harder teams, there were some times that effort wasn't needed," he says, "but it was different when we had the big boys and everything coming in — the 'Bamas (Alabama) or a South Carolina — and I'd grab real close to those guys and go all out for them. Of course this is a new league, the NFL, so there are no more small teams, small-division teams. It's all Alabamas, LSUs every week."

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when/if he gets the chance to explain that one to Bill Belichick.

Montgomery and fellow LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo are projected as potential first-round picks, with Montgomery as a possible second-rounder and Mingo being mentioned among the top 10 players available, regardless of position. The two have a bet going: First one drafted gets $5,000 and a car wash from the loser.

Says Mingo: "He's going to be coming out of pocket on that one."

Despite collecting 17 sacks in his final two seasons at LSU, South Carolina-born Montgomery is described as "stiff in the hips" and "slow off the ball" by CBS Sports analyst Rob Rang. The other knock on Montgomery is the occasional lack of effort he admitted to Saturday, but he says that will change in the pros.

"It's definitely a thing that when you're young, you do things as a boy, but when you grow up, you do things as a man," Montgomery says. "I was a boy when I was in college. But going to league, now I become a man."