Rose Bowl: Stanford's Ty Montgomery hopes to break out ... again

As a freshman, Stanford Cardinal receiver Ty Montgomery used the practices preceding his team's bowl game to improve. That led to a seven-catch, 120 yard receiving performance in Stanford's Fiesta Bowl loss.

Montgomery hopes that the 2013 Rose Bowl will end with much of the same success. After suffering a knee injury that kept him out of three games this year and hampered him thereafter, the sophomore believes he can have another big bowl performance after getting back to 100 percent, according to Jon Wilner.

"Missing as much of the season as I did," Montgomery told Wilner, "I definitely want to make a statement. I need to prove something to myself."

Montgomery had 24 catches for 350 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman, but his injury-plagued sophomore season saw him catch 23 balls for 187 yards. The 6'2, 212-pound receiver started strongly, compiling all but 19 yards of his year's total in the first five games of the year. He sat out the next three games and played in the next four, but he didn't make much of an impact.

Now, Wilner reports, Montgomery is feeling fresh after the Cardinal took a week off following their Pac-12 Championship game win against UCLA.