By Lisa Irambona
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
As a young child growing up in the poverty-stricken neighborhood of Pleasant Park in Chesapeake, Virginia, Monty Fenner learned quickly that he should not walk the streets alone.
He lost several friends to violence, and his mother worried he was hanging out with the wrong crowd. When he was 12, Fenner was arrested for strong-armed robbery and spent six months in juvenile lockup in Virginia. His life, it seemed, was not going anywhere.
But those days are long gone, and this weekend Fenner could become one of only 12 Towson University football players to ever be drafted into the NFL.
A safety who played at Towson from 2014 to 2018, Fenner says football may have saved his life.
“To be completely honest with you, where I am from, if it wasn’t football, I would be gang banging,” said Fenner, who had try outs in front of NFL scouts on March 28. “That experience taught me to not be at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Fenner started his football career by accident when he ignored his parent’s advice never to talk to strangers. Approached by a man who was recruiting young football players, Fenner decided to listen.
“This was the one time I didn’t listen and I don’t regret it,” Fenner said. “I was seven years old, a guy named Coach Glenn randomly drove around the neighborhood and asked kids, did they want to try out for his local football team.”
Fenner did and made the team.
Fenner faced many challenges in his life. For one thing, he didn’t meet his father until he was 23 years old.
Fenner will never forget the day of Oct. 7, 2018, when he drove alone to Haynesville Correction Faculty in Haynesville, Virginia, waiting to see the man he hadn’t seen all his life.
“At first, I was nervous waiting for him to come check in, because I knew he didn’t know how I looked,” Fenner said. “When he walked by me, I knew he was expecting to see my grandma or my older brother.”
Fenner spent two and a half hours talking to his father, Lamont Hines. During their time together, Fenner discussed all the moments his father had missed out on, such as birthdays, football games, graduation, and more.
“I don’t blame him for not being there, because he did the crime so he has to do the time,” Fenner said.
Fenner grew up in Chesapeake, Virginia, about seven miles from Norfolk. He lived with his mother, stepfather and three siblings: two on his mom’s side and one from his dad.
“My stepfather was my father figure while my biological father was locked up,” Fenner said.
When Fenner first witnessed football, he described his initial reaction as “Wow.”
“Guys are getting hit and not doing anything about it,” he said. “I thought it would be easy, just getting the ball and doing whatever you have to do to score.”
Fenner eventually received a full ride scholarship to Towson University and enrolled in Fall 2014. He redshirted his freshman year.
“Monte grew in both body and schematic understanding over his college career,” said Towson’s head football coach, Rob Ambrose. “The two greatest leaps came his freshman year as he grew to understand what was needed to play at this level and then again as a senior.
Fenner majored in criminal justice and was the starting safety from 2015 to 2018, when he graduated. He became team captain in 2016.
“On the field, Monty was a player I looked up to and wanted to be like,” said Isaiah Ross, Fenner’s teammate who played safety and linebacker. “He was a mentor that taught me the right way to play safety. When I transitioned from safety to linebacker, Monty made sure that I still kept the tangibles I learned from the safety position and translated them to a new position.”
“Off the field,” Ross continued, “Monty became my brother, my roommate for two years. He was someone that’s become family. We had endless amount of fun and he always made sure myself and others were never in any mess we didn’t need to be.”
Ambrose agreed, saying that Fenner contributed a great deal to his teammates.
“Monty has a big heart and always looked out for others during his career,” Ambrose said. “As he got older, he began to see how his actions or words or lack of action or words impacted others. He took personal responsibility for those looking up to him.”
In January, Fenner began focusing more energy on the NFL Draft scheduled for April 25 and 27.
He trained at Fit Speed in Florida alongside NFL players like wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Chad Johnson, and Detroit Lion’s cornerback Jalen Tabor.
“I started training January 2nd and I gained 15 pounds within a month and half,” Fenner said. “It’s a stressful process, wondering if all this training will get me in the NFL.”
When Fenner isn’t playing football, he’s watching film of football games to help him get better. He also likes to spend quality time with his family.
When asked where he sees himself in five years, Fenner smiled and said: “I will be 28, I’ll be wealthy in the NFL making seven figures and having a family.”