Daniel Montijo | QB | Class of 2029 | El Capitan High School
For Daniel Montijo, the road to the College Bus + Camps TOUR started with a conversation. The Class of 2029 quarterback from El Capitan High School was wrapping up a two-day Coach Brady camp when the TOUR came up, and the idea clicked immediately — a chance to get his name out there and earn recognition from collegiate coaches. He signed on expecting six days of strictly football. What he got was something bigger.
“I was expecting it to be a football strictly kind of thing, but it wasn’t,” Montijo said. Across stops at UNC, Wake Forest, Charlotte, Clemson, South Carolina, and Atlanta, he found himself making new friends and soaking up the experience between camp sessions, riding the bus with 39 athletes from across the country who quickly became more than competition. Not that the competition wasn’t real. Montijo arrived knowing the talent pool would be deep, and that he’d have to perform at the best of his ability every single day. Rather than shrink from it, he leaned in.
Nowhere did that show more than in Columbia. South Carolina has always been Montijo’s favorite school, and getting to work directly with Gamecock staff, players, and coaches was a full-circle moment for the young signal-caller. He made it count, too, calling it his best camp performance of the entire TOUR. Clemson left an impression as well. “Their football programs are top in the country for a reason,” he said of the two State powerhouses. “Their facilities are nice and really advanced.”
The real growth, though, happened in the details. Montijo points to the quick game work as the part of the TOUR that changed him most — an area where he admits he struggled with getting the ball out the moment it hit his hands. With direct coaching on the concept, he turned a weakness into a strength. And the single best piece of technical advice came at Wake Forest, where Coach Enos told him to stop tapping the ball before throwing it. That tap wastes time, and at the next level, time is everything. It’s the kind of detail a quarterback carries for the rest of his career.
The biggest discovery was about himself. “When I’m focused and calmed down, I’m a really good QB,” Montijo said. For a quarterback who hasn’t yet taken a varsity snap, that kind of self-awareness might be the most valuable thing he brought home. Six camps in six days also gave him a crash course in how recruiting actually works, and his takeaway was patience — don’t rush the process, and trust that the coaches will reach out when the time is right.
Ask him what he’d tell an athlete thinking about the 2027 TOUR and the answer comes fast. Don’t be scared. Be prepared to make new friends. Talk to the coaches and know what to call them. Study each camp in advance so you know who you’re talking to, and if you’re shy, be ready to step out of your comfort zone. As for the memory he’ll be laughing about until next summer — watching teammate Mekaih get head-topped by Kennedy is the one he says he won’t forget. Proof that some of the best moments on TOUR happen between the reps.
“If you guys have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask me, James, or any of the coaches,” Montijo added.
The 2027 College Bus + Camps TOUR is limited to 30 athletes. Early-bird deadline is July 1. Details at QBmagTOUR.com.
