David Montgomery Gets Candid About How Scouting Helped Shape Him Into The Man And Athlete He Is Today

Before David Montgomery was slamming through NFL defenses, the Detroit Lions star was learning some of life's most important lessons as an Eagle Scout in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In fact, during an exclusive interview with Montgomery, 28, the Iowa State alum revealed that, in some ways, being part of scouting as a kid was more important to him than being on the football field.

Now, as part of his new partnership with Scouting America, David Montgomery is sharing how those early experiences helped shape him into the man and athlete he is today.

Montomgery was recently named the Fall Recruitment Ambassador for Scouting America.

During his conversation with The Blast about his new partnership, the All-American explained why being part of the company's endeavours to recruit a new class of scouts means so much to him.

"You know, I was a young African American kid who is from a poor area of Cincinnati, Ohio," he said. "My mom put me into a place where people loved me unconditionally for who I was and [were] willing to teach me all the things that they felt like I needed to know as far as being a young man to help me be who I am today."

According to Montgomery, joining forces with Scouting America feels like a "full circle moment."

"I'm honored, and I'm blessed to be in this position," he said.

As part of Montgomery's role with Scouting America, the Lions player discussed how scouting and sports can work in tandem by sharing a personal story from his high school days.

"It was ironic how it all happened, but I was converted from playing running back to quarterback, and while I was going through that transition, I was having a similar transition in scouting to where I was going from being just a scout to having a leadership role," he told The Blast.

While leading his high school team, Montgomery also served as the scouting chaplain for his troop, explaining that holding both positions worked out for him in the long run.

"I think that transitioning part and that time for me was difficult, but it was one of those things that I was happy that it happened, because they helped each other out," he said.

For Montgomery, the lessons he learned from scouting go far beyond tying knots and starting fires. According to him, they were also about building character.

When asked about how he was able to balance school, sports, and scouting at a young age, Montgomery said that discipline is what got him through.

"I'm a firm believer in, 'You do what you want to do when you want to do it.' Like, it's all in your power. It's your choice," he said before explaining that he realized scouting was more important to him than sports were at one point.

"I was kind of put in a position to where I had to make a choice to whether I valued scouting as much as I thought that I did. And luckily enough, I did," Montgomery said.

And discipline wasn't the only thing Montgomery took from scouting.

"Scouting has helped me become the man that I am today," he said. "Like, making some of the right decisions, being conscious enough to stand on something that I believe in, [even] if that means I'm standing on my own."

The NFL star continued, "You know, being able to be high in character to certain people who look like me or who don't look like me, and they can think that it's cool to be who I am because I'm the one who's doing it. You know, just being able to take that risk and that jump to be different for something that I really believe in, and scouting helped me do that every chance that I get."

Montgomery also opened up to The Blast about the many life lessons he learned from his Scout Masters, which are a key reason he's now encouraging other families to participate.

"Being able to be around some Scout Masters who share some great life morals to try to better you as a human, and be able to teach you some of the things that your parents don't really have time to teach you. I think that having an extra lifeline to help young men and young women to be able to grow into who they are personally, I think it's super big," he said. "I'm a firm believer that it takes a village to raise a child."

For those families who still have questions, Montgomery is urging them to visit Scouting America's official website, BeAScout.org, to find answers.

"There's a ton of information in regards to scouting online," he said, adding, "and it'd be some things that could kind of help you clear up the muddy vision that you [might have about] scouting."