A newborn’s parents are accustomed to having to wake up at all hours of the night to care for their youngsters and ensure that all their needs are met.

However, not all parents are also balancing a full class schedule in addition to being a college football player.

Welcome to Cipriano Montes’ world.

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The junior wide receiver from Los Angeles is unlike most members of the young SIU football team.

The most obvious difference is that he is 26 years old while most of the team is composed of 18- and 19-year-olds.

Another is that he is married and has two children.

Montes and his wife Kiana have been married four months and are raising 1-month-old “Little Cip” and 8-year-old Ajee.

Fellow wide receiver Courtney Abbott said he has become good friends with Montes and has all the respect in the world for how he deals with all the responsibilities he has to cope with.

“He handles himself real well with everything he’s got to deal with,” Abbott said. “Whenever he first had the baby, he said he was up every 45 minutes having to check with the baby and then coming to practice … I mean that’s something I know I couldn’t handle right now.”

Another situation Montes has had to deal with was an injury that caused him to sit out earlier in the season.

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He went down with a torn hamstring, and while it is not completely healed, he is back on the field and contributing to the Salukis.

Montes said it was the first time he has ever been injured and it was a really hard pill for him to swallow.

“It was the worst experience of my life,” Montes said. “I’ve always played and always been on the field. Being on the sidelines, it was hurting me. But thanks to the good Lord, there’s no way in the world I should be playing right now with a torn hamstring.”

He credits SIU head athletic trainer Ed Thompson and the rest of the Salukis’ training staff with getting him back on the field and said he wouldn’t be playing if it wasn’t for them.

“It feels great to be out here in front of the crowd again and back to doing what I love,” Montes said.

After having to sit out, Montes has come on strong as of late. He has reeled in five catches for 85 yards the past two games and is starting to establish himself as one of the Salukis top receivers.

His teammates couldn’t be happier for him.

“It was really good to see him get some catches in, especially coming off of an injury,” said freshman quarterback Joel Sambursky. “He kind of felt that he wasn’t contributing for a while, and now he’s contributing and doing a good job for us. I think it’s really big for him and our team.”

Making Montes’ recent success even more improbable is the fact that he didn’t play football in high school.

While at West Covina High School, the only sports he played were one year of basketball as a freshman and one year of baseball as a sophomore.

The reason such a talented athlete didn’t play more sports is simple.

“I had a son in high school, so therefore I took care of my responsibilities, raising him first, raising him right,” Montes said referring to Ajee.

After his son got older, Montes decided to chase his dream and try to join a college football team.

“I’ve always wanted to play,” Montes said. “I played Pop Warner and stuff like that, so I figured what the heck. I’m going to go to junior college and get started.”

Montes attended East Los Angeles College, where he went on to earn Honorable Mention All-Western State Mountain Division Conference last season before coming to the Midwest and SIU.

He said it was the family atmosphere around the Saluki program, combined with the calmness of Carbondale, that made him decide to leave California.

“When I came out here on my recruiting trip, I liked the coaches and the staff,” Montes said. “They all seemed like a real close family, so that’s what brought me here. I liked the environment, too:nice and peaceful away from the Los Angeles area.”

Montes seems to have found a home here with the Salukis far away from his native California and said all the things he’s had to deal with in his life have helped shape him into the man he is today.

“It’s hard, but that’s what’s making me stronger.”

Reporter Jens Deju can be reached at [email protected]