He didn't like the Notre Dame "crowd"

I was hoping that the headline "Montana leaves Notre Dame" would lead me to a far more tabloid-ish story, but alas:

Notre Dame backup quarterback Nate Montana, the son of former Irish great Joe Montana, has enrolled at Pasadena (Calif.) City College, although he plans to return to Notre Dame for the spring semester.

"I’m going there with the intention of getting playing time and then returning to Notre Dame in the spring to join back up with the team and compete again for the job," Montana said.

With Jimmy Clausen and Dayne Crist a country mile ahead of him on the depth chart, Montana obviously feels that his only legitimate shot at future playing time is to go somewhere and show what he can do on the field. The problem is that even if his performance at PCC is beyond spectacular, his chances of ever seeing the field in a meaningful situation at Notre Dame are still slim to none. Assuming that Clausen doesn't leave early (which seems extremely doubtful even with a great year, just because of the depth of the QB class), Montana will be a redshirt junior competing against Crist (a former five-star recruit) and whatever talented underclassmen arrive in the meantime.

But hey, you could do a lot worse than being a famous guy with no real responsibilities and a degree (eventually) from Notre Dame.