Former Thousand Oaks Players Decide to Stay Closer to Home

Former Thousand Oaks High football players Marc Monestime and Mack Humphrey have elected to forfeit their scholarships at the University of Montana and will return to play at a local junior college. Both players redshirted as freshmen this season at the Big Sky Conference school.

Monestime rushed for 4,054 yards in 3 seasons at Thousand Oaks to become the Ventura County career rushing leader. Along with Humphrey, an All-Southern Section linebacker, he led the Lancers to their first Coastal Conference championship in 1987.

“We just didn’t like it very much there,” Humphrey said of Montana. “I didn’t like playing football there. It was more of a job than playing. “

Both will choose between Moorpark and Glendale colleges, something they said they should have done initially.

“If I did start over again I would definitely go to a junior college,” Monestime said. “I just didn’t want to go to a JC at the time.”

Monestime and Humphrey, best friends in high school, packed their belongings into a car Friday afternoon and drove 19 hours nonstop from Missoula, Mont., to Thousand Oaks. They left behind full scholarships and hard feelings.

“It seemed like they were going to play certain players no matter what,” Humphrey said, “because they were from Montana.”