On the cusp of his first varsity season with the De La Salle High School football team, Nick Montana, the son of Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, is leaving the school and will be enrolling at Oaks Christian-Westlake Village.

Nick Montana, who was entering his junior year at De La Salle, confirmed the transfer Tuesday.

"It's a great school all-around," Montana said of De La Salle. 'I really enjoyed everything with it, it just wasn't the greatest fit for me. I love the coaches, the teachers and the school."

Montana was the starting quarterback for the De La Salle junior varsity team in 2007, leading the Spartans to a 9-1 record. He was likely to spend 2008 either backing up or sharing time with incumbent senior Blake Wayne.

"I kind of felt that Nick wants to start, and I'm not so sure he was going to start for us," De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur said. "I was letting him share time (with Wayne) through spring and summer, but I got the feeling that Nick didn't feel he was going to start, or that he didn't like our offense."

However, Ladouceur had not ruled out the idea of a two-quarterback system similar to the one he used last year with Wayne and Mike MacGillivray, who graduated in May. Wayne ran more of the traditional veer offense De La Salle employs while MacGillivray played more on passing downs and in shotgun sets. The arrangement turned out alright as the Spartans went 13-0 and won the California Interscholastic

"Due to the success I had with two quarterbacks last year, if (Montana and Wayne) were close in ability I was going to play both of them," said Ladouceur, who liked Nick's potential with De La Salle and claimed his relationship with Joe was amicable. "I thought (Montana) would be fine in our offense...I think that Joe, Nick and the Montana family are thinking more beyond high school. They want to get him as much exposure as he can get as a thrower. "

If that's the plan, Oaks Christian is the place to go. A private school which opened in 2000, Oaks Christian has already produced one blue chip quarterback in Jimmy Clausen, currently the projected starter for Notre Dame. As a senior in 2006, Clausen threw for over 3,400 yards on 289 attempts in leading the Lions to a 15-0 finish and winning the CIF Division III state bowl game. The program went 11-3 last season and finished the year ranked No. 36 in the national rankings by StudentSports.com.

On Tuesday, Oaks Christian coach Bill Redell told the Ventura County Star that the transfer creates a logjam at quarterback, and that he met with the Montanas on Monday and told Nick he would have to earn the spot.

Montana's move will also take him closer to his personal quarterbacks coach, Steve Clarkson.

"I've been working with (Clarkson) for two to three years," Montana said. "I've been flying down two or three weekends a month to work with him, so (the move) will be a lot more convenient with that."

Nick's older brother, Nate, was the third-string quarterback on the 2007 De La Salle team. It was his only year in the program, leaving him behind Wayne and MacGillivray in familiarity with the Spartans' offense. However, he received and accepted a walk-on offer at Notre Dame.

Contact Chace Bryson at cbryson@bayaranewsgroup.com