Texas State made an underrated addition to its quarterback room on Tuesday afternoon as Fullerton Junior College quarterback Gresch Jensen committed to Texas State.

The move reunites Jensen, a former Montana player, with former coach Bob Stitt. Stitt was the head coach at Montana for both of Jensen’s years on campus in Missoula, Mont., before taking the Texas State offensive coordinator job under Jake Spavital.

Jensen will have two years of eligibility remaining at Texas State.

Jensen posted one of the best seasons by a freshman in Montana history. He threw for 2,531 yards and 20 touchdowns for the Grizzlies in his first season under center. Jensen took over starting responsibilities in the fourth game of the year after starter Reese Phillips went down with an injury.

The 6-foot-2, 218-pound signal caller started seven games. In those matchups, Jensen threw for 332.3 yards per game on a 59 percent completion percentage. He threw 17 touchdowns to nine interceptions in those games. The Grizzlies finished 7-4.

For his efforts, Jensen finished third place in the STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award voting. The award is given to the top freshman in FCS football. Jensen also earned team MVP honors.

However, Jensen opted to transfer from Montana after Stitt was fired. The Grizzlies brought back former coach Bobby Hauck, and Houck brought a quarterback with him that he recruited at UNLV. Jensen spent the 2018 season at Fullerton College and threw for 2,330 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions in 10 games.

Jensen immediately enters a competitive quarterback room at Texas State. Willie Jones III seemed to entrench himself as the starting quarterback before getting hurt. Freshman Tyler Vitt showed plenty of signs, including a 296-yard game against Louisiana. That doesn’t count freshman Jaylen Gipson, who didn’t get much playing time.

However, none of the three players managed to pull away consistently. Even Jones completed just 55.7 percent of his passes in 2018. Texas State hired Spavital – and by extension, Stitt – to completely revamp what was a disappointing offense in 2018. 

Jensen is a talented player who succeeded right away at Montana. That could give him a leg up on other players on the roster who might need more time to transition to an air raid, spread style of offense.

Texas State only has eight commits in the class of 2019 after firing head coach Everett Withers after three seasons.