BOZEMAN — For the second time in Jeff Choate’s tenure at Montana State, the Bobcats have landed a former four-star recruit at quarterback.
Montana State hosted 10 prospects on official visits last weekend, including three potential mid-year transfers.
Travis Jonsen, a former 4-star recruit who spent two years at Oregon and last season at Riverside Community College, has verbally committed to Choate and the Bobcats. He will sign a National Letter of Intent with MSU on Wednesday when the new early signing period opens.
Tyler Natee, a running back formerly of Indiana who prepped at Euless (Texas) Trinity High and Zion Echols, a former Cal slot receiver who prepped at Charter Oak in Covina, California, also made official visits to Montana State last weekend. A source said Natee is expected to sign on Wednesday at well.
Weeks after Choate’s hiring in December of 2015, MSU All-American quarterback Dakota Prukop announced his graduate transfer to Oregon, leaving the Bobcats without a solid option at quarterback. Choate and his staff brought in Tyler Bruggman, a former four-star recruit from Phoenix who made stops at Washington State, Louisville and Scottsdale Community College before landing at MSU.
Bruggman started six games in Choate’s first season but struggled with his accuracy and taking care of the football. He completed 46.6 percent of his passes for 888 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions before being surpassed by eventual Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year Chris Murray.
Murray held on to the starting job last spring. Bruggman earned a degree in business in May before leaving the program. Murray rushed for 1,124 yards and 10 touchdowns last season during MSU’s 5-6 campaign.
Now Murray will have to beat out another highly touted signal caller if he wants to be MSU’s starting quarterback as a true junior in 2018.
Jonsen was among the most highly recruited players in the country coming out of Servite High School in Anaheim. The four-star recruit was rated as the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the country by Rivals.com as a prep senior in 2014. In 23 games as a starter, he threw for 3,361 yards and 29 touchdowns and rushed for 2,133 yards and 26 more touchdowns. Jonsen participated in the 2015 U.S. Army All-American Bowl where he threw a 92-yard touchdown pass on his opening attempt. He graduated early and enrolled at Oregon, choosing the Ducks over offers from Alabama, Arizona, BYU, Cal, Colorado, Fresno State, Maryland, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, Utah, Vanderbilt and Washington.
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