Last year, Gresch Jensen was thrown into the fire. The strong-armed quarterback finished with one of the most productive seasons by a freshman in Montana Grizzlies history.
Jensen won the team’s offensive MVP in 2017, the first Montana freshman ever to do so, after replacing injured starting quarterback Reese Phillips in the third game of the season. He started seven of the eight remaining games, missing one with an injury of his own, and ended up completing over 60 percent of his passes for 2,531 yards and 20 touchdowns against 10 interceptions.
This year, he’ll be able to have a full offseason of preparation as the starter, but is facing the challenges of meshing with a new coaching staff, as well as some internal competition.
At practice Wednesday, neither head coach Bobby Hauck nor offensive coordinator Timm Rosenbach ruled out a quarterback battle between Jensen and transfer Dalton Sneed, a redshirt junior who was previously recruited by Hauck and Rosenbach to UNLV.
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“We have a great quarterback competition going right now,” Hauck said. “[There are] good, healthy, supportive guys going at it in that room. It’s kind of fun to watch it this first week here. [It’s been good for Sneed] to push Gresch or vice versa, for Gresch to push Dalton.”
Both have been taking snaps with the first-team offense.
Rosenbach, who recruited Sneed to UNLV before recruiting him to Montana and did his homework on Jensen when he arrived back at UM, pointed out that the two are slightly different breeds of quarterbacks.
“They’re two totally different individuals,” Rosenbach said. “Dalton’s a little more verbal and will say a little bit more, and Gresch is a little bit more reserved. That’s fine. They don’t need to be the same guy. All they need to do is compete, and I think both of them will be ready to play.”
Their playing styles are different, as well.
Jensen, despite running for 203 yards and six touchdowns last year, is more of a traditional pocket quarterback, smart and with a big arm. Rosenbach compared him to his former pupil Josh Blankenship, who was named the Big Sky Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2002 under Rosenbach at Eastern Washington.
“[Jensen is] super composed, very mature, a smart guy,” Rosenbach said. “He’s got a lot of gritty attributes that allow him to be a very good player. … Josh was super, super smart. Needed to work on his feet and that type of stuff, but they’re a similar build, both have real lightning-quick releases, and both very reserved guys, so there’s a lot of similarities between those two guys.”
Sneed, meanwhile, completed 63 percent of his passes last year for Fort Scott Community College in Kansas, but also holds the record for longest offensive play in UNLV history with a 91-yard touchdown run, and thus far, hasn’t been shy about breaking the pocket in practice.
“I think he brings a different skill set than Gresch,” senior wide receiver Keenan Curran said about the newcomer. “Gresch has that really big arm and Dalton’s a little quicker. He’s more of a runner, but he does keep his eyes downfield and he’s looking. When plays do break down, he’s going to try to make something happen with his legs.”
The third and final quarterback with the Griz this spring is redshirt freshman Tanner Wilson, son of former Polson head coach Scott Wilson.
“We are so early on in his time,” Hauck said of Wilson. “He’s still learning the position. He’s got a good football acumen. He comes from a football family. But in terms of playing at the Division I level, it’s a long way from where he and I both came from.”
This early in the spring, all of the quarterbacks are just trying to learn the new offense and get on the same page as the receivers. That’s one area in which Jensen has a little bit of an advantage, after throwing to guys like Curran, junior Jerry Louie-McGee and sophomore Samori Toure all last year.
“I’m kind of just getting my timing back and getting the rhythm back into it,” said Jensen, who was slowed the first week of spring drills with a strained calf but is back to full strength. “It’s nice to just get comfortable and know you have outlets with each guy, their strengths and how they run routes. It’s a big timing thing, an advantage for me to kind of get out there and really know each guy, so that’s paid off a lot.”
In the final calculation, it seems unlikely that Sneed will take the starting job from Jensen after the year that the incumbent just had, but just like Hauck, Rosenbach is confident that the competition will help both of his quarterbacks.
“I think it’s been great competition and it’s going to continue to be great competition,” Rosenbach said. “It’s up to [Jensen] to take it to that next level, and hopefully, through competition with him and Dalton, that makes both of them better.”
[/restrict]Andrew Houghton is a freelance journalist living in Missoula. Lacey Young is the photo editor of the Montana Kaimin. All Rights Reserved.
