Editor’s Note: this is one installment in a three-part series about the quarterback position in the Big Sky Conference. Montana, Montana State, Idaho, Weber State and Southern Utah are all on the verge of upcoming quarterback battles during fall camp while Eastern Washington senior Gage Gubrud, Northern Arizona junior Case Cookus and UC Davis junior Jake Maier are three of the most prolific passers in the Football Championship Subdivision. This installment addresses Montana’s upcoming competition to replace abruptly departed former Freshman All-American Gresch Jensen in Bobby Hauck’s first season back as UM’s head coach.
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MISSOULA — Bobby Hauck has preached a similar tenet since taking his first head coaching job at his alma mater in 2003.
“We will always have competition at every position and the quarterback position is no exception,” Hauck said at the Big Sky Kickoff media day in Spokane, Washington on July 16.
It’s not just lip service. The competition Hauck emphasizes has trademarked Griz quarterbacks under his direction dating back to his first tenure at his alma mater between 2003 and 2009.
Hauck’s first Montana team eventually decided on Craig Ochs as a starter but not before he got healthy, not before Jeff Disney and Justin Hartman took their share of snaps, not before Kyle Sampson operated the option in a surprise package that led Montana to a 41-28 non-conference win over Idaho.
Ochs was steady when at full strength during Montana’s 9-4 season in 2003, throwing for 1,612 yards, nine touchdowns and eight interceptions while battling injuries. In 2004, the former Colorado transfer caught fire, throwing for 3,807 yards and 33 touchdowns as Montana marched all the way to the national championship game.
The right to replace Ochs came down to a battle between former Bowling Green transfer Jason Washington, a starter for the first part of the 2005 season and redshirt freshman Cole Bergquist, the eventual starter as Montana navigated its way to a third straight Big Sky Conference title, UM’s eighth straight overall.
Despite performing well down the stretch in 2005, Montana lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second time in three seasons under Hauck. The head coach brought in Josh Swogger, a 6-foot-5 strong-armed transfer from Washington State, to compete with Bergquist directly entering the future CFL quarterback’s sophomore year.
Swogger won the job during camp in 2006. He threw for 2,685 yards, 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for an offense that scored 27.5 points per game and road a stout defense all the way to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs.
In 2007, Bergquist efficiently won his competition with Andrew Selle and Jeff Larson before leading the Griz to 11 straight wins and a top seed in the playoffs before a shocking 23-22 loss to Wofford in the first round of the postseason ended the season abruptly.
Bergquist maintained and exceeded that level of play, throwing for 3,156 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushing for 356 yards and eight more scores during UM’s run to the national title game in 2008.
In 2009, Hauck again opened up the competition again and let it carry into the season, giving former Oregon transfer Justin Roper snaps despite the efficiency of the cerebral Selle, a Billings product who ended up throwing for 3,043 yards and 28 touchdowns as a junior. Roper added 951 yards and eight TD tosses as the Griz won their seventh straight Big Sky crown and advanced to the national title game for the third time in Hauck’s seventh and final season of his first stint at his alma mater.
With Hauck back at the helm after nearly a decade away, another quarterback competition is about to commence in Missoula. With the non-renewal of Bob Stitt’s contract in December came the hiring of Hauck and the subsequent acquisition of former UNLV quarterback Dalton Sneed.
During spring football, Sneed fervently pushed incumbent sophomore Gresch Jensen, a Stitt recruit who earned Freshman All-American honors last season. Following spring football, Jensen left the program, eventually declaring his transfer to Fullerton College. In the off-season, Hauck has stoked the position group once again.
Hauck inherited a roster in 2003 that graduated former national championship-winning quarterback John Edwards along with talented backup Brandon Neil. Hauck brought in Ochs, Disney and Hartman to compete for the job, a similar situation to the upcoming battle between Sneed, former Boise State and Saddleback College transfer Cam Humphrey, former Alabama walk-on redshirt freshman Wheeler Harris, redshirt freshman Tanner Wilson and incoming freshman Garrett Graves.
Almost every one of Hauck’s fall camps have contained a quarterback competition but this is just the second where none of the participants have game experience as an advantage entering the evaluation.
“The quarterbacks are going to have to compete every day to hold on to their jobs just like the left tackle and the middle linebacker,” Hauck said. “We are going to compete. That’s just how we roll, how we do things. But I would say this: quarterback’s the least of our problems.”
The reaction to Jensen’s transfer rippled throughout the Treasure State and the Big Sky Conference. In terms of pure production, the 6-foot-2 triggerman from Auburn, Washington compiled the most prolific rookie season by a Montana quarterback.
But during spring practices, Sneed — who entered with familiarity of the coaching staff after being recruited by Hauck and offensive coordinator Timm Rosenbach to UNLV — seemed to improve and perform more favorably each day than Jensen, who looked visibly uncomfortable with the competition and the change in culture the new staff preached.
“Gresch is familiar with the receivers but he’s not familiar with the style of coaching where Dalton knew what to expect in terms of the coaching but he’s not familiar with the receivers,” UM senior wide receiver Keenan Curran said following Montana’s spring game on April 14. “Both of them are finding their way.”
The dual-threat, tenacious Sneed will be pushed by Humphrey, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from Issaquah, Washington who redshirted during the 2016 season at Boise State before throwing for 2,187 yards and 19 touchdowns at Saddleback College last fall. Humphrey did not join Montana until summer workouts. Sneed has entrenched familiarity and 15 extra practices banked over Humphrey. But Hauck doesn’t think that means much heading into fall camp.
“In terms of the competition, the spring certainly gives Dalton a leg up,” Hauck said. “But the quarterbacks run the summer player-run practices. The thing about it is our guys have a complete understanding of, again, we are talking about depth at different positions, you better have a couple quarterbacks who can play or else your season could go south in a hurry. Dalton understands that. He is not just competing for the job. He is also helping bring those other guys along this summer, which is what happens on good football teams.”
The Grizzlies did not show much in terms of offensive or defensive schemes during spring football. The offense Sneed executed included the quarterback using his feet to get out on the perimeter and throw on the run often and also emphasized UM’s deep receiving group’s quickness and explosiveness in space.
“The offense is just going to get better and better,” Sneed said following the spring finale. “We made tremendous progress from the beginning of spring. We got better each practice. We did really well today.”
Upon committing, Humphrey said the scheme Rosenbach sold him on is very similar to the quick-hitting offenses he operated in high school and at Saddleback.
“Down at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, we ran a very similar offense, quick game and then we are going to make them miss. And I actually did a similar thing over at Issaquah as well. It really got me excited that I could fit in and get going fast.”
Sneed consistently talked about relishing the chance to compete with Jensen while Jensen seemed to shy away from the competition. Now the two front-runners will engage in a fierce competition as well.
“I know Dalton feels the same way about competition,” Humphrey said. “It’s going to be a healthy competition and in turn, it will make the team better. That’s the ultimate goal: to make the team as good as we can be. Whoever is leading the front, that’s in the coaches’ hands so we are just going to compete in the end and see what happens.”
Although fall camp does not start until the first weekend of August, players have been engaging in summer player-run practices and monitored workouts. Sneed has been on campus since January while Humphrey arrived in Missoula in mid-June. Curran, for one, has already observed a healthy competition accompanied by a healthy chemistry.
“I think Dalton brings a unique fire to the locker room and the quarterback room,” Curran said. “Dalton is a very good leader. I think Dalton and Cam mesh very well. You want to compete but you don’t want to have any animosity. I think that’s not something you have to worry about.
“They know they are going to go into fall camp and compete for the job. They’ve taken this summer very serious, getting with the receivers, getting with the running backs, getting with the tight ends. They have the chemistry aspect down.
“Come September 1 when we play Northern Iowa, there will be no question marks. There’s a question mark now but that’s for everybody else. We know we have two and maybe three guys in there that can get the job done.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez, Jason Bacaj, Kyle Cavolo and Lacey Young. All Rights Reserved.
