Spavital, Stitt still searching for separation at quarterback at Texas State fall camp

Johnny Manziel wasn’t the best true quarterback at Texas A&M. He was the best chain-mover.

That’s why the Aggies’ former offensive coordinator rolled with Manziel going into the 2012 season. And that’s why Texas State head coach Jake Spavital stuck with the redshirt sophomore when he replaced Kingsbury the next year.

Spavital has used the same philosophy everywhere he’s been en route to becoming one of the nation’s top quarterback whisperers. Every player that’s started under center for him has, at the very least, received an NFL training camp invite.

“I’ve got seven active quarterbacks in the NFL right now,” Spavital said at the Sun Belt Football Media Day in New Orleans on July 22. “I don't think there's anybody in the country that has that many guys.”

The head coach expects a lot out of the position and isn’t afraid to change directions if he doesn’t get enough production. This was evident during his final two seasons with Texas A&M, switching from Kenny Hill to Kyle Allen in 2014 and from Kyle Allen to Kyler Murray in 2015.

Spavital has a reputation to uphold, a record to keep untarnished. His quarterbacks must be successful.

“You guys probably know, I'm pretty greedy with quarterbacks. That's my baby,” Spavital said Wednesday during the team’s opening fall camp press conference. “And these guys have got to earn it. Nothing's gonna be handed to them. You know, I mark and manage every single thing that they do, from a one-on-one rep to a walkthrough rep to a team rep, seven-on-seven. Everything's monitored, everything is recorded.

The issue at Texas State is no one has proven themselves yet to be the best option. The Bobcats haven’t had an incumbent starter at the position since Tyler Jones in 2016.

Spavital mentioned three contenders to take the starting spot this year at the Media Day: Junior Gresch Jensen, and sophomores Tyler Vitt and Jaylen Gipson.

Jensen transferred to Texas State in the spring by way of Montana and most recently Fullerton College. The two-star recruit from Auburn, Washington, threw for 2,330 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions with a 58 percent completion rate in 2018, leading the Hornets to a 2-8 overall record.

Vitt and Gipson both began last season on the bench behind Willie Jones III. Vitt, a three-star out of San Antonio MacArthur, eventually supplanted Jones early in Texas State’s game at UTSA  on Sept. 22, 2018, and completed 15-22 passes for 192 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, though it was Gipson who had the first crack at leading the offense, completing 1-4 passes for four yards. Vitt finished the year with a team-best 1,159 passing yards to go along with seven scores and 10 interceptions. Gipson, a three-star dual-threat from Mexia, completed three of six passes for 12 yards.

Here's #TXST sophomore QB Tyler Vitt nailing a 30-yard throw: @smdrsports pic.twitter.com/krunGnTpXR

— Drew King (@drewking0222) August 1, 2019

Each student-athlete presents his own advantages. Jensen already has some familiarity with the offense, playing under Texas State offensive coordinator Bob Stitt at Montana in 2017. Vitt has the most experience on the field with the Bobcats’ current roster, already having a feel for his receivers’ tendencies. Gipson is the fastest among the trio, and has had the same opportunities as Vitt to establish chemistry with the team off the field.

Spavital noted at Media Day that the team would call plays differently with each quarterback.

“Our whole installation, it fits everybody. It does,” Spavital said. “You're just gonna end up, whoever it is, you're gonna call those plays that are tailored to him. And then you start building more through game plan ideas based off of who you've got.”

None of the trio separated themselves from the pack during spring camp. Jensen completed 11-21 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns, while Vitt went 6-18 for 32 yards and Gipson 7-11 for 69 yards and a score.

Stitt said that has to change this fall.

“I wasn't satisfied with how we came out of spring with the quarterback play,” Stitt said. “We're going to get better. And it is difficult with some of the things that we asked them to do. But every phase — spring, summer, fall camp, then into the season — those quarterbacks will, you'll see them improve as we go.”

Stitt is looking for a quarterback who can download the defense and make the correct read as quickly as possible. His offenses were hyper-efficient while he was the head coach at the Colorado School of Mines from 2000-14. He said his teams set two NCAA Division II records with 42 first downs in a game and a 24-play drive.

The offensive coordinator knows his unit will slip at times, but he wants to make sure it’s because the opposing defense made a good play and not because his players made a mental error.

“We try to split the field in four sections and attack them in different ways — vertically, horizontally — and we're making the defense defend the entire field and we're stretching them both ways, and (the quarterbacks have) got to understand where to put the ball,” Stitt said. “And if it's throwing it or handing it off, (a run-pass option), whatever, where do we attack it? And that's easier said than done, you know, especially when you get out there and you've got thousands of screaming people and it's loud and it's fast. And as they go, it'll slow down for them. It'll really slow down and all of a sudden, they'll almost get bored. And so, I'm waiting for them to get bored with this and think it's easy. And then we'll have a lot of success.”

Spavital and Stitt discuss the quarterback situation daily. They both watch every rep during practice. The head coach said he typically likes to name a starter at least two weeks before the season opener so that the rest of the team gets a better feel for how they’ll play on opening day.

But somebody has to run away with the job to get the starting nod. And with the team traveling to College Station to face Texas A&M on Aug. 29, the quarterbacks have less than a month to do it.

“I've had it where we roll the quarterback out on the day of and, you know, that continuity, that leadership just wasn't there,” Spavital said. “I want to see that competitive fire between both sides where, who's going to be the quarterback that's going to step up and separate yourself to the guy that's going to be consistently moving the chains and putting the ball in the endzone? And that's what we're trying to get through right now.

“That makes it fun because when you put these kids in situations of adversity, you know you're going to get the best out of all of them. You're gonna see emotions coming up and down. And I think that's when the ownership and the leadership of the team come.”