| 124. Texas State Bobcats |
| #10 in Sun Belt |
The Bobcats’ transition to the FBS hit another hiccup when it became clear that Everett Withers wasn’t making any progress, and was fired after a 7-29 three year stretch, that included going 2-22 in conference play. The defensive minded Withers fielded solid defenses in his time in San Marcos, but in a state that seems to be leading the charge in up tempo high flying passing attacks, he was unable to ever field an offense reflective of the local talent at his disposal. Administrators tried to correct that with the hiring of West Virginia offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, who oversaw the nation’s 4th ranked passing attack last year, putting up 351.3 ppg. Spavital is only 33, and has no head coaching experience, but in 11 years of coaching, all on the offensive side of the ball, spent 4 years each under Kevin Sumlin and Dana Holgorsen; and a year each under Todd Graham, Mike Gundy, and Sonny Dykes. If the guy hasn’t picked up enough offense by now, he never will. It marks a new era for Bobcats football, with a clear shift in philosophy to appeal more to the wealth of high school talent in their backyard, but also to go outside the family, and hire a guy with no connections to the school, a combination Texas State, a school that was an NAIA and then Division II power through the 50s and 60s and then again in the early 80s under future Minnesota coach Jim Wacker, hasn’t gone to before. While Spavital doesn’t have David Sills and Gary Jennings to work with, Hutch White and Jeremiah Haydel are a very good pair, if they have a quarterback to work with. Because he CERTAINLY doesn't have Will Grier under center. Last year, Texas State was last in the Sun Belt in pass efficiency, and yards per attempt, partly due to a league worst completion percentage. Tight end Keenen Brown, who has moved on, was the main target, but White and Haydel both showed enough, despite combining for just 50 catches and 624 yards to both make third team all-conference. Haydel, a rising junior, is particularly intriguing, averaging over 20 yards per reception, and a quarter of his catches resulting in touchdowns. Who is going to be throwing them the ball though? The old adage is that when you have two quarterbacks, you really have none. I’ve never bought that, but when you have two quarterbacks, but both are terrible, then it’s true. Willie Jones started the year, was replaced by Tyler Vitt, who then got hurt, putting Jones back in, who maintained the job, but then had a shoulder injury of his own, allowing Vitt to finish the season. The end result was that each played in 9 games, and out of 10 qualified quarterbacks in the Sun Belt, they finished 9th and 10th in Total QBR. They were the 3rd and 15th worst in all of FBS respectively. That is why the leader in the club house may be JUCO transfer Gresch Jensen. Jensen played for new Texas State offensive coordinator Bob Stitt, when Stitt was the head coach at Montana, as a freshman in 2017. Jensen was Montana’s MVP, and finished 3rd in voting for the Jerry Rice Award, as the top freshman in the FCS. But Stitt was fired as head coach, and Jensen transferred out. He’ll have two seasons of eligibility left, and has to be better than what Texas State rolled out last year.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| WR | Hutch White, Senior |
| WR | Jeremiah Haydel, Junior |
| C | Aaron Brewer, Senior |
| . |
| LB | Bryan London, Senior |
| LB | Nikolas Daniels, Senior |
| CB | Kordell Rodgers, Junior |
