With just a couple of months to go before training camp, the Houston Gamblers make two moves to their roster which includes bringing on a new quarterback.

The Gamblers announced on Twitter on New Year’s Eve that they signed defensive end Jessie Lemonier, but moved his rights to the Birmingham Stallions in exchange for quarterback Montell Cozart.

Montell Cozart, QB

Montell Cozart spent four of his five years in college with the Kansas Jayhawks where he only completed 54% of his passes throwing for 14 touchdowns to 19 interceptions. After transferring to Boise State for the 2017 season, Cozart improved his stats completing 62.9% of his passes with ten touchdowns to only one interception. He also had a career year on the ground rushing for 361 yards and an additional four touchdowns.

His professional football career kicked off in the country up north playing for the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL in 2018 and 2019. He only threw one career pass in the CFL where he completed an 11-yard pass in 2019. Cozart’s most recent stop was signing with the Birmingham Stallions serving as the backup quarterback after Alex McGough was injured earlier in the season.

The quarterback position was an up-and-down ride for the Houston Gamblers as Clayton Thorson was the starter for the majority of the season before being placed on injured reserve with an elbow injury. Thorson completed 57% of his passes for 987 yards along with ten touchdowns and seven interceptions. Kenji Bahar filled in the last three games completing 61% of his passes for 541 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Along with Thorson and Bahar, Terry Wilson is also on the roster looking to earn a spot on the team for the 2023 season. One thing Houston Gamblers’ head coach Kevin Sumlin has shown is he wants a mobile quarterback running his offense. All three of those quarterbacks have the ability to make plays with their legs.

There’s no exception for Cozart as he has shown just as much athletic ability as the other quarterbacks on the roster have. While USFL fans have not seen Cozart on the field yet, his ability to move around in the pocket and create plays makes him a legitimate threat to earn a spot on Houston’s roster. He can be used in a multitude of different ways from passing the ball to running the ball as well as catching the ball.

Thorson and Bahar will be the favorites for the starting job as both showed they can play well, but Bahar won more starts for the team. It will be a challenge for Cozart to step in and steal the starting job, but his athletic ability makes it hard to count him out completely.