After an offseason of clarity, the New Mexico State football program will be in search for a new starting quarterback again following Josh Adkins’s announcement on Twitter Friday morning that the Spring Branch native will enter the transfer portal.

Adkins — who has been lauded for his leadership abilities since he arrived on campus — took over under center midway through his redshirt freshman campaign in 2018, where he led the Aggies to back to back wins over UTEP and Liberty in his first two collegiate starts following an 0-4 start to the year, finishing the season with 2563 passing yards, 13 passing touchdowns and nine interceptions.

NM State’s offense was trending in the right direction heading into this past offseason, and another step towards improvement looked on the horizon for Adkins, who impressed despite being thrown into a tough situation so early in his career, but both Adkins and the team as a whole struggled to take that leap in a forgetful 2019.

The Aggies were forced to deal with a bevy of injuries throughout the season, most notably on the offensive line, while playing one of their toughest schedules in recent memory, setting up for a 3-9 finish.

From air-raid offense standards, Adkins threw for a pedestrian 2588 yards and 14 touchdowns on 63% passing, but the real struggles came from taking care of the ball, with the second-year signal caller getting intercepted 15 times and losing two fumbles in 12 games.

With spring practice set to begin next month, NM State will have to go throw the quarterback competition process again. Junior-college transfer Jonah Johnson, redshirt freshman Weston Eget and redshirt junior Cameron Matthews will likely battle it out to see who will take over passing duties in head coach Doug Martin’s eighth season at the helm for the Aggies.

Johnson enters as an early favorite, coming to NM State after throwing for 3453 yards and 28 touchdowns as well as running for 435 yards and eight touchdowns in his two years at Fresno City College.