As opener nears, Fresno State makes call on starting quarterback

Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford has tabbed third-year sophomore Chason Virgil to start the season opener on Saturday against Incarnate Word, according to sources.

Virgil, who led the Bulldogs through the first 10 games last season, emerged from the spring ahead of Jorge Reyna in the competition to start at quarterback and was able to hold of fall camp challenges from the junior college transfer as well as Oregon State transfer Marcus McMaryion, who joined the Bulldogs on Aug. 11.

Reyna and McMaryion will back up Virgil against the Cardinals and, Tedford last week said that both could see some game reps in the opener.

McMaryion has been in the Bulldogs offense for only two-plus weeks, but has hold on enough of the offense to play in a game.

“He could see time, for sure,” Tedford said. “But, again, that depends on how the week goes and that kind of thing, how the game plan goes and how the game progresses and so on and so forth.”

Virgil had an awkward first season as the starter a year ago, leading an offense that struggled to put points on the scoreboard. Fresno State averaged 17.7 points per game, ranking last in the Mountain West and 125th of 128 in the nation. But pass protection was an issue, as was a struggling running game and a lack of playmakers beyond wide outs KeeSean Johnson and Jamire Jordan.

The quarterback completed 51.6 percent of his passes (166 of 322) for 2,021 yards with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Virgil did average 6.3 yards per pass, the highest for a Fresno State quarterback with 100 or more attempts in a season since 2013 when Derek Carr was firing touchdown passes for the Bulldogs. Carr that season averaged 7.7 yards per attempt.

Fresno State is set to honor Carr at halftime of its opener against Incarnate Word, retiring the No. 4 that he wore when leading the Bulldogs to back-to-back Mountain West championships in 2012 and ’13 and setting 25 school and 21 conference records.

This story was originally published August 27, 2017 at 3:34 PM with the headline "As opener nears, Fresno State makes call on starting quarterback."