Bulldogs call an audible with 2019 quarterback recruit Hunter Raquet

When Fresno State received a commitment from quarterback Hunter Raquet for its 2019 recruiting class, the plan was for the sophomore-to-be at Monterey Peninsula College to play for the Lobos this season, then enroll and join the Bulldogs in time for spring practices.

They checked out of that play – Raquet, coach Jeff Tedford, offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer and Monterey Peninsula coach Mike Rasmussen, who was the Bulldogs’ quarterback when Tedford was playing the position back in 1981 and ‘82.

When the Bulldogs opened fall camp on Friday, Raquet was on the field with returning starter Marcus McMaryion, fourth-year junior Jorge Reyna and freshmen Steven Comstock and Ben Wooldridge.

“Mike had talked to me about how much he thought about Hunter and watching him on tape thought he’s really good and really aggressive and very tough and athletic and all that and then we found out he was a qualifier,” Tedford said.

“It was a perfect opportunity to bring him in and, very similar to Aaron Rodgers at Cal, instead of him playing one more year of JC, we could bring him in now.”

Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers quarterback, had played one season at Butte College when Tedford came across him when recruiting another player there and recruited him to Cal where he passed for 5,469 yards and 43 touchdowns and was 17-5 as a starter.

Raquet was not available to comment. At Fresno State, players are not allowed media interviews until after they have played in a game.

But there are benefits to the Bulldogs and to Raquet, who passed for almost 2,500 yards and 23 touchdowns as a freshman at Monterey Peninsula College.

The Bulldogs have greater depth in the position group that on the first day of fall camp a year ago included only two scholarship quarterbacks.

Raquet, who has four years to play three seasons of football at the FBS level, is expected to compete with Reyna for the No. 2 spot behind McMaryion this season. Whether or not he sees the field this season (he could play in any four games and still retain a redshirt year under a new NCAA rule) he will have a full year in the program and a deep base in the Bulldogs’ offense going into the spring.

“We knew we were going to have to bring in another quarterback – five is a good number,” DeBoer said. “We would have been at four and then we would be at three (with McMaryion a senior) and having to find a guy. We were going to bring somebody in either way in this class or in this time frame over the course of the next year.

“It really worked out well that Hunter is a guy that we were able to bring in.”

The quarterback was not the only addition since the end of spring practices to stand out on the first day of fall camp. The Bulldogs added junior tight end Cam Sutton (6-foot-6, 222 pounds), who started his career at Montana State and last season played at Riverside City College; freshman offensive lineman Jace Fuamatu (6-3, 330) from St. John Bosco High in Bellflower, one of the top prep programs in the nation; freshman defensive lineman Alex Dumais (6-3, 259) and freshman linebacker Kilifi Leaaetoa (6-2, 219) from Menlo-Atherton High, same same high school that produced Bulldogs’ running back Jordan Mims.

This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 4:11 PM.