For Fresno State, quarterback position, and management, a focus in spring practices

New Fresno State coach Matt Entz and his staff started to dissect a quarterback conundrum only partly of their making on Friday, when the Bulldogs opened spring practices.

The first order of business is to find a starter or at least a pecking order to take into the summer and then fall camp, with Joshua Wood, Jayden Mandal and Rice transfer E.J. Warner in a competition for that job.

But Fresno State in the fall will add two more scholarship quarterbacks in incoming freshmen Jonathan Craft from El Cerrito and Brayden Turner from Danville Monte Vista. They were recruited by the previous Bulldogs staff and among 11 recruits added during the early signing period in December, the day Entz was hired.

The Bulldogs will have five quarterbacks on scholarship in the fall — a roster model that is a bit antiquated in an era when a school can pluck a starter from the NCAA transfer portal every year, if so inclined.

“Those days,” Entz said, “are gone.”

Adding to the puzzle, Fresno State has four of those quarterbacks essentially bunched in two classes. Wood, who has a medical redshirt year available, could have three years of eligibility remaining. Mandal does have three years to play. Then, Craft and Turner come in as freshmen.

Warner, the son of 12-year NFL veteran Kurt Warner, was brought in as a bridge between the two groups and to give Fresno State a third scholarship quarterback with some playing experience at the FBS (football bowl subdivision) level. Entz described Warner’s recruitment as a round of speed dating. Warner met with the coaches, watched film, talked leadership, and then committed.

The separator is competition, which should be the highlight of the Bulldogs’ 15 spring practices.

“We’re going to do a couple of things structurally that will enable us to get more reps,” Entz said. “If we’re doing some team periods, we’re going to have two fields going at the same time. So there’s going to be twice the volume of reps at the same time.

“We’re going to have enough reps for four to five quarterbacks, and then there will probably be some jockeying day to day between who’s on Field A and who is over on Field B. That way, we have as good an evaluation process as possible. Everyone gets opportunities to go against the top defense, the top defensive backs. From an analytics standpoint, we’ll track completion percentage versus man, versus zone, versus pressure. That way we feel like we have intel going into the summer.”

Warner has played the most football of the three quarterbacks by far, starting his career and playing two seasons at Temple before transferring to Rice in 2024.

He was 9-22 as a starter, though Temple and Rice have struggled for decades to gain any traction — and that record is not solely due to quarterback play. But, breaking down those three years of college football, there may not be much separation between Warner, Wood and Mandal starting the spring despite a significant difference in experience: Warner has played 2,136 career snaps, Wood 90 and Mandal 33.

Warner last season at Rice had a passing efficiency rating of 120.67, which did not rank among the Top 100 qualifying quarterbacks in the nation.

Fresno State QBs: Inside the numbers

In games against opponents that ranked in the top seven in the American Athletic Conference in passing defense, Warner completed 60.6% of his passes, but averaged only 5.6 yards per attempt, threw seven touchdown passes with nine interceptions and had an efficiency rating of 109.94. In games against teams in the bottom seven of the conference in passing defense, he completed 64.3% of his passes, averaged 8.1 yards per attempt with seven touchdowns and no interceptions and had a rating of 150.82.

Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene had a passing efficiency rating of 141.81 last season, his second as a starter, before transferring to Michigan.

Keene had a higher completion percentage than Warner when blitzed (65.9% to 56.4%), when under pressure (45.5% to 43.9%) and on deep passes 20 or more yards down field (38.6% to 28.9%), according to Pro Football Focus.

Wood completed 18 of 28 passes last season (64.3%) and thrived in red zone packages, the Bulldogs taking advantage of a diverse skill set. He scored six rushing touchdowns and also hit 2 of 3 passes in the red zone, including one for a touchdown. Wood in a limited sample size also hit 6 of 8 passes (75%) when blitzed with one touchdown and was 16 of 22 (72.7%) when throwing from a clean pocket.

Mandal started for the Bulldogs in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl after Keene went into the transfer portal, but played sparingly during the season. He played in six games, completing 4 of 9 passes (44.4%) and averaging 4.3 yards per attempt with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

“Its an open competition, and it needs to look that way, too,” Entz said. “There’s going to be meetings, video. It’s more than just what happens on the field. Who is going to prepare like a pro? Who’s going to be the film junkie?

“All of those things are going to be taken into account, and I’m excited. They all have great traits.”