Fresno State starts Childress at QB, delays details on Greenlee penalty until game’s end

Fresno State and coach Tim DeRuyter continued to play the game before the game well past the opening kickoff, running Zack Greenlee through pregame warmups Saturday at San Jose State before the athletic department released a statement that the Bulldogs’ quarterback would be serving disciplinary measures following his arrest on suspicion of public drunkenness and drinking in public.

Junior transfer Ford Childress got the start for the Bulldogs, who were gunning for a fourth consecutive victory in a Mountain West Conference opener but fell 49-23. Greenlee, as it turned out, was benched for the entire game.

Fresno State (1-3, 0-1) trailed 14-0 after one quarter and 21-10 at the half, with Childress going 6 of 10 for 34 yards in the first two quarters. He finished 19 of 32 for 159 yards and two touchdowns, hardly enough on a night that saw San Jose State (2-2, 1-1) pile up 543 total yards.

Redshirt freshman Kilton Anderson also saw his first action, but mostly as a runner. He went 0 for 1 but ran twice for 20 yards, including a 17-yarder that set up the Bulldogs’ first-half touchdown. Childress then hit Jamire Jordan for 7 yards to trim the deficit to 14-7.

The university’s pregame statement left open the possibility that Greenlee could come off the bench after one quarter, one half or at any point during the game. He jogged onto the field in uniform for the pregame work, but when the second half began was still wearing a baseball cap rather than a helmet and never entered the game.

DeRuyter fulfilled a promise to address the situation during his postgame remarks.

“I met with our athletic director, we took the recommendation of the Code of Conduct committee and we went with the recommendation,” DeRuyter offered.

Greenlee along with outside linebacker Brandon Hughes were arrested in the early-morning hours last Sunday, Hughes for allegedly obstructing a police officer in the performance of their duties/resisting arrest.

Hughes also was serving a suspension of some sort against San Jose State, and women’s soccer player Fanny Johansson was suspended for a game on Friday at Colorado State. Johansson had been arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and obstruction/resisting arrest.

DeRuyter had declined to clarify the status of Greenlee and Hughes during the week, preferring to keep it a mystery. Greenlee, Childress and Anderson all took reps with the No. 1 and No. 2 offense in practice.

Childress last started a game as a redshirt freshman at West Virginia on Sept. 14, 2013 against Georgia State. He completed 25 of 41 passes (61%) in that game for 359 yards and three touchdowns.

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Fresno State starts Childress at QB, delays details on Greenlee penalty until game’s end."