QUARTERBACKS OUTLOOK
Well Red Wave, this is the one you've been waiting for. The biggest question entering the 2023 season is: Who will replace Jake Haener?
Quarterback guru Jeff Tedford and first-year quarterbacks coach Matt Wade have five on the roster, but the competition is down to UCF transfer Mikey Keene and Logan Fife who started four games for the Bulldogs last season when Haener was sidelined with an ankle injury.
Who's back: The Bulldogs bring back Fife and Joshua Wood.
Fife was 2-2 as a starter last season, winning a key Mountain West divisional game over San Jose State and a road game at New Mexico, sparking the nine-game winning streak that made the Bulldogs the first team in NCAA history to start 1-4 and finish with double-digit wins.
In five games, Fife completed 70 percent of his passes (84-of-120), the second-best single season completion percentage (minimum 75 attempts) in school history. He passed for 892 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions and scored three touchdowns in the run game including a 30-yard play in the win at New Mexico.
"Logan has been in our offense for four years," Wade said. "He has playmaking ability outside the pocket. He has a great grasp of what he's doing as far as getting through his progressions. He has continued to improve on his accuracy from within the pocket. It's been great to see that."
Wood was a late steal for the Bulldogs in 2021 and was expected to compete for the starting spot in fall camp with Fife and Keene, but was limited due to a shoulder injury. The graduate of Kapowsin High in Graham, Wash., earned a number of state Player of the Year awards as a senior in 2021 including Gatorade, MaxPreps, Washington State High School ScoreBook Live, Cascadia Preps and Ford Sports Performance and also was the Tacoma News Tribune All-Area player of the year.
Who's new: Keene, a mid-year transfer, was the critical get for Tedford and the Bulldogs, adding some experience to the quarterback's room having played in 11 games and started 10 as a true freshman at UCF in 2021 and playing in four games with one start while utilizing a redshirt season for the Knights last year.
He was rated as the No. 13 quarterback transfer in the nation when signing with the Bulldogs and is a redshirt sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining.
In his 15 career games, Keene has completed 65.6 percent of his passes (233-of-355) for 2,377 yards with 23 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
In his 11 career starts at UCF, the Knights were 8-3 including a 29-17 victory over Florida in the 2021 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.
"Mikey has only been here eight months so he's been learning as he goes," Wade said. "He has picked up the offense really fast. He has a great feel for the game. Mikey knows when to throw it away and when to try to fit one in there. He has great accuracy as well."
Jayden Mandal, a local product out of Buchanan High, graduated early to participate in spring ball with the Bulldogs and has taken advantage of his opportunities while Wood has been sidelined. The 2022 TRAC Player of the Year was a three-star recruit by 247Sports and earned third-team all-state honors. In his senior season, he racked up 2,844 passing yards with 23 touchdowns, averaging 237.0 yards passing per game.
He initially committed to Fresno State in September of 2020 to play baseball, but in March 2022 Mandal flipped to play football under Tedford.
The Bulldogs' fifth quarterback is Jack Jacobs, a graduate of St. Francis High in La Canada. He was an all-state and all-conference player as a senior when throwing for 3,300 yards and 37 touchdowns with just seven interceptions.
What to watch: With four out of the five quarterbacks here for spring ball, this quarterback battle has lasted seven months.
Fife and Keene have been the frontrunners through fall camp, and it's close.
"Both of those guys have really mastered the offense," Wade said. "It comes with reps, meeting time and the work that they did in the offseason. They've improved their mechanics and they're throwing really well. They've taken coaching really well and they've taken the next step in their game."
Whoever wins the job will have big shoes to fill, and they will be working with a group of inexperienced skill players. But they do have one thing on their side: Tedford. The Bulldogs' coach was selected as the No. 2 developer of quarterbacks in the country by 247Sports, and has coached a long line of NFL draft picks including former Bulldogs' Trent Dilfer, David Carr and Haener, and Aaron Rodgers when he was at Cal.