The annual football Spring Preview took place Saturday, April 27 where the Bulldogs showed off the offense and defense’s game for the upcoming season.
Fresno State Head Coach Jeff Tedford described how he felt about the preview.
“We got a lot of guys in there and got some good reps,” Tedford said. “At this point, you just hope and pray that everybody comes out healthy and that was the case.”
The Bulldogs lost 11 starters, three on offense, six on defense and two specialists, so those attending got to see some new talent on the field.
The Red Wave also got a glimpse of a few different quarterbacks during the scrimmage and saw how they handled themselves against their formidable defense.
Quarterback Mikey Keene started in the offense’s first drive of the scrimmage but was quickly taken down by the defense. Keene was asked if he was back to 100% at the end of the preview after being injured during the 2023 season.
“Yeah I’m back to full 100%,” Keene said. “I mean, honestly, after the first game of the season, nobody’s one hundred percent in college football. That’s where teams have the competitive advantage of finding their edge. So that’s the name of college football and football in general, but I’m feeling really good very healthy and strong this off-season.”
Then came redshirt freshman Jayden Mandal, who got a lot of play time during the scrimmage. During his first drive, he made some pass completions and put the ball in the end zone, which gave the offense some early points.
Later into the game, he would find his receivers for a few touchdowns, which were few and far between in this scrimmage.
Junior wide receiver Jalen Moss was asked how he felt about Mandal’s performance.
“He’s the guy,” Moss said. “I like how he throws the ball. You know he can put it up and down in plenty of spots you want it to be. He gives you the opportunity, he likes his guys and if he likes his matchup, he’s going to give his guys a chance. I think as Jayden gets older and as he’s in this organization of great coaches that we have here, I feel like he’s going to be a good quarterback later down the road.”
Both Keene and Mandal played consecutively throughout the scrimmage. However, towards the end, a few more quarterbacks got some playing time, including a new face to the roster, junior Joseph Campbell. He struggled against the defense as well but most of the quarterbacks did that day.
Both the offense and defense played competitively and finished healthy to kick off the 2024 season. Fresno State will start its season facing the University of Michigan on Aug. 31 in Ann Arbor Stadium.
