Fresno State’s Tedford makes call on QB1. Here’s who gets the season-opening start at Purdue

3-4 minutes 8/27/2023 FRESNO BEE Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford said on Saturday that quarterback Mikey Keene will start the Sept. 2 opener at Purdue. Despite some unexpected turns during the quarterback competition, Keene’s anointment as the season-opening starter seemed somewhat expected given his previous experience.

“All the quarterbacks have had a great camp,” Tedford said. “Mikey is going to start, but we’re very fortunate to have a really good quarterback room. ” Keene, a transfer from Central Florida, has the most experience in the group.

He played in 15 games with 11 starts in two seasons at UCF, with 10 of those starts coming as a freshman in 2021. Keene, thrust into the starting lineup due to an injury to the Knights’ starter, ended that season hitting a solid 63. 6% of his passes (173 of 272) with 17 touchdowns and six interceptions.

The redshirt sophomore was 7-3 as a starter in 2021, 8-3 overall. Logan Fife, who started four games for the Bulldogs’ last season when Jake Haener was sidelined with an ankle injury, will start the season as the No. 2 quarterback.

Keene was not available after the Bulldogs’ practice — under team rules, a player cannot meet with the media until they have played in a game. When the Bulldogs exited spring practices, Keene, Fife and redshirt freshman Joshua Wood were expected to compete for the starting spot through the summer and first part of fall camp. But Wood was limited by a shoulder injury suffered late in the spring, whittling the competition to two and giving freshman Jayden Mandal an opportunity to get some valuable reps in his first fall camp.

Keene takes over an offense that lost a majority of its production from a year ago in Haener, running back Jordan Mims and wideouts Jalen Moreno-Cropper, Nikko Remigio and Zane Pope. Mims with 1,370 yards a year ago was the first Bulldogs’ back to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season since Marteze Waller in 2014. Moreno-Cropper, Remigio and Pope were the Bulldogs top three wideouts in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

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