Fresno State has finally settled its quarterback battle, and it's Jayden Mandal's job. Pete Thamel reported Monday that the fourth-year QB has been named the Bulldogs' starter and will make his first career start Friday night on the road against No. 14 USC.
Sources: Fresno State has named Jayden Mandal the school’s starting quarterback, and he’ll make his first career start at No. 14 USC on Friday night. Mandal is in his fourth season at Fresno and has six career appearances in 2024, as he missed last season due to injury.
That "first career start" detail is the real story here. Mandal has been on campus for years, but 2025 was a lost season before it started. According to Yahoo Sports, he was hit with a cascade of injuries beginning in September, a torn UCL in his throwing arm, a shoulder cyst, a torn labrum and an ulnar nerve issue that required surgery in November. He didn't play a single snap.
"There's always that fear when you get a surgery: Am I going to come back healthy?" Mandal said, per Yahoo Sports. "But just trusting God's plan and knowing what he has for me got me through that, and I'm so blessed. I'm back, and I'm 100%."
The job wasn't handed to him. Fresno State brought in Khristian Martin, a Maryland transfer, to push for the starting spot, and by most accounts it was a legitimate camp battle all the way to fall. Thamel notes Martin's arrival made this competitive, not a formality.
Mandal won a battle with Khristian Martin, a Maryland transfer. Mandal has nine attempts in the six games he appeared in back in 2024.
For context on what each guy actually brings: Mandal's only college snaps came in 2024, when he appeared in six games and threw just nine passes, thin sample size for a guy now handed a Power 4 road opener. Martin, meanwhile, spent two seasons at Maryland and was 11-of-17 for 105 yards and a touchdown in five appearances there. Neither has thrown more than a handful of college passes, which tells you how open this battle really was.
Now Mandal gets thrown into the deep end immediately, a ranked USC team on the road, in front of a national audience, as the guy trying to prove a year of surgeries didn't cost him his shot. Friday night will answer a lot of questions Fresno State fans have been asking since last fall.