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Fresno State coach Matt Entz said on Monday at the Bulldogs’ Media Day that Khristian Martin and Jayden Mandal will open fall camp about even in the competition to start at quarterback this season.
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“As soon as possible would be great,” said Entz of determining who will be the game one starter.
At the latest, a decision would come 10 days out from a Sept. 4 season-opener at USC. But both potential starters will be given ample opportunity to create some distance from the other. The plan is to split reps with the first offense during every practice, and then when the Bulldogs are in team periods alternate days. Martin one day, Mandal the next, until one QB gains an advantage.
Gaining separation does not figure to come easily for either QB.
Each lacks experience — Martin played 49 snaps last season as a redshirt freshman at Maryland. Mandal played 33 snaps in 2024 before missing last season due to injury. Both have progressed since the spring when Entz and offensive coordinator Josh Davis split reps fairly evenly between five quarterbacks, including redshirt freshman Jonathan Craft and true freshmen Deagan Rose and Jacob Chambers.
Martin says he has developed a certain comfort level within the offense over time: “Hearing something for the second time, sometimes the third, is very helpful. In the spring, you kind of hear it for the first time. Now, you’re hearing it for a third or fourth time, and it’s like, ‘OK, now I’m not thinking when I’m out there. I’m able to just go execute, and I know the layers to the play as well as the issues within the play.’”
Mandal, the Buchanan High graduate, isays he’s attacking the position and the work differently than in the past. “When you’re going into your fourth year, and you haven’t really touched the field a whole lot, and you know you’re capable, you have to ask yourself, why,” he said. “What am I doing that’s not getting me on the field? It’s just kind of digging deep into that, because I want it really bad. So, something had to change. Obviously, something that I was doing wasn’t working. I want to be the smartest guy out there.”
After a rough 2025 at the quarterback position for the Bulldogs, taking care of the football and overall efficiency will be at a premium when fall camp starts.
Fresno State quarterbacks E. J. Warner (11) and Carson Conklin (2) last season combined to throw 13 interceptions, and the Bulldogs ranked ninth in the Mountain West Conference and 109th in the nation. Warner also lost two fumbles. They converted only 33.5% of their third-down plays into a fresh set of downs against FBS (football bowl subdivision) opponents, ranking eighth and 111th.
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Those numbers had to be hard to digest for Entz, for North Dakota State head coach, and offensive coordinator Josh Davis, who in 2024 ran an efficient offense at South Dakota that averaged 35.8 points per game.
Entz in five seasons at North Dakota State had offenses that twice converted third downs at a 51% clip, and the Bison never dipped below 42%.
In 2019, when winning an FCS national championship with a perfect 16-0 season, North Dakota State had one pass intercepted in 304 attempts.
South Dakota in two seasons under Davis as OC converted 45% and 44% of their third-down plays, and its quarterbacks threw a total of 13 interceptions in 27 games.
“We’ll analyze those top two guys under a very fine lens through the first six to seven days,” Davis said. “Decisions won’t be made, because everything is install-based. Everything is relatively new. They don’t have those banked reps to really go and perform with the whole foundation of our offense.
“But as we get through practice 10 and roll out the ball in a couple of scrimmage formats, that’s where one of them needs to separate themselves with decision-making, play-making, etc.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2026 at 6:22 AM with the headline “Fresno State has two QBs competing to start. ‘I want to be the smartest guy out there’.”
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