Fresno State Football: QB Jake Haener Transfers To Bulldogs

After losing the competition at Washington, the highly-touted quarterback will become a Bulldog.

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The Bulldogs’ future at quarterback just got more intriguing.

On Friday, August 23, Washington Huskies head coach Chris Petersen announced that Jacob Eason had won the quarterback competition and would start the season under center. On Saturday, the loser of that competition, Jake Haener, announced that he would transfer.

Now, in early September, the rumored landing spot became official. Haener, who was rated a three-star quarterback prospect in the 2017 recruiting class and had offers from Hawaii, Akron, and Florida Atlantic before committing to Washington, will join the Fresno State Bulldogs and sit out the 2019 season as a transfer.

.@FresnoStateFB QB Jake Haener, a transfer from Washington, has enrolled in school. … — Robert Kuwada (@rkuwada) September 4, 2019

Haener expressed in an interview with Seattle radio station KJR that he “wanted to guarantee [himself] a fresh start somewhere and two years of eligibility” and, as the BarkBoard noted, mentioned Fresno State as “a very high possibility”. His arrival in the Central Valley will make next year’s quarterback competition an interesting one.

Jorge Reyna will depart the program after 2019 but Ben Woolridge, slated to be Reyna’s backup, and Steven Comstock will be sophomores and the Bulldogs have already secured a commitment from 2020 prospect Jaden Casey, who is far and away Fresno State’s best current recruit at the moment. Whoever emerges from what looks like a wide-open competition will also have the opportunity to grow with one of the Mountain West’s youngest, but deepest, group of pass catchers.

Haener saw action in four games last season while backing up Jake Browning, completing 9-of-13 passes for 107 yards with one touchdown and one interception. After sitting this season, he will enter 2020 as a redshirt junior.