San Diego State quarterback Jayden Denegal had a successful debut two weeks ago in a lopsided, season-opening victory over Stony Brook.<\/p>\n
It was followed by Saturday night\u2019s struggles in SDSU\u2019s 23-point loss to Washington State.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s living the lifestyle that, hey man, it probably wasn\u2019t as sweet as you thought it was after the first week and it\u2019s probably not as sour as you think it is right now,\u201d SDSU coach Sean Lewis said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got to get better, regardless of what all the outside noise is.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe positive praise from two weeks ago, the negative criticism that he\u2019s probably feeling now, it\u2019s just noise at the end of the day. Put your headphones on, put your blinders on and let\u2019s get back to work and let\u2019s continue to grow and let\u2019s continue to try to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denegal and his teammates are idle this week. Next up: a Sept. 20 home game against Cal.<\/p>\n
While Denegal, a 6-foot-5 transfer from Michigan, is a redshirt junior, his collegiate experience is limited. He played in six games for the Wolverines in 2023, completing 4 of 5 pass attempts for 50 yards and throwing a touchdown pass against Nebraska.<\/p>\n
He was named Aztecs\u2019 starting quarterback midway through fall camp and now has two starts under his belt. He was 15-for-30 for 133 yards and one touchdown against Washington State.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s game reps that have to be accumulated,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThere\u2019s time on task that has to be spent with the receivers so that we can have timing in the throw game that\u2019s needed. There\u2019s situational understanding and mastering that needs to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis was asked what element Denegal is struggling the most with. It is the speed of defenses? Going through his progressions? Mechanics?<\/p>\n
The coach shook his head, no.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis decision-making process is sound,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThe timing, location and time on task with receivers so we can connect on balls and have higher completion percentage is something that we need to continue to refine. Then again, just situational mastery.\u201d<\/p>\n
One play in particular stood out in the loss to the Cougars, a fourth-and-3 from midfield midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Denegal evaded the rush by running to his right and had plenty of room in front of him to run for a first down, but he chose instead to throw the ball. His pass to tight end Jackson Ford was incomplete and the Aztecs turned the ball over on downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably being a little bit more greedy than needy in that situation,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThere\u2019s also a receiver that\u2019s open and he missed a throw. He makes the throw and everybody\u2019s going, \u2018Wow, what a great throw.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, cost\/benefit analysis of it all. Just, hey, have a better understanding of it\u2019s fourth-and-3 and the most important thing there is to get a new set of downs. That\u2019s the lesson to learn. That\u2019s part of it. Success is sloppy at times. Success is always a lagging indicator after mistakes are made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denegal\u2019s best play also came on a fourth down. The Aztecs faced a fourth-and-5 in the first quarter when he threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jacob Bostick. The quarterback stayed in the pocket on that play before locating his wide-open receiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will learn from all those opportunities as we go,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cNo one has spent more time in this building from a players\u2019 standpoint than him. He\u2019s willing to commit the time that\u2019s needed to grow his craft.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego State quarterback Jayden Denegal had a successful debut two weeks ago in a lopsided, season-opening victory…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":216645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1369,1370,3549,7264,18257,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-216644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-college-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sdsu-aztecs","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115182419585369080","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}