San Diego State starting quarterback Jayden Denegal had surgery Wednesday on his left (non-throwing) shoulder and will miss the Aztecs\u2019 Dec. 27 New Mexico Bowl game against No. 23 North Texas.<\/p>\n
SDSU coach Sean Lewis said Bert Emanuel Jr. will start for the Aztecs (9-3), who are bidding for double-digit victories for the 10th time in the program\u2019s Division I history.<\/p>\n
Denegal injured his left shoulder in SDSU\u2019s season opener against Stony Brook and played with a protective harness the remainder of the season. He played through the pain and discomfort, starting all 12 games during the regular season while putting off surgery. Denegal had participated in bowl practices before the decision was made within the past week not to postpone surgery any longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a conversation,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cIt was a very hard decision. And, ultimately, we settled on collectively together that the time was right now, so that he could have the necessary timeframe to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis also noted that starting wide receiver Jordan Napier had surgery Thursday to repair a season-ending knee injury suffered last month against Boise State.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth done with the belief that they\u2019ll be as good and strong as ever for 2026 as we go forward and attack the Pac-12,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n
He expects Denegal, a junior transfer from Michigan, to be full-go when spring practice starts in March. Napier\u2019s timeframe for recovery is to be determined.<\/p>\n
SDSU is without two of its starting wide receivers. Jacob Bostick also suffered a season-ending knee injury midway through the season. The non-contact injury occurred in practice and is expected to sideline him until the summer.<\/p>\n
Though the Aztecs will be without their starting quarterback in the game, Lewis said he still expects Denegal to accompany the team to the bowl game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team\u2019s done a great job responding,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cAgain, we\u2019ve been open and transparent. Like, the guys know how hard the decision was, and are very understanding of, ultimately, where we all got to with it. So, yeah, next man up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emanuel competed in the spring and into the summer at quarterback before Denegal was named the starter.<\/p>\n
Emanuel has played sparingly this season, completing 5 of 9 passes for 37 yards. There were some special packages to take advantage of Emanuel\u2019s running ability (he rushed 22 times for 102 yards), but his appearances primarily came when Denegal missed various series because of injury and to close out games when the outcome was decided.<\/p>\n
Emanuel made four starts among 13 games played over three seasons at Central Michigan, completing 27 of 51 passes for 439 yards and five touchdowns while rushing 145 times for 844 yards and 12 TDs. His last start was Sept. 23, 2023, against South Alabama. The junior from Houston transferred to SDSU in January after an injury-plagued 2024 season with the Chippewas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity here for him to do what he came here to do,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll build a plan that suits his skillset and, again, not just him, but everyone offensively needs to continue to step up.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s a great opportunity for guys to do that, and for us to adapt our scheme to the personnel that we have, the way that we\u2019ve done all year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emanuel was spotted behind center with the first team offense earlier in the week during the portion of practice open to the media, and Lewis said he has seen a positive response from the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go off the way that they\u2019ve shown up prepared, ready for the meetings, the way that they\u2019ve attacked all the work days, and the practices, and the preparation that we\u2019ve had,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThe energy\u2019s been high, the enthusiasm to go play and compete has been really good. So, again, like, there hasn\u2019t been a huge change in the overall demeanor of the program or the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis said overcoming challenges has been one of the team\u2019s trademarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019ve been navigating as we\u2019ve gone through the whole year,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cEspecially in Jayden\u2019s case, since Week 4 it\u2019s something that the program has been working through collectively together.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get really good at something by doing it. From Week 4 on, Jayden probably practiced two full weeks leading up to the games, because of his resiliency, his toughness and how we had to manage the injury so that he could be as close to 100 percent and as game-ready as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tremendous response by him and great maturity shown by the team and a great job by the staff adapting to, not only Jayden\u2019s injury and Bostick\u2019s injury and Napier\u2019s injury but the multitude of other things that happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the Aztecs\u2019 postseason game was at the start of bowl season, then the timing for Denegal\u2019s surgery may have been different.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the scales that everyone\u2019s weighing right now,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cLike, the length of the recovery, and I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a right or wrong answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just present the facts in terms of, okay, like, the significance in the value of winning the bowl game, and the risk associated with, then, are you going to be ready for spring ball, and new pieces that are going to be around you, and getting the reps that are needed to build a relationship with them, and, again, like, what\u2019s one game or the 2026 season?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Bert](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-azfoot-0829-044.jpg\")
Bert Emanuel Jr. #5 of the San Diego State Aztecs jumps over DaMario Crawford #9 of the Stony Brook Seawolves during the second half at Snapdragon Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
While Denegal\u2019s surgery brings clarity to SDSU\u2019s quarterback situation, some cloudiness surrounds North Texas (11-2).<\/p>\n
There have been reports that Mean Green quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who leads the nation with 4,129 passing yards, will enter the transfer portal when it opens Jan. 2. North Texas coach Eric Morris was recently hired away by Oklahoma State. It is among the potential destinations for Mestemaker.<\/p>\n
He would be the third straight North Texas starting quarterback to transfer, lured by the prospect of making seven figures next season \u2014 some suggest as much as $3 million \u2014 at a Power Four school.<\/p>\n
A North Texas spokesman said Wednesday that Mestemaker is still expected to play in the New Mexico Bowl.<\/p>\n
But is that just to keep SDSU guessing?<\/p>\n
Mestemaker is not being made available for interview requests leading up to the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome to college football in 2025 in December of the portal season of the decisions that are being made,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cAgain, I kind of lean back on the training that we\u2019ve had this year. \u2026 It\u2019s seems like there\u2019s a quarterback (situation) where they\u2019re starting a new guy. We\u2019ve gotten three or four reps of that defensively.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, whoever they trot out there, it\u2019s our job to defend against them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego State starting quarterback Jayden Denegal had surgery Wednesday on his left (non-throwing) shoulder and will miss…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":456539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1369,1370,3549,7264,18257,62,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-456538","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-top-stories-sdut","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115743158770890294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456538","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=456538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}