QUARTERBACKS

Players Returning: 2
Incoming: 2
Lost: 2 (Sean Norton, Jordan Christensen)

The subpar play of junior Tom Brandstater (6-5, 220) plagued Fresno State last season and is hands down the offense’s biggest question mark again this year. With junior Sean Norton deciding to transfer to Northern Arizona, Brandstater is set as the starter but must improve on his 13-14 touchdown to interception ratio and his accuracy (completing just 54.5 percent of his passes).

ESPN Player Profile

He started 2006 with a lot of promise against Nevada, Oregon and Washington, but two close losses seemed to suck the life out of him and his teammates. He needs to quickly rebound mentally and progress into the quarterback Pat Hill still believes he can be. He looked much sharper throwing downfield in the spring, but it’s hard to get a good read before the real games start.

The only real option behind Brandstater is redshirt freshman Ryan Colburn (6-3, 220), a lefty who has shown tremendous physical tools on the practice field, but is still too raw to rely on full-time. He has already spent two years in the system, greyshiriting and redshirting, but won’t throw his first pass in a game until this season.

Filling third-string duties is true freshman Matt Faulkner (6-2, 185), Hill’s first-ever recruit out of Texas. Faulkner is likely to redshirt and only be used in the case of an emergency. Freshman walk-on Matt Christian (6-3, 195), from Carlsbad HS, is unlikely to take a snap under any circumstances.

Rating: 4 of 10