Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene had as great of a debut as he could have hoped for, leading the Bulldogs to a 39-35 win over Purdue last Saturday.
Now the quarterback is picking up national attention after just one game with the Bulldogs.
Driving the news: Tuesday, Keene was one of eight quarterbacks named Star of the Week by the Manning Award.
- The honor came after Keene completed 31-44 passes for 366 yards and 4 touchdowns, the best debut of any quarterback in Fresno State history.
- Fans can vote until Thursday morning to select the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week. The other quarterbacks to make the cut are Drew Allar of Penn State, TJ Finley of Texas State, Michael Pratt of Tulane, Shedeur Sanders of Colorado, Jordan Travis of Florida State, Michael Pennix Jr. of Washington and DJ Uiagalelei of Oregon State.
- Along with the Manning Award recognition, Keene was also listed on the Great 8 list of the Davey O’Brien Foundation.
- The Davey O’Brien Award is given annually to the best college quarterback in the nation at the end of the season.
- Keene was added to the Davey O’Brien Award Midseason Watch List, which now has 40 members.
What they’re saying: Keene spoke to the media after practice on Tuesday, putting the focus on the team’s win over any personal stats and accolades.
- “I just wanted to do my job and get a W,” Keene said. “That’s it. That’s all I wanted to get out of that game. The stats are cool and all, but nothing’s more important than W.”
- Part of Keene’s early success with the Bulldogs can be traced to his significant experience with UCF, including action in 11 games as a true freshman in 2021 and four games last year, racking up an 8-3 record as a starter.
- “The best experience is experience. I can say I learned a lot my freshman year. Not a lot of it was good, in all honesty it was a lot of stuff that I learned from that I was able to come back from and understand my sophomore year and then ultimately leading into my junior year as well. But those mistakes that I made my freshman year were crucial. So being able to get that understanding and in the live sending and not just in a practice setting under those live bullets was very helpful to my career in total. I would’ve loved to get that redshirt my freshman year, but in all honesty for me to be able to play as a freshman, handle protections, handle getting hit, handle the entire preparation process of getting ready for a game. So I established and developed great habits for myself to be able to continue through my collegiate career.”
