Jake Haener Cracks ESPN’s Top 100 Players
The Fresno State QB is getting noticed
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Only one Mountain West player made the cut
Almost always, we can assume any “Top Whatever List” in college football will have very few, if any, Group of Five teams. The Mountain West has a lot of good players this year — insert shameless plug for our top 50 countdown — but nationally it all depends and usually attention is not really there.
In ESPN’s top 100 players, the lone Mountain West representative is Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener and he came in at number at No,. 74.
He torched UCLA for 455 passing yards in a September upset last year, and he finished the year with 4,096 yards and 33 touchdowns. He gets his top two receivers back this year, too. It’s going to be another big year for the Washington transfer in the San Joaquin Valley.
Yes, yes he did torch UCLA.
JAKE. HAENER.
JALEN. CROPPER.LET'S GO @FresnoStateFB!#AtThePeak | #GoDogs pic.twitter.com/c3IiCF4IEQ
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) September 19, 2021
Anyone in the Mountain West knows Haener is the real deal. He was named by the media as the preseason player of the year, our website did the same, and he earned our top spot of 50 best Mountain West players for this year.
He is at least on the board for the Heisman Trophy, but it is at 10,000-1.
Haener should be a household name this year and be a compelling draft picks next May; he is currently getting a lot of buzz.
The game at USC can go a long way in getting people to not only know who Haener is but also Fresno State. The game against the Trojans is a primetime matchup and on regular over-the-air FOX.
Last year, vs. UCLA he led a game-winning drive while clutching his ribs and people fawned over Haener.
A win, or at least a great showing, will do the trick to get people to take a look at arguably one of the best signal-callers on the West Coast, and it would get the Bulldogs on the national stage as the potential New Year’s Six pick from the Group Of Five.
Beat USC on the road and Fresno State will be the talk of college football. There are plenty of weapons for Haener and it starts with wide receiver Jalen Cropper (No. 5 on our top 50) is an NFL talent and is in line to be the best pass-catcher in this conference. Plus, they return three of their top four wide receivers.
The running game has Jordan Mims and he takes over for do everything back in Ronnie Rivers.
Haener is definitely deserving to be on this list, if not a little bit low but that is just us being fans of the Mountain West.
