Breaking down every Pac-12 starting quarterback ahead of the 2026 season

Seven of eight Pac-12 teams have announced their Week 1 starter

Boise State Broncos quarterback Maddux Madsen. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

All eight members of the reborn Pac-12 will begin their 2026 football seasons this week.

Fresno State will be the first Pac-12 team in action with a 7 p.m. Mountain time road matchup against No. 14 USC on Friday night. The Trojans defeated San Jose State in Week 0, 42-26. 

Six Pac-12 teams—including Boise State—have Saturday games while Washington State will take on rival Washington in a Sunday Apple Cup at Husky Stadium. The Huskies are ranked No. 17 in the AP Poll. 

Ahead of Week 1, seven Pac-12 teams officially announced their starting quarterbacks. Colorado State head coach Jim Mora declined to announce a starter during his Monday press conference.

Here is a look at the Pac-12’s starting quarterbacks entering the 2026 season. 

Boise State - Maddux Madsen, fifth-year senior

Madsen enters his final college season with a 20-6 career record as a starter. He has completed 507 of 834 (61 percent) career passes for 6,586 yards with 50 touchdowns to 18 interceptions while adding 423 yards and 11 scores on the ground. 

Colorado State - Hauss Hejny, sophomore OR K’saan Farrar, freshman 

Hejny signed with TCU coming out of Texas power Aledo High School and was Oklahoma State’s Week 1 starter last year before suffering a season-ending injury on opening night. Farrar followed Mora from UConn to Colorado State. 

Fresno State - Jayden Mandal, junior

On Monday, Fresno State head coach Matt Entz announced that Mandal, a fourth-year junior, won the starting quarterback job over Maryland transfer Khristian Martin. Mandal has appeared in six games with one start for the Bulldogs and missed all of last season due to injury. 

Oregon State - Braden Atkinson, sophomore 

Atkinson, a Mercer transfer, beat out incumbent starter Maalik Murphy in fall camp. Atkinson threw for 3,596 yards and 34 touchdowns with 11 interceptions last season and won the Jerry Rice Award (top freshman in FCS). 

San Diego State - Jayden Denegal, fifth-year senior

Denegal, a fifth-year senior who began his college career at Michigan, made 12 starts for San Diego State last year while playing through a shoulder injury and threw for 1,807 yards and nine touchdowns with eight interceptions. Denegal is fully healthy entering his senior season. 

Texas State - Brad Jackson, sophomore

A Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year frontrunner, Jackson completed 71 percent of his passes as a redshirt freshman while throwing for 3,224 yards and 21 touchdowns with seven interceptions. He also had 744 rushing yards and 17 scores. 

Utah State - McCae Hillstead, junior

Hillstead, who boomeranged from Utah State to BYU to Utah State, locked down the starting quarterback job in spring practice. He made four starts for the Aggies as a true freshman in 2023 but played sparingly in two seasons with the Cougars. 

Washington State - Caden Pinnick, sophomore

Pinnick, a UC Davis transfer, was officially named the starting quarterback last week. He had a monster freshman season at the FCS level, throwing for 3,206 yards and 32 touchdowns with 10 interceptions en route to Big Sky Freshman of the Year honors.