San Diego State QB Jayden Denegal returns healthy for senior season
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Jayden Denegal is healthy and motivated for his senior season, which should bode well for the San Diego State Aztecs heading into the first season of the reborn Pac-12 Conference.
As it was, the Aztecs rebounded from a dismal 3-9 finish in 2024 to a 9-4 record and their first bowl berth in three seasons, even with Denegal playing through issues with both shoulders.
He finished with 1,807 yards and nine touchdowns, against eight interceptions, before opting to have his non-throwing left shoulder surgically repaired just a few days before the New Mexico Bowl. He also reported fatigue in his throwing shoulder, saying it forced him to scale back practice time as the season progressed.
Dengal timed the surgery so he’d be healthy for spring drills. Now he’s in his second camp on Montezuma Mesa with clear goals for this season.
“I want to be a more efficient passer,” he said. “I definitely was struggling with passing because I had problems with both shoulders, and so with my throwing shoulder being better, and then my left shoulder being better, knowing I can take some hits I can play a little more aggressive.”
Also back are Denegal’s top four targets from last season, including all three starting wide receivers. Plus, his backup from last year, Bert Emanuel Jr., has moved to wide receiver to better take advantage of the big-play capabilities he showed in the New Mexico Bowl before he got hurt.
Leading the returning skill position players is senior Lucky Sutton, who led the Mountain West with 1,297 yards rushing during his breakout 2025 season.
“We're going to incorporate the tempo more. I feel like we kind of slacked with that a little bit last year,” Denegal said. “We want to be playing faster and playing with more explosive plays. Not as many three-and-outs. We want to get that first down and get rolling and have some explosive plays.”
Denegal transferred to SDSU after three seasons at Michigan, where his playing time was limited. He backed up J.J. McCarthy during the national championship season of 2023.
Denegal is pumped to have a full wide receiver room, although Jordan Napier and Jacob Bostick are coming off surgeries.
“I think that's what the whole fall camp is about,” Denegal said. “You know, me and Bostick, I'm going to keep coming to him. Napier is coming back from his injuries, so I'm going to keep coming to him. Donovan Brown, like all my guys, we're going to continue to keep building that chemistry like we've been doing all summer and into fall camps. Now it's just in the pads, live against the defense and everything like that. So, I think throughout camp our chemistry is going to continue to go up, but I'm super excited.”
What Denegal’s coach said
Matt Johnson is both the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and he’s impressed with where Denegal and the rest of the QBs are, including transfer Stone Saunders from Kentucky.
“So obviously, JD brings back a ton of leadership for the offense. Obviously, he brings back the experience, which is really good. But the biggest thing for me is he's bringing back that level of maturity in the offense of a guy who's gone through this system before,” Johnson said.
Johnson expressed the importance of continuity at quarterback
“I mean, it's the first time for me personally in four years I've had a returning, starting quarterback,” he said. So that is naturally different. You're naturally having higher-level conversations between myself and Jayden.
“But even with Stone, with him being able to early enroll, be here for the spring, he's gotten countless reps in the spring that we're able to add onto, so it's not like we're starting at a base ground level. The conversations are a lot more in depth, which is really good. It doesn't feel like we're having the same conversations over and over and over again.”
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Bernie Wilson recently retired from The Associated Press after nearly 41 years, including stops in Spokane, Los Angeles and, for the final 33 years, San Diego. He grew up in Coeur d'Alene and graduated from the University of Idaho.