Fresno State QB Jake Haener Prepared to Take Success To Next Level As Best QB at the Senior Bowl
There’s a No. 1 quarterback at every Senior Bowl but it has been a while since a signal-caller has separated himself from the rest of the pack at the event quite like Jake Haener of Fresno State.
That quiet confidence he’s shown throughout the entirety of his college career has been a huge factor in his success, as has his consistency that has shined through. Haener finished the first day of the event 9-of-14 during the one-on-one period and 10-of-12 during the team period, something that is even more impressive when you look at the adjusted completion percentage.
“I feel like I’ve been pretty consistent so far with my accuracy and you know there’s just something with progression reads that are a little off and timing and things like that, which happen,” Haener said. “But I feel like the ball has been popping off my hand pretty good and when I have to, throwing into tight windows.”
Haener says he came into the event with the mentality of separating himself and has kept his focus of confidence, leadership he’s been commended for with the Bulldogs and “keeping the offense moving in the right direction.”
The feedback he’s received from the Senior Bowl coaching staff has largely come down to a sense of keep on keeping on.
“Just to continue doing what I’m doing and play with a little more anticipation,” Haener said. “Speed up, speed up my process. The faster you play, the better you play. So you just continue to try to do that.”
And the Fresno State offense run by Jeff Tedford is something he says has prepared him well for the next level.
“I think it translates really well,” Haener said. “Teddy was an offensive coordinator in the NFL and did a lot of really good things in the league and has produced a lot of really good quarterbacks. A lot of things I was doing in protection, a lot of things I was doing conceptually will help me in the league and hopefully put me in a spot where I can shine.”
Haener describes his pre-snap responsibilities between the 2021 and 2022 seasons as “night and day,” as he shouldered more of a load behind the line of scrimmage.
“The more you get older and the more you get comfortable in a system, the more you can handle,” Haener said. “I feel like I did more with protections and concepts to give my guys different things and feeling comfortable with it. I allowed us to play faster and keep the defense on their toes.”
Even though Haener can be looked at something of an emerger and a bit of a discovered unknown to those who have not studied his tape enough when he flew under the radar in the MWC, the talent from both a tangibles and an intangibles perspective has always been there.
And the knocks on size and age shouldn’t matter. After all, countless shorter quarterbacks like Russell Wilson have succeed at shorter than flat 6-foot that Haener measured in at and years of age, is well, nothing but a mere number.
“Stetson (Bennett is) about two years older than I am,” Haener said. “I’m still 23 and there’s a lot of quarterbacks out there about 23, 24 at this point so age I don’t think is a big deal. And height, it is what it is. I can’t control that and there’s probably a lot of people saying that if I was one or two inches taller that I’d probably be going a lot higher than I’ll go but I can’t control that. I play bigger than I am and do everything that I can in my power to get guys fired up and play at a high level that I’m capable of.”
After playing through injury and adversity in the 2021 season, coupled with the work he put in to bounce back from a severe injury he was carted off the field for in the midst of 2022 before returning to take the snaps for the remainder of the year, Haener feels he’s left it all out on the field and knows what he brings to the table.
“I feel like people have gotten a pretty good judgment of what I can do and I think it will continue to get better. Here I feel like is kind of a rough estimate of what accuracy looks like. How the ball comes off my hand. I feel like people can see that I throw a nice ball and that I have the arm strength there. When I get with guys I’m comfortable with, a system I’m comfortable in, I will continue to get better.”
