Arizona State football to name freshman Jaden Rashada starting quarterback

Jaden Rashada may have been the No. 3 quarterback in the spring but the promising true freshman has worked his way up the depth chart and will indeed be the starter when the Arizona State Sun Devils open the regular season Aug. 31 against Southern Utah at Mountain America Stadium.

Coach Kenny Dillingham will likely address that decision when he next meets with the media which will come after practice on Wednesday.

The battle first seemed to be between red-shirt junior Trenton Bourguet, who started the last five games last season, and Notre Dame transfer Drew Pyne. But Pyne injured a hamstring in the Sun Devils scrimmage at Camp Tontozona on Aug. 12 and has not practiced since, taking him out of the mix.

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Rashada, a 6-foot-4, 185-pounder out of Pittsburg High School in Northern California, has benefited from extra reps and performed well in practices, with a couple of 40-yard plus connections with junior wide receiver Elijhah Badger among the highlights. He is the best athlete of the trio and has an NFL-type arm. The biggest question was how quickly he would grasp the offense, but his performances lately have had him on an upward trajectory.

Rashada was dubbed a four-star prospect by all the major recruiting services and his landing at ASU was considered quite a coup for Dillingham. Rashada had originally signed with Florida but was released from a letter of intent there after a lucrative NIL deal fell through and he re-opened his recruitment.

Rashada was rated by ESPN as the No. 27 overall recruit in the 2023 class while 247Sports had him No. 44 nationally and No. 6 at quarterback.

Dillingham had an established relationship with Rashada, having recruited him earlier and that paved the way for the quarterback to end up in Tempe. Rashada's father Harlen also played for ASU, competing at defensive back for ASU from 1990-92.

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Bourguet is in his fifth year in the program but it wasn't until last season that he saw significant time on the field. He started last season second on the depth chart to Florida transfer Emory Jones but turned in a signature performance, going an efficient 15-for-21 for 182 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Sun Devils to a 45-38 upset over Washington, rallying the team after Jones got injured.

His first career start came two weeks later against Colorado in Boulder. He threw for 435 yards, completing 32 of 43 passes with three touchdowns in a 42-34 Sun Devil victory.

On the season Bourguet completed 145 of 204 passes for 1,490 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. His 71.08 completion percentage was second to Oregon's Bo Nix.

Rashada will be the second true freshman to start a season opener at that position, the first being Jayden Daniels who started in the 2019 season opener and held that position for three years before transferring to LSU.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State football to start Jaden Rashada at quarterback