Aggies Seem Ready To Make Manley Their QB;Freshman Rallied NMSU Last Week

Published Oct. 16, 2010 10:00 p.m. ET

foxsports

Now that the redshirt is off, let the quarterback competition officially begin. Andrew Manley has just 32 yards passing in his stillyoung college football career at New Mexico State (1-4, 0-1 Western Athletic Conference), but it seems as if the critical completions that sealed last week's 16-14 win over New Mexico have gone a lot farther than that.

Opening-game starter Matt Christian's status remains uncertain for tonight's meeting with Fresno State (3-2, 1-1), but New Mexico State coach DeWayne Walker certainly doesn't sound like he plans to let Manley accumulate splinters on the Aggie bench even if Christian is healthy.

"If he (Manley) becomes the starter, hopefully he can play the way he did in the last five minutes of the (UNM) game. If he's not the starter, and we need to go to him, then hopefully he's our heroic player," Walker said. "Regardless of how you look at it, he's gonna play. You don't want to take a kid's redshirt from him, and (then) he just stands on the sideline. That's not fair to the kid, so he's gonna play in some fashion for this football team."

Manley, a true freshman from Wahiawa, Hawaii, hadn't set foot on the field this season until the waning moments against UNM. He received the opportunity because redshirt freshman QB Tanner Rust had been largely ineffective in place of Christian, who suffered a shoulder injury in the previous week's 59-0 loss to Boise State.

The entrance of Manley gave a jolt to what had been a one-dimensional offense by reviving the threat of the forward pass. Walker spoke highly of the freshman in the preseason, and Manley's performance in practice left no doubt in his teammate's minds that he could perform when called upon.

"Manley is comfortable," said senior running back Seth Smith. "He got in and just made his throws. He showed the same thing in practice. "(We're) just confident when he gets in - he can play."

Completing two passes at home against what is widely regarded as one of the nation's worst teams and playing 60 minutes in a hostile environment against a Fresno State team that has yearly bowl aspirations are two different things.

Christian, who originally signed with the Bulldogs out of high school and redshirted before transferring to Palomar Junior College in 2008, will likely do everything he can to play against his former team.

"The Fresno game would get him to try to push it a little harder, but he's such a competitor, he just wants to try to get back to help our football team win more games," Walker said while rating Christian's current health as a "5" on a scale of 1 to 10.

Walker hinted Manley might get the starting nod regardless of whether Christian reaches 100 percent by game time.

"I would think you would have to seriously consider Manley as the starter. (If) Matt doesn't practice all week, and Manley and Tanner are competing and we feel like Manley has a better week, I have no problem starting him," Walker said.

Manley helped end an 11-game NMSU skid dating to last season and gave the program its first backto-back wins over New Mexico since the 1998 and 1999 seasons. It's not surprising the Aggie coach has confidence in the young QB he calls "the puppy."

"He's just a kid that has all the instincts," Walker said. "When I look at him in practice, he has this presence about himself. To be a young kid that brings all that ... is pretty impressive." Today

New Mexico State at Fresno State, 8:30 p.m. TV: ESPNU Radio: KDEF-AM (1150)