Christian Chapman to miss San Diego State spring football

San Diego State starts spring football on Monday — the first Mountain West team do begin their spring workouts, — with one key player not going to be able participate.

Starting quarterback Christian Chapman will be out with the team but he will be unable to throw as he is still recovering from thumb surgery which he had after the Las Vegas Bowl victory over Houston.

“Probably the biggest situation is that our quarterback Christian Chapman will be out there,” SDSU head coach Rocky Long said during Friday’s media session. “He won’t be able to take a snap or throw a pass because he had his thumb operated on at the end of the season. He’s not ready to go yet. “

There are only two quarterbacks on the roster who can actually throw during spring and that is sophomore Ryan Agnew who will be taking over the first-team reps and get most of the work. The other is Neil Boudreau, also a sophomore, but he is actually a punter but is moving to quarterback during spring to help with depth. He played quarterback in high school so it is not as if Boudreau is making the move out of the blue.

Depth is limited not just due to the Chapman injury but four walk-on quarterbacks left the program in Jimmy Walker, Mason Hall, Casey Brown and Daniel Prieto.

To combat that depth Long will dip into his coaching staff who have quarterback experience to throw a few passes when needed.

Help is on the way as the San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that a graduate transfer this summer, and there will be a pair of freshman arriving in Mark Salazar (Rancho Bernardo High) and Cam Roane (Texas’ Heritage High) who are from the 2017 signing class.

Here is the complete press conference from Long talking spring football.