Cade Fennegan likely to start at quarterback for BYU in New Mexico Bowl

For the second straight year, Jaren Hall will be watching BYU's bowl game from the sidelines.

Hall will miss Saturday's New Mexico Bowl due to injury and most likely be replaced at quarterback by Cade Fennegan, sources close to the BYU football program told Universe Sports Wednesday.

Hall exited BYU's regular season finale at Stanford early with an ankle injury and has not participated in practices since then. A tweet from the official New Mexico Bowl Twitter account Wednesday evening included a photo of Hall walking off the team plane in a boot, leading head coach Kalani Sitake to tell media members Hall was 'looking.. close to not performing' in Saturday's affair with SMU. The original tweet showing Hall in a boot has since been deleted and replaced by a new tweet without any photos of Hall.

Backup quarterback Jacob Conover relieved Hall to close out the Cougars' win over Stanford, only to announce his intention to transfer out of the program less than a week later, thus elevating Fennegan from third on the depth chart to postseason starter.

Fennegan — a Dallas native — will likely face his hometown SMU Mustangs Saturday for his first career collegiate start, with the Boise State transfer having yet to take a snap at BYU since arriving in Provo prior to the 2021 campaign.

Fennegan accounted for 112 touchdowns and more than 7,000 total yards in three varsity seasons at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, originally committing to North Texas before flipping to Boise State while serving as a missionary in Rosario, Argentina. Fennegan appeared in three games for the Broncos in 2020, most notably in a 51-17 loss to No. 9 BYU where he threw for 182 yards with two touchdowns.

Saturday, 771 days after his encounter with the Cougars in Boise, Fennegan may lead BYU to battle against SMU in search of the 17th bowl victory in school history.