Fresno State has another intriguing piece to add to its offensive line as it enters a rebuilding Pac-12, with senior Gino Quinones receiving an additional year of eligibility from the NCAA.
It will be his eighth season of college football, which is unusual, obviously. But he is not the first to do it, won’t be the only one to do it this season and might not be the last to do it.
Quinones started his career at USC in 2019 and was in the same recruiting class as Atlanta Falcons receiver Drake London, who has played four NFL seasons and racked up more than 300 career receptions.
Quinones took a redshirt in his first season and from 2020 to 2024 played in 24 games at USC with three starts. He played in two games before a season-ending injury in 2023. He also received an additional year of eligibility due to COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in 2020. The 6-3, 297-pound interior lineman transferred to Fresno State last year, but in fall camp suffered the second season-ending injury in his career.
Miami linebacker Mohamed Toure reportedly also will play this season with an eighth year of eligibility, having taken a similar route as Quinones — a redshirt year, two medical waivers and a COVID waiver.
Fresno State defensive coordinator Nick Benedetto was in his first year at Northern Illinois in 2022 when linebacker Kyle Pugh was in his eighth and last season with the Huskies, having lost time due to biceps, shoulder and knee injuries and the pandemic.
Miami tight end Cam McCormick, who started his college career at Oregon, was actually on a roster for a ninth season in 2024 after losing nearly three full years to multiple leg injuries.
Quinones had a chance to start when he was injured last season and if healthy will be an interesting player to follow next month in spring practices, with the Bulldogs needing to replace starting center Jacob Spomer and left guard Julian Polendo from a line that played very well down the stretch of a 9-4 season. At USC, Quinones played at center and at the guard spots.
Fresno State has young talent along the offensive line, but it lacks experienced depth. Three starters return — left tackle Brayden Walton, left guard Edward Fonua and right tackle Rolan Fullwood, who in January was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. But the Bulldogs’ five starters last season all played 775 or more snaps. They do not have another lineman who played even 50 — guard Braylan Henderon played 35, center Ben Baker played 30, guard Marcus Simien played 25, and tackle Kyson Van Vugt played 13.
Incoming FBS (bowl subdivision) transfers Marquise Thorpe-Taylor did not play in his redshirt freshman season at UCLA, and Patrick Barnett played 35 snaps at Central Florida.
Quinones has played 280 career snaps, all at USC, with a high of 208 in 2022 when he appeared in a career-high 14 games.
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