Nevada senior quarterback Cody Fajardo is about to join an NCAA fraternity so exclusive that it only has one other member.
And the other member is the San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick, whom Fajardo succeeded as Nevada's quarterback.
Fajardo (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) has 3,021 career rushing yards and is 25 yards shy of 9,000 career passing yards; the only quarterback in FBS history to have the 3,000/9,000 double is Kaepernick, who passed for 10,098 yards and rushed for 4,112 yards at Nevada from 2007-10.
Fajardo has passed for 1,814 yards and rushed for 585 in eight games this season, meaning if the Wolf Pack go to a bowl he has a shot to become just the sixth player in history with 3,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in the same season. The others are Kaepernick, Northern Illinois' Chandler Harnish (2011), Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour (2007), Jordan Lynch (2012), Johnny Manziel (2012) and Texas' Vince Young (2005). BYU's Taysom Hill came close last season, finishing 62 yards away from 3,000 passing yards.
Fajardo's athleticism and versatility mean he has the potential to be a third-day draft pick, but he needs some work as a passer. He has a quick release, but Nevada's passing attack is of the dink-and-dunk variety (Fajardo averages just 6.5 yards per attempt and 10.4 per completion), and his arm strength and downfield accuracy are questionable.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
