Cody Fajardo

Cody Michael Fajardo (Spanish pronunciation: [faˈxaɾðo]) (born March 29, 1992) is an American professional Canadian football quarterback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at the University of Nevada, Reno and was the Wolf Pack's starting quarterback from 2011 to 2014. Fajardo accounted for over 13,000 yards and 101 touchdowns in his career at Nevada.

Cody Fajardo
No. 7     Saskatchewan Roughriders
Born: (1992-03-29) March 29, 1992
Brea, California
Career information
StatusActive
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)QB
Height6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight215 lb (98 kg)
CollegeNevada
High schoolServite (CA)
Career history
As player
2015Oakland Raiders*
2015–2017Toronto Argonauts
2018BC Lions
2019–presentSaskatchewan Roughriders
*Offseason and/or practice roster only
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star2019
CFL West All-Star2019
Career stats
Passing completions381
Passing attempts541
Passing yards4,716
TD–INT23–9
Passer Rating104.3
Rushing touchdowns23

He won the Glenn Davis Award in 2009 as the best high school football player in California. Fajardo is of Spanish American descent.

Early years

Fajardo (also referred to as "The Champ") played high school football for Servite High School in Anaheim, California.[1][2] As a senior, he led Servite to a state championship and a No. 3 ranking in the national polling.[3] He won the Glenn Davis Award in 2009 as the best high school football player in California.[4]

Fajardo's father played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and his grandfather played for the Colorado Buffaloes.[3]

College career

Fajardo committed to the University of Nevada, Reno in late January 2010.[5] He was redshirted during the 2010 season as Colin Kaepernick completed a four-year run as the starting quarterback for the Nevada Wolfpack football team.

As a redshirt freshman, Fajardo became the starting quarterback for 2011 Nevada Wolf Pack football team.[6] Playing against Texas Tech in the third game of the 2011 season, Fajardo rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries and completed four of six passes for 59 yards and a touchdown. On October 15, 2011, he led the Wolfpack to a 49–7 win over New Mexico, running for two touchdowns and completing 20 of 25 passes for 203 yards.[7][8][9] He finished 2011 with 1,707 passing yards, 6 passing touchdowns and 694 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.

Fajardo had 2,786 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, 1,121 rushing yards, and 12 rushing touchdowns. In 2013, he passed 2,668 yards, 13 passing touchdowns, 621 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. As a senior in 2014, he passed for 2,498 yards, 18 passing touchdowns and rushed for 1,046 yards and 13 touchdowns. Fajardo accounted for 101 touchdowns in his career at Nevada.

Fajardo is one of only two players in NCAA history with 9,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing. The other player is Colin Kaepernick, who is also an alumnus of the University of Nevada.

Fajardo met his wife, Laura Voss (now Laura Fajardo), while playing football at Nevada. They got married in Reno, Nevada on March 16, 2019.

College statistics
Year Team Passing Rushing
GP Comp Att Pct Yards TD INT AVG Rtg Att Yards TDS AVG
2011 NEV 10 150 218 68.8% 1707 6 6 7.8 89.7 128 694 11 5.4
2012 NEV 12 246 367 67.0% 2786 20 9 7.6 97.5 190 1121 12 5.9
2013 NEV 10 243 358 67.9% 2668 13 3 7.5 98.3 141 621 8 4.4
2014 NEV 13 239 405 59.0% 2498 18 11 6.2 80.5 177 1046 13 5.9

Professional career

Oakland Raiders

After going undrafted in the 2015 NFL Draft, Fajardo signed with the Oakland Raiders on May 8, 2015.[10] On September 1, 2015, he was waived by the Raiders.[11]

Toronto Argonauts

On October 8, 2015, Fajardo was signed to the practice roster of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.[12][13] He re-signed with the Argonauts on May 17, 2016.[14] Fajardo scored his first professional rushing touchdown on July 13, 2016, before throwing his first professional touchdown pass on July 25, 2016. Fajardo would see his role expand during 2017 into a change-of-pace backup while starter Ricky Ray sat out with injury, but remained the short yardage quarterback when Ray returned. He scored the game-winning touchdown with 23 seconds remaining in the 2017 East Final in short-yardage, on a 1-yard plunge, sending the Argonauts to the 105th Grey Cup game.[15] The Argos would go on to win the championship game over the Calgary Stampeders. Although Fajardo showed considerable promise and poise when he played, the Argonauts were unable to sign him to a contract extension with the acquisition of James Franklin from the Edmonton Eskimos.

BC Lions

After failing to sign with the Argonauts and entering Free Agency, Fajardo signed with the BC Lions on February 16, 2018.[16] Fajardo continued his role as a short down rusher and change of pace quarterback behind Travis Lulay and Jonathan Jennings, registering 14 completions on 20 attempts for 153 yards, one touchdown and one interception, as well as 42 rushes for 108 yards and 5 more scores.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

On the third day of free agency in 2019, Fajardo signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on a one-year contract,[17] joining a quarterback room featuring Zach Collaros and David Watford. Fajardo became the starting quarterback following an injury to Collaros in the opening game of the season.[18] He led the team to a win on July 1, 2019, throwing for 430 yards against the Toronto Argonauts.[19] Fajardo continued to play well in the following weeks which prompted the Roughriders to trade Collaros to the Argonauts, solidifying their trust in Fajardo.[20] On October 21, 2019. Fajardo agreed to a two-year contract extension with Saskatchewan. He signed a contract extension through the 2022 season with the team on January 5, 2021.[21]

Career statistics
Legend
* Led the league
° CFL record
≈ Won the Grey Cup
± Grey Cup MVP
Bold Career high
Year Team Games Passing Rushing Playoffs
GP GS Comp Att Pct Yards TD INT AVG Rtg Att Yards TDS AVG GP Comp Att Pct Yards TD INT AVG Rtg Att Yards TDS AVG
2016 TOR 8 0 11 18 61% 107 2 0 5.9 114.8 21 89 3 4.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2017TOR≈ 18 0 18 30 60% 154 2 0 5.1 95.7 59 240 5 4.1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 1 1.0
2018 BC 18 0 14 20 70% 153 1 1 7.7 88.1 42 108 5 2.6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.0
2019 SSK 17 16 338 473 71% 4,302* 18 8 9.1 108.8* 107 611 10 5.7 1 27 41 66% 366 0 1 8.9 83.9 3 23 0 7.7
Totals 61 16 381 541 70% 4,716 23 9 8.7 104.3 229 1048 23 4.6 1 27 41 66% 366 0 1 8.9 83.9 7 27 1 3.9

References
  1. Ben Bolch (December 12, 2009). "Servite quarterback Cody Fajardo's reality exceeds his dreams". Los Angeles Times.
  2. "This Fajardo kid is alright". OCVarsity.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  3. "Cody Fajardo Bio". University of Nevada at Reno. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  4. Ben Bolch (January 3, 2010). "Player of the year: Cody Fajardo; Servite High quarterback had dream season capped with state championship". Los Angeles Times.
  5. "QB Cody Fajardo Makes His Choice". InsideSports.net. January 29, 2010. Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  6. Joe Santoro (October 12, 2011). "Fajardo retains starting QB job at UNR". Nevada Appeal.
  7. "Cody Fajardo Statistics". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  8. Joe Santoro (October 15, 2011). "Fajardo, Pack take bite out of New Mexico". Lahontan Valley News.
  9. "Cody Fajardo scores twice on the ground to lead ground attack, Nevada beats New Mexico 49–7". The Washington Post. October 16, 2011.
  10. "Raiders announce undrafted free agent signings". Raiders.com. May 8, 2015. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  11. "Raiders announce transactions". Raiders.com. September 1, 2015. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  12. Murray, Chris (October 15, 2015). "Wolf Pack alum Cody Fajardo signs with CFL team". rgj.com. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  13. "TRANSACTIONS – 2015". cfl.ca. Archived from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  14. "ARGOS SIGN QB CODY FAJARDO". argonauts.ca. May 17, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  15. "2017-11-19 Game Tracker - Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Toronto Argonauts (2454) - CFL.ca". CFL.ca. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  16. "Lions Add quarterback Cody Fajardo - BC Lions". February 15, 2018.
  17. "Riders sign quarterback Cody Fajardo - CTV News Regina". regina.ctvnews.ca. February 14, 2019.
  18. Vanstone, Rob; June 24, Regina Leader-Post Updated; 2019 (June 24, 2019). "Vanstone: Fajardo provides hope for Roughriders | Regina Leader-Post". Retrieved July 2, 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. "Cody Fajardo provides spark for Riders' passing attack". CFL.ca. July 2, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  20. TSN ca Staff (July 31, 2019). "Toronto Argonauts acquire quarterback Zach Collaros from the Saskatchewan Roughriders - TSN.ca". TSN. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  21. "Riders lock up All-Star quarterback Cody Fajardo through 2022 season". Riderville.com. January 5, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
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