Prior to Sacramento State taking the field Saturday against No. 19-ranked UC Berkeley, the biggest decision head coach Steve Mooshagian will have to make is who his starting quarterback will be.

In Mooshagian’s first two years in Sacramento, he didn’t have to make that decision ?” it was Ryan Leadingham’s job. Leadingham, the school leader in career passing yards with 8,376 and he also threw for 50 touchdowns, was the Hornets’ starting signal caller for most of his four seasonsSo who will Mooshagian put his faith behind? As of now, he is still unsure which guy ?” or guys ?” it will be.

“We are planning on at least two quarterbacks against both Cal and Cal Poly,” Mooshagian said. “I won’t say who those guys will be, but we have a little bit of an idea.”

Mooshagian and the rest of the offensive staff have had a close look at five different candidates for the job this year.

Out of the five, senior Brad Tredway is the only one to appear in a game for the Hornets. He played in four games last season and threw one touchdown in last season’s opener at Nevada. The other returning candidate is sophomore Crosby Wehr, who was the third-string quarterback last year. He didn’t play a down in 2004.

The other three guys are all transfers: senior Chris Hurd, junior Chris Cavendar and sophomore Tim Bessolo.

Hurd might be the guy Mooshagian is leaning towards if he can clear his ineligibility. He played briefly in 2002 at Washington State before transferring to Texas-El Paso in 2004. Mooshagian said Hurd definitely would be in his top two candidates if cleared.

The other two transfers both came from California junior colleges. Cavendar was a first-team all-Bay Valley Conference selection after throwing for 2,645 yards and 17 touchdowns at Mendocino College last season; Bessolo shared the starting job at Long Beach City College last season. Bessolo attended both Fresno State and Marshall before transferring to Long Beach.

Mooshagian might be undecided about who his quarterback will be, but come Sept. 3, two guys will have the chance to prove themselves against two top-tier opponents in Cal and Cal Poly. The Golden Bears finished in No. 2 place in the Pac-10 last season, while the Mustangs finished at 9-2 and were considered one of the top teams not to make the 16-team Div. I-AA playoffs.

Mitch McLaughlin can be reached at [email protected]