Fresno State Athletics
Mathews Shines in Spring Scrimmage
4/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 12, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - For the second straight week Pat Hill's football team completed a 40-play scrimmage. The Bulldogs, greeted by nearly 500 fans at Bulldog Stadium, held the session in 90-plus degree heat Saturday afternoon. The three key elements of the scrimmage included sessions of "over the field", "second down and long" and "compete zone", from the 25-yard line.
The highlight of the scrimmage was Fresno State's phenomenal sophomore running back Ryan Mathews, who touched the ball just three times but electrified the crowd and his team mates nonetheless.
On the first play of the scrimmage from the 10 yard line, Mathews bowled over a defender and bounced to the outside and would have scored on a 90 yard run but Hill whistled the play dead once Mathews cleared the secondary. He added a five yard carry later in the scrimmage, and on his last carry, showed some nice moves on a run up the middle for a 42-yard touchdown.
After his second touchdown run, a Bulldog defensive player was heard to say "I'm glad he's on our team."
Mathews scored 14 touchdowns last season for the Bulldogs, the most by any NCAA freshman running back. He was second among freshmen nationally at nearly six yards per carry in 2007.
Other scrimmage highlights include some nice plays by running back Kyle Duffy, who scored on a 2-yard run and added a 16 yard reception.
Redshirt freshmen kicker Kevin Goessling continued to perform well in the spring. He made five of seven field goal attempts, including long-range shots from 43, 49 and 50 yards. Goessling is taking over for three-year starter Clint Stitser, and appears be next in a long-line of great Bulldog kickers in the Pat Hill era. Under Hill and special teams guru John Baxter, the Bulldogs have produced four of the school's top seven kickers, including Asen Asparuhov, Jeff Hanna, Brett Visintainer and Clint Stitser.
Senior quarterback Tom Brandstater was in for just two series of the scrimmage and completed 3-of-5 passes for 28 yards. He connected on a 19-yard pass play to All-WAC tight end Bear Pascoe, who also saw limited action.
Sophomore Ryan Colburn completed 4-of-9 passes for 60 yards while redshirt freshman Matt Faulkner went 3-for-8 for 26 yards.
Running back Lonyae Miller had 23 yards and six rushing attempts and added two receptions for 13 yards.
Jamel Hamler led the receiving corps with 35 yards on two receptions. Redshirt freshman tight end Ryan Skidmore had two receptions for 25 yards.
The defensive highlight was provided by linebacker Nick Bates, who came up with the only turnover on an interception. Chris Carter started the play with good pressure on Faulker and tipped the attempted pass to Bates, who grabbed it and made a nice return. Bates had two tackles in the scrimmage as well.
Redshirt freshman linebacker Kyle Knox had three tackles in scrimmage, as did cornerback Sharrod Davis. Quaadir Brown had two tackles, one for a loss of 2 yards. Senior end Ikenna Ike was credited with a quarterback sack.
"We saw some good things out there," said Hill. "It was hot and the guys were tired but some of the young guys are getting plenty of reps. We don't have the numbers right now to do as many live plays as we would like. We only have three healthy offensive tackles and they are rotating through, but we don't want to beat them up."
Hill is also using the scrimmage situations to work on the 40-second play clock, a change to college football that will emulate what the NFL had done for the last few years. The play clock begins at 40 seconds once the previous play is whistled dead.
"This new 40-second play clock is going to create a faster pace to the game of college football," said Hill. "We need to continue to work on that. We always strive for a fast pace but this will be something new we will have to get used to."
According to Hill, there we no injuries suffered in today's scrimmage.
At the end of the scrimmage, Hill once again recognized the 2007 seniors by presenting each with a framed jersey. The jerseys were donated by members of the Fresno State Quarterback Club. Several members of the 2007 senior class attending the scrimmage, including team MVP Clifton Smith, All-WAC end Tyler Clutts, All-WAC center Ryan Wendell and kicker Clint Stitser. In addition, several former Bulldogs have been attending spring practices, including Cincinnati Bengals' defensive lineman Bryan Robinson.
The Bulldog will hold their final scrimmage next Saturday at 2 p.m. in Bulldog Stadium. The public is invited and admission is free. A reminder to fans, that Fresno State has requested fans not take any video footage of the final scrimmage.
The Bulldog Shop will be selling merchandise and the Bulldog Ticket Office will be open selling season tickets and mini-plans for the 2008 season.
Next week's scrimmage will be broadcast live on KMJ radio beginning at 2 p.m.
The Bulldog have one week of spring ball remaining before taking a hiatus. The Dogs open Fall training camp August 5.
Fresno State has been among the early Top 25 polls for the 2008 season by both ESPN.com and CBSSportsline.com. Several national media agencies have already begun working on Bulldog features for the upcoming season.
The Dogs open the 2008 season on Labor Day at Rutgers in a nationally televised game on ESPN. It will be one of six nationally televised games this coming year.
Join the State - Fresno State! Ticket information for the 2008 Bulldog football season is available by clicking the tickets icon at the top of this page. The Dogs open the home season on Sept. 13 vs. Big Ten powerhouse Wisconsin.
