Fresno State Athletics
DeRuyter to Bring New Brand of Football
12/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 15, 2011
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FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State football fans will see a new style of football come Saturday's next fall with the hiring of new head coach Tim DeRuyter.
DeRuyter, who was introduced as Fresno State's 17th head coach in program history on Wednesday, has visions of installing an up-tempo approach to the game on both offense and defense.
"We're going to put a product on the field that the fans are going to be extremely proud of," DeRuyter said. "It's going to be up-tempo and fast. When you play football, you got to be passionate about playing the game.
"We're going to talk a lot of the time about playing with fanatical effort. That's a level that most aspire towards and doesn't come naturally. As long as our guys understand that we are going to approach this with fanaticism, that's going to be the winning edge for us on both offense and defense."
DeRuyter was able to talk with the team for the first time on Wednesday. Players came away from the meeting impressed with not only the coaching philosophy that he is going to bring with him, but also his energy.
"He's very energetic. I'm the same exact person, so I'm excited for that," first team All-WAC wide receiver Jalen Saunders said when asked about his first impression of the new coach. "He definitely revived us. A lot of people have been down this past week and a half, but everyone seemed excited after we walked out of [the team meeting]."
Defense is where DeRuyter has made his name in the business and he is going to install his highly successful 3-4 scheme.
"Defense, to me, in many ways in an attitude," he said. "We're going to play with fanatical effort that I think our fans are going to be excited to see. Our guys are going to hit that field ready to attack and we're going to be a 3-4 multiple pressure-based defense."
To two-time all-conference linebacker Travis Brown, that was music to his ears.
"It's based off the Steelers defense, so I've seen them play and I'm excited about being in this defense," Brown said. "I'm excited to get some blitzes in and am excited to see what we can do on defense."
Brown was pleased to learn that the new head coach was rooted in defense.
"Yeah, I do like that, especially since we have been struggling this last year on defense," Brown said when asked about the hiring of a defensive-minded coach. "I feel like it will help us dramatically."
On the offensive side of the ball, DeRuyter inherits an offense that returns a number of proven playmakers. He plans to take advantage of that by installing a spread offense to help get his players in space.
"Fans are going to see an offense that's going to be no-huddle and attacking a defense in a number of different ways," DeRuyter said. "We are going to spread the field horizontally, we're going to spread it vertically by taking vertical shots, and try to put a defense on its heels with our tempo."
Running back Robbie Rouse, who is 317 yards away from becoming the all-time leading rusher in Fresno State history, believes that philosophy will fit perfectly.
"We got great guys in space, so if we spread it out, teams are not going to be able to defend us," Rouse said. "If we spread it out, it will get more guys out of the box, which will open lanes for me and lanes for the receivers to throw it around."
Derek Carr, coming off one of the best seasons by a Bulldog quarterback in school history, is excited about the capabilities of this offense.
"It takes me back to my senior year in high school," Carr said in a recent interview with KMJ, the flagship station for the Bulldog Sports Network. "That was some of the most fun I ever had playing football, was in that same kind of offense."
Carr ran a very efficient offense this year and was able to spread the ball out evenly to the talented Bulldog receivers. Six different players caught 30 or more passes from Carr last season. That rarity is likely to be seen again next year as five of the six are set to return.
"We have a lot of talent with all the wide outs we have," Saunders said. "We have a lot of talent in the backfield too and have a lot of talent with Derek of course coming back. Our offensive line is all coming back just about, so I'm just hoping we come out this next season and improve on what we did this past season."
DeRuyter and the players know that this game is all about winning. At his introductory press conference, he said that the team's No. 1 goal will be to win conference championships.
"I believe we got all the talent in the world, and just from after hearing (coach DeRuyter) talk, I feel like he's got the strength and mentality to lead us there," Brown said. "We just got to make the plays to do it."
It appears with the new systems DeRuyter will be installing, the players will have many opportunities to make big plays.
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