Fresno State Athletics
DeRuyter Announces 2015 Recruiting Class
2/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Signing Day Central Page with Recruit Bios
Feb. 4, 2015
By Jason Clay
jaclay@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State head coach Tim DeRuyter announced his 2015 recruiting class Wednesday on National Signing Day.
The Bulldogs signed 14 players on Wednesday to National Letters of Intent (NLIs) and have 17 total players as a part of their 2015 recruiting class counting three prospects that are already on campus.
"I'm really excited that the hard work of our staff paid off," DeRuyter said. "The class we just signed, we got three kids that are from right here in the Valley and we hit a bunch of our need areas."
Fresno State's three Valley prospects were defensive back A.J. Greeley out of Fresno's Edison High School, 6-6, 320-pound offensive lineman Isaiah Trevino out of Kingsburg, Calif. and tight end Jared Rice from Modesto, Calif. Rice led Central Catholic High School, the same high school Fresno State Director of Athletics Jim Bartko graduated from, to three state championships over the past three seasons.
"We signed a really athletic tight end in Jared Rice," DeRuyter added. "Down in Kingsburg we signed a 6-6, 320-pound massing offensive lineman in Isaiah Trevino and then right here in Fresno, A.J. Greeley is a terrific athlete, he can play on both sides of the ball and help us in the return game and we are excited about him."
A fourth product who will be returning to the Valley is defensive end Mason Bradley. Bradley grew up in Porterville, Calif. through the eighth grade before moving up to around the Seattle, Wash. area for high school.
Two of the main focus areas for the Bulldogs with this recruiting class were up front on the offensive line and in the defensive backfield with the secondary. Fresno State signed four, big and lengthy offensive linemen on Wednesday and have a total of five linemen as a part of this class with current Bulldog Jacob Vazquez being put on scholarship in 2015 after walking-on last year.
"We knew the first two years coming here that we were thin up front, we ended up having to sign a few classes with junior college players," DeRuyter said. "Ideally, we would like to bring our own players in and grow them and we think this is a great nucleus of guys and when you stack last year's class with this one, we feel like the future is extremely bright up front. Coach (Cameron) Norcross is going to do a terrific job with those guys."
The size and the length to the linemen in this class was key to the coaching staff. Along with Trevino, Ben Northup out of Glendora, Calif. is 6-6, 330-pounds. Zack Kinninger from Cypress, Texas is 6-5, 295 pounds. Upland, Calif. prospect Donnie Greene is 6-3, 280-pounds. All of the linemen come from championship caliber programs and stack up with the five signed up front in the 2014 class to give the Bulldogs great depth.
Then in the secondary, Fresno State inked four defensive backs and one of those - junior college transfer Alan Wright - is already on campus as he was a January enrollee.
"The other need area that we've had in the last couple years that we've addressed with some really good length this year is in the secondary," DeRuyter said. "We've got some guys that can immediately, potentially, come in and compete for playing time."
Greeley was named to the Fresno Bee's Fab 50 list of the top football players in the Valley. Joining Greeley as defensive backs to sign on Wednesday were Mike Bell out of Moreno Valley, Calif. (Citrus Hill HS) and Jalen Smith from Houston, Texas (St. Pius X HS). Bell is 6-3, 190 pounds while Smith is 5-11, 175. Wright is 6-1, 185, so the Bulldogs got a good combination coming in of athleticism and length in the secondary.
Two other key positions the Bulldogs wanted to hit in this recruiting cycle were at quarterback and kicker. Fresno State back in December signed Chason Virgil out of West Mesquite, Texas to a Grant-in-Aid and he enrolled in January at Fresno State so he can compete at quarterback this spring. Then at kicker, the Bulldogs inked junior college All-American Jimmy Camacho out of Riverside Community College.
"Another highlight was at the quarterback position," DeRuyter said. "He took a couple of trips to Power 5 conference schools, didn't see exactly what he wanted and came in here in December, fell in love with Fresno State and is actually here on our campus competing this spring. We're really excited to have him as a part of this class."
Camacho was 21-of-26 on field goal attempts as a freshman last year at RCC and hit 3-of-4 tries from over 50 yards with a long of 53.
"A huge need for us was to get a scholarship kicker," DeRuyter said. "We were happy with what Kody (Kroening) did, but we wanted to bring some competition in and finding Jimmy Camacho who was a junior college All-American was big for us. He has a big-time leg and I believe he kicked 90 percent of his kickoffs out of the end zone as well as hitting over 50-yard field goals in games. He is really excited about the opportunity to come here to Fresno State and make an immediate impact."
The Bulldogs will lose two defensive line starters off their 2014 team and to address the attrition there, Fresno State signed two defensive linemen in this class. Along with Bradley, Fresno State brought in Jaleel Carter from Houston, Texas' Alief Elsik High School - the same high school that current Bulldog cornerback Malcolm Washington is from.
"We're trying to get some guys we are going to grow into players," DeRuyter said of his defensive linemen signees. "We feel good about those guys coming in that will boost our defensive line."
Two of the signees of this class that are maybe the most dynamic are linebackers James Bailey out of Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas and Nela Otukolo from Las Vegas' Bishop Gorman High School, the same school that current Bulldog linebacker Robert Stanley came from.
"We've signed two impact linebackers," DeRuyter proudly stated. "In this defense, you got to have guys make plays at the linebacker position and James Bailey and Nela Otukolo are two big-time players, guys that had multiple offers, guys that are dynamic football players that are going to be very impactful."
Bailey was a first-team All-District selection by the Austin Statesman after recording 79 tackles and 11.0 tackles for a loss as a senior. Otukolo comes from the powerhouse program in Bishop Gorman that ended last year ranked as the No. 1 high school program in the nation by USA Today. Otukolo had 122 tackles his senior season in leading the Gaels to a 15-0 record and the programs sixth-straight state championship, a couple of which he won with Stanley as his prep teammate.
Effected by injuries at running back last season, and knowing they will have losses at that position due to graduation, Fresno State early on had been in the market for an impact running back. Two recruiting cycles ago they identified Bryson Oglesby from Fort Bend Austin High School in Texas as a big-time playmaker and was able to sign him on Wednesday to become a Bulldog. Oglesby's high school mascot was also the Bulldogs.
"Bryson Oglesby is one we identified last spring and was a very highly recruited prospect out of Sugar Land, Texas," DeRuyter said. "He committed to us early and we were able to hang on to him. We really think he is going to be a terrific back going forward."
Oglesby was also recruited by Houston, Illinois and Toledo, but chose the Bulldogs. He once rushed for 334 yards and four touchdowns in a game against Clements High School.
Fresno State is set to begin spring ball on March 2 and concludes spring practices on Saturday, March 28.
