Fresno State Athletics
Competition the Theme for Spring Football
3/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 4, 2015
By Jason Clay
jaclay@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - Two practices into spring football, Fresno State head coach Tim DeRuyter is learning the characteristics of his 2015 team and feels like it has the makings to be a gritty group.
"I like the way our guys compete," DeRuyter said after practice on Wednesday morning. "I think we got a bunch of young guys that are learning a ton, but they are not letting that slow them down. There's some good competition at a ton of positions and I think the quarterbacks are making some progress as are our wide receivers. It's just a bunch of guys going out and competing against each other."
This mentality of the team developed right after the end of last season and the Bulldogs set the tone of really competing against one another during winter workouts. Falling in the 2014 Mountain West Championship and finishing the season with a 6-8 record last year as fueled this year's group to get back up to the top.
Now that they are out on the field, the coaching staff is enjoying seeing the vigor at which the team has started spring ball with.
"It's early but I think we got a really blue-collared group," DeRuyter said. "We don't have a bunch of kids that people know about, but we've got some talent and the thing I like about our guys is we got a pretty good work ethic of guys challenging and competing against each other."
The next three practices will be more telling as the tempo and physicality will pick up. Fresno State will go in full pads for the first time this spring on Friday, where they will be in just "thud" to work on tackling technique and then be live on Saturday. The Bulldogs will hold their first scrimmage next Monday, March 9, to get a first glimpse on where they are at.
"I do think that this group has an energy and commitment to competing a little different than in years past," DeRuyter said. "I think we've got guys that are a little bit closer ability wise in our ones and twos, which is always a good thing. When you have established ones and guys are maybe a little bit younger or talent-wise there is a little bit of a drop off, sometimes those ones can get comfortable. Today we got competition at just about every position and if you have a bad day someone is going by you."
In both Monday and Wednesday's practices, the Bulldogs were in extended individual periods where they drilled fundamentals and technique with their positions.
That will be the case for the majority of spring ball, as the `Dogs don't have plans for getting too exotic in the installs of their schemes. Instead, they are more focused on the development of their young squad and sending them off on the right path as they finish up their work on the field and transition into the strength training and conditioning period that takes up the latter part of the spring and all summer.
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