Talent is rising to the forefront in first week of fall camp

FRESNO, Calif. – Through four practices of fall camp, the Fresno State football team is starting to see development across the board and at positions that maybe the Bulldogs entered fall camp with question marks at.

It is still early in that assessment, as the team has yet to put on full pads, but all indicators are that this team is seeing an emergence on both sides of the ball at a quicker pace than what others outside of the program might expect. With Fresno State putting on full pads for the first time coming up on Monday, that will be proven over the next week as camp progresses.

"We are making progress every day," head coach Tim DeRuyter said. "Our veteran guys are still doing a really nice job of taking things we installed over the spring, through the summer and having great retention. We are seeing some guys making some explosive plays."

Areas of concern entering the season was on the offensive and defensive lines and at running back.

Junior Dontel James has looked sharp early on in camp and is living up to what comes natural to the 6-0, 224-pound tailback, and that is being physical and explosive. This camp however, his vision of seeing the holes has greatly improved like you would expect from one of the older backs on the team.

"He seems to be a little bit more fluid, more explosive," DeRuyter said of James. "His vision has allowed him to make some good cuts and have some explosive plays."

That was evident Sunday in the team periods. First early on when the `Dogs were drilling red zone scenarios, he was able to spot the hole, put his foot in the ground and cut up the field for a big gain. Later on in another team period driving the field on scripted plays he broke off two other sizable gains gashing the defense up the middle.

The offensive line coming out of spring football had developed a solid first five. Junior college transfer Logan Hughes, a sophomore out of Victor Valley Community College, has started to emerge early in camp at tackle helping out on the depth on the offensive line. His pancake block in the third team period Sunday sure made an impression on the offense.

At cornerback Fresno State does have the luxury of returning both starters in seniors Jamal Ellis and Tyquwan Glass, but depth behind those two was a bit unknown coming in to August. True freshman local product Juju Hughes has been making plays and has picked off passes in each of the last two practices, including intercepting Chason Virgil Sunday while going up against the No. 1 offense. That was the first pick Virgil has thrown this camp.

Junior college transfer CB Jerrell Sykes picked off a pass down the sideline in the third team session and Jackson Finch, another JC transfer working at safety, had a pick in 7-on-7. A third transfer, Ka'Lonn Milton has also been flashing in the secondary at cornerback along with redshirt freshman Mike Bell.

This is now two days in a row that the defense has intercepted three passes. Under new defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward, who has an impressive background leading secondary units, the Bulldogs appears to be on the right path to being a ball-hawking defense. The `Dogs only had nine interceptions in each of the last two seasons, but are looking to get back to the 2012 level when they picked off 22 passes to rank No. 3 in the country for most interceptions.

"We've done a good job so far of taking the ball away," Ward said. "We've had four or five turnovers the last two days, so we are doing a lot of those things. We still have to get better at running to the football and we still have not seen tackling yet, so that is a big thing we have to improve on from the spring."

Coming in to the year one of the known strengths would be in the receiving and tight end corps. That has played out just as one would expect with a host of different players flashing day-by-day and the quarterbacks have done a good job developing and delivering the ball in to the hands of the playmakers.

Virgil hit KeeSean Johnson on a touchdown pass in the red zone team period, while James Quentin Davis followed that TD up with a touchdown of his own, finding Delvon Hardaway on a slant in the end zone.

In one-on-ones against the defensive backs, Aaron Peck with has used his size well to give him an easy target for the quarterbacks to throw to. He even flashed his speed to get by one defender on a deep ball Sunday.

Now turning to full pads on Monday, DeRuyter looks to see the continued progress from his team.

"There is a lot of excitement, particularly for the coaches [with the pads coming on]," DeRuyter said. "I thought we've had two really effective days, yesterday and today in half pads, our guys are doing a much better job of learning how to practice and stay on their feet. But it is real football when we are in pads and we'll be more physical tomorrow."

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Fresno State Athletics

Talent is rising to the forefront in first week of fall camp

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Players Mentioned

Mike Bell

James Quentin Davis

Jamal Ellis

Tyquwan Glass

Delvon Hardaway

Juju Hughes

Dontel James

KeeSean Johnson

Aaron Peck

Chason Virgil

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