A season to build on

Photo by: Keith Kountz/Fresno St

8/2/2018 10:00:00 AM | Football

By: Matt Burkholder / Director of Communications

FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State football team experienced a monumental turnaround in 2017, a turnaround so dramatic, it will forever be known as the second time in FBS history that a team won double-digit games just one season removed from a double-digit loss season. Furthermore, the Bulldogs' 10-4 season will stand for the time being in the FBS record books tied for the second-best win improvement in FBS history having improved by eight games – just a half game back from the all-time best turnaround.

The renaissance was led by Fresno State alumnus Jeff Tedford in his first year as the Bulldogs' head coach. Tedford, a quarterback for the Bulldogs from 1981-82 and assistant coach from 1992-97, restored the pride and tradition of Bulldog football. As a result, attendance spiked as Fresno State ranked No. 7 in the Football Bowl Subdivision for the greatest jump in attendance from the previous year, increasing by an average of 5,139 fans per game in 2017. Bulldog Stadium saw its best average attendance in the last three years.

The season included an appearance in the nation's top 25, clinching the Mountain West's West Division crown and the Bulldogs' first trip to the MW Championship Game since 2014. Fresno State capped its season with its first bowl victory since 2007, a 33-27 victory over Houston from the American Athletic Conference, at the Hawai'i Bowl.

Fresno State was one of 26 schools to finish 2017 with double-digit wins. Of those 26, just three joined Fresno State from the pacific time zone (San Diego State, USC and Washington) while the 'Dogs were the only West Coast team to win a bowl game last season

Coach Tedford was honored as the Mountain West Coach of the Year, and the team had 16 student-athletes recognized with MW postseason honors - the most for the Bulldogs in a single-season since joining the conference in 2012.

All this in only one season, which sits as the foundation for the Tedford era to build on in 2018. Fresno State returns 17 starters and 43 lettermen from last season's team while Tedford kept his staff intact outside of one departure. There are just 13 teams that return more starters than Fresno State in 2018.

Offense
With eight starters returning to the offensive side of the ball, Fresno State ties for 14th in the FBS in that category. Of those eight, five are two-year returning starters and two are three-year returning starters (KeeSean Johnson and Jamire Jordan). In total, the eight starters own a combined 175 career Fresno State starts between them.

Tedford, known as a quarterback guru having a history of first round NFL Draft picks under his mentorship in Kyle Boller (Cal), David Carr (Fresno State), Trent Dilfer (Fresno State), Joey Harrington (Oregon), Aaron Rogers (Cal) and Akili Smith (Oregon), turned over the keys to Valley native and Oregon State transfer Marcus McMaryion after the third game of the 2017 season and never looked back.

McMaryion stepped foot on a Fresno State practice field for the first time on Aug. 13 during the Bulldogs' 2017 fall camp and learned the team and system at a rapid pace. Despite that, he was 9-2 as a starter and was the first Bulldog to complete better than 60 percent of his passes since Derek Carr did so in 2013. The 2018 season is looking even brighter now that the Dinuba native will have had a spring and full fall camp to prepare for his senior campaign.

And with that, McMaryion will have all the tools necessary to succeed as it could be argued the Bulldogs have the top receiving corps in the Mountain West.

Senior KeeSean Johnson, the Bulldogs' active leader in career starts (35), enters 2018 as the nation's leader in consecutive games with a reception at 36. He needs just 54 receptions and 1,222 receiving yards to become the program's all-time leader in each of those categories entering his senior campaign with 180 career catches and 2,123 career receiving yards. Pair that with senior Jamire Jordan, a 33-game career starter with 188 career catches and 1,815 career receiving yards alongside senior-transfer Michiah Quick, from Oklahoma, and McMaryion should have all the firepower needed for a deadly aerial attack.

A very deep receiving corps also includes junior Derrion Grim, senior Justin Allen, senior Brian Burt, redshirt freshman Chris Coleman, and potential true freshmen playmakers in Ricardo Arias and Emoryie Edwards, who should all compete for playing time.

The Bulldogs' return their starter at tight end, senior Kyle Riddering, who will play alongside heavily relied upon junior Jared Rice. Riddering made nine starts in 2017 while Rice earned six, with four of those six starts coming in two tight end sets. Riddering, who is utilized more so on the line of scrimmage, caught eight passes for 54 yards and a touchdown last season. Meanwhile, Rice, who will also attach, is found downfield more often than not. Rice posted 22 receptions for 388 yards and two scores in 2017, which included a breakout performance in the Hawai'i Bowl, posting single game career bests in receptions (6) and receiving yards (84).

The ground game was a four-man attack a year ago, three of which were underclassmen in then-true freshmen Jordan Mims and Ronnie Rivers and then-true sophomore Josh Hokit. Joined by Dejonte O'Neal, who was a junior, all four are back to do it again in 2018. In fact, Fresno State returns 95 percent of its rushing yards from a year ago. Only 99 yards were lost from last year's ground game from departed wide receiver Da'Mari Scott (93) and quarterback Chason Virgil (6).

The freshmen duo of Mims and Rivers, who combined for 11 starts, accounted for 1,107 rushing yards while Hokit logged 583 yards, amounting to 1,690 yards of the team's 2,170 rushing yards. With Rivers anticipated to miss the start of the season due to a foot injury suffered in the spring, the door is open for Mims, Hokit or O'Neal to secure more of the workload, while now-eligible Romello Harris, a transfer from Washington State that sat out in 2017, could see some additional carries as well.

But it all starts up front, and if the Bulldogs' offensive line produces anything near to what it did in 2017, Fresno State is set for success. Fresno State allowed just seven sacks through 12 regular season games; the unit allowed 10 sacks over 14 games, equaling 0.71 sacks allowed per game, which ranked No. 3 in the nation. There were just four other teams that held their opponents under 1.00 sacks per game (Army, Marshall, Appalachian State) in 2017. Of those four, Fresno State was the only team that played 14 or more games. The 'Dogs allowed more than one sack in a game just twice in 2017 (at Alabama/at Boise State) and held six opponents without a sack.

The Bulldogs return three of the five offensive linemen that each started all 14 games last season. Back in 2018 include seniors Christian Cronk (LT) and Micah St. Andrew (RG), and sophomore Netane Muti (LG). Those three together combine for 71 career starts. St. Andrew is the team's leader with the most consecutive starts at 29, while Cronk (26) and Muti (14) have started every game they have played for the Bulldogs. Candidates to fill the two vacated spots of center and right guard are Markus Boyer (C), a transfer from UCLA who sat behind Aaron Mitchell on the depth chart last season, and sophomore Syrus Tuitele (RG), who sat behind David Patterson on the two-deep. It's likely that Muti will shift to left tackle and Cronk will slide inside to left guard if things develop as they did in the spring. St. Andrew took reps at center throughout the spring, but that was without Boyer practicing. Look for Boyer to compete to secure that role and St. Andrew to stay put at right guard, but he'll be ready to move to center if necessary. In addition, Quireo Woodley and Marc-David Bien-Aime will compete for playing time at guard while Nick Abbs and Nick Aibuedefe will challenge for playing time at tackle.

Defense
It will be hard to replicate what the Bulldogs' defense produced last year, having one of their most dominant seasons over the past 30 years, ranking No. 10 in the FBS in scoring defense (17.9), No. 11 in rushing defense (113.4), No. 15 in total defense (320.6) and No. 13 in fumbles recovered (12). That squad will return seven starters in 2018.

If the Bulldogs have any question marks, it will be because the defensive line lost all four of its starters. On the flip side, Fresno State returns its entire back seven.

Of all the Bulldogs' position groups, the defensive line saw the most rotation throughout 2017 so it will not be a complete rebuild. Sophomore Kevin Atkins (DL), sophomore Damien DeGruy (DE), junior Jasad Haynes (DL), junior Keiti Iakopo (DL), junior Kwami Jones (DE) and senior Emeka Ndoh (DE) all saw significant reps during the 2017 season. Atkins gained the most experience of that group seeing five starts, one in the middle of the season and the final four games of the year.

Statistically, Ndoh stands out the most of the returners on the defensive line, having posted 5.0 tackles for loss, including 4.0 sacks. Haynes returns the most tackles on the line from last year with 21, while Atkins was just behind with 19.

In addition, there are a handful of newcomers that will challenge the group above for playing time: freshmen Isaiah Johnson, Matt Lawson and Leonard Payne could all be impact players in 2018. Senior Patrick Belony, who has played in 16 career games but only four a year ago will also be looking to get into the mix.

Look for Jones and Ndoh to get the nod on the ends, Atkins and Haynes on the inside. But with so many vying for positioning, the look of the line could change quickly with so many options.

If the Bulldog wide receivers don't get honors for top position group in the league, the linebacker trio of junior middle linebacker Jeff Allison, and senior outside backers James Bailey and George Helmuth are next up to vie for that honor. Despite 16 Bulldogs picking up all-league honors in 2017, Allison was the sole player to earn first-team distinction last year. With a team leading 126 tackles, Allison was one of 15 FBS players to record 126 or more, and was one of two underclassmen with 126 or more. His tackle total was the most posted by a Bulldog since 2007.

Bailey, who has been making starts for the Bulldogs since his freshman year, enters 2018 as the team's active leader in career tackles with 177. Meanwhile, Helmuth, once a walk-on that was used sparingly, started the first game of his career in the fourth game of the season in 2017 and did not miss a start from that point on. He entered his junior season last year with 24 career tackles and broke out in 2017 with 89 tackles, including 8.0 TFLs and 4.0 sacks.

In the secondary, Fresno State returns eight of its nine interceptions produced a year ago. Leading the team in that department was junior Jaron Bryant. The 13-game starter at cornerback in 2017 was one of 13 FBS players to record multiple interception touchdown returns as he scored twice with a team-best four interceptions. The Bulldogs other starting corner, senior Tank Kelly, returns as arguably the Bulldogs' top cover corner despite not posting the same interception numbers as his counterpart. Kelly, known as one of the fastest players on the squad, led the team with nine pass break ups in 2017 and notched 45 tackles.

The safety spots both return with junior strong safety Juju Hughes and junior free safety Mike Bell. Hughes, a 14-game starter, ranked tied for fourth on the team with 71 tackles and recorded 7.0 tackles for loss and eight pass deflections. Bell missed the first two games of the season, but that did not stop him from leading all defensive backs with 77 tackles, including 51 solo stops.

Even though the Bulldogs have all four members of the secondary back, it will be stout with competition. Coming off their redshirt seasons as true freshmen are corners Wylan Free and Chris Gaston, who will be strong competition. Senior corners Matt Boateng and Sherman Coleman Jr. will also be looking for time. The cornerback group could prove to be the team's most competitive group in 2018.

Junior strong safety Ka'Lonn Milton and sophomore free safety Arron Mosby will provide stability to the safety positions while Kesomi Mafi, coming off an ACL injury in 2017, could see some time in the secondary after playing linebacker last year.

Specialists
The Bulldogs lost their big leg in place kicker Jimmy Camacho, who set the program record for most made field goals (25) in a single season. Fresno State brought in junior-transfer Mateo Thompson and freshman Shane Ciucci to compete for the job, along with returning redshirt freshman Asa Fuller.

Stability remains in both the punter and long snapper slots. Junior Blake Cusick will continue punting duties for a third-straight season while sophomore Jacob Westberry enters year two with the long snapping duties.

The Schedule
The 2018 schedule allows Fresno State to open the season at home for the fifth time entering its seventh year in the Mountain West. The season starts with Idaho on Sept. 1, an opponent entering its first year in the FCS Big Sky after spending the past four seasons as an FBS Sun Belt affiliate.

The Bulldogs will not face the gauntlet of traveling to back-to-back College Football Playoff opponents in Alabama and Washington like last season, but this year's slate will challenge the team early with back-to-back nonconference road contests at Minnesota (Big Ten) on Sept. 8 and at UCLA (Pac-12) on Sept. 15.

Like 2017, Fresno State will observe its sole Saturday off (Sept. 22) after being on the road for two-straight nonconference games for week 2 and week 3. What will be different is the nonconference portion of the schedule will wrap up in September as the 'Dogs host Toledo on Sept. 29.

The 2018 season marks the second year of the four-year cycle of MW conference games, therefore the Bulldogs' MW schedule will mirror 2017 but with the host-site flipped for all eight opponents. It starts Oct. 6 at Nevada.

In fact, four of the Bulldogs' first six conference games are on the road before closing the season at home with back-to-back home games.

Fresno State's conference home opener is Oct. 13, against Wyoming. They then travel to face their second-straight Mountain Division opponent, New Mexico, on Oct. 20.

Oct. 27 will be homecoming for Fresno State when they host Hawai'i. And then it's back on the road for two straight games before hosting the final two games of the regular season.

Fresno State is at UNLV on Nov. 3 and then is faced with a short week as it travels to Boise State on Nov. 9 for its only Friday game of the season.

With an extra days rest, Fresno State returns home to host San Diego State on Nov. 17 and closes the year with San Jose State on Nov. 24.

The Mountain West Championship game will be played on Dec. 1.

Preseason Nods

2018 Preseason All-Mountain West - Jeff Allison & KeeSean Johnson

2018 NCFAA Watch Lists
Maxwell Award - Marcus McMaryion
Bednarik Award - Jeff Allison
Biletnikoff Award - KeeSean Johnson
Mackey Award - Jared Rice
Butkus Award - Jeff Allison
Wueffel Trophy - Marcus McMaryion
National College Football Awards Association | ncfaa.org

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