'Dogs have reason to worry

Cincinnati's Gilyard got his life back in order, and now is the man Fresno State must stop.

Published online on Saturday, Sep. 26, 2009

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Fresno State has had a few lapses in its pass and kickoff coverage this season.

Cincinnati wide receiver/returner Mardy Gilyard just happens to be talented in both of those areas.

Locking down the Biletnikoff Award candidate (given to the nation's top receiver) is one of many keys for the Bulldogs as they take on No. 14 Cincinnati at 9 a.m. today inside Nippert Stadium.

"That has to be a key emphasis, to stop that guy," Bulldogs receiver and special-teams player Devon Wylie said.

Fresno State coach Pat Hill said Gilyard brings speed and toughness as a receiver and will test the Bulldogs on kickoffs, as well. Oh, and he also has scored on a punt return this season.

"He's a very courageous inside route runner," Hill said. "They get a lot of screens to him where he's catching the ball on the run. ... He's got all the tools."

They nearly went to waste.

Gilyard came to the Queen City in 2005 under then-coach Mark Dantonio. A standout offensive player at Flagler Palm Coast High (about 30 minutes north of Daytona Beach, Fla.), Gilyard played cornerback and special teams as a Bearcats freshman.

He contributed on the field, but struggled academically.

The bottom fell out on his grades. He was academically ineligible for the 2006 season, lost his scholarship, and then his housing.

For months he bounced from sofa to sofa, to the front seats of his 2000 Pontiac Grand Am.

He worked four jobs -- cooking at an Italian restaurant, pitching cutlery door-to-door, delivering packages and working construction -- to pay his out-of-state tuition.

He thought about giving up and moving back to Florida, but his family and girlfriend encouraged him to persevere.

"I can remember calling my girlfriend and telling her, 'Man, I'm dying,' " Gilyard said. "I just wanted to be done. She said, 'You're going through this now. Think about if you come out of it, you'll be able to tell someone else who's going through something similar.' So I stuck it out."

Near the end of the 2006 season, Brian Kelly took over the Bearcats. He saw the work Gilyard had put in, and extended Gilyard a scholarship offer to return to the team once he took care of his tuition issues.

"I just wanted to get him back into school," Kelly said. "He had bills to pay, he had rent to pay, he had a lot of things he had to overcome. We just wanted to get him started, and anything that happened in the football end of things would have been a bonus for me."

When Gilyard returned, Kelly put the swift and shifty receiver/returner back on offense, and the rest is record-breaking history.

"You've gotta grow up, you've gotta be accountable, you've gotta be responsible, you've gotta be somebody people can trust," Kelly said. "He's earned all that within our football team by living his life the right way, going to class, making good decisions both on and off the field. He's obviously grown up as a man."

And as a player.

Kelly described Gilyard's career path as a process.

In 2007 he ran well, but needed to become a more consistent pass catcher.

In 2008, Kelly said, Gilyard developed into a game-changing player as he grew more confident. That was the season in which he set a Big East single-game record against No. 4 Oklahoma with 246 yards on kickoff returns and had a school-record 365 all-purpose yards (he also had 119 receiving) in a 52-26 loss.

"This is really year three into the development," Kelly said. "Now, as a senior, he has all the things necessary to be a big-play wide receiver."

Gilyard is eighth in the nation with 7.7 receptions per game, 18th with 160 all-purpose yards per game, and sixth in scoring with 12 points per game. Much of those statistics are bolstered by a four-touchdown game against Southeast Missouri State.

Despite the stats and the hype, Fresno cornerback Desia Dunn is confident the Bulldogs can handle him.

"He's a good athlete," Dunn said. "I don't think he's as special as people think he is from film, very guardable. We just have to do our job, and I think we should do good."

What the Bulldogs have to do is cure their lapses. And they need to do it against a player who has made teams pay when they haven't.