Fresno State football: Bulldogs sticking to plan with quarterbacks

The Fresno State Bulldogs made it through an opening victory over Abilene Christian with enough positives from quarterbacks Zack Greenlee and Chason Virgil that they are not in a position where they have to push junior transfer Ford Childress, the third contestant in a three-way competition that ran through fall camp and is continuing into the season.

Childress on Monday got a handful of reps with the Bulldogs’ offense, but Greenlee and Virgil are the focus now into game prep for a matchup against No. 17 Ole Miss.

“You can only get two truly ready,” coach Tim DeRuyter said. “He’ll be our emergency guy and we’ll have a package of plays for him to run if we had to get to him and then we’ll just see.

“He’s unfortunately behind from a knowledge standpoint not having been here in the spring and then missing the first few days of camp. But he’s a guy we see some potential in, so we’re going to try to sneak him reps where we can.”

Greenlee again will start and the Bulldogs will plan on getting Virgil into the game. DeRuyter didn’t shed any more light on when that would be – the freshman entered to start the second quarter against Abilene Christian, running two series there and then the final two in the fourth quarter after Fresno State extended its lead to 31-7. After a solid first impression Virgil could be in line for additional series, and the Bulldogs’ coach left that possibility open as well.

“It’s going to play a little bit on the feel of the game, see how things are going. But we have a plan going in and we’ll see how Zack does initially,” DeRuyter said. “It may have to be altered, but right now we’re going to go as planned and be able to adjust.”

Greenlee played the first three series against Abilene Christian and the first five in the second half, leading Fresno State to three touchdowns and one field goal. He completed 14 of 32 passes (43.8%) for 156 yards with three touchdowns and one interception and his passer rating is 109.39, seventh of 10 qualifiers (15.0 attempts per game) in the conference.

Virgil in his four series produced one touchdown and one field goal. He hit 8 of 13 passes (61.5%) for 61 yards with one touchdown and one interception and his passer rating is 110.95, which would rank sixth if he had enough passing attempts to be ranked.

“It was a good start,” offensive coordinator Dave Schramm said. “Inconsistent. We have a lot of things to clean up. It could have been better, could have been worse. There was a lot of teaching stuff, so we’ll find out. We have to make a huge jump from last game to this game. We have to take care of the football, that’s the No. 1 thing. But just everything has to be better – decision making, accuracy, footwork, all those things. It is what it is.

“But that’s how they’re going to get better, by playing and seeing it on film. I think everyone learns best from game reps – all of those guys. From the young o-linemen to the young receivers, it’s a very young but very talented group of guys. We would like to accelerate their learning as fast as they can, but they only let us play one a week instead of three a week. Those game reps are invaluable. We could stand out here and yell and scream and jump up and down all we want to, but that’s not what makes them better. Playing the game at a full-speed tempo makes them better.”

O-line makes plays

Much of the focus going into that first game was on the inexperience in the outside and inside receivers groups, but the Bulldogs had first time starters on the line as well in center Jacob Vazquez and left guard Aaron Mitchell and right guard Micah St. Andrew coming off the bench.

They made plays, too, and one that stood out came on the first touchdown when Greenlee spun away from the Wildcats’ pass rush and found redshirt freshman receiver Jamire Jordan open on the right sideline, a play that turned into a 25-yard touchdown pass.

“The first touchdown, Aaron Mitchell is pulling and he trips on Jake and goes down so Zack gets pressure,” Schramm said. “That guy shouldn’t be there, but Zack does a nice job spinning out of it and making the throw. But he’s able to make the throw because the guy that is knocking the stuffing out of the guy that is pressuring Zack is Aaron Mitchell. He trips and falls down, but he gets back up and he’s knocking the stuffing out of the guy that is pressuring the quarterback.”

Three plays earlier, on a 36-yard run by Marteze Waller, Vazquez was 30 yards downfield looking to fuse anyone in a white jersey to the artificial turf at Bulldog Stadium.

“There were a lot of great plays like that,” Schramm said. “Jamire played great at times and there were times he played like a freshman. As did Keyan (Williams). As did KeeSean (Johnson). Those guys are just young, but they’re really, really talented, so we just have to keep going.”

Also ...

▪ Inside linebacker Michael Lazarus, who was suspended for the first game for a violation of team rules and athletic department policy and working last week with the scout team, was back on the field with the Bulldogs’ defense. “He was doing a good job on the scout team field. He’s going to earn the reps that he gets and hopefully he’ll take that energy that he had the last couple of weeks helping the offense on our side,” DeRuyter said.

▪ Junior Da’Mari Scott, who is no longer going to redshirt this season, was back practicing with the No. 1 and No. 2 offense and, obviously, adds depth to the group. “I think with a high-tempo offense and being that the receivers are an emphasis in the offense, it might sound contradictory, but sometimes it helps to sit a series,” outside receivers coach Joe Wade said. “To be able to do that with quality depth, which I think Da’Mari has the ability to give us, is a definite help. With the injuries and things, we were a little thin.”

▪ Fresno State allowed only 34 rushing yards in its victory over Abilene Christian, its fewest since Nov. 27, 2010 when it held Idaho to just 13 rushing yards in a 23-20 victory. It also was the 10th time under DeRuyter and defensive coordinator Nick Toth that the Bulldogs have held an opponent to fewer than 100 rushing yards.

▪ Fresno State is holding a sale on group tickets for its next home game, Sept. 19 against Utah. Fans or business looking to purchase 10 or more tickets can do so at a group rate of $27 per ticket. The sale runs Tuesday through Sept. 14. A concessions voucher is included with a group package and there are tailgating spaces available for the game. The concessions voucher and tailgating spaces are available over the phone at 559-278-3647. Tickets can also be purchased at gobulldogs.com.

This story was originally published September 7, 2015 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Fresno State football: Bulldogs sticking to plan with quarterbacks."