Fresno State has made improvements on D-line, but can defense bounce back in Mountain West?

More times than not last season, Fresno State defensive end David Perales utilized his speed to get by offensive tackles in the Mountain West Conference. He’d be in a one-on-one matchup on the weakside where it’s win or the far less desirable alternative, and he’d blast off and on by.

Perales was disruptive, with four sacks and four forced fumbles, the second most in the nation, despite playing in only six games in a COVID shortened season.

Three of those forced fumbles came on plays where quarterbacks held the ball just a little too long, Perales flying in to strip the football free.

He’s tailor made for the position and that matchup, Bulldogs defensive line coach Eric Schmidt said, and maybe more so this season with some added bulk and muscle diversifying his repertoire. He has added some power to his speed, a blunt-force changeup, which has been an emphasis since the spring and over the summer.

“You can’t just be speed all the time,” said Perales, also second in the team in total tackles, the highest ranking for a defensive lineman in more than 15 seasons. “You have to switch it up. You have to get into a tackle’s head. It’s just going to help your game.

“I feel like my power moves will be better as a pass rusher. More physical, more violent with the hands.”

Not that he ever shied from a solid strike, or stopped working toward the opposing quarterback when impeded.

“Rushing the passer it’s not always the first move that you beat somebody with, it’s a series of efforts, guys just working with their hands and their feet and continually making progress toward the quarterback,” Schmidt said.

Bulldogs have improved pieces in rebuild

“He’s relentless, more than anything else,” Schmidt said. “His best attribute, he’s not the fastest guy, he’s not the biggest guy, but his competitive spirit is off the charts. Obviously, everybody likes to win, but he hates to lose.”

But Perales is different in that way now, and better. The same might be said for the Bulldogs’ defense, up front and overall, by the end of fall camp. They went through the first practice in camp Friday morning with welcome additions bolstering a unit that struggled through growing pains in a new defensive scheme a year ago, some injuries and some depth issues, particularly late in the season.

Fresno State, though solid against the pass, struggled against the run, allowing 5.2 yards per play and 212.3 yards per game; in the divisional era, no Mountain West champion has allowed 4.0 yards per rush.

It also allowed 30 points per game, ranking eighth in the conference.

But Arron Mosby is deeper into another position change, to defensive end. Tackle Leonard Payne is in better shape, after sitting out the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. Tackle Kevin Atkins and end Kwami Jones are proven productive performers, both with 5.0 sacks last season.

Tackle Matt Lawson and end Devo Bridges are making progress after solid springs. The Bulldogs’ roster also includes Power 5 transfers Evan Bennett and Isaac Garcia.

DeBoer: defensive line competition one to watch

“There are some new faces in there,” coach Kalen DeBoer said. “There are some guys that look, after a year of development and growth and some of them getting in shape and losing that weight, they’re just a different group.

“I think from even the outside guys to the inside guys, across the board, we’re better at the top end and we’re also just better with our depth. I’m excited to see those guys throughout the fall especially as we get pads on.”

DeBoer said he is looking forward to the competition up front this fall – the Bulldogs go in full pads for the first time Thursday and will scrimmage live for the first time Aug. 7.

Perales, who is listed at 246 pounds, is looking forward to seeing how the added strength and bulk translates to the football field coming off a challenging 2020 when the Bulldogs didn’t have a spring practice due to the coronavirus and were kept off campus through the summer.

“He has added a little bit of weight and mass,” Schmidt said. “He’s still moving really well. You don’t have to be 260 pounds playing D-end to be physical, especially with the things we ask him to do. He’s going to move his feet, he’s going to strike guys. He’s really a twitchy kid. He has heavy hands when he strikes a guy. He really stuns guys.

“I’m happy with where he’s at. He had a great summer season. We just have to make sure we do a good job of managing him here and if we do that, he’s doing a great job down in and down out leading our group.”