Fresno State quick hits: Mitchell, Forrester selected captains; Johnson ready for opener

Fresno State has its two captains for the 2017 season – center Aaron Mitchell and defensive tackle Malik Forrester, both seniors.

The Bulldogs also will select two game captains for each game. The game captains for the season-opener on Saturday against Incarnate Word have not yet been announced.

Ready to go – Wide out KeeSean Johnson sat out two practices at the end of last week due to a leg injury but was in practice on Tuesday and said he is ready to go against the Cardinals.

“I feel good,” said Johnson, the Bulldogs’ leading receiver last season with 66 receptions for 773 yards and six touchdowns. “I’m doing some maintenance, just treatment for myself so I can be 100 percent for the game. The legs can be a little tired from camp and you have to keep it going.”

Moving up – Kesomi Mafi, who joined the team on Aug. 10, is No. 2 on the depth chart at linebacker behind senior Justin Green. He was a strong safety walking in the door, having played there last season at Laney College, but that didn’t last too long.

“I tried,” defensive backs coach J.D. Williams said. “But it’s about what’s best for the team. I’d like to keep them all, but we’ve got to put him in position to make plays for us.”

Kicked off – The Bulldogs’ competition at kicker wasn’t particularly keen through fall camp. Both Kody Kroening, who last season tied a single-season school record with 15 consecutive field goals, and Jimmy Camacho were fairly inconsistent. But Camacho won the job and on Tuesday came out and nailed his first three kicks – middle, left hash and right hash.

“It comes down to chemistry,” Camacho said. “I really trust (punter Blake Cusick) holding the ball and (long snapper Jacob Westberry) is doing a good job snapping the ball. Once you get that chemistry and that rhythm down it becomes pretty easy.

“The competition, I just come out every day and try to do my job. Regardless if I have a good bad or a bad day, I have to come out the next day and the next rep and focus on doing my job.”

Coming back – Freshman cornerback Chris Coleman, who injured a foot just before the start of fall camp, has started to do some light rehab work.

“He ran on the AlterG (anti-gravity treadmill),” Tedford said. “You strap in and you can run on ground, but only at certain percentages of your weight. You can run at 20 percent of your weight, 30 percent of your weight and progress from there. He ran on that (Monday) so he’s coming along. He’s four weeks into it. It’s a four- to six-week thing, so we’ll see how it goes.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 1:30 PM with the headline "Fresno State quick hits: Mitchell, Forrester selected captains; Johnson ready for opener."