Bulldogs’ Jasad Haynes has 1,310 reasons not to worry about defensive line

When Fresno State lost senior defensive linemen Malik Forrester, Robert Stanley, Tobenna Okeke and Nathan Madsen after last season, it lost a lot of production. The four accounted for 36.5 of the Bulldogs’ 90 tackles for loss in a turnaround 10-4 season a year ago, and 18 of their 36 sacks.

It is why the defensive line is one of the most pressing questions for the Bulldogs headed into 2018, and that is not a long list.

But with a weighty summer, Jasad Haynes, the Clovis North High grad, has alleviated some degree of concern there, arriving in fall camp with the No. 1 defense a better and definitely stronger player than a year ago when playing 10 to 20 snaps a game inside.

In testing at the end of the summer, Haynes was one of two Bulldogs players to top 1,300 pounds between a bench press, power clean and back squat, a few pounds behind the gifted sophomore offensive tackle Netane Muti.

“I realized we don’t have those guys to bail us out anymore; depending on them because they were the starters,” said Haynes, who was in on 21 tackles last season, fourth among defensive linemen, including 2.0 tackles for loss. “It’s our turn now and I realize that we have a lot of people watching us, saying we’re the weak link on the team, and we were like, ‘Nah, man, we’re going to show them.’

“We have to prove it to everybody, prove everybody wrong. We know we’re going to be good. Don’t worry about us. We got this. We come out here with a chip on our shoulder every single day. We know we have to prove people wrong.”

So Haynes hit 410 on the bench, up from 380. The power clean was 330, beating a personal-best of 275. The squat was 570 pounds, up from 500.

“He’s a kid that grew up here in town, which everybody knows, so he grew up bleeding Bulldogs’ colors,” defensive line coach Jamar Cain said.

“It’s really important to him, and he did a really good job this summer putting on weight, maintaining that weight and just leading that group.”

The Bulldogs are a long way from a set playing rotation that will go up to 10 deep, but they have Haynes and Kevin Atkins, who started the last four games a year ago. Keiti Iakopo, like Haynes a backup last season, is playing faster, his comfort level with the techniques and playbook growing.

At the ends, Emeka Ndoh and Kwami Jones have been with the No. 1s and Damien DeGruy played in 11 games a year ago as a true freshman.

The Bulldogs again will play deep – Stanley led the unit last season with an average of just 46 snaps per game.

“That was the key for us last year,” Cain said. “We were able to play nine and 10 guys a game that’s what helped us, because we’re wearing them out with depth. Strength in numbers. That’s what I have to get back to – we’re constantly switching the 1s with the 2s and the 3s and the 4s and making sure the 3s know as much as they can because we’ll travel 10 and if you’re on that plane all 10 are playing.

“No free steaks here, now. You don’t get to go on a little mini-vacation.”