Bulldogs’ depth at defensive tackle gives them some large, 280-pound, options up front

Fresno State has uncommon depth in its interior defensive front, which is not exactly a spring practice revelation.

So while the Bulldogs are quickly approaching the April 13 spring finale, they’re also beginning to plot how they can best take advantage of a plus during the 2019 season.

Senior Jasad Haynes has been out rehabbing an injury post surgery, but the Bulldogs still have two seniors in Keiti Iakopo and Ricky McCoy and a junior in Kevin Atkins who have played a lot of football, then redshirt freshmen Matt Lawson, Alex Dumais and Leonard Payne to run through the defensive tackle positions.

There is experience, size and athleticism in there. And, playmaking ability.

“I think it’s pretty scary, honestly,” said Iakopo, who was at his best late in his junior season, making a career-high nine tackles including one tackle for loss in the Mountain West Conference championship victory at Boise State.

“It’s not just one guy you have to worry about. You have to worry about three sets of inside guys. If you have a line that can do that, there’s not much you can do to stop it …”

Buoyed by that depth, the Bulldogs have a post-spring plan to tinker with a front that can be very multiple given its wealth of pieces and very productive for a defense that loses some key pieces from last season.

“That’s going to be another thing we need to evaluate - who is going to play inside and who is going to play outside?” coach Jeff Tedford said on Saturday following the Bulldogs’ second scrimmage of the spring.

“Does it give you the ability to maybe move Jasad outside? It gives you some flexibility with what we can do there.”

Haynes goes 283 pounds. Fresno State already this spring has had the 287-pound Payne and the 280-pound Dumais taking reps at defensive end.

That size would play for a defense that already has the past two seasons been one of the best in the Mountain West in shutting down a run game.

“When you can get that on the edge sometimes, that’s pretty nice,” defensive coordinator Bert Watts said.

Fresno State slipped a bit last season, ranking fifth in the Mountain West in rushing defense. But it still allowed only 3.7 yards per play and only eight rushing touchdowns, which were the fewest in the conference and tied for second-fewest in the nation.

In 2017, the Bulldogs were second in the conference against the run.

“That group and their ability to do a lot of things, that’s the center point of the run game,” Watts said. “That’s it, man. As we look at what our best 11 is, it’s not always exactly how you have it schematically Day One, so sometimes you have to think of some creative ways to get your best 11 guys out there.”

They will take that though the summer and into fall camp, maybe deep into fall camp. But it all spins off the Bulldogs’ talent and depth at the tackle positions.

Iakopo made big strides toward the end of last season and ended up leading the group with 37 total tackles. McCoy, the Roosevelt High grad, is a Power Five conference transfer from Washington. Atkins has started 14 games over the past two seasons, and in 2018 was tied with Haynes with 4.5 tackles for loss in leading the group.

“We’re pretty dynamic with all of the fronts that we play,” defensive line coach Will Plemons said. “We can carry all of those big defensive tackle bodies, at least three of them at a time. But then if we play a four-man front we can rotate them and keep them fresh, and that’s a big deal to keep athletic guys fresh and keep pounding an offensive line throughout a game where you don’t wear out.

“You can play them and put the next monster in there. We’re going to go through this and then we’re going to take a look at it, we’re going to keep evaluating. What’s best for us? What’s our best fit?”

Scrimmage notes

▪ Quarterbacks Jorge Reyna and Ben Woooldridge had much better afternoons than they did in the Bulldogs’ first spring scrimmage. A big part of that was the young receiving group also had a much better day, particularly Emoryie Edwards, the Tulare Union grad.

“We had some guys that made some tough catches, getting balls behind them.” Tedford said. “They were flipping their hips and making plays. I thought Emoryie Edwards did a great job diving, making catches and things like that. He really showed a lot today.”

▪ Tedford on Reyna, Wooldridge and Steven Comstock: “They’re doing pretty well. As practice goes on they keep learning and obviously with the more experience they get with the reps and things like that. That’s what you’re looking for, for them to improve all the time and learn from their mistakes. I though they did a nice job today for the most part. There’s still a lot to work on, but they did a good job.”

▪ Payne’s development outside at defensive end could end up making him an intriguing option for the Bulldogs’ defensive staff.

“Leonard is a powerful dude,” Watts said. “He is one of the strongest guys in that group. I mean, you see him, he works incredibly hard and when he gets his hands on you and he’s playing with leverage he’s a hard guy to block.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2019 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Bulldogs’ depth at defensive tackle gives them some large, 280-pound, options up front."