One play from Fresno State Bulldogs’ rout of UConn captures QB Jake Haener’s potential

It’s first-and-10 and Fresno State is backed up inside its 15-yard line, but offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb doesn’t seem at all bothered by that, already with a big lead on UConn in the second quarter of the 2021 season-opener.

Grubb has Ronnie Rivers lined up out wide along with four receivers, all spread across the field, two left and three right. It’s Rivers, Keric Wheatfall, Erik Brooks, Jalen Cropper and Josh Kelly, a nightmare for just about any defensive coordinator, and as they get to the line of scrimmage quarterback Jake Haener gets absolutely the right look from the Huskies’ defense and an opportunity that he has been waiting for and wanting, for years, really.

“A quarterback wants to be able to manage and take control of the team,” Haener said, “wants to make those hard plays and those hard checks and get guys in the right spots to be successful.”

This one, not that difficult.

Haener checked the play off a menu of options that the Bulldogs had worked through during the week on the practice field and in the meeting room.

At the snap, Brooks, the first of three receivers lined up to the right, darted inside, pulling the linebacker along with him. Kelly, lined up outside, went flying straight up the numbers. Cropper, the middle of the three wideouts, worked in behind Brooks and into a gaping hole between the hash marks. He hauled in a short pass and took off, bounced off three Huskies defenders around the 40 and with a late block from Kelly that was it, an 86-yard touchdown.

It also was a peek at Haener 2.0, the Bulldogs’ quarterback this season operating with more freedom in spots to check plays at the line of scrimmage after a stellar 2020.

Haener getting more freedom to check plays

“I had a couple of options that I could do,” Haener said. “I see different leverages, can get to certain things and get the guys in the best possible look so they can make plays, and Jalen made a really good play.”

It was, coach Kalen DeBoer said, great recognition of the coverage and a great example of how to get the ball out in a simple way, giving Cropper an opportunity to make a play.

“People talk about leverage, whether it’s inside or outside, or they’re playing off or they’re in really tight coverage, and we have plays that we can go to pretty easily that he understands really well,” DeBoer said.

“It’s kind of an attack-mode mindset that you have to have. Where’s that matchup? What’s the coverage?”

The Bulldogs, when DeBoer was the offensive coordinator, got there to a point with Marcus McMaryion in his second season as a starter. But coming off those first six starts from Haener, the Bulldogs offense is a step or two ahead of that 2018 team and could find a higher gear with that efficiency at the line of scrimmage.

“The speed of changing the call makes it a little more difficult for a defensive coordinator to switch his call,” Grubb said. “Sometimes, you look over at the sideline, and they can change the look and then the play doesn’t match up as well as you want it to. If Jake can make the adjustment at the line, it’s happening pretty fast.”

The Bulldogs face a much more difficult task on Saturday, playing at No. 11 Oregon and against former Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter, who is in his first season as the Ducks’ defensive coordinator.

Fresno State fast-tracks quarterback development

But Fresno State, picked to finish only fourth in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference, continues to develop as it emerges from a 3-3 season impacted significantly by COVID-19.

The Bulldogs had no spring practice last season. They had no summer strength and conditioning program or workouts. The defense, in a new 4-2-5 installed by coordinator William Inge, has had only seven games together. Haener, who had to sit out 2019 after transferring to Fresno State from Washington, has had only seven games.

In the first six he had a passing efficiency rating of 154.43, which was considerably higher than the first six starts of any Fresno State quarterback going back to David Carr in 2020. Ryan Colburn was second, with a rating of 145.22 in his first six starts in 2009.

But they still are putting pieces together, Haener included, in taking more ownership of an offense that despite limited time on the practice field last season still put up an average of 32.8 points per game.

“He has to prove it in practice that it’s worth having in,” Grubb said. “We put him in some tough situations and decisions and once he makes those good choices in practice the comfort level increases, the breadth of the package can increase. That part is pretty easy and he earned that, absolutely.

“I’ve always known Jake wanted to do that. Every quarterback wants that control and I just know it meant a lot to him when we started giving him some freedom on that. It’s just like anything, the more invested people are in anything, the more you give them a little bit of trust and responsibility, the farther and the harder they’ll run for you. I’ve sent that with Jake, I think he knows I wouldn’t just hand that out. He’s excited about that part.”

They are on the same page there, working through reads and checks and the options at the line of scrimmage, and in that second year a quarterback can make big leaps in an offense. The Bulldogs with McMaryion averaged 34.6 points per game in 2018, up from 27.1 in his first season starting. Fresno State in Derek Carr’s senior season averaged 43.4 points per game, up from 37.9 in his first season running an up-tempo spread offense.

Against UConn, Haener hit 20 of 26 throws, the 76.9 completion percentage a career high in any start. He averaged 12.7 yards per attempt, a career high. His passing efficiency rating was 221.94, also a career high.

He was 4 of 6 on third down, and 2 of 3 with one TD in the red zone.

“We talk about looks and talk about what we think we can get to against different pressures and different coverages,” Haener said. “We do a really good job of staying on the same page and repping it in practice so I have an idea of what we want to get to and they just trust that I know what I’m looking at and they know that I can get to that look without having to slow down or look up there and they change it.

“Any quarterback, the more they know the offense and getting into the right looks against the right coverages, is going to make them more successful. It’s good for us, puts us in a good rhythm and helps us go fast.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 11:23 AM.