Fresno State reloads on signing day after 10-win season. Coach Tedford shares insights

Fresno State is expected to add between 12 to 14 players on Wednesday, the early national letter of intent signing day. A transfer portal quarterback is expected, which after the successes of Marcus McMaryion and Jake Haener has to be a tantalizing prospect for Bulldogs’ fans.

Coach Jeff Tedford, with his history of success developing quarterbacks, pulled McMaryion from Oregon State in 2017 and he ended up 21-4 as a starter with one Mountain West championship; and then Haener from Washington in 2019 and he finished his Fresno State career 21-8 as a starter with a conference title and last Saturday a victory over Washington State in the LA Bowl to clinch the Bulldogs’ fourth 10-win season in six years.

There are more than 70 quarterbacks in the portal, though some have found homes.

Here’s a hint: He is not from the Pac-12, unlike McMaryion and Haener, and will come in and compete in what is a fairly deep quarterback’s room that does lack game experience.

Haener departs as one of the top quarterbacks in school history — top five in career completion percentage (first, at 68.2%), career 300-yard passing games (second, with 18), career passing yards (fourth, with 9,013), fourth in career completions (fourth, with 731) and career passing touchdowns (fifth, with 65).

Logan Fife has the most experience of the returning quarterbacks, having gone 2-2 as a starter when Haener was sidelined with a fractured ankle suffered in a Game 3 loss at USC.

Fife has attempted 133 career passes, 120 this past season.

QB MIKEY KEENE, CENTRAL FLORIDA

There are a lot of quarterbacks in the transfer portal, but Tedford and the Bulldogs picked Keene, who played as a freshman at Central Florida before losing the starting job this fall.

He played in four games this season, retaining his redshirt year, and has three years of eligibility remaining. Keene hit 72.3% of his passes in 2022, averaging 7.8 yards per attempt and 161.8 per game with six touchdowns and only one interception.

RB CHARLES GREER, CONCORD DE LA SALLE

Greer was the leading rusher at Northern California prep power De La Salle, which has produced some solid running backs including Maurice Jones-Drew.

Greer, who has been committed to Fresno State since the summer, rushed for 100 or more yards eight times in 12 games, finishing with 1,251 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns. He is rated as a 3-star prospect by 247Sports.

DL RICHIE ANDERSON, TUALATIN, ORE.

Anderson was an early commit to Colorado State before Fresno State entered the picture and offered a scholarship. He played tight end and defensive end as a senior and is rated as a Top 5 player in Oregon and a 3-star prospect by 247Sports.

DE ISIAH CHALA, SAN FRANCISCO ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN

Chala played tight end and defensive end in high school, but will start on the defensive side of the ball for the Bulldogs. A long 6-5 and 230 pounds with a frame to add weight, Chala is rated a 3-star recruit by 247Sports and had scholarship offers from Cal, Oregon State and San Diego State.

In his senior season, Chala was in on 34 total tackles and 3.0 sacks.

OT CALEB BARAJAS, VENTURA COLLEGE

Barajas played for Fresno State grad Steve Mooshagian at Ventura College, which won an eighth conference title in 10 seasons and lost to top-ranked Riverside City College in the Southern California Football Association semifinals.

Ventura averaged 4.6 yards per rush and 6.8 yards per pass in putting up 29.9 points per game this season.

Barajas had scholarship offers from Hawaii and UNLV as well as Akron, Texas-El Paso and North Texas.

RB DEVON RIVERS, BRENTWOOD HERITAGE

Rivers is the son of Ron Rivers, one of the best running backs in Fresno State history, and the brother of football and softball standouts Ronnie Rivers and Malia Rivers and comes in with a big target in front of him. Ron Rivers ranks second on the Bulldogs’ all-time rushing list and Ronnie Rivers holds the school record for career TDs with 51.

As a senior at Heritage, the 5-7, 170-pound Devon Rivers rushed for 1,759 yards, averaging 7.5 yards per play, and scored 24 touchdowns. He had early scholarship offers from New Mexico and UNLV in the Mountain West, but has been committed to Fresno State in November, 2021.

“Devon obviously continues the Rivers’ name here,” Tedford said. “Real good player, very similar to Ronnie and I’m very excited for him to come in here and compete early just like Ronnie did. But I think it’s important for Devon to blaze his own trail. Any time you have a history or a tradition so strong of his dad and Ronnie and now Devon, Devon needs to blaze his own trail. I think that’s really important, so I’m excited to see him come here.

“He’s a really good player. His football instincts and the natural ability to do the little things with lateral movement and quickness and ball skills catching the ball, all that stuff is excellent. I’m anxious to have him in the program.

“But it’s funny because this morning we were playing the fight song after they signed and so I said, ‘Let me play the fight song for you.’ ... And he said, ‘I know the fight song.’ I thought, ‘Yeah, you’ve heard this a few times before.’”

OL HAYDEN PULIS, FRESNO CITY COLLEGE

Pulis had offers from Eastern Michigan, Hawaii and Texas-El Paso, but chose to stay at home. The former Hanford High standout did not play last season due to a knee injury, but will be on campus in the spring.

“He played really well his freshman year and then got hurt,” Tedford said. “But he big guy — 6-6, 285, really athletic. He has a great frame. He’s 285 and he’s really broad-shouldered. He’ll be 300 pounds, easy, in a short amount of time. He has a lot of room for growth there, and moves around well, is a really good pass protector, has long arms.”

DL MORDECAI HINES, PALMDALE HIGHLAND

Hines is 6-6, 275 pounds and racked up 28 total tackles including 6.5 sacks in his senior season. He also had a scholarship offer from San Diego State.

“The two defensive linemen, Hines and Chala, are pretty special guys. They won’t be here until the fall, obviously, but they’re good players.”

DB JUSTIN JOHNSON, INGLEWOOD

Johnson, who played his high school football not far from where the Bulldogs beat Washington State in winning the LA Bowl to get to 10 wins, had a couple of Power Five offers and was committed to Arizona before flipping to the Bulldogs. He plays a position of need for Fresno State, which is losing or likely to lose its top three safeties from 2022 in Evan Williams, Elijah Gates and LJ Early.

TE JAKE TARWATER, COLLEGE OF THE SEQUOIAS

Tarwater, was a quarterback at South Lake Tahoe High, but played his freshman season at College of the Sequoias at tight end where he caught 16 passes for 196 yards with one touchdown. He will be on campus for spring ball.

“He hasn’t been playing tight end long, but he has a lot of upside,” Tedford said.

LB RL MILLER, SAN FRANCISCO SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL

Miller is an athletic linebacker with scholarship offers from Arizona and Arizona State in the Pac-12 and at one point in the recruiting process was committed to the Sun Devils. Miller is 6-2 and about 185 pounds, but 247Sports rated him as a 3-star recruit and projected him as a starter at the Power Five level. As a senior, he was in on 32 total tackles in 10 games, had five interceptions and recovered one fumble.

QB JAYDEN MANDAL, BUCHANAN

Mandal was committed to play baseball at Fresno State, but switched gears back in the spring and went with the Bulldogs’ football scholarship offer. In his senior season, Mandal completed 67.2% of his passes, averaging 237.0 yards per game with 23 touchdowns and only six interceptions, leading the Bears to a 9-3 record. Mandal, 6-1 and 205 pounds, is rated as a 3-star prospect by 247Sports.

DB BRANDON RAMIREZ, SAN JOAQUIN MEMORIAL

A two-way star at Memorial, Ramirez was recruited as a safety by the Bulldogs and will be joining a position group where there could be early playing time available. Ramirez, a 3-star recruit by 247Sports, is one of the fastest players in the Bulldogs’ class and as a senior was in on 83 total tackles and had one interception. As a running back, he rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a senior and as a junior and scored 47 career TDs.

DT DUPRE MENDOZA, MT SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE

Mendoza is a big body at 6-4 and 330 pounds and adds depth with some junior college experience at a position the Bulldogs are not deep, and played two true freshmen last season. He had a scholarship offer from Arizona, as well as a number of FCS programs.

At Mt. SAC, Mendoza in his sophomore season was in on 38.0 total tackles with 3.0 tackles for loss and 1.0 sacks. He also broke up four passes, playing on a defense that allowed just 3.4 rushing yards per play and 101.0 yards per game.

TE BROCK LIUM, REDLANDS CITRUS VALLEY HIGH

Lium is 6-5 and about 215 pounds and played as a wideout in high school. He could play a number of positions in college, but was recruited by the Bulldogs to play tight end.

As a senior at Citrus Valley, he caught 52 passes for 780 yards with 15 touchdowns almost doubling his production from junior and sophomore seasons in all three statistical categories.

Lium, who also had scholarship offers from Mountain West programs Colorado State, New Mexico and San Jose State, is rated as a 3-star prospect by 247Sports.

WR TIM GREAR, VENTURA COLLEGE

This is a speedy outside receiver who can make plays downfield and in the screen game and attacks the football in the air. Grear, who had scholarship offers from Utah State and UNLV in the Mountain West, had at least one chunk pass play of 20 or more yards in eight of 11 games and had 43 receptions for 764 yards on the season.

He averaged 17.8 yards per receptions and scored seven touchdowns.

Grear was coached at Ventura College by former Bulldog Steve Mooshgian and was a first-team all-conference wideout and a first-team all-state selection in California Region III. The 6-1, 175 pound wideout went to high school at John Ehret in Marrero, La., which produced former Indianapolis Colts wideout Reggie Wayne as well as Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Kordell Stewart.

“He’s going to be here in the spring and we’re looking for him to do special things,” Tedford said.

This story was originally published December 21, 2022 at 6:56 AM.