Fresno State football: Coordinator Nick Toth has big designs for young defense

The schedule didn’t help — USC, Utah and Nebraska, back-to-back-to-back to open. But Fresno State had a number of problems defensively last season that showed no matter who was on the opposite sideline, the Bulldogs struggling to get off the field on third downs, to stop big plays in the passing game.

Fixing those shortcomings just did not happen for a myriad of reasons, which caught up to them early in the season, and then often through the rest of the schedule, and had coach Tim DeRuyter and defensive coordinator Nick Toth this offseason trying to better match up personnel and scheme to spur a turnaround after a very rough season.

Depth again will be an issue — at the end of the regular season a year ago, Charles Washington was listed as the starter at strong safety and at cornerback, Maurice Poyadue was a starter at end and a backup at nose guard, and there were four freshmen or redshirt freshmen in the two-deep.

The primary issue, though, is the Bulldogs are young and untested.

Toth is confident they will be able to work through that, and get better results with a scheme that has been better tailored to the personnel tasked with executing it.

Question: Looking back at last year, the back end and the big plays in the passing game, how much did that impact what you were able to do with your blitzing, your disguise and what you were calling?

Answer: I think that there’s no doubt our inconsistencies in the secondary impacted the whole defense. There’s no other way to look at it. We certainly changed and formed our defense into something that we thought could try to accommodate those deficiencies. That’s what you do. We talk every year as you get exposed and you figure out what you have to fix; we never really had a handle on satisfying those things last year. We had to fix it with a call. We couldn’t fix it with personnel. That impacted the defense last year. That wasn’t the sole reason why we ended up where we did, numbers wise, but it certainly was a big part of it.

I think that there are probably a couple of ways last year could have gone with some of the pressure numbers and the blitzing and things like that. We went the opposite way. Instead of reacting to not covering well by being more aggressive we tried to potentially be less aggressive, and at times that worked and at times it didn’t work. It was just too inconsistent.

We still ended up second in the year in sacks — that’s the thing you look at a year ago. There were a bunch of different ways for us to evaluate what we needed to fix. We had to be real careful the way we evaluated the start of the season. The impact of those first three games ... we never recovered. We never recovered from that schedule because of the confidence issues and the depth chart issues that those weeks created. It took us the other nine games to get back to where we felt that we were able to start playing better defense. It was just too inconsistent. But the schedule was a big portion of that. For inexperienced players to be stressed like that, that’s tough. And it’s going to be happen again this year. We’re going to be stressed. But you had to be careful with those kids a year ago, because when we did start playing better those numbers were skewed. So you end up second in the league in sacks, but you start factoring in you missed all those sacks in the first three games. You end up fourth or fifth or sixth in the league in league-only stats in every category. You’re somewhere in the middle. You’re not at the end, but you’re not where you want to be, either. But if you add in those three games that hurt you, then you’re at the bottom.

I think there was certainly a lot of factors involved and confidence was a part of it, which led to a lot of inconsistency. And then probably misevaluating scheme and putting the wrong scheme with those kids at times, and then the wrong players on the field, too. I mean, there were a lot of things that happened there to create a lack of pressure, a lack of ability to cover and all of those things. It wasn’t as simple as saying, ‘That kid can’t do it,’ or ‘That’s a bad call.’ It took us throughout January and February to figure out what we wanted to start attacking.

But you saw us in the spring. I feel like we started attacking it, we attacked it the right way. And I feel like we have the competition where we need to have it to start remedying those situations, but I guess we’ll find out here pretty quick.

Some of the returning players have to help with that. Having Charles Washington strictly at corner instead of having to move him around ...

It does. You look at our returning players, you have a couple of guys coming back and you have a whole bunch of young guys that are first- or second-year guys, whether freshmen, sophomores, a redshirt sophomore that’s really only playing for the second time. It’s an interesting mix. Bringing Charles Washington back and Dalen Jones back, who got some reps, has got to help. Bringing a Todd Hunt back, a Kyrie Wilson, a Claudell Louis, (Ejiro) Ederaine — those are guys that have played some important snaps for us. I think the key to our numbers, our depth on defense, is whoever the No. 1 is, there has to be a No. 2 pushing him. And it can’t be fabricated like it really was a year ago at corner, like it really was a year ago at safety, like it really was a year ago at inside linebacker.

There are a thousand questions that you can have. The thing that’s going to make us better is the thing that we did in the spring, is that at every one of those positions the guy has got to feel like if it’s not happening, if the effort is not there, if the fanatical attitude is not there, the energy is not there, then the playmaking is not there, and we’re going to put somebody else there.

That’s going to be the trick. Some of those guys are really young behind them. They have a lot of ability, but not a lot of reps and they’re pushing older guys that they might be better than, but they’re young. That’s us right there in a nutshell. You’ve got a couple of returning guys that have done it. You have a couple of returning guys that haven’t done it. You have a bunch of young guys that can. How that mixes together to create your team, that’s the deal.

Is something different in the way you allow that to impact your choices finding answers in personnel, finding answers with scheme?

Absolutely. Last year we made the mistake of thinking that we could progress, that we could take that next step because we had all those returning guys, and we pushed it too hard. We didn’t realize that some of those guys that we were playing didn’t fit what we were asking them to do and couldn’t do what we were asking them to do anyway at times, and there wasn’t someone there to take them off the field. There wasn’t another guy to go to, whether because we were redshirting someone or there was youth behind them.

I think we’re in a much better position. I think we recognize what this group can be. I think we recognize how far it can be pushed schematically. You’re never going to know for certain until you’re into it, but I think we have a good grasp after the spring of the guys that are here that have played ball for us and what they can do well, and not ask them to do something beyond that. I think we did a much better job of that than last year. Closer to the first two years. I feel like our first two years here on defense we really fit what we did to the kids better. Last year I think we could have done a better job of that as a staff, myself. I could have done a better job. I think we recognize our talent more than ever this year, and we understand the gray area that comes with having the youth, saying ‘Hey, we recognize what we’ve got, but we have these other kids, so we might be able to do this, but let’s wait and see. There are some moving parts there.”

So going into fall camp, you’re much further ahead with that ...

Schematically, I think we understand what our identity is and how far we can push that, how far we can expand on it and change things. More importantly, I think we recognize more than ever our identity as a team that Coach (DeRuyter) has set forth in that the importance of not straying from that even an inch, even an eyelash, because I think we took that for granted having all those older guys, all those players that have done things. We got away from what’s really more important than any of the scheme, and it’s what the identity of the program is. I think you saw that in the spring; I know you did. We’re back where we want to be with that stuff. Now the players and coaches have to play and coach, but we’re not going to make that mistake again. We learned the hard way. We were able to dig ourselves out of it and get back to a championship (game) last year. But win, lose or draw, we’re not going to have to fix that again. We’re not going to have to do that again.

Here’s the thing. We can control effort and attitude and physicality. That’s our program. That’s who we are. Those are not player-driven things, that’s the identity of our program and that’s where we’re at. We took it for granted at times to start in the offseason, we took it for granted to start camp and by the time we realized we had strayed we had a lot of fighting to do to get back.

And we did. To the credit of these players, you don’t end up playing for a championship and finishing that deal, going on the road and playing in tough environments, if you don’t have something to you. But we can’t get to that point again. We won’t.

The competition should help drive that. We’ll see, but it is more real than it was a year ago at a number of positions. Inexperienced, but ...

There’s not a starter set. In our 11-man deal, there’s not one guy that has a job. You’ve got a couple of really good players coming back and none of them have their job. That’s not because I don’t think they can play, but because if we’re going 1-0 every day, then you better be going every day.

I feel that we have some pretty talented guys on this defense. I like the group. I like the way the group runs. Our speed right now as a defense is really good. Our athleticism is really good. There are some question marks here and there, but this group, not having incumbents and whole lot of poster guys, I think has helped this group. The chip that we put on our shoulder after performing the way we did last year and bouncing back and understanding, the recognition that it took there, I think put a little chip on our shoulder. I think it has carried over. It carried over into the spring. It carried over into the (summer) workouts. There is probably more of a blue-collar mentality than we’ve had since our first year here just because of the lack of poster boy guys.

Now, Kyrie Wilson has a really good chance to be our starting Mike linebacker. Kyrie is a really good player, but Kyrie knows that he has to go. It isn’t going to be a deal where he gets to coast through camp and be protected. He’s going to tackle. That’s the thing that’s different with this group and it happened this spring with guys like that and it’s happening in camp when we get back. I don’t know that some of the incumbents we’ve had in the past could have welcomed that attitude as well as some of these guys can.

There are some spots with larger question marks than others. At nose, no Tyeler Davison obviously. Nate Madsen had a good spring, but he’s never played inside and the depth is a question as well.

Nate Madsen will start out camp as the guy at nose. I was really pleased with him this spring. We’ve adjusted a lot of things. Going into spring we changed some things technique-wise and with some of the scheme we’re playing and then midway through spring after feeling where he was and at the end we kind of adjusted it to fit him and Ryan Steele and now we’ve added (JC transfer) Patrick Belony.

I feel like we have got three guys there that can be good players. We’re not going to ask somebody to be Tyeler Davison. We’re going to fit that position to what those guys are, and I feel good about Nate. Nate, he has worked for it. He is an everyday guy. He will be a solid player in this league. And he’s really young. There’s a lot of football left for Nate Madsen to play. There’s a lot of football for Ryan Steele to play. There’s a lot of football for Patrick Belony to play. It’s kind of a good thing. It’s the next young guy there that’s going to be able to grow into that position.

Then we have Tyler Puccio, who is behind him, and Jaleel Carter. Tyler is recovering from that knee (surgery) and Jaleel is coming in and will redshirt. Jaleel knows that. I feel like we have a couple of guys down the road that are the next guy.

The corner spots?

Charles, watching him this summer, he’s right where he needs to be. He’s still going to progress. He’s still getting healthier and healthier. He’s 100%, but it’s one of those 100%’s where he’s going to feel better and better as he goes along, the more he practices and plays and runs. He’s got from now through to keep feeling better, too. You can’t make up for a lack of reps — you lose time on the field as a corner, that’s not good. But I feel real good about Charles. I like where he is attitude-wise. I think feeling that he’s settled playing the same position consistently is good for him mentally. He’s excited about that. That’s good for me to know. You want your players to be excited about what they’re doing, what you’re asking them to do and that there’s going to be consistency for them.

He’s going to be pushed by Tank (Anthoula) Kelly. Tank reminds me of a young Charles. He’s not quite as long, but same type of burst and explosiveness. But Tank has to grow up. Tank has some growing to do. It can’t be three out of five plays. It can’t be one out of two plays. It has to be all the time, and camp is going to be good for him to do that. He’s going to earn his time. Tank Kelly has the ability right now to start at Fresno State. He has the potential to do it. But a lot of guys do. You have to go do it. At some point he will be a really good player for us.

Jamal Ellis has had a great summer. Jamal had a good spring and a really good summer. I think he feels a time crunch a little bit right now. He’s running out of time to be that guy and that sense of urgency is always a good thing. That self-applied pressure is really good to keep your edge sharp, especially with our attitude being what it is. So I’m excited to see how camp shakes out for him. I think his body has gained a little bit of weight, he’s gained a lot of strength. Schematically, he might be a little flexible. He might be a corner. He might be able to be used at nickel a little bit, things like that. With the physically development that’s happened with him, it has allowed his confidence to grow, and that’s huge.

Malcolm Washington is the other guy that is in that mix. Malcolm weighed in at 182 pounds. I think he committed at 165. He’s going to be just fine. I’m looking forward to seeing him.

But, the one thing I’m going to say about a lot of these guys, Malcolm and Tank and Tobenna (Okeke) and Justin Green, all these young guys, it’s the consistency. It’s doing it all the time. And Malcolm and Tank, they have to do that. There is no time to grow up; you have to grow up now. It’s not three practices from now or eight practices from now. I need you to be growing up one play at a time for the rest of camp and if they can do that we’re going to be OK there.

We have a freshman in Mike Bell, who has looked phenomenal this summer. Great sign. He is a great signee. You look back, I’m so fired up that we got that kid, and he’s going to come in and play some corner. He could easily be a safety, but he’s 6-foot-3 and I think he can also play some corner. So he’s going to go there and get a lot more reps than you’d think a freshman would get at corner right now. Then, Shannon Edwards probably has had from April until now, he’s in that top-five, top-three category with what he’s done. He’s pushing to be the fastest player. I’m not saying he is; I’m saying he’s pushing for it. He’s pushing to be the most athletic. He has tremendous confidence right now. He understands what he hasn’t done well. The injury is a non-factor for him. Shannon, he’s a little bit of a wild card for us, because I think he can start somewhere for us. We have to figure out is that at cornerback or is that a safety spot? What’s going to be the best 11? Because Shannon Edwards, he’s an explosive guy.

The reason I’m talking about Shannon being at a couple of spots is I feel like we’ve got at least four safeties right now that can come in and start. Dalen Jones is going to be the starter at strong safety. You talk about incumbents, he’s probably the closest thing. He has earned it. He has gotten so much better. He knows the defense. You’ve got Shannon Edwards. You’ve got Stratton Brown. You have Alan Wright, who was our mid-year enrollee last year. All four of those kids right now, take Shannon out because he did play in the spring, the other three looked great in the spring and I have a really good idea where Shannon is, so all four of them I feel real good about playing.

And Shannon could be a corner. That’s why I talk about Shannon the way I do. Today, I don’t have 100% certainty where I’m going to play all four of those guys. We’re going to fit what we’re doing to fit that talent and make the outside positions work well, and I’m confident that we have players that are going to competitive enough for us to be a lot better back there.

There’s another freshman back there, and some that also could see the field early.

I didn’t even talk about Jalen Smith, but he has the fortunate or unfortunate spot where he’s the freshman coming in behind those four, and then DeShawn Potts, who redshirted last year and didn’t get to go through spring very much; he broke his foot. But Jalen Smith looks phenomenal right now. For a freshman, I would feel really comfortable playing him back there if we limited what we did. But, shoot, he has to fight his butt off to get on the field.

DeShawn is coming back — they’re saying he’s cleared next week, so I’m expecting Shawn to be back by the middle to the end of August cranked, where we want him to be. And, going into the spring, DeShawn was one of the first guys we wanted to see play. I want to see DeShawn Potts play nickel. I want to see DeShawn Potts play strong safety. I feel really good, but, now there’s youth.

Alan Wright is a first-year player. Malcolm Washington started as a true freshman last year in some games. Tank Kelly redshirted. Stratton Brown has not logged a lot of minutes in our secondary. There’s some work to do there, now. There are plenty of challenges and obstacles for us to overcome and my optimism is not going to be the thing that overcomes it, but I think much more so than a year ago and in the spring I feel those pieces there, there’s a much more solid foundation.

The other freshmen who will work their way onto the field? Nela Otukolo I know is one.

Nela Otukolo is potentially a starter at inside linebacker at some point this year. I’m expecting him to have a big impact for us at inside linebacker. He’s physically imposing, still has to get into college playing shape still a little bit. The summer is big for him. He’s smart. He lives on the edge, plays on the edge, so we have to keep getting him to grow up, but that kid will play a lot of football for us this year. And I think he’ll play Mike and Will. He’s smart enough to play both.

At the start of camp he’s a Will?

I don’t know yet. I want to be able to play the best two and those spots are getting to a point where, since we moved Kyrie to Mike from Will, I can move Kyrie back to Will. It has gotten to be more interchangeable. And so if I can keep that trend going with Nela, with Xavier (Ulutu), even Robert Stanley. ... Jeff (Camilli) is not going to be that, Michael Lazarus is probably not going to be that, but if I can keep that happening at Mike and Will then I can play the best two at any time or the next best guy at any time as opposed to playing the next Mike or the best Will, playing a third linebacker or a fourth linebacker. I think that’s better for our depth chart and I know it’s definitely better on the field from a communication point of view. He’s going to learn both, but Nela will definitely be a guy.

I’m expecting James Bailey, the outside backer, to play. He’s going to play Sam and I’m expecting him to contribute. He’s exactly what we thought he was. He’s dynamic. I don’t know that he’s going to start, but he will play this year as a true freshman. Mike Bell will probably play this year as a true freshman in some capacity, whether it’s at corner, nickel, special teams. ... Jalen, there’s going to be competition in the depth chart for him. He has the tools right now, physical strength is the thing that could keep him off the field. He has not quite grown into his frame yet, but he goes and snatches that ball. The guys come in and tell me about 7 on 7 and stuff, and they’re saying he’s all over the place back there. They talk about his instincts being similar to Derron. The players are saying that. When you have seniors talking about freshman, that’s a good thing.

Then, he’s not a freshman, but Nick Kristofers, he will play. He’s going to be a first-time guy for us. Alan Wright, another first-time guy. Patrick Belony, he’s another first-time guy that’s going to play. Those guys aren’t freshmen, but they kind of are. There are six first-time players, maybe seven, right there that will play for us this year.

For a second year in a row, that’s a lot.

It is. But it’s good because that means we’re making the right choices. Those guys are going to play because they have the ability to do it. That group runs really well. There are a lot of playmakers there, guys that I feel are going to down the ball and make plays, not play because I have to play them.

The youth there — Justin Green, Tank Kelly, Tobenna Okeke. Kyle Hendrickson, we haven’t talked about Kyle. He’s going to play a lot of football for us this year. He weighs more than he has ever weighed. He’s running as well as he has ever run. That’s another redshirt guy that’s going to play for us.

How possible is it to be more active, to pressure and use all of your blitzes when you’re that young?

That’s a good question. You saw last year — we thought we couldn’t be active. And you saw what we think some of the results were of that. I think there were a lot of factors, but ... we’re going to try to be as active as we can be. We’re going to be aggressive. Now, the thing that stinks, the first couple of weeks, you just don’t know. Weeks two and three (Mississippi and Utah) you could be as aggressive as you want and we’re playing two teams that can be really good, so you have to be careful there. Does it fit to be aggressive there? Confidence-wise, what is it saying? Are you going to get a true evaluation of what you’re trying to do? A lot of things will go into how we’re going to end up, but we’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to challenge the kids. We’re going to challenge them to be what they want to be.

Do you feel like you’re getting back to what you were or need to be?

It’s funny. You look at the first three years, we were a lot more aggressive in the second year. When we lost the best player in our secondary (Phillip Thomas), we were more aggressive in the secondary than we were the first year and we actually had more turnover at those positions because you lost (Sean Alston) and you lost (L.J. Jones), but we were more aggressive in the secondary. The next year, when we had more guys returning, and then all of a sudden it got really inconsistent and we had some turnover at positions and confidence issues, and we became much less aggressive. We did much less. So, are we going to get back? The question is what are you going to get back to?

What elements of the defense fit these guys that we did before, or are we going to do that we haven’t done. The thing that we’ve done is we’ve really fit this scheme to this group, much more like that second year was. We ended up having aggression that fit that group. We’re not going to be what we were last year or two years ago or three years ago with this group, but the mindset is, ‘Hey, we’re going to be aggressive’ and ‘What fits these guys?’ That has been the whole thing. That’s been all offseason, from February to spring ball and from spring ball to now, what fits these kids and how can we be aggressive and go from there.

This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Fresno State football: Coordinator Nick Toth has big designs for young defense."