Fresno State secondary ready for test, and could get one in opener

This thing has been building since January, when Fresno State reconvened after a season in which winning the West Division in the Mountain West Conference seemed to carry no sway with the fan base or, for that matter, the players and coaches.

A 6-8 bottom line will do that.

The spring went well, the summer better. The defense – the most pressing a secondary that was riddled with issues a year ago – had to improve and the Bulldogs feel they have done that. The cornerback and safety position groups are legitimately deeper, the competition for playing time genuine.

Ricky Manning, with an NFL pedigree, was added to the staff as a graduate assistant and added some bite. The players are a year stronger, faster, with a more aggressive and competitive mindset that has been drilled in for months by defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson, who has had them chasing a signature sense of self, the “Boom Squad,” since they started back.

That moniker, of course, can work for good and bad.

And Thursday, Fresno State will get a good idea which way it is headed when it opens its 2015 season against a Football Championship Subdivision program in Abilene Christian.

“I’m anxious,” coach Tim DeRuyter said. “I think we’ve made improvements, but we have to see it. I’m looking forward to seeing the matchups to see how our guys step up to the challenge.”

Reality check No. 1 of 12, and maybe 13 or 14, this season for a group that last season had a hand in allowing 32 touchdown passes, ranking 123rd of 128 teams in the nation.

“I just look forward, so if you ask me that on Friday I’ll be able to give you a more legitimate answer,” Woodson said.

Fresno State could get more of a test from Abilene Christian than it did from the past 10 FCS teams that exited Bulldog Stadium, losers by an average of 25.5 points per game. The Wildcats come in with a veteran quarterback in Parker McKenzie, who last season completed 64.7 percent of his passes for 3,084 yards and 22 touchdowns against nine interceptions.

A veteran corps of receivers is led by Cedric Gilbert and Cade Stone, who averaged 17.6 and 13 yards, both on 38 receptions.

Abilene Christian averaged 8.5 yards per pass attempt last season – in the Football Bowl Subdivision only 16 of the 128 teams were at 8.5 yards per pass play or higher – and that is not just a function of having Incarnate Word, Ave Maria, Houston Baptist and Central Arkansas on the schedule. In the two games the Wildcats played against FBS opponents, a 38-37 loss at Georgia State and 38-35 victory at Troy, they racked up 715 passing yards on 74 plays – 9.7 per play.

“They know how to play the game,” Fresno State cornerback Jamal Ellis said. “We just have to step up and compete.”

That is what the Bulldogs’ opener might come down to: With an offense that is light on experience at quarterback and outside and inside receiver winning games when allowing the 32.4 points per game Fresno State did a year ago becomes increasingly difficult.

They will have to contend with a multiple offense.

“They may come out in 21 personnel (two running backs, two receivers, one tight end) on one play and 10 personnel (four receivers, one running back) the next,” Woodson said. “Just being able to go from one personnel to the next and make the proper adjustments to get lined up and play is going to be a challenge for us. Mentally and physically, we have to be well prepared.”

And they will have to use that physicality to disrupt the Wildcats’ timing, and if they can, attack the football in the air and be more aggressive and competitive at the ball.

“I think you’ve got to be able to throw timing off,” DeRuyter said. “They have a quarterback that threw for 3,000 yards a year ago. They have good skill returning. They have some long guys that they do a nice job throwing vertical routes to, and I’m sure if they look at our tape last year they think they’re going to have a field day. Hopefully, we’ll have improved from last year.”

The Bulldogs have felt throughout fall camp that they have, and hope to continue to improve as the season progresses. They come in healthy, with strong safety Dalen Jones back after missing time because of a sprained knee. Cornerbacks Charles Washington (core muscle) and Malcolm Washington (groin) have been back in practice for two weeks. They are two-deep at every spot in the secondary.

“This is a big test,” Ellis said. “We can talk about how we’ve changed and the different mentality we have, but now we have to go out and prove it.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Fresno State secondary ready for test, and could get one in opener."