Fresno State football: Bulldogs add director of player personnel

Fresno State took another step toward strengthening the infrastructure of its football program and pulling even with its Mountain West Conference rivals on Monday, appointing Jimmy Morimoto to the newly created position of director of player personnel.

“It’s another example of the commitment the university is making to our football program,” coach Tim DeRuyter said. “We have to do our part and continue to represent the university the right way and win football games. But for us to compete at the top level of the conference, this is a position that puts us on the same footing as the top people in our conference, and it’s going to help us continue to recruit great football players so we hopefully can continue to compete for championships.”

Morimoto comes to Fresno State from UNLV, where for the past six years he has been the director of player personnel. Before joining the Rebels in 2007 as an assistant video coordinator and moving up to assistant recruiting coordinator, Morimoto coached for 15 years at H.P. Baldwin High in Wailuku, Hawaii.

At Fresno State, he will run the recruiting operations and is expected to help expand the Bulldogs’ recruiting footprint. The Valley and California are the prime target areas, but DeRuyter and his staff have used their ties to Texas to enhance recruiting efforts there and in other states. There are 17 scholarship players on the roster this season from schools outside of California, up from seven in 2011.

“Recruiting is such a vital part of a Division I football program’ and to have a guy whose sole purpose is to every day think about recruiting, not have to worry necessarily about X’s and O’s, is going to be huge,” DeRuyter said. “It gets us to where most of the teams in our league are right now, and then there’s the fact that we’re bringing in a guy like Jimmy who has got tremendous experience in the Mountain West.

“He has a network of contacts on the entire West Coast, in Hawaii and in Samoa, that I think is going to enhance our recruiting profile and expand our footprint. Having those contacts gives you access to some players that maybe we didn’t have that access to before.”

McGee coming home? Former Edison High quarterback Khari McGee is exploring a transfer to Fresno State.

McGee, who signed with Arizona out of high school, stopped by campus after practice and met briefly with DeRuyter and the Bulldogs’ staff.

“It went well,” he said. “They’re trying to work with me and trying to help me, get me on a path to where I can have a degree, but also play a sport and do what I love.”

The 6-foot-3 quarterback, who was limited by shoulder and thumb injuries at Arizona, left the Pacific-12 Conference school in December and has been taking classes through West Hills College and Foothill College. He could enroll at Fresno State in January, if not sooner, and would have two years of eligibility remaining. The fall semester started on Aug. 25.

At Edison, McGee set school records for passing yards and touchdowns and rushing yards by a quarterback, and was the County Metro Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

Fresno State coaches and staff are not allowed by NCAA rules to comment on prospective student-athletes until a national letter of intent or aid agreement has been signed and validated.

Childress’ chance? With freshman quarterback Chason Virgil out for the season with a broken clavicle and the status of quarterback Zack Greenlee in question following an arrest for public drunkenness, the Bulldogs had three quarterbacks take reps with the No. 1 offense during a brief practice.

Installing the game plan for the Mountain West opener against San Jose State, Greenlee, junior transfer Ford Childress and redshirt freshman Kilton Anderson took those reps.

Childress, who would be in line to start if Greenlee is suspended, played at the end of the Bulldogs’ loss at Ole Miss. He threw two passes, one of which was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, but he said he is comfortable within the Bulldogs’ offense.

The play sheet would not have to be reduced to the size of a 3-by-5 index card.

“No, I don’t run as much, but it shouldn’t shrink at all,” Childress said. “I’m feeling very comfortable about it. Every rep I take, every practice I get better. It’s all about studying the film, getting in my playbook, just make it second nature.”

Childress in the past two weeks has been given a few more reps during practice, but he has had to try to move forward getting most of his work done off the football field.

“Most of his work has been done on film, but I will say this about the guy, he comes up and he watches film. He studies the game,” offensive coordinator Dave Schramm said.

“He can tell you what to do, but it’s a big difference when you’re actually doing it and it’s for a guy that really hasn’t taken very many reps. He didn’t take any in the spring. He didn’t take any in the summer, and he took a little bit in fall camp. We’ll see.”

Et cetera – Wideout Delvon Hardaway, who has been rehabbing a knee injury suffered in spring practices, has been cleared for full contact and could play this week at San Jose State. The Bulldogs will get a better gauge on Tuesday when going through some contact in full pads during practice. They were in helmets and shorts on Monday for their initial run-through for San Jose State.

“He’s fully cleared, so we’ll put him through the paces, see how he handles contact and practicing at the speed we need him to practice at, and hopefully he’ll be fresh on Wednesday and we’ll go from there,” DeRuyter said.

▪ With two fumble recoveries and one interception in a loss to No. 21 Utah, the Bulldogs moved up to a tie for 10th in the nation in turnovers gained with eight. That’s the good news. The bad news is they are tied for 76th in turnover margin at -0.33, having turned over the ball nine times.

▪ Linebacker Michael Lazarus spent most of the practice as a spectator. He was late for a morning workout.

“You earn your reps by how much coaches can trust you, and if you can’t show up and do the little things right, you lose the trust of your coaches,” DeRuyter said. “Everybody wants to play, everybody wants to do things right, but your actions speak louder than your words.”

▪ The Bulldogs are 3-0 in conference openers since joining the Mountain West. This will be the second year in a row they open on the road, winning last year at New Mexico. They beat Boise State in 2013 and San Diego State in 2012.

This story was originally published September 21, 2015 at 9:55 PM with the headline "Fresno State football: Bulldogs add director of player personnel."