Fresno State football notes: Injured QB Chason Virgil enters learning mode

Chason Virgil, the Fresno State Bulldogs’ freshman quarterback, didn’t force a smile.

But, now out for the season after suffering a broken clavicle in the fourth quarter of a loss to Utah, he said he was doing fine, that injuries happen, it’s all part of the game.

If there is a positive, it’s he will not require surgery to repair the fracture (initially that had been a possibility) and there is little question there will be more positives by the end of the season as he slips into what coach Tim DeRuyter called a learning mode.

“The fact that he got out there and played in an SEC environment against a pretty good team at Ole Miss, that he got action in every game and played another top-20 team in Utah at home, that experience will be invaluable for him going into next year,” DeRuyter said.

“He’ll get a chance to go through the cut-ups after this year, go through the study from January to spring ball, go through another spring and then through another summer. He’ll be a redshirt freshman next year, but it almost won’t be fair because he’ll be so far ahead of any other freshman out there.”

Virgil, who in three games completed 31 of 56 passes (55.4%) for 298 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions, is intent on getting there.

“It was unfortunate, but I can’t let that stop me from helping the team out in any way possible,” he said. “I just have to be there for the quarterbacks, be there for the team leadership-wise, just continue to help them with anything they need and continue to prepare with them as though I was going into the game to play. I can’t let the injury stop me at all.

“You can get a lot of reps playing, but you can also get a lot of reps just watching from the sideline, the mental reps, the things that really help you slow the game down. Playing the game helps you slow the game down, too, but those mental reps and just seeing everything will help a lot as well.”

Northern and O-line seeking fast start – San Jose State is allowing 285.7 rushing yards per game and 6.08 yards per play, which are large numbers. The Spartans rank 127th and 124th of 128 in the nation per game and per play. But Fresno State right tackle Justin Northern said he doesn’t pay much attention to those statistics and the impact they could have on the Bulldogs’ Mountain West Conference opener Saturday night at Spartan Stadium.

The Bulldogs have a few things to get squared away themselves and, really, those numbers are skewed a bit by the teams San Jose State has played. The Spartans allowed 4.9 yards per rush in an opening victory over FCS New Hampshire, which doesn’t look good. But they also have lost at Air Force and at Oregon State, programs ranked third and 41st in rushing offense with 367 and 214.3 yards per game.

As for the Bulldogs, they are looking for a faster start, Northern said.

“We get in a good rhythm, but I think at times we don’t play how we should,” Northern said. “It’s honestly not relying on our fundamentals. If you look at the second-half play as an offensive line unit, in every game we’ve done really well and in the first half we really haven’t.

“I think that’s kind of doing our own thing, not panicking but going too fast, trying to do too much, some superhero effort, and then the second half comes and we realize if we just rely on our fundamentals and we’ll be fine. You try to do too much and you end up doing worse than you would.”

Fresno State has scored 17 points in the first quarters of its games, 14 in the opener against FCS Abilene Christian. The run game has averaged 3.7 yards per play, compared to 4.4 the rest of the games.

“It’s all just execution,” Northern said. “We all know where we’re going and how we have to get there, we just have to execute it. It’s a lack of execution. But there are times we execute and we do really well. With (Marteze Waller) back there it doesn’t take much.”

Thanks for the honesty – The Bulldogs’ Malique Micenheimer carried the football three times for 22 yards in the loss to Utah and each time looked to inflict bodily harm on the defender in front of him, finishing each play hard.

That, he said, was the goal.

“You have to be honest with yourself,” Micenheimer said. “I know I’m not going to outrun that many people. The best thing I can do is get my shoulders low and finish going forward.”

Et cetera – The Bulldogs have no more clarity on the status this week of quarterback Zack Greenlee or outside linebacker Brandon Hughes, who were arrested early Sunday morning. They continued to rep three quarterbacks with the No. 1 offense – Greenlee, junior transfer Ford Childress and redshirt freshman Kilton Anderson. At outside linebacker, Toth said if Hughes is unavailable to play at San Jose State it would just be next man up. Sophomore Tobenna Okeke likely gets a lot more reps, though. “We’ve played a bunch of outside linebackers,” Toth said. “I think we have enough depth there that if Brandon plays we’ll be fine. If he doesn’t, we’ll miss him but I think we can replace him there for a game or a half or a play. You always have to be ready for the next guy to be up.”

▪ Since Derek Carr threw for 519 yards in a 62-52 loss at San Jose State in 2013, the Spartans have held six of their 15 opponents to fewer than 100 passing yards and 13 of 15 to less than 200. The only teams with 200 or more passing yards against the Spartans last season were Colorado State (290) and Fresno State (207).

▪ Freshman Mike linebacker Nela Otukolo continues to move forward, getting reps earlier in game. “I’m ready to play him as early as we need to,” Toth said. “It’s kind of a scheduled rotation. I’d like to have him in somewhere around the sixth to eighth play of the game and keep that rotation going, if that works out. You have to make sure the mix is right. You don’t want to have too many of the next guys up at one time early in the game. I’m OK with it later and as the thing goes on, but I want guys to get a feel for the game. But I’m really comfortable with all of the linebackers playing early, so I think you’re going to see that.”

▪ Fresno State has allowed 20 tackles for loss in three games, on pace for 80 this season. That would be 13 fewer than last season.

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 10:32 PM with the headline "Fresno State football notes: Injured QB Chason Virgil enters learning mode."