Matt Weir/The Collegian
With spring practice wrapping up just four days ago, unmonitored workouts are the only thing on the plate for the Fresno State football team.
The Bulldog faithful came to see which players could make a difference last Saturday as next season approaches, and some players, especially in the recieving corps, came up big.
Multiple receivers made plays throughout the night, with sophomore Jalen Saunders catching passes and making moves in the open field. The same goes with redshirt freshman Josh Harper, who caught a nice touchdown pass early on. Another receiver who showed some promise was senior J.J. Stallworth, who made a couple grabs.
Receivers coach Keith Williams was watching his group closely throughout the scrimmage and was pleased with the overall effort.
“I think it was good,” Williams said after the spring game. “Guys worked hard. Obviously, there’s going to be some mistakes made and there was some mistakes made. But we also made some plays so there are some things to definitely build on.”
Even though the receiving corps as a whole impressed, no one impacted the game as much as Victor Dean, the tallest receiver on the team.
The San Diego native caught four touchdowns in the spring game after seeing a lot of playing time with the three, four and five receiver sets.
Listed at 6-foot-6, Dean did most of his damage in goal-line packages and Williams has seen his coaching pay off.
“I’m proud of him because we’ve been talking about him high-pointing balls,” Williams said. “The types of touchdowns that he caught are the types of plays that he and I have been talking about and we’ve been working on. So I’m proud to see he applied that to the game.”
Although the redshirt freshman had a good evening, he stills knows that he needs to work on his game.
“I think you can always do better,” Dean said. “I think I came out and tried to do my best today. I just want to keep on working on improving my game and come out in the fall better.”
Saturday’s scrimmage marked the first time Dean has experienced live action after he redshirted last season. Redshirting allowed him to soak in the playbook and learn the offense.
This improved understanding of the offense could bode well for his chances of playing in the first game of the 2011 season against Cal.
“It would mean a lot,” Dean said. “It’s my first game coming in. As a redshirt, I didn’t get to play last year. It’s just a chance to prove myself and show everybody what I can do.”
With Dean’s size and leaping ability, he’s got the skills that most power conference teams covet.
Head coach Pat Hill acknowledges that he hasn’t had this type of player at the receiver position since he’s been the face of Fresno State football.
“We haven’t had a wide receiver since I’ve been here with those kinds of physical tools,” Hill said about Dean. “We’ve got to get to the point where we can get him involved more on the inside passing game, but that will come with time. He’s young and I think he’s made great strides for us. He’s got a chance to be a very fine player.”
After Saturday’s performance, coach Hill could be right about Dean but the Lincoln High graduate’s goals are to keep improving.
“I always want to be a starter at the top of the group, but my plan right now is just be the best I can be,” Dean said.