When head coach Tim DeRuyter released the Bulldogs’ depth chart against Weber State on Aug. 27, it missed a key component on special teams””the kicker.

Since the start of fall camp, the kicking competition had been a three-way race among senior Andrew Shapiro, junior Blake Dunn and redshirt freshman Quentin Breshears. Shapiro is last year’s returning punter.

DeRuyter cited inconsistencies in each of the candidates exposed in practice and team scrimmages as the main reason why a kicker has yet to be announced. DeRuyter said that Breshears was the top candidate to lead the field-goal unit heading into this week’s preparations for the Sept. 1 season opener against Weber State.

“I have confidence that we’ll put Quentin””if it’s Quentin or if it’s Andrew or Dunn””in positions where we think they should have success,” DeRuyter said. “And if they don’t we’ll go from there.”

Both the offense and defensive units underwent recent adjustments.

On the offensive line, senior Richard Helepiko, who started at center for last year’s season opener against California, shifted to right guard. DeRuyter said he feels the position switch fits Helepiko’s skill sets more naturally.

Junior Lars Bramer is listed as this year’s starting center.

“Right now Lars Bramer has done a nice job in camp. He’s really improved since last spring,” DeRuyter said. “So what we’ve done the last week-and-a-half or so is we’ve moved Lars into the starting role at center, which has done a couple of things for us.”

Matt Hunt, who left early in the Aug. 11 team scrimmage with a knee injury, continues to take repetitions at left guard.

The departure of freshman tackle David Keller, former San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno standout, decreased the depth on the offensive line.

“It’s still going to be a little bit of a flux in there, but I like our depth a lot better where we’re at right now than we were coming out of spring,” DeRuyter said.

The major position shift to take place on defense was senior Travis Brown’s switch from outside linebacker to the middle linebacker position.

Brown, who did not practice with the team in the spring due to injury, had been taking reps on the outside with the second team in fall camp behind senior Shawn Plummer.

“Travis is a guy that we felt we had to find a way to get him on the field,” DeRuyter said.

“In our package we want get our four best linebackers on the field. Analyzing that I thought Travis was one of those four and I think he fits our [inside] position probably better than he did as [an outside linebacker].

“And so to be able to have Shawn and Travis on at the same time, we feel good about it.”

Defensive coordinator Nick Toth said

Brown and junior Jeremiah Toma start at a position faced with arguably the hardest adjustment to make in the 3-4 scheme.

“They were coached before to be kind of just pluggers,” Toth said. “Linebackers are a huge part of this defense, and you’re not a plugger. No one on this linebacker core gives up their body for somebody else. You’re always trying to make plays.”

“That’s been a tough change for our guys.”

As the program nears its first game under DeRuyter’s helm, the kicking competition remains the most unsettled position battle.

“The kicking situation is probably the biggest one,” DeRuyter said.

“Like I said, we’ve probably got about 15 guys on either side of the football that we feel pretty good about right now.”