FRESNO STATE FOOTBALL
OCTOBER 1, 2015
As expected, Fresno State rookie linebacker James Bailey making early impact
Freshman outside linebacker continuing to trend upward
Nine tackles last week are most for Fresno State freshman since 2007
Bulldogs staff see Bailey potentially developing into one of Mountain West’s best
Fresno State linebacker James Bailey is a true freshman out of Lake Travis High in Austin, Texas. FRESNO STATE ATHLETICS
From the time James Bailey made a commitment to Fresno State, coach Tim DeRuyter and the Bulldogs defensive coaching staff thought that he could make an immediate impact on the football field.
They were hoping, of course, and surely wanted it to happen. With depth questions at outside linebacker, they needed it as well. But it’s not always best to give voice to such things, because it is a big jump from high school to college. The game and the schemes are more complex; the players in it are faster and more physical.
But the freshman set aside any questions or concerns very early in fall camp and has been trending upward ever since. In the first three games of the 2015 season, Bailey was on the field primarily when the Bulldogs were playing nickel schemes. But last week in a loss at San Jose State, the outside (Sam) linebacker doubled the reps he played in base defense and racked up a career-high nine tackles – including six solo stops – and recovered a fumble.
“That’s the rare thing,” DeRuyter said. “When a freshman comes in a lot of times they take timid steps just not knowing what to do and he has never had that freshman look. He just turns it loose.
“He doesn’t always do things right, but he always does it at full speed, which is what you want as a coach. We’ll get him lined up right, but that confidence to go and play hard usually it’s a learned deal. Once you get some confidence you start doing it, but he showed up with confidence.”
Bailey also was intent on making an impact, and well-schooled to do it coming out of Lake Travis High-Austin, one of the top programs in Texas.
“My plan was to come attack it,” he said. “My coaches back in Texas taught me how to watch film, play the defense, how to study it. The speed is different, the physicality. But you just have to go at it.”
And, he hasn’t flinched once.
WE WERE ALL LIKE, ‘OK, HE’S DEFINITELY GOING TO BE A DUDE AS A TRUE FRESHMAN.’ Fresno State linebackers coach Jordan Peterson on early impressions of first-year player James Bailey
“In fall camp, right off the bat, the first time we went live in a short-yardage situation, it was him and Mice in the hole and he didn’t bat an eye,” said outside linebackers coach Jordan Peterson, the Mice being the 245-pound fifth-year senior Malique Micenheimer.
“He dog-tackled him, hit him in the thighs, took him down for a 1-yard loss and at that point you knew that he was ready to go in a game situation. You knew from a maturity standpoint he was ready. The physicality was there. So that was the first opportunity where we were all like, ‘OK, he’s definitely going to be a dude as a true freshman.’ ”
The Bulldogs, in having to generate the depth in a number of position groups on both sides of the football, have had to play a lot of true freshmen the past two seasons. There were eight last season and three so far this season, with two more in the two-deep.
Bailey is the first freshman on defense, true or redshirt, to record nine tackles in a game since Ben Jacobs had 16 (three solo) in a 47-45 overtime loss at No. 23 Texas A&M in 2007.
And they will keep pushing him forward, playing a position that is suited perfectly to his skill set. In the Bulldogs’ 3-4 defense, the Sam linebacker is a hybrid, but Bailey can be an every-down outside linebacker. He is physical enough to attach and line up with most tight ends, and he can line up over a slot (receiver) and more than handle himself there.
15 total tackles for Bailey in his freshman season, tied for sixth among all Bulldogs defenders
“He’s making some true freshman mistakes here and there, but for the most part we’re very pleased with where he is at,” Peterson said. “He’s very mature from a game plan standpoint. It’s not like we’re taking things out because he’s in there. We’re still calling the entire defense.
“He’s keeping up well, and that’s a testament to his work ethic and his putting in extra time outside of the time that he’s in our building. He shoots texts to me all the time asking me, ‘Hey, look I’m watching clip of so-and-so of this game, how would we fit this front or how would we cover this route if this were the coverage?’ That shows that he’s way ahead of his age.”
DeRuyter calls him “just a natural football player.”
“He understands the game. He has got great short-area quickness, he can change direction,” DeRuyter said, “which is why we can play him at nickel and we can play him at Sam. We thought he would grow into being a Sam, and he has gained 20 pounds since he first got here and he has kept most of that and, again, he’s just never fazed and he flashed early.
“I think he’s going to be a very productive player in this defense, and you need edge guys like that with playmaking capability whether it’s tackles for losses, sacks, he can do all of those things. I think in a year or two he might be one of the best defensive players in the conference. He has that kind of upside.”
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