‘DOGS DISHING OUT EARLY OFFERS

Fresno State head coach Pat Hill is not one for offering many prospects before their senior year.

The 2009 Fresno State recruiting class featured 14 players that signed in February plus three more that enrolled in January for the spring semester. Recruiting for the 2010 class started well before the 2009 class signed, but it picked up as soon as the ink dried on the National Letters of Intent. Of the early offers Hill has extended, one to a former Bulldog’s younger brother stands out.

Jason Shirley had an up-and-down career at Fresno State. Nonetheless, despite playing only in a handful of games his senior year in 2007, he was drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. His younger brother – Josh Shirley – is one of the top recruits in California for the 2010 class.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound standout out of Fontana (Calif.) Kaiser plays the same position as current Bulldog Chris Carter played at Kaiser – hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker. Carter was a three-star recruit in the 2007 class that signed with Fresno State over Pac-10 offers from Oregon State and Washington State. Shirley is rated four-stars by Scout.com and the No. 10 outside linebacker in the nation. He sports offers from San Diego State and Stanford besides his one from the Bulldogs. Many more will follow.

Like Carter, Shirley is an undersized defensive end for the next level. Most BCS schools will recruit him as a linebacker. Fresno State is recruiting him as a hybrid DE/LB as is Stanford.

Fresno State also has an offer out to Scout.com’s No. 4 rated middle linebacker in the country – Chula Vista (Calif.) Eastlake’s Tony Jefferson. The 6-foot, 200-pound standout has offers from major programs throughout the nation including Notre Dame, Florida, Georgia, and USC among others. To say the ‘Dogs don’t have a chance would be an understatement.

But the offers that will catch Valley football fans attention are to Edison defensive linemen Wesley Flowers (6-4, 250) and Rakeem Yates (6-2, 225). Flowers also has an offer from Washington is arguably the top linemen in Central California on both sides of the ball. He finished his junior season with 50 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, six sacks and two fumbles caused. Yates is an undersize defensive tackle, but he has dominated Central Section offensive linemen the last two years.

The defensive line will be a focus for the 2010 class besides Flowers and Yates, Redlands (Calif.) East Valley defensive end Andrew Hudson (6-3, 215) holds a Bulldog offer. Washington has also offered Hudson as well.

The running back class is loaded in California. Of the 12 running backs are rated three-stars or higher by Scout.com, La Habra (Calif.) back Joshua Quezada is not one of them. But that doesn’t mean the 6-foot, 200-pound standout wasn’t one of the top performers in Southern California last season. He rushed for 1,680 yards on 157 carries and scored 18 touchdowns, and he added 21 receptions for 318 yards and three more touchdowns while earning first team all-league, all-CIF, and all-Orange County honors.

For more on these prospects and Fresno State recruiting please visit BarkBoard.com.

2010 Fresno State Recruiting Prospects

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David Carr’s younger brother, Newest Fresno State quarterback

He doesn’t want to hear about filling shoes or living up to his older brother’s legacy, Derek Carr just wants to be his own man.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound quarterback played just three months at Bakersfield Christian after transferring from Houston area Sugar Land Clements High School. At Clements, he played in a run-oriented offense, where he threw the ball only 15-20 times per game. At BCHS, he was allowed to sling the rock all over the field while leading the Eagles to the CIF Central Section D5 title.

In his one season, Carr completed 280-of -413 passes for 4,067 yards and 46 touchdowns. It was good enough to earn him second-team small school All-American honors from MaxPreps and first-team small school all-state honors from Cal-Hi Sports.

Carr graduated high school early in December, and he enrolled at Fresno State in January. While he is preparing to participate in the Bulldogs’ upcoming spring practice later this month, it was just seven years ago, David Carr was preparing for the NFL Draft after completing the most prolific season as a quarterback in Fresno State history. The comparisons will come early and often. But if all goes to plan, the younger Carr will establish himself and will not have to ride the coattails of his older sibling.

“Of all the quarterbacks we’ve recruited, I can easily say coming out of high school, the most polished quarterback we’ve ever had,” Fresno State head coach Pat Hill said last month during his signing day news conference. “No offense, Dave, he is a little further ahead of you when you were at [Bakersfield] Stockdale [High School],” Hill added.

If there is one player who can handle the pressure, it is Derek. He has already experienced it firsthand. As a sophomore at Clements, he led his team to eight wins and a rare appearance in the playoffs, playing in the shadow of his brother while he was with the Texans. The following year, with David with the Carolina Panthers, Derek stayed in Houston, leading Clements to a 13-1 record. Their lone loss came in the playoffs against eventual state champion Katy.

“The [expectations] are ridiculously high,” David Carr said on signing day after the news conference. “But he had to handle that in Houston. He is definitely capable of handling what people throw at him.”

David was the first player Coach Hill recruited when he became coach at Fresno State in December 1996. While Derek is quite possibly Hill’s most decorated recruit to date. He is rated four-stars and ranked the 16th best quarterback in the 2009 class by Scout.com.

“When he called me on the phone one night and said, ‘I’ve talked it over with my brother and family, I want to be a Bulldog.’ I almost fell out of my chair because I know what type of talent he has,” Hill said of his conversation with Derek last spring.

“He can do a lot of things with the football. It’s a tough position to play [at Fresno State], the controversy that will swirl; I think he can handle it. Following in [David’s] footsteps is not a problem for Derek; he is going to be his own man.”

None of that matters to the younger Carr right now. The most important thing is bonding with his teammates during off-season workouts while preparing for spring football. “We’re all becoming real good friends,” Carr said of his new teammates. “That is where is where it begins, if you have no chemistry then the season will not be that great.”

Junior Ryan Colburn is the favorite to start in place of graduating Tom Brandstater at quarterback in 2009. However, Coach Hill says it will be exciting spring with four quarterbacks competing for the starting job. Redshirt freshman Ebahn Feathers was a three-star recruit last season, and Matt Faulkner has arguably been the most accurate quarterback on the roster the last two seasons. Nonetheless, neither may be as good as Carr may.

“I didn’t do some of the things he does until I was in college, even in the NFL,” his older brother said. “He’s advanced.”

But there will be handouts at Fresno State. The players recruited to represent this program on the gridiron understand nothing will be given to them. Derek Carr is no exception. 

“It’s time to get to work,” said Carr. “Learn that playbook so I can go in there and compete.”

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