San Jose State Football

If you’re the type of college football fan who loves watching athletic dual-threat quarterbacks, then you’re in for a real treat in 2013. The sport is absolutely loaded with exciting dual-threat signal-callers such as Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, Clemson’s Tajh Boyd, Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and Ohio State’s Braxton Miller. 

All four of those big-name stars will surely receive plenty of recognition and publicity this offseason, and rightfully so. But actually the most intriguing quarterback in college football isn’t a part of the new wave of spread offensive signal-callers. Instead, it’s an old-school pro-style pocket-passer. 

That quarterback is San Jose State’s David Fales. 

It’s clear that Fales is certainly no running threat in the mold of Manziel, Mariota or Miller. All you need to do is look at his -139 total net rushing yards from last year to figure that out. What he is, though, is one of the most gifted passers that we’ve seen in the college ranks in years.

He’s also one of the most hard-working and determined players in the country, and the type of young man you can't help but root for.

Before 2012, Fales was a relative unknown to most college football fans. The former 2-star-rated recruit wasn't showered with scholarship offers from prominent powerhouse programs back when he played for Palma High School, an all-boys catholic school in Salinas, California.

The University of Nevada was the only FBS school to offer the under-the-radar signal-caller a scholarship. Fales was grateful for the opportunity and signed with the Wolf Pack. 

Since running the ball obviously isn’t Fales’ forte, he was a bit of an odd fit for Chris Ault’s innovative pistol offensive attack. After spending just one year in Reno and watching how Ault used Colin Kaepernick, Fales came to the realization that even though the Wolf Pack had taken a chance on him when no other team did, it just wasn’t the right system for his skill set.

In an article that appeared in the Mercury News last September, Fales addressed why he left Nevada, saying “I realized what they wanted me to do wasn’t a good fit for me. They wanted me to be more of a runner. I looked at everything, saw where it was going and didn’t want to waste my time.” 

Since he was still an unproven commodity at that point, transferring to an FBS school was not an option, so Fales instead decided to head to the JUCO ranks to prove himself to major college recruiters. Ultimately, he ended up back in his home state of California at Monterey Peninsula College.

It was there where he started to develop and grow as both a player and a person.

After two years of flaunting his skills at Monterey, there were still no big BCS programs who came calling for the signal-caller’s services. But there was a scholarship offer from San Jose State head coach Mike MacIntyre.

The Spartans were coming off a mediocre yet still somewhat encouraging 5-7 campaign (it was a step in the right direction after a dreadful 1-12 season in 2010), and they had a hole to fill at quarterback following the departure of starter Matt Faulkner.

Fales finally saw the opportunity that he had been waiting for. 

After impressing MacIntyre and the rest of the coaching staff with his quick grasp of the offense during the offseason, Fales was named the starter and given the chance once and for all to prove himself as the offensive leader of an FBS team.

He immediately made the most of the long-awaited opportunity. In his debut performance, Fales nearly led the Spartans to a huge upset win on the road over a Stanford team that came into the season ranked No. 21 in the country. But unfortunately, they couldn’t seal the deal, losing to the eventual Pac-12 champions 20-17.

Fales’ first defeat may have hurt a bit, but luckily, it was a feeling that he only had to endure once more during his inaugural season. The first-year starter quickly transformed from an unknown afterthought into one of the most productive and efficient passers in the country.

The breakout star signal-caller led San Jose State—a team which had put together just two winning seasons since moving to the WAC in 1996—to a surprisingly successful 11-win season that not even the most optimistic Spartan fan could have expected. It was the perennial doormat program’s first double-digit win campaign in 25 years. 

His individual numbers weren’t just impressive; they were sensational. Fales led the nation with a 72 percent completion percentage, ranked sixth in the country with 4,193 passing yards, ranked third with a 170 passer rating and finished with an outstanding 33-9 touchdown-interception ratio.

As strange as it may sound, I first took notice of Fales after seeing highlights of his second loss of the season, a 49-27 defeat at Utah State. When I checked the box score to see how Aggies QB Chuckie Keeton performed in the game, Fales’ numbers jumped out at me.

I thought to myself: forget about Keeton, who is this quarterback who just completed 38 passes for 467 yards? 

After digging deeper and discovering what he had accomplished in helping to turn around a struggling Spartans program, I knew that this was a player that I had to see. I made it a point to watch the team’s final three nationally televised games against BYU, Louisiana Tech and Bowling Green.

I liked what I saw in a win over the Cougars. I became a believer after witnessing the upset of the Bulldogs. Then, I became a full-fledged Fales fanboy after watching what he did against the Falcons in the Military Bowl.

While watching his MVP performance in the 29-20 victory, I remember witnessing throws that only maybe three or four other quarterbacks in college football could have made. 

The perfect ball placement, the incredible velocity, the pinpoint accuracy, the flawless mechanics, the natural pocket awareness and the instinctive feel for the game he displayed was incredible to see. The strong-armed senior signal-caller is truly a special quarterback, who possesses rare physical gifts and passing skills. 

In this current era when we’re now starting to see more dual-threat quarterbacks become the biggest stars in college football (notice how the last three Heisman winners were all of the dual-threat variety), it’s really refreshing to see an elite pocket-passer emerge on the national scene. 

That’s why David Fales is truly college football’s most intriguing quarterback, and that’s why he’ll be one of the most fascinating players to watch in 2013. While he may not produce the awe-inspiring explosive highlight-reel runs that more athletic quarterbacks like Manziel, Mariota or Miller will, Fales is fully capable of dropping just as many jaws with the unbelievable throws he can make.

It’s been a long journey to get to this point. Besides Chris Ault and Mike MacIntyre, there really weren’t many coaches who believed in his ability. It didn't matter, though. Fales always believed he had it in him, and he persevered and kept fighting until he finally got that one chance to prove himself. 

Just making it out of the JUCO ranks and getting a shot to play for an FBS program was a huge victory in itself. For every Cam Newton, or Colt Brennan, or Zach Mettenberger, there have been hundreds of JUCO quarterbacks in recent years who simply faded into obscurity and never made an impact at college football’s top level. 

Fales comes from a similar situation as Packers star signal-caller Aaron Rodgers. Like Rodgers, he was a California kid who wasn’t the biggest or the flashiest quarterback in high school, and thus he didn’t receive much attention from the high-profile west coast programs.

But like Rodgers, he clearly has that desire and determination to succeed that burns deep within his soul.

It also helps that he seems to be one of the most level-headed players that you’re going to find in college football. Judging from some of the interviews he’s done so far, Fales hasn’t let the attention and success get to his head at all.

Now, as he heads into his senior season in 2013, Fales has set himself up to be one of the most talked-about quarterbacks in the country following his tremendous debut campaign. Everything that we’ve seen from him so far has been encouraging.

However, there’s still much more that we need to find out and learn about David Fales. 

With San Jose State now moving to the Mountain West, it will be very interesting to see how Fales and the Spartans handle the step up in competition and the bigger stage this fall.

A non-conference rematch against Stanford on Sept. 7 will be the first big test of the season. But it will be just as important to see how he performs in quarterback duels with talented fellow conference counterparts such as Fresno State’s Derek Carr, Utah State’s Chuckie Keeton, Nevada’s Cody Fajardo and Wyoming’s Brett Smith.

Fales has created a big buzz with his spectacular showing in 2012. Now it’s time for him to capitalize on the momentum and show fans and NFL scouts alike that he’s truly one of the sport’s elite players.

The college football coaching carousel continues to spin as San Diego head coach Ron Caragher will leave the program to accept the same position at San Jose State, according to Jimmy Durkin of the Mercury News.

Caragher is expected to replace Mike MacIntyre, who left the Spartans en route to Colorado. He takes over a team that went 10-2 in the regular season and earned a spot in the Military Bowl against Bowling Green later in the month.

Interim coach Kent Baer will still coach the team for that game before Caragher takes over the reigns of the Western Athletic Conference program.

Caragher went 44-22 during his six seasons leading San Diego. He takes over a San Jose State program that showed signs of progress in recent seasons, but has made just two bowl appearances over the past two decades, including this year's game.

He's a relatively young coach at 45, and the San Jose State program will give him a chance to show that his success at San Diego can carry over. As a former college quarterback and running back coach, he has a strong offensive mind.

The Spartans moved quickly to replace MacIntyre, which either means Caragher was extremely impressive during the interview process or they didn't want to leave any questions for recruits as the countdown to signing day begins shortly.

San Jose State has had five straight head coaches finish their Spartans careers with losing records. The school hopes Caragher will bring that streak to an end.

Ed Zieralski of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a press conference will be held at 5:15 p.m. ET to introduce Caragher.

In the world of college football, many players are ignored as a result of the teams that they play on. Noel Grigsby is still getting ignored even though the San Jose State Spartans have improved this season.

Grigsby tallied 15 touchdowns and averaged over 20 yards per catch as a wide receiver at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, Calif. in 2007. In 2008, he was a second-team All-City selection as a defensive back.

Grigsby displayed his versatility as an athlete by also lettering in basketball and performing as a sprinter and high jumper on the track and field team.

After redshirting in 2009 at San Jose State, Grigsby quickly emerged as a major wide receiving threat for the Spartans. In 2010, Grigsby caught 56 passes for 822 yards and four touchdowns. His reception and yardage marks set freshman records at San Jose State, and Phil Steele selected him as a second-team Freshman All-American.

Grigsby became the first Spartan freshman with at least 700 receiving yards in a season. His 14.7 yards per catch ranked second among 2010 FBS freshmen with at least 50 receptions.

Not since John Broussard in 2006 had any receiver recorded a yards-per-catch average as high as Grigsby's.

In 2011, Grigsby continued to improve as a wide receiver. His 89 receptions set a single-season record at San Jose State. The Western Athletic Conference selected Grigsby as a second-team All-WAC wide receiver.

Although some of Grigsby's numbers were impressive, others suffered from his inability to position himself further downfield because of quarterback and offensive line issues. He only caught two touchdown passes in 2011, and his yards-per-catch average dropped to 9.9.

In July, Grigsby was one of 48 players placed on the 2012 Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list. This award goes to the best pass receiver in college football.

Despite the individual achievements of Grigsby, the Spartans were not finding success on the football field. San Jose State was 6-19 in his first two years on the field.

SJSU's fortunes have begun to improve with the arrival of quarterback David Fales from junior college and tailback De'Leon Eskridge, a transfer from the University of Minnesota.

An improved passing game has given the 5'11", 175-pound junior more opportunities in single coverage and the chance to run deeper routes. So far this season, Grigsby has caught 43 passes for 690 yards and five touchdowns. On Saturday, he had four receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown against the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners.

His yards-per-catch average is at a career-high 16.0. Earlier this year, Grigsby became San Jose State's all-time leader in receptions and receiving yardage. His streak for consecutive games with a catch is currently at 28.

As a junior and a team captain, Grigsby has enhanced his leadership skills. As a wide receiver, Grigsby's best attributes are his exceptional hands and his ability to get open regardless of the defensive alignment.

Although Grigsby may be unknown to many college football fans, opponents are fully aware of his talents. Supporters of the Spartans know Grigsby well enough to want to see him at San Jose State again next year.

It has been said many times that one cannot fit a square peg into a round hole.

Many have also experienced the frustration of going to a shoe store and trying on several pairs of footwear before finding the perfect fit.

Those two experiences symbolize the trials and tribulations of David Fales, the starting quarterback for the San Jose State Spartans.

Coming from Salinas, Calif., Fales thought he was headed on an easy path to success after being a two-time all-league quarterback and the Tri-County League Most Valuable Player as a high school senior.

However, he didn't receive many college scholarship offers.

Fales decided to accept the first offer that came his way, and he signed with the University of Nevada after the 2008 season. In 2009, Colin Kaepernick, a second-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2011, was fully entrenched as the starting quarterback and two years ahead of Fales.

Fales was redshirted and lasted just one season with the Wolf Pack. He realized Nevada was not a proper fit for him.

Fales is a pocket passer, and Nevada wanted him to run the ball more than throw it.

Fales then decided to be closer to home and attend Monterey Peninsula College. In two years at MPC running a pro-style offense, he completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 4,635 yards and 27 touchdowns.

As a sophomore, Fales ranked among the state's top 10 in number of completions, completion percentage, passing yards, passing efficiency and touchdowns passes. While at MPC, he was selected as a First-team All-Coast Conference quarterback twice.

After his redshirt freshman season, the Wyoming Cowboys recruited Fales as a non-scholarship player. He spent part of the summer of 2011 in Laramie taking one class.

It didn't take long for Fales to decide that Wyoming was not the place for him, and he returned to MPC.

In 2011, Fales led MPC to a Coast Conference co-championship and an appearance in the Sierra Central Credit Union Bowl. Scholarship offers did not come rushing in despite Fales' success in junior college.

It looked like Fales was going to enroll at Indiana State, an FCS institution.

Unexpectedly, the San Jose State Spartans entered into the picture. Mike MacIntyre, the head coach at SJSU, thought Michigan transfer Tate Forcier was his quarterback of the future. However, as the fall semester of 2011 came to a close, Forcier decided to leave school.

At first, MacIntyre was interested in another quarterback that was going into his senior year. MacIntyre decided that Fales would be the better option since he had two years of eligibility remaining.

In addition, San Jose State runs a similar offense to that of MPC.

Finally, the jigsaw pieces were fitting together for Fales; he was finally leaving the land of misfit quarterbacks.

Fales enrolled in January of 2012 and entered into a three-way battle for the starting quarterback position. Fales quickly jumped ahead of Blake Jurich and Dasmen Stewart during spring drills.

In the Spring Game, Fales completed 16-of-23 passes for 194 yards and one touchdown. MacIntyre was impressed by Fales' ability to throw accurately while performing rollouts, bootlegs, five-step drops and seven-step drops.

Based on Fales' performance during the spring, he was named the starting quarterback for the opening game against the Stanford Cardinal.

Playing his first game at the FBS level against a Pac-12 school didn't faze Fales at all.

Fales threw for 217 yards and one touchdown as the Spartans narrowly lost to the Cardinal 20-17. As the season has progressed, Fales' performances keep improving.

Six games into the season, Fales has completed 162 of his 216 attempts (75.0 percent) for 1,867 yards with 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He is ranked eighth in the FBS in completions per game (27.0) and 12th in passing yards per game (311.17).

Fales' 163.16 passing efficiency places him ninth in the FBS. He is on pace to set school single-season records in yards per game, completion percentage and touchdowns.

More importantly, the 6'3", 220-lb junior has led the Spartans to a 6-2 record.

San Jose State has not achieved a winning record since 2006.

One of Fales' greatest attributes is his ability to stay calm in pressure situations and remain confident when his team is behind. Narrowly failing to complete the comeback against Stanford, he rebounded three weeks later to throw three touchdowns in the final 12 minutes of the game to give San Jose State a 38-34 victory over the San Diego State Aztecs.

Fales' competitive spirit was on display on Oct. 13 against the Utah State Aggies when he threw for 467 yards and three touchdowns, despite being sacked 13 times in the contest.

Fales is clearly the best quarterback San Jose State has had since Jeff Garcia played for the Spartans from 1991-93. Fans of SJSU are excited to see more of Fales' exploits for the rest of this season and hopefully next year when the Spartans move to the Mountain West Conference.

It is amazing how much success Fales is having now that he finally put the square peg into the square hole.

If the shoe fits—play football at San Jose State!

The Stanford Cardinal begin life without QB Andrew Luck when they host the San Jose State Spartans Friday and they will need more than luck to cover a whopping point spread.

Stanford is favored by 24 points at most shops tracked by OddsShark.com and it faces a non-conference foe that has proven to be extremely tough as an underdog.

On top of losing Luck to the Indianapolis Colts, Stanford has to replace half its starting offensive line, last year's top three pass-catchers and three-quarters of the defensive backfield.

"More than half of the action at the sportsbooks we canvassed is still on Stanford, but dog bettors are pointing to San Jose State's recent history as a double-digit underdog as one reason to back the Spartans," said Jack Randall, a football handicapping analyst at OddsShark.com.

The Spartans are 10-2 ATS in their past 12 games as an underdog and 7-3 ATS when dogged by 10 points or more. Getting 24 points might be far more than they need to cover the number.

The Cardinal return 13 starters this season from a team that went 11-2 and lost the Fiesta Bowl to Oklahoma State last year. Stanford gets back six starters on offense, led by RB Stepfan Taylor (1,330 rushing yards last year), and seven starters return on a defense that ranked 26th in the country last year, allowing 338 YPG.

SJ State, meanwhile, gets just 11 starters back from a team that went 5-7 last year. And while that record might not impress, it was a great improvement from going 3-22 the previous two seasons combined.

The Spartans return six starters on offense, although they have to replace their starting QB and leading rusher, while five starters are back on defense.  

Early action on this game has seen about two-thirds of play on the side come in on Stanford, but that had been bet down according to the college football consensus picks page at OddsShark.com. About 65 percent of play on the total had come down on the 'over.'

These teams met in Week 1 last year, with Stanford pounding the Spartans 57-3 and covering the point spread as 30-point favorites. Of course, that was a slightly different Cardinal team and the game was actually somewhat closer than that final score might indicate.

But on the season, San Jose State went 5-2 ATS on the road in 2011.

Free NCAAF Pick: Even with the losses in personnel, Stanford is the class in this matchup. It thrashed SJ State a year ago, but we're not sure that will happen again and we take the points.

All quotes were obtained first-hand unless otherwise noted.

The John Mackey Award is given annually to the top tight end in FBS football. The list of recipients includes such notable names as Dallas Clark, Heath Miller and Marcedes Lewis.

Many of the Mackey Award winners share the common thread of continued football success after leaving college football. 

However, they also share another common trait: All 11 of the winners played for teams from one of the six Automatic Qualifying (AQ) conferences. San Jose State tight end Ryan Otten is discovering all too well how difficult it is to get recognition as a tight end playing for a team outside of those six conferences.

Otten currently leads FBS tight ends in receiving yards, with 487 yards. The nearest tight end to that amount is Clemson's Dwayne Allen, who has 464 yards. However, Allen has played two more games than Otten.

In fact, out of the top 10 tight ends based on receiving yards so far this season, every tight end has played in at least one more game than Otten. 

So, a tight end who leads the nation in receiving despite playing in fewer games than his nearest competitors must be garnering quite a bit of national recognition, right?

Oddly enough, Otten is getting very little national recognition. While it's true that his name appears on the midseason watch list for the Mackey Award, he is hardly being talked about as a favorite to win it. In fact, Otten is hardly being talked about at all on a national level. 

Media coverage of tight ends this season often focuses on Allen, Syracuse's Nick Provo, Missouri's Michael Egnew, Notre Dame's Tyler Eifert or Stanford's Zach Ertz and Coby Fleener.  All have been highlighted on national television. Meanwhile, Otten is known only by his own fans and by the fans of those teams who have faced him.

Part of the problem facing Otten is that the tight end position is constantly evolving and changing, and with it the expectations placed on those who play the position. Before Kellen Winslow played in the "Air Coryell" offense in San Diego, tight ends were almost strictly called upon to block. 

Since then, there has been a wave of receiving tight ends. Then a backlash against primarily receiving tight ends arose as it was argued they lacked the blocking skills needed to play the position.

So, the current expectations of tight ends are for them to be a type of hybrid receiver-blocker, the exact specifics of which are not well-defined. 

In the absence of a solid set of grading criteria for tight ends, the nation has turned to the eyeball test, which inevitably favors those tight ends who play for prestigious programs and whose games are regularly televised.

As far as an individual's importance to their team is concerned, no tight end in the country has a bigger impact on his team's success than Otten. He is second on the Spartans' roster in receiving and leads the team in touchdown receptions. In fact, his four touchdowns constitute half of all San Jose State receiving touchdowns for the season so far. 

Surely, the fact that Otten not only leads the nation's tight ends in receiving yards but also accounts for half of all of his team's receiving touchdowns must be worthy of national recognition.

Regardless of whether the well-deserved national recognition eventually comes, Otten will continue to do what he has all season—quietly be the nation's best tight end.

While Duke Ihenacho may not be Greg Jennings, he certainly put the San Jose State Spartans on his back and led them to a 28-27 victory over Hawaii Warriors.

After turning the ball over on the first four possessions of the second half and looking as terrible as a team possibly could, San Jose State was down 27-20 when this play happened.

Hawaii’s Joey Iosefa had just scored a 32 yard rushing touchdown and the Warriors were about to kick the extra point when the Spartans blocked the kick and Ihenacho recovered it.

The speedy Ihenacho took off for the long two points a team receives for scoring on a blocked extra point, but there was a problem.

While pulling away from the Warriors, Ihenacho pulls up lame with a cramp in his left hamstring but runs through the pain and gets his team the two points that untimely put them over the edge.

This amazing runback was eerily familiar to another amazing touchdown we have seen before, but in this case, the stakes were very real.

Ihenacho really did put the team on his back, and it was his will and determination to get to the end zone that helped his team win.

They need to make a video of this play with the guy who did the Jennings and Marshawn Lynch videos; that would be too funny!

Get off me, child's play!

Check back for more on the NCAA Football as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s College Football Page to get your fill of College Football.

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