''The coach that recruited him, he followed him a lot and watched a lot of games, went all the way up to North Missouri to watch him play,'' Stitzer said.

''It was just kind of unbelievable to see Fresno State up there in St. Jo, Missouri, but that's what happens. He did a good job. He got Broderick ... and he came a long way, he came a really long way.''

Mid-major programs don't often crack that group. But there is no question that Rodney Terry and his staff at Fresno State improved the talent level in the Bulldogs program, said Josh Gershon, a West Coast recruiting analyst for Scout.com.

Gershon, based on the West Coast, didn't evaluate every player in the Bulldogs' class -- point guard Aaron Anderson is from Edmond, Okla., wing Broderick Newbill from the Hogan Prep Academy in Kansas City. But the California recruits in the Fresno State class make an immediate impression.

''Marvelle Harris is one of my favorite players on the West Coast,'' Gershon said of the guard from Eisenhower High in Rialto, who signed a national letter of intent at the start of the spring period.

''He is a player who didn't really play AAU and is a little further out from L.A., so a lot of coaches didn't really get a chance to see him, and you couple that with the fact that he played football, was a football prospect first, he completely went under the radar. But we saw him in December at a tournament in Santa Monica and it was very clear that he was one of the top guys available on the West Coast at his position and Fresno State, credit that coaching staff for getting in there first and evaluating him and realizing just how good he was.

''He has a terrific pull-up jumper, he's a big-time scorer, he's competitive and has a good athletic frame at 6-3, 6-4. He really plays hard and has a winning competitive mentality. I think he's a guy that should eventually be a pretty good scorer in the Mountain West. It's really a steal for Fresno State because if more coaches saw him, he would have ended up in the Pac-12, I think. But Fresno State got in there first and secured him before anyone else had a chance to figure out how good he was.''

Keeping Upshaw home is a huge get for Terry and the Bulldogs.

''The thing that you're really looking for is improvement on a yearly basis and Robert Upshaw made significant improvement every single year, not only with his game but also physically. When you saw him as a freshman and sophomore, he was a tall kid but he didn't really move well and you were just worried about how much that mobility was going to improve in the next couple years. He had some skill, but he really added to that over the last couple of years and became so much more mobile and stronger.

''He's a guy that should be dominant big man in that conference and when you're Rodney Terry and you have a Top 75 prospect like that in your backyard like that, to be able to keep him from the entire country like he ultimately did, that's huge. That's a major statement for Fresno State basketball.''

In the Mountain West, Nevada-Las Vegas had one of the stronger classes. But the talent in the Bulldogs' program definitely went up with Upshaw, Harris, Aaron Andeson, Newbill, forward Braeden Anderson and forward/center Tanner Giddings from Windsor.

''That's one thing I think you're going to see this coaching staff do,'' Gershon said. ''This is a resourceful, hard-working staff and they really hit the ground running up there. You look at the class they're bringing in and I just know the two guys from the West Coast and those two guys, they can play for anyone, at any program in the Pac-12 in some role, in my mind.

''That's a big deal. There hasn't been too many times where Fresno State in recent years has picked up players of that caliber and I think that's something you're going to see this coaching staff do, just knowing what kind of recruiters they are.''

Newbill led Hogan Prep Academy in Kansas City to a Class 3 state championship as a junior and had the Rams in the title game again this season, losing to Charleston High. He had a scholarship offer from Nebraska and this month made official visits to Fresno State, Southern Illinois and Tulsa.

Newbill's father, William, confirmed that the letter had been signed and said they would be sending it back to Fresno State tonight.

Terry is not allowed under NCAA rules to comment on recruits until after the signed letter of intent has been received and been through the athletic department's compliance office. But the Bulldogs' recruiting class, which took a significant jump when Memorial High center Robert Upshaw signed last month, has another important piece heading into the Mountain West Conference.

The class also includes point guard Aaron Anderson from Santa Fe High in Edmond, Okla.; forward Braeden Anderson from Okotoks, Alberta, Canada; guard Marvelle Harris from Eisenhower High in Rialto; and center/forward Tanner Giddings from Windsor.

But after years of a steady decline in sales - part of the reason Coach Pat Hill was fired - Fresno State is making a push to get its season ticket base back to or above 20,000 to help a financially-strapped athletic department as it takes a step up into the Mountain West Conference.

''We had a strong renewal season and now we've got to get those former season ticket holders, we have to get them back this year,'' said Ryan Reggiani, an assistant athletic director for external relations. ''We actually lowered our public season ticket price to $140, which comes out to a little less than $24 a game. There's no donation required on those tickets.

''A lot of people think it takes a huge donation, that they can't afford it. But if you break it down they are affordable and there is no donation tied to it.''

In addition to public season tickets for the Bulldogs' six home games there is a flexible family plan - an adult ticket is $120, youth tickets are $40 and they can be mixed in matched in any combination as long as there is an adult - and a package for young alumni, faculty and staff at $99.

Those purchasing tickets by May 25 also will be entered into a drawing to win a lunch with Coach Tim DeRuyter on June 7.

Fresno State opens its season on Sept. 1 against Weber State at Bulldog Stadium and also has home dates against Colorado (Sept. 15), San Diego State (Sept. 29), Wyoming (Oct. 20), Hawaii (Nov. 3) and Air Force (Nov. 24).

Dwindling football ticket sales led to a budget deficit of $739,000 this year, forcing cuts in staffing as well as scholarship reductions, recruiting and other team expenditures.

''As football goes, the athletic department goes,'' Reggiani said.

But when completed, Coach Rodney Terry said it will be another challenging non-conference schedule, which is the way he wants it heading into the Mountain West Conference.

''It gives you a level. In your non-conference schedule, you're preparing yourself for conference play. You want to play athletic teams with size, because we're going to see,'' Terry said.

''We're playing in the best conference on the West Coast. The talent level, we're going to see pros night in and night out, so we have to prepare ourselves for that level of competition and I think what we've done to this point will definitely prepare us for the athleticism that we're going to see and the size that we're going to see.''

One significant difference between this season and last will be the amount of travel the Bulldogs do early in the season. The game at Texas, obviously, is a haul. But it won't be like last year when they played games at North Dakota State, at Boise State, at Oregon, at Colorado and in the NIT Preseason Tipoff at Fort Collins, Colo.

''We really want to play a very competitive schedule, one that doesn't take us crazily all around the country like last year,'' Terry said. ''We were kind of all over the place. We had to do that for a number of different reasons in terms of the time (to put together the schedule) and we just didn't have the luxury of sitting back and deciding where we wanted to go and where we wanted to be.

''This year we got a chance to be more on the West Coast and be closer to home and have more home games and not be strangers in the Save Mart Center.''

Nevada racked up 581 yards of total offense in its win, Fajardo completing 19 of 27 passes for 313 yards and one touchdown and rushing for another 61 yards.

He ended up as the freshman of the year in the Western Athletic Conference and figures only to be more polished next season when Fresno State sees him again, and not just because he will be a year older, more mature and comfortable within the Nevada offense.

Fajardo has been invited to the Manning Passing Academy in July, where some of the top returning quarterbacks in college football get four days of on and off the field instruction from a team of coaches including Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning.

The Bulldogs' Derek Carr, who is coming off a strong sophomore season, is not going to the camp.

The Pack's Colin Kaepernick went to the workouts, held at Nicholls State in Louisiana, before his senior season and the results showed up on the field.

Kaepernick completed 64.9 percent (233 of 359) of his passes for 3,022 yards and had an efficiency rating of 150.5 in his senior season.

As a junior, he had completed 58.9 percent (166 of 282) of his passes for 2,052 yards and had an efficiency rating of 139.1.

Fresno State will play Nevada as members of the Mountain West Conference next season, the game scheduled for Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Reno.

Crump is one of three players that signed with the Titans on Monday, along with guard Michael Williams, a transfer from San Francisco, and guard Chris Carvin from American River College.

Crump, who started his career at Baylor, spent last season at Pasadena City College where he averaged 20.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.

DeRuyter briefly spoke on the topic during a private gathering of Bulldogs fans the other week, apparently, but never to the media until Tuesday's teleconference of Mountain West Conference football coaches.

"Jalen and I had a conversation with he and his father," DeRuyter said. "He's decided that another program would be in his best interest. We wish him well."

The comments were far from earth shattering, obviously. But it does pretty much eliminate the notion that Saunders could still return to the Bulldogs.

Saunders, by the way, has been a little cryptic in his tweets of late but appears to be visiting some schools. He might even have a final destination chosen soon.

It's not like the players who went through spring camp got to build a huge experience advantage. Fresno State held just 15 practices, the NCAA max.

"We've got some depth issues that we anticipate guys coming in this fall can compete," DeRuyter said, "[maybe] start at certain positions."

Among the huge eyesores noticed in the spring was place kicker.

Boise still the favorite?

Boise State coach Chris Petersen isn't buying the notion that his Broncos should be or could be the preseason favorites of the Mountain West.

He even sounded confused with the conference's moderator stated Boise State had 14 starters returning, including seven on offense.

"It doesn't feel like we have that many starters on either side of the ball," Petersen said. "I don't know what everyone else has. ... We're still trying to get over maybe what we don't have.

"We've been told that we return as few of starters as anybody in the country. So if that's the case, I don't know how we could be favorites going into our conference. But we'll see. We never get hung up on the preseason, whether they're good for us or not good for us."

Moving to the Mountain West
Fresno State, Hawaii and Nevada all will be new members of the Mountain West by the summer after bolting from the WAC.

Boise State made the same move last summer and Petersen shed some light of what Fresno State could be facing this upcoming season, with new conference opponents and new stadiums.

"I think people make a bigger deal than what it is," Petersen said. "It comes down to the quality of opponent you're playing. Just going to a new stadium that's a little overrated. That's the fun, unique thing about joining a new place.

"The difficulty is how good a team is at that given year."

**Petersen also addressed Boise State going through another farewell tour for the second time in three years with the Broncos leaving the Mountain West for the Big East by the summer of 2013. San Diego State also will be competing in its final year in the Mountain West before it's switch to the Big East.

"We're very focused on this year," Petersen said. "We live one year at a time. When this year is over, we'll readdress and focus on sights on the new conference and the new year.

"No one in this building is talking about the following year."

Nevada's pistol expanding

As if Nevada's potent pistol offense wasn't tough enough to stop, Wolf Pack coach Chris Ault is trying to implement a few new wrinkles this offseason.

Ault hired former Hawaii offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich partly to help with Nevada's passing attack and to incorporate run-and-shoot concepts that the Warriors have thrived on the past 12 years.

"I felt very strongly that's another element that we want to go in terms of our pass game with the pistol offense," Ault said. "Whether it's run-and-shoot or a spread-offense concept, the passing game takes care of itself. The beauty we have here is the run will certainly compliment the pass."

Ault said players have been extremely receptive to the new plays and more passes.

"They love it," Ault said. "We're not going to throw it 60 times a game. But if you're going to throw the ball more, certainly it peaked the interest of a lot of people, not just the wide receivers, but your tight ends and your running backs. ...

"I think they see the benefits."