Fresno State is just over three weeks away from the start of the 2026 season as they look to build off a 9-4 season a year ago under Head Coach Matt Entz and company.
Offensively, the Bulldogs averaged 25.8 points per game on 353.8 yards per game in 2025, led by a deep running back room that finished fifth in the Mountain West with 170.5 rushing YPG.
Taking that success and improving on it will be critical if the Bulldogs are gonna compete in the PAC-12 this season. That starts with the dynamic duo of junior Bryson Donelson and senior Rayshon “Speedy” Luke.
Dynamic Dog Duo
Donelson came out firing in the second half of the 2024 season, including 335 yards and three touchdowns over the final three games of his freshman year.
The Visalia native didn’t necessarily match the potential that he hinted at during his freshman year, being limited to 45 or less rushing yards in 11 of the 13 games. He finished the season with 707 yards (600 rushing) and five touchdowns on the ground.
Still, he remains one of the most talented backs in the conference and a threat to wreck opposing defenses, as evident from his 192-yard performance against Georgia Southern in the Bulldogs’ 2025 home opener.
While Donelson remains the lead back, the Bulldog offense is arguably most dangerous when the football is in the hands of Luke, one of the fastest players in the country.
Speedy racked up a team-leading 1,271 all-purpose yards and eight total touchdowns in his first year as a Bulldog. Luke understandably had plenty of interest from power-4 schools after last season but he had no intentions of leaving.
“I’m not really big into transferring. I ended up doing it (began his career at Arizona) but my plans were never to transfer. I’m like a very loyal cat. Toughness wins the brotherhood,” Luke said at Media Day in July.
Donelson and Luke combining for 2,000+ yards combined (rushing and receiving) would go a long way to Fresno State being a threat to win the conference. They will need both to have success if they’re going to compete.
“Either you become Bulldogs or the Bulldogs become you,” Luke said.
Bringing the juice
While Donelson and Luke shared the bulk of the carries a year ago, Fresno State regularly gave 5+ carries a game to each of Brandon Ramirez, Elijah Gilliam and Jonathan Arceneaux. The trio combined for 143 carries last season and Offensive Coordinator Josh Davis will need to replace all of them.
Ramirez is set to miss all of 2026 with a leg injury and the latter two both graduated. So who replaces them?
Julius Gillick is a name that came up repeatedly all during spring ball and that has only continued through the summer.
“He continues to elevate his play. He had a great end of spring. He’s taking off in the same spot,” Entz said on Monday after practice.
Gillick carried the ball twice for 16 yards during the final drive of the ‘Dogs bowl game victory over Miami (OH) in December. He’ll be getting a lot more opportunities this season, especially if he can replicate the highlight plays he has made throughout camp including one on Monday morning where he hurdled over starting safety Ethan Tierney.
Joining Gillick to fill those backfield opportunities is Bucknell transfer Tariq Thomas, who ran for 1,394 yards and seven scores in his first two seasons.
“You can say it’s 3A, 3B,” Entz said.
Building depth
Including Thomas, the Bulldogs brought in five fresh faces to running backs coach Aaron Prier’s (2023-present) room in 2026.
Fresno City transfer Andrew Chavez ran for 542 yards and six touchdowns in two seasons with the Rams. Merritt College transfer Jalen Harris is playing football again after competing on the Merritt track and field team last year.
Harris possesses game changing speed and would be a candidate to fill in as the do-it-all back should Luke miss any time with injury this season.
There’s also two new freshmen on this year’s squad, including Clovis High alum Maddox Merrill and prized recruit Jhadis Luckey, who was one of the top commits from this year’s signing class.
Luckey was a two-time 49ers Cal High Offensive Player of the Year and is coming off an excellent senior year in which he ran for 2,173 yards and 28 touchdowns for Clayton Valley Charter High School (Berkeley, CA). He also caught 14 balls for 325 yards and a pair of receiving touchdowns.
While he probably won’t see the field right away, there’s a chance Luckey could earn some opportunities as the season comes along just like Donelson did in 2024.
Expectations
The Bulldogs don’t have a Dylan Riley (Boise State) or Lucky Sutton (San Diego State) in their backfield, but the duo of Donelson and Luke plus some emerging underclassmen could make this a top-2 running back room in the conference.
The Bulldogs ran for 170.5 YPG in 2025. It’s not far-fetched to say 180 YPG is out of reach.
Story written by Al Scott, cover photo courtesy of Ryan Sepulveda (FSM).