2014-15 Football Previews – (Sun Belt) – Red Wolves
Arkansas State has won or tied for the Sun Belt Conference title in three straight seasons. They have also lost three straight very good head coaches at the end of those seasons. First it was Hugh Freeze who left for Mississsippi.
Then it was Gus Malzahn who left for the Auburn job. This past offseason it was Bryan Harsin going home to Boise State.
Arkansas St.
Sun Belt Conference 2014-2015 College Football Preview – Red Wolves
Head Coach: Blake Anderson
2013 Record: 8-5
Arkansas State Gambling Odds to win the Sun Belt: +600
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Blake Anderson comes into the position this year, and he’s likely to stick around a little longer since this is his first job. Anderson inherits a team with much less talent than the past few Arkansas State teams have had.
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Still, expectations are always going to be pretty high in Jonesboro. They return eight starters on defense, but only four on the offensive side of the ball.
Team Strengths:
Arkansas State’s secondary is absolutely loaded with high quality talent. The Red Wolves have the best cover corner in the league in Rocky Hayes, and he’s backed up by a terrific free safety in Sterling Young.
Artez Brown and Chris Humes are good players as well, and if anyone goes down with an injury, Andrew Tryon and Colin Janice appear ready to step in right away. This is the best secondary in the Sun Belt.
Like the secondary, Arkansas State’s linebackers are also the best group in the Sun Belt. The Red Wolves have the best linebacker in the Sun Belt in Qushaun Lee. Lee made 134 tackles a year ago, and he is primed for an even bigger senior season.
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Arkansas transfer AJ Turner should make a big difference right away for this unit as well.
Team Weaknesses:
The Red Wolves have two elite units in the secondary and the linebackers, but the rest of the team isn’t very good. The defensive line is one of the worst in the Sun Belt, and that might make the rest of the defense look a little more ordinary than they truly should.
Six of their ten guys from the defensive line rotation from last year are gone. I expect opposing teams to be able to run the ball against Arkansas State’s front four.
Adam Kennedy did a really good job at quarterback for Arkansas State last year, and there’s no one on this roster with the kind of talent he had. Kennedy completed 69% of his passes last year. Before Kennedy, Arkansas State had Ryan Aplin who was a star for many years in this league.
It’s going to be a major step backward in production from the quarterback spot.
There’s an overall lack of talent at the skill positions on offense. Arkansas State has no one that the opposing defense is going to need to game plan for. This is much different than the past few seasons, when Arkansas State has generally been stacked at the running back and quarterback spots.
The wide receivers aren’t very good either, and it’s hard to see this team scoring too many points.
2014-2015 Arkansas State Red Wolves Prediction: 5-7
Since the Sun Belt is a weak conference, I don’t think Arkansas State will totally fall off a cliff this year, but I do expect a pretty large drop. The Red Wolves have some major concerns and I don’t see them being able to compete with the top teams in the league this season.
It’s a rebuilding year for the Red Wolves.
2014 Red Wolves Schedule
- 8/30/14 7:00 PM ET MTST
- 9/6/14 12:00 PM ET @TENN
- 9/13/14 3:30 PM ET @MIA
- 9/20/14 TBD USU
- 10/4/14 TBD ULM
- 10/11/14 2:00 PM ET @GSU
- 10/21/14 8:00 PM ET @ULL
- 11/1/14 TBD @IDHO
- 11/8/14 TBD USA
- 11/15/14 TBD APP
- 11/20/14 9:30 PM ET @TXST
- 11/29/14 TBD NMSU
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