A-State Birthdate - Troy Mabone

Happy Birthday to Former A-State Indian – Troy Mabone

Troy Mabone played at Arkansas State from 1988-1992.  Mabone was a second on the team in rushing in 1990 and third in 1992.   Mabone was a physical runner at 5’11 220 but also had running back speed to finish his career with 536 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns from his fullback position.  The Memphis Hamilton product was also a special teams star during his time with the Indians.

Happy Birthday to #42 - Troy Mabone - from the RedWolfNation!

A-State Birthdate - Najel Byrd

Happy Birthday to Former A-State Red Wolf - Najel Byrd - @BYRDS_iVIEW116

Najel Byrd was a senior in 2011 for the 10-3 Sun Belt Conference Champions.  The West Helena 2X All-State star came to Arkansas State in 2007.  Byrd spent time at A-State playing a role on defense and the Special Teams.  In 2011, Najel was instrumental in helping lead the defense to being ranked as one of the best defenses in the country.  Fast and athletic, Byrd finished 6th on the 2011 squad in tackles with 50 including 7.5 for loss.  He also finished with 2.5 sacks. 

Happy Birthday to #34 - Najel Byrd - from the RedWolfNation!

Today in ASU Athletics History - Oct. 10

Today is my son's 8 year old birthday, so I figured that I needed to check into what has happened on this date in ASU athletics history.  I reviewed the football games played on this date and came up with, well very little.  However there were some interesting things that happened on October 10th throughout the A-State football timeline.

First I found that Arkansas State has played 9 games on October 10th.   ASU has 2 wins, 4 losses and 3 ties on this date. In one of the wins the Indians (1981 - we were still the Indians) set a record for the best passing defense in a game.  A-State held the Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette) Ragin' Cajuns to a total negative 3 yards passing!   The Tribe went on to defeat USL 14-3 under Larry Lacewell and finished the season 6-5.

The other win happened in 1970.  It was the second home game of the season, but the first in Jonesboro.  Yes in 1970 A-State opened the season with a home game in Little Rock.  But in this opening Conference game the Indians took on Trinity University out of San Antonio Texas.  The following is the summary of the October 10th game in 1970...

Tough Sleding Before The Home Folk

ASU 21 - TU 14

The Southland Conference opener was also ASU's first Jonesboro appearance of 1970  and a near capacity crowd was on hand to applaud the nation's No. 1 college division team.  An early injury to Calvin Harrell gave Johnnie Carr his initial opportunity and the DeWitt junior responded with a 74-yard toss and 122 yards rushing to pace the win over surprisingly tough Trinity.  Trinity tied it 14-14 late in the third, but Carr sparked his mates 76-yards in nine plays for the clincher early in the fourth period.

The 1970 Arkansas State team went on to finish 11-0 and won the College Division National Championship.  The team was the first ASU team to go undefeated and untied (I'll get to this later) and was named National Champions by the AP Writer's Poll, the UP Coaches' Poll and the Washington Touchdown Club.  Head Coach Bennie Ellender was named the National Coach of the Year.  The 1970 season had 5 All-Americans - Guard - Bill Phillips, Tailback - Calvin Harrell, Defensive Back - Dennis Meyer, Linebacker - Gary Cleve and Guard - Wayne Dorton.

Back to the undefeated and untied seasons.  In ASU history there have been 4 seasons where the football squad has gone undefeated.  Two of those seasons were undefeated and untied years - 1970 and 1975.  The other two seasons were years of zero losses but a couple of ties both seasons.  In 1953, head coach Forrest England took A-State to an 8-0-2 season.  In 1964, coach Ellender led the Indians to a 7-0-2 season.  What is so interesting to me is that 3 of those four seasons had a game on October 10th.  The aforementioned 1970 win over Trinity and then 2 ties.   In 1953, on October 10th, Arkansas State College tied Florence State (now North Alabama) 7-7 and in 1964 on the same date, the Indians tied Arlington State (now Texas-Arlington) 7-7.  

3 of the 4 undefeated seasons in A-State history had an October 10th game.  I have routinely been telling everyone that the 2014 season was going to be special at ASU because it would be Malzahn's 3rd year at ASU.  This amazing crop of freshmen that are playing right now will be juniors and Gus could have his first quarterback to ever be in his 2nd year in the Malzahn offense in 2014.  However, October 10, 2015 is a Saturday!  Maybe I need to move my prediction of an undefeated season from 2014 to 2015.

Run With the Pack Poll Question - Best Freshman

RUN WITH THE PACK POLL QUESTION
Best Freshman at Arkansas State

JD McKissic                                     23 (50%) 
Rocky Hayes                                    13 (28%)
Bryce Giddens                                   6 (13%)
Chris Stone                                         2 (4%)
Fredi Knighten                                   1 (2%)
Chris Humes                                       1 (2%)

Total Votes: 46

Wolf Tracks Trivia - 10.9.12

Qushuan Lee was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Florida International.  Arkansas State has had 38 different players named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week since the beginning of Sun Belt Conference play in 2001.  ASU has had players named Offensive POTW, Defensive POTW and Special Teams POTW.  Many of the players have won the award more than once.

What Arkansas State football player has been named Sun Belt Player of the Week more times than any other ASU player?

Answer: Corey Leonard

Corey Leonard was named Player of the Week 6 times.

Sept 1, 2008 - Named Off POTW after the 18-14 win over Texas A&M.

     Leonard ran for 86 yards and passed for 160 yards and 1 TD.
Sept 22, 2008 - Named Off POTW after the 31-14 win over MTSU.

     Rushed for 74 yards and passed for 292 yards and 3 TDs.
Sept 3, 2007 - Named Off POTW after the 21-13 loss to Texas.

     Leonard rushed for 37 yards and passed for 259.
Oct 1, 2007 - Named Off POTW after the 35-31 win over Memphis.

     Rushed for 74 yards and passed for 255 yards and 3 TDs.
Oct 15, 2007 - Named Off POTW after 52-21 win over ULL.

     Rushed for 84 yards and 1 TD and passed for 275 yards and 5 TDs.
Oct 16, 2006 - Named Off POTW after the Memphis Miracle.

     Rushed for 35 yards and passed for 219 yards and 2 TDs.

Give me 60 Minutes

It was late sometime last week when Arkstfan and I were having a conversation about the upcoming Western Kentucky game that I heard a comment that was absolutely on point.  “We haven’t played a full 60 minute game yet” was what Mark said.  It was exactly what I had been thinking.

In every game this season the Red Wolves have played in spurts.  Some of those spurts not so good, others, very good.  The first half against Oregon was a total disaster.  I felt like I woke up and was in 1991 watching LSU treat us like their kid brother, toying with us on the way to a 70-14 victory.  But it wasn’t a dream and the Ducks embarrassed us.  In the second half we showed that we have ability albeit against backups.  The Oregon game made me realize that we definitely weren’t going to be like last year’s squad.  The Memphis game showed me that we have lots of talent on the offensive side of the ball.  We moved the ball at will against the hapless Tigers.  But when it came to putting the ball in the endzone we showed we had issues.  Whether it be an outcome of the spread offense, a lack of physicality from the offensive line, inefficient play calls in near the goal line, or lack of execution of those plays, the Red Wolves struggled to score touchdowns.     The biggest thing that came out of the Memphis game to me was the poor play and decision making by the special teams.  Without those special team mishaps that game is a 33-14 win.  At 1-1, we had seen two poor team performances with mixed in flashes of brilliance.  There were some very impressive individual showings as well as some lack of focus by players. 

I felt like the Nebraska game would allow the offense to continue to grow and let the defense build on what the improvements made the previous week.  For the first time the Red Wolves were getting pressure on the quarterback.  The defensive backs struggled and Cornhusker offensive line just overpowered our defensive front.  I saw lots of 3-4 in that game and there were some obvious growing pains.  The offense is where I was most surprised.  The Nebraska defense that had given up a number of points and yards previously really stifled the Red Wolves.  The offense and Aplin were out of rhythm in the second half.  Was it the loss of Stockemer and Muse or was it that the ‘Husker defense was the first real group D we had seen since the first half at Oregon?  Either way, once again we had put together some excellent plays but maybe not great drives.  Or we had played fantastic defense one series but gotten pushed around the next.

Alcorn State even gave us a viewing that we still were not clicking on all cylinders.  We went 3 and out in our first drive, something that should never happen against a team like Alcorn State.  We did do some great things offensively against the totally overpowered Braves, but even then the offense sputtered at times.  The defense was the bright spot in this game.  They had been challenged by coaches to get a shut-out, and they responded well.   There were some breakdowns as the Alcorn QB ran for a couple of longer read option runs but for the most part the defense was figuring out the 3-4.  The special teams play was once again the thorn in my side.  Kick offs out of bounds, another muffed punt.  The problem with the special teams play was it was the same mistakes made in earlier games.  Not improving – not learning from their mistakes.

The first half of the WKU game was the best 30 minutes of football A-State had played this fall.  There were still issues though.  I remember telling my dad sitting next to me that the field goals would come back to haunt us.  We have to score touchdowns.  But we had played 30 minutes of football that we needed to in order to win the game.  The problem was the last 30 minutes.   Our offense looked very similar to the offense that came out after halftime at Nebraska.  We struggled to stop any pass rush.  The offensive line could not open a hole and sustain a block.  We were not much of a threat to add points to the total.  The special teams play kept us either pinned deep in our own territory or gave the Hilltoppers the ball in great position to score.  Our defense play valiantly but the size and physicality of Western Kentucky wore them down.  This game was another show of positives and negatives for A-State and again not a full game of solid play.

7 games left in the season.  The young Red Wolves are learning new systems trying to improve weekly, even daily.  When I say young, I am not just referring to the players.  A first time head coach, leading a number of coaches that are, as coach Malzahn likes to say, “in their first rodeo”.  Sure they’ve been graduate assistants or quality control guys.  But take it from a former GA, it is different when you are the guy.  There is no doubt in my mind that given the time Malzahn will build this team into a very good football program.   There were a lot of people that had expectations that were too high.  I predicted 8-4.  That may still be a possibility.  But right now, I’m more interested in a full 60 minutes of solid football.  Then we can go from there!

Run With the Pack Poll Question 

Most Anticipated Conference Game 2012

Western Kentucky                           26 (41%) 
Louisiana-Monroe                           22 (35%)
Louisiana-Lafayette                        13 (20%)
Troy                                                     1 (1%)
FIU                                                      0 (0%)
MTSU                                                  0 (0%)
North Texas                                        0 (0%)
South Alabama                                   0 (0%)

Total Votes: 60

POLL QUESTION

PACK THE VAULT - RED WOLVES!

Come on RedWolfNation

Fill the Vault with 30K 

Saturday September 29th - 6:00pm

Arkansas State vs. Western Kentucky!

At Liberty Bank Stadium

Will You Be There?

A-State Birthdate - RJ Fleming!

Happy Birthday to A-State Red Wolf - RJ Fleming (@iAm4_Christ)

Fleming is a Junior at Arkansas State this fall.  The Natchez, MS native has been an offensive threat from his slot receiver position since his freshman year at ASU.  In 2010, Fleming's freshman year he finished the season with 289 all purpose yards, including 48 rushing, 83 receiving and 158 in kick returns.  As a sophomore RJ had 13 catches for 76 yards and had 4 kickoff returns for 64 yards.   In 2012 Fleming has 26 yards receiving and 9 yards rushing.  The Trinity Episcopal Day School product has been on the ASU Athletic Director's Honor Roll in both his freshman and sophomore years.

Happy Birthday to #4 (changed from #82) from the RedWolfNation!

Wolf Tracks Trivia - 9.24.12

The top 6 largest home crowds in Arkansas State Football history (including this fall) were matchups against either Memphis or Central Arkansas.  Who was A-State's opponent in the game with the largest crowd that didn't involve either Memphis or UCA?

We are WHERE we thought we'd be!

Last night the Arkansas State Red Wolves rolled up Alcorn State 56-0 and are now 2-2. So after the first four games of the season, I am trying to put things into perspective.  The first thing I am sure about is I can not use Dennis Green's line of "They are WHO we thought they were" about the Red Wolves.  Not because they aren't good but because at this point I think we just don't know who they are.  The phrase that is more appropriate is "They are WHERE we thought they'd be.  Most anyone that took a look at the Arkansas State 2012 football schedule prior to the season, should have predicted a 2-2 record after 4 games.  And that is right where they are. 

It isn't the fact that A-State is 2-2 that brings about questions it is how the Red Wolves got to 2-2 that makes you take a second look.

Oregon was a loss the day it was scheduled.  But the way the Ducks overwhelmed the Red Wolves is where the true issues lay.  Oregon has amazing talent and is very efficient in their offense.  But that aside we seemed awestruck by the situation and we just didn't look ready to play in the first half.  The Red Wolves showed signs not only of life but of major potential in the second half, but by then Oregon had all but shut it down.   

We returned home to an outstanding atmosphere and took on a Memphis Tiger team that in all honesty is not very good.  It allowed RedWolfNation to see that ASU has some serious skill, but also that there are a lot of issues.  Offensively A-State moved the ball up and down the field amassing 619 yards, the issues came inside the redzone when the Pack had to settle for field goals rather than touchdowns.   Against the Red Wolf defense, the Tigers drove for a touchdown on the first drive but A-State did a nice job of tightening up afterwards minus the one big pass play.  The major concern came on special teams where the Tigers scored 14 points off major flubs.   The Red Wolves prevailed but it was a scary situation instead of what could have been a blow out win for A-State.

The Nebraska game revealed several things about the Red Wolves.  ASU was shorthanded at offensive line and wide receiver and Nebraska took advantage of A-State's lack of deep passing to stifle the Red Wolf offense.  No offensive touchdowns and the Cornhuskers held the offense from racking up very many yards as well.  The defense began to get pressure, something they didn't do in the first two games but big plays allowed Nebraska to finish off the Pack.  Unfortunately the special teams again had issues when penalties on 2 punts that gave the Cornhuskers more than 20 yards field position each time. 

Last night's game versus Alcorn was as much a mismatch in talent as ASU's game with Oregon.  The Red Wolves could have scored 100 had they not shut it down at halftime.  The defense was as impressive as they had been all year holding the Braves to 130 total yards.  Though it was a complete talent mismatch the Red Wolves defense played hard and apparently had been challenged to shut out Alcorn and did so even with a number of walkons playing in the fourth quarter.  Aplin and the offense opened it up in the second quarter with some down field passing and we saw wide receivers get open deep.   The special teams still left a bad taste in my mouth with a number of kickoffs out of bounds and a muffed punt that gave the Braves their only chance at scoring - a missed field goal.   

So A-State is 2-2, right where we thought they'd be.  The question remains, who is this team?  Are they the team that got boat raced in the first half versus Oregon?  Are they the offensive juggernaut that we saw against Memphis and Alcorn?  Was it injuries or Nebraska's defense that shut down the A-State offense?  Lots of things still to learn about this group.

The Sun Belt season is upon us, and there is one thing I see.  There shouldn't be any team A-State faces in SBC play that are as good as either Oregon or Nebraska, however there won't be any as bad as Memphis and Alcorn either.   The conference looks much improved this season and there are a number of teams that not only are better but they probably have the date with the Red Wolves circled on their calendar.  

You may not...but I'm SAYING IT!!!

There is a guy that I work with that is a huge Alabama fan.  He loves the Tide as much as I love the Red Wolves.  I actually am not sure that I have seen him without an Alabama shirt or hat on.  One of the coolest things about the Crimson Tide is those fans have a "saying" that connects them.  Everyone knows it - Roll Tide!  I'm sure most folks have seen the ESPN commercial that states "It's Not Crazy, It's Sports". 

Gus Malzahn comes to A-State from Auburn.  The Tigers have their own saying - War Eagle!  For those of you that haven't seen Roll Tide, War Eagle, a 30 for 30 film from ESPN you are truly missing out on a fantastic documentary on the craziest rivalry in sports. 

Between my buddy and Gus, I've been thinking for a long time about a potential two word motto that ASU fans can use as their signature phrase.  Other than the two above one of the best in college football has a hand gesture that goes along with it.  Hook 'em Horns.  Like Texas or not.  The hand gesture and the phrase is a connection for Texas fans.  A-State fans already can use a similar hand gesture!

Most former Southwest Conference schools have their own sayings as well.  Texas A&M has Gig'em.  A phrase that started in 1930 when an Aggie Board of Regents asked what A&M was going to do to TCU and he self replied - Gig'em.  History was made.  University of Texas' Hook'em Horns came soon after and the Baylor Bears have their own as well - "Sic 'em.

Arkansas State recently put up a sign with PackPride on it.  Mickey Ryan tweeted to ASU Assistant AD for football if that was to be A-State's new #hashtag.  While that is a nice 2 word phrase.  It is also the scout.com site for the North Carolina State WolfPack.  I like it and had even thought that I would use RedWolfPride several weeks earlier when I read the story by Meredith Scott in the Herald.

It hit me tonight.  I found what I like and while not everyone will like it doesn't really matter to me.  I have planned to say it; use it as my #hashtag; and promote it as much as possible.  It came while watching the ULM game and sitting with my 7 year old son.  He said that ULM was good, but when they come to Jonesboro we are going to rip em up! 

Like it or not.  Say it yourself or refuse to say it.  Either way I'm Saying It!  Rip 'em!

Tough First Year...

I was looking into the past trying to remember my time at ASU when we had this junior college transfer from Kansas playing safety for the football Indians.  I wanted to try to remember our new AD when he was on the field.  I remember him on campus as a fellow athlete but what I wanted to remember Terry Mohajir as an actual football player.

So I began to dig through some of my older media guides.  It was then that it hit me how tough Terry Mohajir's first year at Arkansas State really was as a football player.  I bet some of you guys that complain about our schedules will find a guy in Mohajir that really knows what a tough schedule is.  It may not have been a tough schedule by name teams, but you will see how tough it was.  I take a look back at a time from December 1989 to December 1990

Mohajir was a mid semester junior college transfer that was recruited by the Larry Lacewell staff and brought to Jonesboro in December of 1989.  He arrived on campus only to have his head coach jump to University of Tennessee as the defensive coordinator.  On January 30, 1990, Arkansas State brought in former Wyoming head coach Al Kincaid to run the "Triple Shoot" offensive.  On February 10th, 1990 it was announced that the A-State Board of Trustees were in favor of moving the program from I-AA to I-A.  The excitement I'm sure was very high!

The school would work toward making the full transition to 1A by the 1992 season.  The tough part of it was that the upcoming fall of 1990 would be the first year that Arkansas State would be ineligible for the I-AA playoffs and Indian stadium would need to be renovated to go from 18,709 to near 31,000 seats. And the 1990 season would also be the first season that the Indians would face 7 I-A opponents but still would not be up to par with the 95 (it was 95 in 1990) scholarship athletes that other I-A teams would have. Lacewell has been quoted before by saying that the 1986 and 1987 long runs into the 1AA playoffs hurt his coaching staff's chance to recruit as successful as they had liked so the talent level was down as well. 

A lack of scholarship athletes and perhaps a lack of talent was just a couple of factors that led to a 3-7-1 record in 1990.  But it was another factor that I want to look at.

Game 1 in 1990 was a 24-24 tie AT Memphis State.  The Indians came home and defeated Northeast Louisiana (ULM) 23-18.  The Tribe then went on the road and took it on the chin AT Wyoming (27-34) and Louisiana Tech (7-40).  A-State went into Carbondale, IL and picked up a win over Southern Illinois 20-17.  A home game the next week put the Indians record at 3-2-1 with the win over Northwestern (LA) State (16-8).  It was then the season went down hill with 5 consecutive losses.  Two big road losses AT Northern Illinois (0-35), Ole Miss (13-42) and one tight loss AT North Texas (26-35) put the Tribe at 3-5-1.  The Southwestern Louisiana (ULL) Ragin' Cajuns tripped up A-State in Indian Stadium 16-17 before the ASU went up to Toledo (28-43) face the Rockets for the last game of the season.

For those of you that were paying attention or counting, that was 3 home games!  That is correct - Terry Mohajir's first season as an Indian he was on the road 8 times and got to play in Indian Stadium just 3.

While I know that ASU was working on upgrading facilities for "The Move", I expect that Mohajir will work with Gus Malzahn to make sure the Red Wolves have more home games as they work on upgrading our football stadium and complex!  It was a tough first year for Mohajir, I expect his "first year" on his second time through will be much better!

Wolf Tracks Trivia - 9.20.12

The Sun Belt Conference offers 4 post season awards for players in football.  The Player of the Year; The Offensive Player of the Year; Defensive Player of the Year; and Freshman of the Year.  Since 2005 there have been 4 awards each year for those 6 years for a total of 24 awards.  How many times has an Arkansas State players won one of the awards since 2006?

The new Leader of the Pack

I have been accused of having a one track mind.  Arkansas State athletics is my passion and I talk way too much about it for some.  Not enough for me though, which is why I created this blog to basically talk to myself about the Red Wolves.  Well I have said to friends, and to myself many times, that Arkansas State needs a certain type of Athletics Director.  Now this is going to be a little bit blasphemous but it has to be said.  The type of AD that ASU needs is a Fr Fra Frank Brr Broy Broyles type.  Damn that was hard to say.  But in all seriousness, Arkansas State needs an AD that wakes up in the morning with the thought of how can I make this program better today.  That is the way Broyles treated his job.  Not as something that paid the bills, but a passion for building something special.

Terry Mohajir was announced as Arkansas State’s Athletics Director this morning at a 10:30 press conference held in Jonesboro.  Mohajir is a former ASU Indian football player.  He has a well-rounded resume’ of experience in college athletics that has prepared him to be the “Leader of the Pack”.  You can see his profile here Terry Mohajir - New AD

Mohajir showed tons of emotion during his press conference, getting choked up several times but mostly when talking about his experience 20 years ago this fall when he began his athletics career after football at Arkansas State.  It has been 20 years since he wore his Arkansas State Indians uniform and you could see the memories flooding back to him as he addressed the crowd when being announced as the new AD.  Of course it was nice to see the same breakdown in emotions when introducing his family as well.

Mohajir spoke of a personal importance of customer service for his administration.  That was my number one goal for our new AD.  Arkstfan and myself have spoken about this topic tons of times as a priority for the athletic department and it will be interesting to see how Mohajir follows through with his statement that “I have no patience for non-customer service”. 

Some statements made during the press conference that also were big hits were the comments about “creating a culture of winning” and that we need to “develop an attitude that we will not take a back seat to anybody in the nation, the region or the state”.  These are important goals and I believe that it is just as important to have a plan on how to get there.  Mohajir has been around a number of big time coaches and administrators that I’m sure have mentored him on how to build such a plan.   He said the we are in a competitive business and that he wants to know what the coaches goals are so he can help them be successful and that means winning conference championships.

The first step in that plan was on his mind when the former Larry Lacewell recruit spoke about the importance of building budgets for the athletic department and the individual sports.  Without going into any type of details, he mentioned that the next 90 days will be an evaluation period when he will do a complete audit and review the data of the department, specifically the Marketing and Promotion plans.   Mohajir mentioned that along with customer service the athletic administration will work to make the fan experience a great one, stating that “no one in the country will out work us”.

Mohajir said that he “loves being around people and listening and learning.  He talked about his time at Florida Atlantic and how they had to work to raise money in an area with many schools and that he would build relationships with Florida Gators, Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles, and even Rutgers Scarlet Knights (snow birds) and that many of them became supporters and donors to FAU.  He said that for A-State to be successful they will need to cultivate current donors, new donors and “old warriors”.  

Mohajir showed a fun personality and even better an ability to talk about things we all have fond or maybe not so fond memories of.  When Chris Hudgison mentioned he was from KAIT, Mohajir asked him about former KAIT weather man Terry Wood and that he had sat with him at Roy’s during his time at ASU.  Mohajir is one of our own and has been through the times that we have been through as an ASU fan.  It was great to have him talk about how proud he was of our campus and the way that Arkansas State has grown since he was here in the early 90s.  He even mentioned that he remembered how ASU lacked resources when he was here and you could feel his passion for wanting to make sure that the student athletes were going to be taken care of during their time at A-State. 

Have we found our AD that has the passion for the program?  Will he wake up every day with the burning question of “how can I make ASU athletics better today”?   These questions remain to be seen, but I believe A-State has found someone that is going to work hard every day to improve the perception of how our Athletics department treats its fans and the community.   Mohajir is an A-State guy.  He has seen ASU at its lowest.  If he can rally the fans and convince them to buy in with their heart and their money, then he will be on track for getting us to the “Next Level”.