NWADG College Football

31 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW | 8.27.2023 September 26-30, 2023 119TH ANNUAL www.bentoncountyfairar.org SAVE the DATE!!! 1117 Southeast 33rd St. • Bentonville, AR • 479-273-5198 Springdale: 479-751-2006 • Rogers: 479-631-0199 W W W.C A S E YL O C KA N DK E Y. C O M • Residential • Commercial • Auto We sell and install Kwikset, Schlage, Emtek and more! Serving NW Arkansas since 1971 Best BestNWA.com of Northwest Arkansas the Give us a call and let us give you a price quote! ERICK TAYLOR ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE JONESBORO – It's all about evolution for Arkansas State. A year aer going 3-9, the Red Wolves approached fall workouts like a team not interested in looking back. "e great and exciting thing is that no two football teams are ever the same," Jones said. "When we embarked on this journey in January and February, it's new opportunities for leadership, new opportunities for different roles. … great opportunities for everyone." e Red Wolves will certainly have an opportunity to eliminate any remaining stench they may have from the previous three years and return to their winning ways in what could be Jones' best team since his arrival in Jonesboro during the winter of 2020. e last time ASU finished above .500 was in 2019 when it went 8-5 and earned a victory over Florida International in the Camellia Bowl. Since then, the Red Wolves have gone 9-26, including 5-19 under Jones. But Year 3 for the 55-year- old Michigan native brings a wealth of optimism. James Blackman threw 89% of the passes for ASU last season before embarking on an NFL career. His departure essentially opened up the door for others to potentially take over the reins. Jaxon Dailey, a 6-2, 212-pound redshirt freshman who saw limited action in 2022, and J.T. Shrout, a 6-3, 215-pound senior transfer from Colorado, are joined by a trio of true freshmen in Jaylen Raynor (6-0, 198), Christian Hunt (6-5, 210) and Will Prichard (6-2, 2-4) to round out the quarterback depth chart. e Red Wolves will also have quite a bit to work with in other areas on the field. At running back, ASU returns a pair of players in Brian Snead (6-0, 210) and Ja'Quez Cross (5-9, 182) who combined for 391 yards and six touchdowns last year. Zak Wallace, a 6-0, 220-pound transfer from Tennessee-Martin, also helped bolster that group. e Red Wolves already had a bit of stability on the offensive line with two starters back but received a key addition when Jacob Bayer (6-3, 315) transferred in from Lamar in December of last year. At wide receiver, Jeff Foreman (6-0, 180) is back aer catching 30 passes for 491 yards and 4 scores last year. His return, coupled with the former wideout Corey Rucker's decision to transfer back to ASU, potentially gives the Red Wolves a potent 1-2 punch on the outside. Rucker (6-0, 210) caught 75 passes for more than 1,200 yards and 14 scores from 2020-21 at ASU before transferring to South Carolina. UCA LOADED WITH EXPERIENCE Few teams in the Football Championship Subdivision return the number of starters and the kind of production that the University of Central Arkansas will have this fall. e Bears return their starting quarterback, two leading rushers, three leading receivers, four offensive linemen and nearly the entire defense. UCA will compete in the inaugural season of the United Athletic Conference, an unrecognized conference featuring the four remaining members of the Atlantic Sun (UCA, Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama) and five members of the Western Athletic Conference (Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, Utah Tech). e nine teams will play as one conference this fall, with one team earning the automatic bid to the FCS playoff. e junior trio of Darius Hale, Kylin James and ShunDerrick Powell combined for 3,111 rushing yards, 1,015 receiving yards and 36 touchdowns a year ago. Powell rushed for 1,508 yards and 18 touchdowns to win the ASUN Offensive Player of the Year award as a sophomore. UCA averaged 434.5 yards and 32.1 points per game. With the running back room adding Powell, quarterback Will McElvain in his second season in Conway and a deep wide receiver room led by the trio of Jarrod Barnes, Christian Richmond and Myles Butler, this has the making of what could be a potent offense. — Sam Lane ARKANSAS STATE/UCA PREVIEW RED WOLVES, BEARS POISED FOR BIG SEASONS IN 2023 Butch Jones | Arkansas State Head Coach File Photo

• Cover