It has not been the season Arkansas State?s seniors expected. It?s been memorable, but memorable for all the wrong reasons.
A group of 19 seniors, 10 of them redshirt seniors, will play, suit up or be on hand for what is the final home game of their college football careers when Arkansas State hosts North Texas this afternoon. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. at ASU Stadium.
A group that includes the Sun Belt Conference?s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, a Lou Groza Award finalist, a running back with 1,000 yards rushing in each of his first three seasons, and several all-conference selections make up ASU?s highly touted senior class. But with two games to play, the high expectations placed upon this class have long faded away.
ASU (2-8 overall, 1-5 Sun Belt) had its hopes of a conference title, bowl game and even a winning season crushed long ago. The Red Wolves have won just once since the season opener and are fighting for a respectable finish that can help keep the dignity of a disappointed team and senior class.
?This is our last year and you want to end it with some type of something to look on and say, ?Hey, we did what we could,?? ASU senior running back Reggie Arnold said. ?To get these wins would be very important to us and it would be important for the program to build off of next year.?
Arnold is among those seniors who haven?t lived up to expectations this year, and admits he?s still not played as well as in the past.
Coming into the season, Arnold was poised to break the all-time ASU rushing record after three straight 1,000-yard campaigns, but Arnold has only 565 yards rushing this season. He comes into today?s game with 3,775 yards for his career and needs 173 to break the record.
Injuries have played as large a role as anything in the demise of the season and the senior class.
Most notably, senior quarterback Corey Leonard became the latest casualty when he suffered a torn ACL in his knee and was lost for the season last week at Middle Tennessee State. Leonard broke the school record for career total offense (8,887 yards) this season and was poised to break several other records, including career touchdown passes, which he was just one shy of.
Freshman quarterback Ryan Aplin will make his second start of the season today with freshman Andre Smith stepping in as the backup. Former Greene County Tech quarterback and current ASU fullback Jeff Blake has been listed as the Red Wolves? third-string QB.
ASU coach Steve Roberts acknowledged the problems the team has had with injuries.
?We started the season with seven quarterbacks and we?re down to one right now,? Roberts said. ?It?s been a difficult year at that position and in the offensive line in particular.?
ASU?s offensive line has been where injuries have hit the hardest.
ASU lost senior guard Dominic Padrta in the opener to a knee injury, then lost junior center Tom Castilaw in the fourth week of the season. Backup center Tyson Holligan had a virus and missed the first six games, and freshman center Eric Allen has been plagued with numerous injuries, as have other linemen.
Senior tight end J.T. Jordan, who was also expected to be a key blocker on the line, missed the first six games with an undisclosed injury.
?Never in a million years would you have predicted that we would have had the injuries in positions where we most needed people to play, with the offensive line and the secondary,? Arnold said. ?Everybody is taking hits that you never would have predicted for something like that to occur. That?s the key part of having a successful season, trying to avoid as many serious injuries as you can.?
Another senior, safety Evan Van Dolah, also suffered a season-ending injury in the season-opener.
All the injuries will make for a different kind of ceremony when the Red Wolves honor their senior class today. Roberts isn?t sure how many of the 19 seniors he started the season with will be able to play against North Texas.
?I haven?t added them out, but I can tell you it?s the first time we?ve ever arranged for a golf cart to take the seniors out to midfield,? Roberts said.
?Man, it breaks your heart, just the expectations coming into this season and then things didn?t go right,? Roberts added. ?Several of them got hurt early, and not to be able to finish your senior season is something that?s obviously disappointing for those young men.?
Senior wide receiver Jabahri McLennan has had a disappointing season of another sort. After sharing the team lead with 32 catches and finishing second with 451 yards receiving last year, McLennan has been hardly heard from this season.
He has 15 receptions for 161 yards and a TD. In four games McLennan has not even had a catch. Despite all the disappointments, McLennan says it?s important to tackle adversity head on and keep trying to make something positive happen.
?Regardless of whether it?s as many wins as you want, or how many catches or how many yards, you have to remember that in the end, there is always somebody watching you,? McLennan said. ?Being a senior, somebody is always going to be looking up to you. When they become a junior or senior, they?re going to refer back to when we were here when they were freshmen. We have to continue to remember to be positive role models for the younger ones.?
Staying positive probably hasn?t been easy considering all the things that have happened and disappointing setbacks. ASU was picked by many to compete for the Sun Belt title, and the Red Wolves have lost four games by less than a touchdown.
Now it?s just about finishing and feeling good again.
?No matter what your record (is) a win always helps,? ASU senior defensive end Alex Carrington said. ?A win always makes you feel good. We want to go out on a positive note. It would be good for our seniors.?
A group of 19 seniors, 10 of them redshirt seniors, will play, suit up or be on hand for what is the final home game of their college football careers when Arkansas State hosts North Texas this afternoon. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. at ASU Stadium.
A group that includes the Sun Belt Conference?s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, a Lou Groza Award finalist, a running back with 1,000 yards rushing in each of his first three seasons, and several all-conference selections make up ASU?s highly touted senior class. But with two games to play, the high expectations placed upon this class have long faded away.
ASU (2-8 overall, 1-5 Sun Belt) had its hopes of a conference title, bowl game and even a winning season crushed long ago. The Red Wolves have won just once since the season opener and are fighting for a respectable finish that can help keep the dignity of a disappointed team and senior class.
?This is our last year and you want to end it with some type of something to look on and say, ?Hey, we did what we could,?? ASU senior running back Reggie Arnold said. ?To get these wins would be very important to us and it would be important for the program to build off of next year.?
Arnold is among those seniors who haven?t lived up to expectations this year, and admits he?s still not played as well as in the past.
Coming into the season, Arnold was poised to break the all-time ASU rushing record after three straight 1,000-yard campaigns, but Arnold has only 565 yards rushing this season. He comes into today?s game with 3,775 yards for his career and needs 173 to break the record.
Injuries have played as large a role as anything in the demise of the season and the senior class.
Most notably, senior quarterback Corey Leonard became the latest casualty when he suffered a torn ACL in his knee and was lost for the season last week at Middle Tennessee State. Leonard broke the school record for career total offense (8,887 yards) this season and was poised to break several other records, including career touchdown passes, which he was just one shy of.
Freshman quarterback Ryan Aplin will make his second start of the season today with freshman Andre Smith stepping in as the backup. Former Greene County Tech quarterback and current ASU fullback Jeff Blake has been listed as the Red Wolves? third-string QB.
ASU coach Steve Roberts acknowledged the problems the team has had with injuries.
?We started the season with seven quarterbacks and we?re down to one right now,? Roberts said. ?It?s been a difficult year at that position and in the offensive line in particular.?
ASU?s offensive line has been where injuries have hit the hardest.
ASU lost senior guard Dominic Padrta in the opener to a knee injury, then lost junior center Tom Castilaw in the fourth week of the season. Backup center Tyson Holligan had a virus and missed the first six games, and freshman center Eric Allen has been plagued with numerous injuries, as have other linemen.
Senior tight end J.T. Jordan, who was also expected to be a key blocker on the line, missed the first six games with an undisclosed injury.
?Never in a million years would you have predicted that we would have had the injuries in positions where we most needed people to play, with the offensive line and the secondary,? Arnold said. ?Everybody is taking hits that you never would have predicted for something like that to occur. That?s the key part of having a successful season, trying to avoid as many serious injuries as you can.?
Another senior, safety Evan Van Dolah, also suffered a season-ending injury in the season-opener.
All the injuries will make for a different kind of ceremony when the Red Wolves honor their senior class today. Roberts isn?t sure how many of the 19 seniors he started the season with will be able to play against North Texas.
?I haven?t added them out, but I can tell you it?s the first time we?ve ever arranged for a golf cart to take the seniors out to midfield,? Roberts said.
?Man, it breaks your heart, just the expectations coming into this season and then things didn?t go right,? Roberts added. ?Several of them got hurt early, and not to be able to finish your senior season is something that?s obviously disappointing for those young men.?
Senior wide receiver Jabahri McLennan has had a disappointing season of another sort. After sharing the team lead with 32 catches and finishing second with 451 yards receiving last year, McLennan has been hardly heard from this season.
He has 15 receptions for 161 yards and a TD. In four games McLennan has not even had a catch. Despite all the disappointments, McLennan says it?s important to tackle adversity head on and keep trying to make something positive happen.
?Regardless of whether it?s as many wins as you want, or how many catches or how many yards, you have to remember that in the end, there is always somebody watching you,? McLennan said. ?Being a senior, somebody is always going to be looking up to you. When they become a junior or senior, they?re going to refer back to when we were here when they were freshmen. We have to continue to remember to be positive role models for the younger ones.?
Staying positive probably hasn?t been easy considering all the things that have happened and disappointing setbacks. ASU was picked by many to compete for the Sun Belt title, and the Red Wolves have lost four games by less than a touchdown.
Now it?s just about finishing and feeling good again.
?No matter what your record (is) a win always helps,? ASU senior defensive end Alex Carrington said. ?A win always makes you feel good. We want to go out on a positive note. It would be good for our seniors.?
