Arkansas State 2012 Recruiting

2012 Arkansas State Red Wolves ... Head Coach: Gus Malzahn

Arkansas State Red Wolves

2011 Record 9-2

Sept. 3 at Illinois L 33-15
Sept. 10 Memphis W 47-3
Sept. 17 at Virginia Tech L 26-7
Sept. 24 Cent. Arkansas W 53-24
Oct. 1 at WKU W 26-22
Oct. 8 at ULM W 24-19
Oct. 18 FIU W 34-16
Oct. 29 North Texas W 37-14
Nov. 5 at Florida Atlantic W 39-21
Nov. 12 Louisiana W 30-21
Nov. 19 at Middle Tenn. W 35-19
Nov. 26 OPEN DATE
Dec. 3 Troy

 2010 CFN Prediction: 6-6
2010 Record:  4-8

Sept. 4 at Auburn L 52-26
Sept. 11 at Louisiana L 31-24
Sept. 18 ULM  W 34-20
Sept. 25 at Troy L 35-28
Oct. 2 Louisville L 34-24
Oct. 9 at North Texas W 24-19
Oct. 16 at Indiana L 36-24
Oct. 23 Florida Atlantic W 37-16
Oct. 30 OPEN DATE
Nov. 2 MTSU W 51-24
Nov. 13 WKU L 36-35 OT
Nov. 20 at Navy L 35-19
Nov. 27 at FIU L 31-24
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The Entire 2012 Recruiting Class

Top 5 Recruits To Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. RB Kendrick Daniels
5-7, 150, Scout.com 88th ranked, three-star running back.

2. DT Dexter Blackmon
6-2, 285, Scout.com three-star JUCO transfer.

3. LB Eddie Porter
6-3, 235, Scout.com three-star JUCO transfer.

4. CB Marquis Walker
6-0, 170, Scout.com 106th ranked, three-star corner.

5. OT Jemar Clark
6-6, 280, Scout.com 95th ranked, three-star tackle.

The 2012 Class Was Heavy On... Skill players. Last year’s class focused mostly on the offensive backfield, and the transfer of Auburn’s Michael Dyer will eventually give new head coach Gus Malzahn a star to work around, but this year’s class is about to be loaded with running backs. Quarterback is the concern going into 2013, and this year’s class will bring options.

Team Concerns For 2012: The Red Wolves need defensive linemen. The front four loses three starters and several key backup options, while the secondary also needs help after losing three starters and three quality reserves. The 2010 class worked on bringing in defensive linemen, and some patching will have to be quickly done.

Looking Ahead To The 2012 Season: Rarely does a program get a rent-a-coach like Hugh Freeze, lose him, and improve with the next hire, but that might be what happens with Gus Malzahn taking over and former Auburn star Michael Dyer – who hasn’t been cleared yet for this year - transferring. Malzahn has a star quarterback to work with right away in Ryan Aplin, and the receiving corps is loaded with Josh Jarboe, Taylor Stockemer, and Allen Muse making up for the loss of Dwayne Frampton. Three starters are gone off the line, but the running game should be a bit better. Can the pass rush still be among the best in the nation with Brandon Joiner and three starters gone off the line? Eight starters are gone off the D.

The 2011 Class Was Heavy On … The offensive backfield. The defensive front got the most help last year and the receiving corps of 2009 should come into its own this year, and now the skill players are in place for the backfield of the near future. Speedy RB Artez Brown is the gem of the class, but Quintin Sparkmon has nice potential. Quarterbacks Darion Griswold and J.D. McKissic are totally different prospects. The 6-5, 240-pound Griswold is the passer, the 5-8, 170-pound McKissic is the runner.

2010 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 106. That Class Was Heavy On ... Defensive linemen. While the offense got a lot of help, especially at running back with the instant help from JUCO transfer Dwayne Frampton and his sub-4.4 speed, but the defense will get the most immediate upgrade with two fantastic linebacker prospects in Quashaun Lee and JUCO transfer Michael Lombardo and four strong defensive linemen. JUCO transfers Blake Chavis and Brandon Joiner each likely to start or at least be major factors in the end rotation.

2009 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 116. That Class Was Heavy On ... Receivers. QB Phillip Butterfield is the star of the show here, and he’ll have plenty of targets to work with including Carlos McCants, a smallish, quick receiver who should be a number one target at some point. JUCO transfer Lucious Henderson is for right now. The defense was almost completely ignored.  

Nov. 19 Arkansas State 45 … at Middle Tennessee 19

Nov. 12 at Arkansas State 30 … UL Lafayette 21

Nov. 5 Arkansas State 39 … at Florida Atlantic 21

Oct. 29 at Arkansas State 37 … North Texas 14  

Oct. 18 at Arkansas State 34 … FIU 16
CFN Analysis: And now Arkansas State is really in the Sun Belt drivers’ seat. The Red Wolves are off to the greatest start in school history mainly because they’re taking advantage of everyone else’s mistakes and they’re getting timely play from different players each game. Against FIU, QB Ryan Aplin had his best running game this year taking off for 164 yards and two scores, and while he only completed 14-of-24 passes, he came through with the throws he needed to make in the fourth quarter to put the game away. North Texas and Florida Atlantic shouldn’t be a problem on the way to 7-2, and then comes the showdown with Louisiana-Lafayette which should be for the title.

Oct. 8 Arkansas State 24 … at ULM 19
CFN Analysis: The Red Wolves were sloppy with 13 penalties and four turnovers, but they got the blocked punt needed late in the third quarter to turn the game around and the defense did just enough to hold on. Dwayne Frampton was phenomenal, catching 13 passes for 147 yards and a score, and Kelcie McCray was terrific with six tackles to go along with his two picks, but overall, this is a game to forget. ASU was bad; ULM was worse. 

Oct. 1 Arkansas State 26 ... at WKU 22
CFN Analysis: Considering the problems WKU has had scoring, Arkansas State has to be a bit worried about how much work it took to put this away. Ryan Aplin threw for 396 yards and led the team on a great final march to avoid a miserable embarrassment, with Derek Lawson pounding it in for the game-winning score in the final seconds. The offensive line was awful, doing nothing for the ground game while allowing four sacks, but it came through when it needed to on the final drive. While this was a shaky win, now there’s no margin for error with a trip to ULM next week and the showdown with FIU to follow.  

Sept. 24 at Arkansas State 53 … Central Arkansas 24
CFN Analysis: ASU blew away the two bad teams on the schedule and got flattened by the two good teams on the slate. Now it’s time to kick off Sun Belt play with a big start at WKU to show that it belongs in the mix of top conference teams. The offense was terrific, running for 375 yards and three scores with nine different players getting carries, and Ryan Aplin was great, completing 220 yards and a score, but it’s not a plus to get six field goals out of kicker Brian Davis; too many drives stalled. It might have been a blowout, but it took a little while to get there. 

Sept. 17 at Virginia Tech 26 … Arkansas State 7
CFN Analysis: Arkansas State capitalized on its early breaks to make it interesting early, with Ryan Aplin leading the way to a 7-0 lead, but then the offensive line started to have problems. The Aplin grounding call for a safety opened up the floodgates; the offense was never the same the rest of the way. Taylor Stockemer made a nice 51-yard pass play, but that was it for anything to loosen up the Virginia Tech defense that didn’t allow much of anything on the ground and tightened up as the game went on. 

Sept. 10 at Arkansas State 47 … Memphis 3
CFN Analysis: That’s about as easy a win as the Red Wolves will ever have against a non-Sun Belt, FBS team. The pass rush obliterated Memphis with five sacks coming from five different players, while the offense was fantastic with Ryan Aplin completed 19-of-21 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns with a pick, while the running game ripped up the Tigers with Frankie Jackson tearing off 101 yards and a score. Everything worked except the kickoff return game, but that’s nitpicking. It’s not like there were many chances to give it a shot.  

Sept. 3 at Illinois 33 … Arkansas State 15
CFN Analysis: Ryan Aplin couldn’t seem to find a groove. Illinois did such a great job of converting on third downs and moving the chains that ASU couldn’t fight its way back into the game. Aplin threw for 290 yards, but he didn’t get much help from the running game and the defense couldn’t get off the field. Defensively, strong safety Kelcie McCray was in on everything with eight tackles and two broken up passes, but he had to make too many plays; the front seven needed to do more. Fortunately, Memphis is up next to get the offense flying before dealing with Virginia Tech. 

2011 Recruiting Class

The 2011 Class Is Heavy On … The offensive backfield. The defensive front got the most help last year and the receiving corps of 2009 should come into its own this year, and now the skill players are in place for the backfield of the near future. Speedy RB Artez Brown is the gem of the class, but Quintin Sparkmon has nice potential. Quarterbacks Darion Griswold and J.D. McKissic are totally different prospects. The 6-5, 240-pound Griswold is the passer, the 5-8, 170-pound McKissic is the runner.

Five Arkansas State Recruits You Should Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. RB Artez Brown
5-11, 165, Scout.com’s 66th ranked running back

2. WR Kyle Coleman
6-2, 205, Scout.com’s 171st ranked receiver

3. OT Aaron Williams
6-5, 315, Two-star JUCO prospect

4. QB Darion Griswold
6-5, 240, Scout.com’s 119th ranked quarterback

5. RB Quintin Sparkmon
5-11, 190, Scout.com’s 162nd ranked running back

2011 Entire Recruiting Class

Devontay Barnett: 6-0, 200, ATH, Soso, Miss. (West Jones)
James Bradberry: 6-1, 189, ATH, Pleasant Grove, Ala. (Pleasant Grove)
Artez Brown: 6-0, 170, ATH, Newport, Ark. (Newport)
Kyle Coleman: 6-1, 215, ATH, Pine Bluff, Ark. (Watson Chapel)
Zach Davis: 6-2, 195, QB, Harrisburg, Ark. (Harrisburg)
Kevin Galindo: 6-5, 285, OL, Jr., Concord, Calif. (Laney (Calif.) College)
Darion Griswold: 6-5, 240, QB/ATH, Dumas, Ark. (Dumas)
Steven Haunga: 6-2, 313, Jr., OL, Richmond, Calif. (College of the Canyons (Calif.))
Stephen Hogan: 6-4, 205, WR, Greenwood, Ark. (Greenwood)
Shervarius Jackson: 6-2, 230, Jr., DE, Fort Valley, Ga. (Fresno City (Calif.) College)
Bronterrious Jakes: 5-11, 212, LB, Phenix City, Ala. (Central)
Josh Jarboe: 6-3, 215, WR, Jr., Decatur, Ga. (Northeast Mississippi Community College)
Don Jones: 6-1, 208, Jr., DB, Town Creek, Ala. (Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College)
Anthony Kincy: 6-0, 232, Jr., TE, St. Petersburg, Fla. (Butte (Calif.) College)
Lawrence Martin: 6-4, 290, Jr., OL, Ormond Beach, Fla. (Merced (Calif.) College)
J.D. McKissic: 5-10, 185, WR, Phenix City, Ala. (Central)
Quitin Sparkmon: 5-10, 180, DB, Forrest City, Ark. (West Memphis)
Steven Stevens: 6-4, 265, OL, Bay Minette, Ala. (Baldwin County)
Chris Stone: 6-3, 245, TE, Daleville, Ala. (Daleville)
Terrious Triplett: 6-1, 185, DB, Memphis, Tenn. (Ridgeway)
Darius Turner: 6-1, 185, DB, Nashville, Tenn. (McGavock)
Aaron Williams: 6-5, 324, Jr., OL, Moss Point, Miss. (Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College)
James Williams: 6-5, 305, Sr., OL, Smyrna, Tenn. (Arizona Western)
Ronnell Wright: 6-3, 285, Jr., DL, Savannah, Ga. (Butte (Calif.) College)