Head Coach: Butch Jones is entering his 5th season as the head coach of the Red Wolves with a 19-31 record. It has been a long road, but the record has improved each season. Last year being the best yet with an 8-5 finish including a bowl win. Jones has 4 conference championships as a head coach and has won 5 of his last 6 bowl appearances.
Program Outlook: Arkansas State is a program that struggled in their earlier days. They moved around a few conferences too, did you know they were in the Big West for most of the 90s? 2011 was finally the point where Arkansas State took off, they started winning conference championships and coaches would come and move on to bigger jobs. They had a decade straight of winning seasons before it ended in 2020. The Sun Belt has gotten deeper and more competitive now but Arkansas State is still a program that is poised to be at the top of it.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Arkansas State ranks 106th in the country returning 43% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Key players absolutely has to start with a dynamic QB-WR duo in QB Jalen Raynor and WR Corey Rucker. Raynor can run and he could become one of the Sun Belt’s best passers if he can cut down on the picks. Rucker meanwhile is one of the best receivers in the conference. The portal will help add some options JJ Harrell (Mississippi State) and Juco transfer Demarco Blanton are among the interesting options added to the mix. Ja’Quez Cross is a very solid back to have as well. The remainder of the roster is full of question marks. The offensive line is mostly new, the good news is that it is larger which should help the run game more but they need to help in pass protection as well. The defense is why Arkansas State is so low in returning production. This whole unit is mostly going to be made of transfers. Bryan Whitehead is one of the few returnees on the defensive line and in general was one of the few pass rushing threats last year. They badly needed bigger men on the interior Dline after being pushed around by ground attacks for years, the hope is that 310lb McNeese transfer Simeon Mitchell can accomplish that and the other DT Cody Sigler (West Alabama) exploded as an interior pass rusher at a lower level last year. Michigan State transfer Aaron Alexander is the closest to a sure thing at LB. The secondary will be led by Marshall transfer safety AG McGhee who was a good pickup and corner Avante Dickerson was solid at Utah State last year.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: As with every Sun Belt team, the schedule is challenging for Arkansas State because of the depth of the conference. Their non-conference schedule is a lot of fun. They have a huge home game against Iowa State, they also play at Kennesaw State and they host regional FCS foe SE Missouri State who had a dynamic pass attack last year but loses some key pieces. I saved the biggest for last though, Arkansas State will face in-state foe Arkansas FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER in Little Rock. I may not be exaggerating when I say that game might be the biggest in program history for Arkansas State, the stadium deal Arkansas has to play a game in Little Rock is what put this game together and that deal may be ending soon which means Arkansas will refuse to schedule Arkansas State again so it would be huge if they can pull off the win in this one time opportunity. The Red Wolves are in the West division which features a lot of really good teams but it’s hard to tell how they will shake out. The East division draw isn’t preferable, you never want to see both App State and Georgia Southern from there.
Final Thoughts: It’s a big year ahead for Arkansas State I feel like. The Red Wolves really need the defense to come together to make this a strong season, the West division is up for the taking. The one question for the Red Wolves will be the close games. Most of their losses they were run off the field but all but 1 win (against a miserable Southern Miss team) was by one score, a 7-1 record overall in one score games. Is that sustainable? We’ll find out, I’m more inclined to say this team will be a top contender in the Sun Belt.
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