LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas State’s scrimmage Tuesday was the shortest of the three it’s held during fall practice, and many of its veterans watched from the sidelines, but coaches still walked away pleased.
Quarterback Ryan Aplin led two scoring drives that ended with touchdown runs by Sirgregory Thornton and Frankie Jackson and the offense didn’t commit a turnover during the 40-play scrimmage at ASU Stadium in Jonesboro.
“The last time we kind of hit a wall, but we had some guys get after it today,” Coach Gus Malzahn said. “We didn’t have a real long scrimmage and tried to zero in on some specific guys, so there were some of the older guys who did not participate in the scrimmage.”
Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee noted the lack of turnovers as a positive, but a penalty that brought back a touchdown was a negative.
Lashlee said the Red Wolves are close to setting a two-deep depth chart and switching gears toward preparing for their Sept. 1 opener at Oregon.
“We’ve got to start preparing for an opponent, and we’ve got to get our guys in the positions we think they are going to be in,” Lashlee said. “We have to get a two-deep, start getting reps for the guys that are going to play on Saturday and start working on a game plan.”
ASU, which is off today, spent Tuesday’s second practice working on special teams.
Sports, Pages 22 on 08/15/2012