JONESBORO - It wasn’t quite the “fast-paced basketball on grass” that first-year Arkansas State football Coach Blake Anderson is seeking, but the Red Wolves had their moments during Monday’s scrimmage, their first of the spring, at Centennial Bank Stadium.
ASU’s players said they felt as if they were playing faster than have in the past, even though they have been running no-huddle offenses since Steve Roberts was last on the sidelines in 2010.
But Anderson and offensive coordinator Walt Bell said the Red Wolves have a long way to go before they reach the point where the ball can be snapped with no less than 25 seconds left on the 35-second play clock.
Quarterback Fredi Knighten, who will be a junior in the fall, threw two touchdown passes, redshirt freshman Cameron Birse threw another and there were only two turnovers during an 80-minute session.
But Anderson said there is room to improve, especially when it comes to the most essential part of his offense, the speed at which players get to the line of scrimmage in between plays.
“I expect it to be faster,” Anderson said. “There’s still a lot of times I was getting frustrated that we weren’t snapping the ball. It was a step in the right direction, but yes, it should be quicker.”
Bell said he understands the difference between a no-huddle offense and an offense that tries to snap the ball with 25 seconds left on the play clock.
He played in an uptempo offense as a wide receiver at Middle Tennessee from 2002-2005 with Anderson as the offensive coordinator the first three seasons. Then, as a senior, Anderson left and a new system was brought in, one that required the Blue Raiders to huddle.
“It was weird,” Bell recalled Monday.
The transition ASU is making this spring isn’t as drastic. The Red Wolves didn’t huddle under last year’s coach, Bryan Harsin, nor did they under Gus Malzahn in 2012 and Hugh Freeze in 2011.
But this is different.
“It’s something that you’ve got to get accustomed to,” Bell said. “It’s a different lifestyle. It was definitely something that’s required through repetition.”
Anderson and Bell were mostly pleased with the quality of the plays that were run. Knighten, who took every snap with the No. 1 offense, unofficially completed 10 of 16 passes for 105 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Many of Knighten’s series were against the No. 1 defense, including one that ended with his 21-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Tres Houston.
“We’ve just got to hone in, because we’re going to be going really fast,” Knighten said, acknowledging the Red Wolves have a long way to go. “We just have to focus, look at the signal, get it, and line up. We’ll be fine after that.”
Anderson said learning the process of looking toward the sideline as soon as the play ends for the signal, then lining up to snap another playwill eventually become second nature.
“It’s just not what they’ve been used to,” he said. “Like anything else, it takes building a habit and we’re not enough days in for it to truly be a habit.”
Other than Knighten, Anderson got to see Birse, who is third on the depth chart behind Knighten and Stephen Hogan, throw two touchdown passes and unofficially complete 5 of 6 passes for 71 yards.
He also saw DeKeathan Williams and Johnston White split time at running back, which Anderson said had nothing to do with starter Michael Gordon’s ankle injury from earlier in spring practice. It has more to do with developing depth behind Gordon, who rushed for 754 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. Knighten, who rushed for 344 yards, is the team’s No. 2 returning rusher.
The defense totaled five sacks and go an interception from Money Hunter on an underthrown Knighten pass.
ASU will hold its second scrimmage next Monday, and its final scrimmage will be in its April 18 spring game.
“This was a test for everybody,” Anderson said. “We run out of days really quickly. We [have] two solid opportunities to tighten it up and go. This is a midterm exam right here, we need to find out who is ready.”
Sports, Pages 19 on 04/08/2014