Red Wolves receiver has a feel for success

JONESBORO -- Arkansas State set school records for points scored, yards gained and touchdowns last year.

All of that happened in the first year of a new offense led by a first-year starting quarterback.

What's most impressive to offensive coordinator Walt Bell is that ASU did it largely without a player who could go down as one of the most dynamic to ever play for ASU.

Senior receiver J.D. McKissic entered opening day of fall practice Thursday as the school's career receptions leader, and he could add school records for receiving yards and touchdowns this season.

If he stays healthy, that is.

What seemed like a normal occurrence through his first two seasons wasn't so easy for McKissic last year.

"I feel like it was meant to be," McKissic said Wednesday. "There's a point in time where everybody gets hurt. My freshman year, my sophomore year, I was healthy. So my junior year, I guess it was just meant to be."

McKissic wasn't as accepting while dealing with the ailments last year.

The first came in a Sept. 6 loss at Tennessee, when he was hit in his right shoulder while trying to field a punt. He partially tore a meniscus in a victory over Utah State later in the season, then suffered an ankle injury at Louisiana-Lafayette and missed two games while recovering.

He finished the season with 52 catches for 629 yards, both career lows, and did not have a touchdown reception.

Now, instead of entering the season as a preseason first-team All-Sun Belt member who represented the school at Sun Belt media day in New Orleans, like he did last year, McKissic was a second-team selection and stayed home during the kickoff event last month.

McKissic said last year he tried to concentrate on "being a better teammate" in the midst of the injuries, but then he suffered another last spring. He injured his ankle during a scrimmage, then had surgery in April. He said he began running in the middle of June and Wednesday declared himself ready to go for fall practice.

"It was very frustrating," McKissic said. "But I got over it."

ASU Coach Blake Anderson said he'll be watching how McKissic approaches the game with a beat-up body.

"He's dealing with 'I'm an old dude now, and this body doesn't feel quite like it did a couple of years ago,'" Anderson said. "But he's worked really hard over the summer and he did a lot of extra work."

Bell said the return of McKissic, the NCAA's active leader in career receptions, is almost like gaining a new player.

"We've got the almost statistical leader in NCAA history over a career and nobody talks about him," Bell said. "I'm excited to see him play."

A healthy McKissic could mean for another assault on ASU and Sun Belt record books.

McKissic's 237 career receptions put him 26 catches away from breaking the Sun Belt career receptions record, held by Troy's Jerrel Jernigan. That's the record that would mean the most to McKissic, considering Jernigan grew up in Eufala, Ala., about 45 minutes from McKissic's hometown of Phenix City, and played with McKissic's older brother.

"He's a guy that a lot of guys don't know about, but he's a friend of mine," McKissic said. "He's really one of my favorite receivers ever. I don't have a lot of favorites, but he's the only one."

McKissic also should benefit from ASU's offense taking another step in its second year in Coach Blake Anderson's fast-paced attack.

Hailed last year as a perfect fit for Anderson's offense, McKissic was slotted as the "A-Back," a position Anderson reserves for his most versatile offensive player who can be used in the backfield and as a wide receiver. A year later, ASU's vision for McKissic hasn't changed.

"We're really built to make a guy like that look special," Bell said. "I think the disappointment is with himself and not being able to capitalize on that, but I think he'll be healthy and ready to go."

Sports on 08/07/2015