Red Wolves know that seconds count

JONESBORO -- As soon as a play is whistled dead, quarterback Fredi Knighten looks for the graduate assistant in the bright yellow shirt making arm movements on the sideline.

The motions aren't discernible to most, but they start a process that sets the pace for Arkansas State's offense.

The Red Wolves had one of the FBS's fastest offenses last season, running a school-record 1,024 plays. It was the most in the Sun Belt Conference and 14th-most in the country.

Coach Blake Anderson said he wants to go even faster in his second season as coach. The way ASU can do that is by being more efficient in between plays -- a period of time that can take less than 20 seconds.

"There are a lot of little, tiny things that you can get better at to be better at transition tempo," Knighten said.

Getting more efficient at deciphering hand signals between plays have been a big part of fall camp. Anderson said earlier this week that he believes his offense has increased its pace through the first week, but he can't be sure considering some plays have been run without pads and almost none have been run live.

Anderson and offensive coordinator Walt Bell will get their first real look at how fast the Red Wolves are moving at 9 a.m. today in their first scrimmage at Centennial Bank Stadium.

"I've seen signs of it," Anderson said. "Saturday is going to be our first gauge."

Anderson, who has run a fast-paced, Spread offense since he returned to coaching in 2007, said 80 snaps in a game is a general total for which to strive. ASU averaged 78.8 last season. It was 4-2 in games in which it ran 80 plays or more and 3-4 in games it ran fewer, including losses at Louisiana-Lafayette, Appalachian State and to Toledo in the GoDaddy Bowl.

If ASU were to more regularly crack 80 plays, Anderson said he believes the difference can be made up in between plays, which means moving more fluidly from the previous line of scrimmage to the new one.

"If you carry the ball, you hand it to the official, you don't lay it on the ground," Anderson said. "That speeds up the process. You've got to be moving as you're processing. You can't stand still and process the signal. As soon as you recognize where you're supposed to be, start moving to there and process the rest of the signal.

"We're talking seconds, three and four seconds, but that's the difference between snapping it when they're ready and when they're not."

Bell, ASU's offensive coordinator, wants to snap the ball with no less than 12 seconds left on the play clock but defines a desired pace more vaguely.

"It's a demeanor," he said. "It's guys attacking the line of scrimmage, attacking their alignments. ... Everybody's got their time restraints, but really it's just a demeanor. It'll be interesting to see [today] Saturday because we'll have them fresh and ready to go."

Knighten and running back Michael Gordon can point to specific points where they have felt ASU achieved Bell's desire. Gordon said he felt it earlier this week in practice. Even though they weren't in a live scrimmage, "we caught the defense slipping and that's when I got a big run."

Knighten goes back to ASU's loss last season at Miami. On the game's second drive, the Red Wolves went 65 yards in 11 plays in less than three minutes and Knighten scored on a 1-yard run.

"They were gassed," Knighten said. "That's what we gauge it on. As long as we can move as fast as we can to get those guys tired, have them subbing out guys and get 12 guys on the field when we're snapping the ball, we're happy."

Knighten has the most to do in between plays. He looks to the sideline to decipher the signals -- one sets the tempo, one the formation and another relays the actual play -- and then relays it to teammates. He said they often lost time last season while relaying instructions to the offensive line.

Knighten and Gordon said a year of experience running the offense has provided a better starting point.

"There's nothing else to think about," Gordon said. "When you get up off the ground, even if you're hurting, you're looking to the sideline for the next play. I just feel like it's a habit now."

Sports on 08/15/2015