ASU will load up a truck and some buses today and travel about 130 miles from its Jonesboro campus to War Memorial Stadium in midtown Little Rock for a scrimmage at 7 p.m. tonight.
It will be the first time ASU has held an organized team event in the capital city -- coaches have held camps, but no work with current players -- since a 31-7 loss to Oklahoma State on Sept. 9, 2006 at War Memorial.
It was a plan first conceived last season but realized a year later by Coach Blake Anderson.
The Red Wolves' scrimmage on the turf in Little Rock will be the second of three ASU spring scrimmages, and the final one before next Friday's spring scrimmage in Jonesboro.
Anderson said today's Little Rock scrimmage helps break up the spring monotony while preparing the Red Wolves prepare for a quirky fall schedule that includes three midweek games and three road games to end the season -- at Troy, Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas State.
"You can't simulate those things," Anderson said. "But you can try to get some mental work in the way we'll try to do it. We'll load up, make ourselves a little bit uncomfortable. It would be a lot easier just to practice here. It kills two birds with one stone, us work on travel and preparing mentally and us seeing the folks in Little Rock and in an area that don't get to see us practice too often."
That doesn't mean this scrimmage is a prelude to an actual game at War Memorial Stadium.
ASU, which is 7-6 all-time in Little Rock, had a contract to play Arkansas-Pine Bluff at the stadium in 2013, but the game was moved to Jonesboro.
"I doubt that," Anderson said. "We're going to play right here in front of Jonesboro folks. They're welcome to come up on Saturdays or Tuesdays or Wednesdays or whatever day we play. I think spring is realistic. I don't think fall is realistic at all."
A three-man battle to replace Fredi Knighten at quarterback is one of the story lines for Little Rock fans to follow, though the competition has been hampered by an unsettled offensive line.
Left tackle Jemar Clark (shoulder) and left guard Austin Moreton (ACL surgery) are recovering from injuries. Also, Anderson told a Jonesboro radio station this week that Daniel Keith, who started the first five games of last season at left guard before suffering an ankle injury, has left the team for personal reasons.
Joe Bacchus, who started games at left tackle and right tackle, and Brandon Berg, who started one game at center, have also missed time, leaving ASU with only center Devin Mondie and Colton Jackson as returners available for spring practice.
"It's a different group every snap," Anderson said.
ASU has more to work with defensively, in regards to players returning and those still assembled.
Eight players who started last season's New Orleans Bowl return to ASU's defense, and it could be nine if defensive tackle Robert Mondie is granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.
The Red Wolves have even added depth to that side. Defensive tackle Dee Liner, an Alabama transfer who sat out last season due to transfer rules, and linebacker Kyle Wilson, who joined the team in January from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, were both playing with the top defense earlier this week.
"I think both of those guys are going to challenge for starting positions," ASU defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen said. "I expect them to. That's why we got them to come here. If they do that, than we are a better football team and a better defense."
Sports on 04/08/2016