JONESBORO -- Coach Blake Anderson will tell you that Arkansas State's assembled football roster is not the product of some calculated plan.
FOOTBALL PREVIEWS
Arkansas State reporter Troy Schulte previewed each team in the Sun Belt conference. Read each one below:
Anderson, in fact, said Wednesday he's not entirely sure what he has as he watched his players report to fall camp, his third as head of the Red Wolves.
"I don't know this team yet," Anderson said at his media day news conference. "So, confidence would not be the right word. Excited about the potential. Great, high, expectations of what they're capable of. That's where I'm at at this point."
Five players -- a collection of transfers who started their careers at Power Five programs -- provide Anderson with equal feelings of excitement and unease.
They must help replace the likes of two-year starting quarterback Fredi Knighten; three-year starting running back Michael Gordon; all-time leading receiver J.D. McKissic, and touchdown-catching threat Tres Houston, whose careers ended with ASU's loss to Louisiana Tech in last December's New Orleans Bowl.
ASU's choices for filling most of those roles have three things in common: They either sat out last season per transfer rules, or were not even on campus a year ago and five started their careers at a Power 5 program.
The quarterback for ASU's Sept. 2 season-opener against Toledo will likely be either Chad Voytik (Pittsburgh) or Justice Hansen (Oklahoma) -- and two of their primary targets -- Cameron Echols-Luper and Kendall Sanders -- took similar routes.
Defender Dee Liner, who came from Alabama, is expected to fill a hole thought to be left by Robert Mondie, who learned this week that he was granted a sixth year of eligibility via an NCAA waiver.
Relying on transfers is not the most traditional way to construct a roster, but it came together over time as connections formed and ASU decided it wanted to upgrade its talent.
"They became available and we had to make a decision," Anderson said. "We didn't plan for Dee Liner. He was a guy who became available. We didn't really plan for Kendall Sanders. We didn't plan for Luper. They became available and we had connections with them in some way, shape or form. They were decisions we had to make when they happened."
Voytik, a graduate transfer from Pitt, was the last to arrive this summer. He joined Liner, who arrived in April 2015 and sat out last season due to transfer rules. Echols-Luper arrived during fall camp last fall from TCU, where his father is an assistant coach, and Sanders joined the team during last season after he was found not guilty of sexual assault charges, the reason he was dismissed by Texas Coach Charlie Strong. Hansen got to Jonesboro in January.
Sanders wasn't made available for interviews or photos, but others talked Wednesday of a group that's grown together thanks in part to similar paths.
"I find comfort in that," said Voytik, who will battle Hansen for the starting quarterback job. "We're a mixed bag, for sure. So, it's been nice to have guys that have come from other places, as well."
Some of the credit for finding the random parts goes to cornerbacks coach Trooper Taylor, who coached with Echols-Luper's father, Curtis, at Oklahoma State. Curtis Echols-Luper now coaches running backs at TCU. The two also coached at Auburn together, too, where Taylor first met Liner while on a recruiting trip. Taylor lost out on Liner the first time, but not the second.
Liner, who played in four games in two seasons at Alabama, said Taylor was the first person he spoke with after being released from his original scholarship. It convinced him to choose ASU over North Carolina, where he also visited.
"There was no doubt I was going to come here when I found out he was here," he said.
Echols-Luper said he wouldn't have left TCU if he couldn't find familiarity elsewhere. He found that with Taylor and his son, Blaise, a junior cornerback. Echols-Luper and Blaise Taylor went to elementary school together in Stillwater, Okla., and were high school teammates in Auburn, Ala.
"That was the easiest part about it," Echols-Luper said. "I knew I had, not blood, but I had family here."
Taylor said he is pleased to have them in tow, but said he knows some humility is required, too.
"You can't have a guy like Dee Liner saying 'At Alabama, I did this,' " Taylor said. "Well, you're not at Alabama, son, you're here. So, them, being able to come here and make that transition and do it the right way has made for an easier transition for us. And, yeah, the expectation is high for them."
They've got about a month to put it all together.
"My hopes are that we line up against Toledo, and we're rolling and we jelled, and there's continuity and we're slinging it around and scoring points," Anderson said. "But we have to be realistic about what to expect with guys who haven't played together."
Sports on 08/04/2016