JONESBORO -- Justice Hansen has been on campus at Arkansas State for more than eight months, driving his head coach crazy with his calm demeanor.
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CENTRAL ARKANSAS AT ARKANSAS STATE
WHEN 6 p.m.
WHERE Centennial Bank Stadium, Jonesboro
RECORDS ASU 0-3; UCA 2-1
RADIO KASR-FM, 92.7, in Little Rock/Conway; KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro; KUCA-FM, 91.3, in Conway; KKPT-FM, 94.1, in Little Rock
INTERNET ESPN3.com
On the field, in meetings and in talks with his coach, the sophomore quarterback rarely showed emotion or a glimpse into what he was thinking. Therefore, Red Wolves Coach Blake Anderson hesitated to turn the reins of an offense looking for a leader over to a player who was so hard to read.
"This drives me crazy during the week," Anderson said Monday. "But he's naturally very, very, calm. He's almost too call."
But Anderson's concern might turn out to be one of Hansen's best qualities.
The sophomore was put into last Friday's game in search of a spark missing from the ASU offense in its first two games. He didn't rally the Red Wolves to a victory against Utah State, but his 277 passing yards, 204 of which came in the second half, gave Anderson and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner enough information to make a change at the position for Saturday's game against Central Arkansas.
Hansen, a sophomore who transferred to ASU from Butler County (Kan.) Community College in January, earned his first start for ASU for Saturday's game in Jonesboro, Anderson said.
Hansen might be quiet in the meeting room, but Anderson said he learned Friday that Hansen has the arm strength to get their receivers involved and the demeanor to keep things together under pressure.
"He's just so laid back, so calm that you struggle to know if he's really engaged in what you're doing," Anderson said. "What we found out is that his personality is different. We've not been used to that and we had to figure out what he was -- when the lights come on, the dude loves to compete."
Hansen lost the competition for the position to Chad Voytik in fall practice, but played in one series during the season-opening loss to Toledo. Anderson said he thought Hansen was rattled in his limited time that night. Faulkner said he saw an improved mindset in the fourth quarter during ASU's second game, a 51-14 loss at Auburn. Hansen was 4 of 9 for 49 yards in that game, which Faulkner said led to a more consistent week in practice.
"How he prepared, his tempo, his urgency -- things were different for him," Faulkner said. "Sometimes it just clicks. Looking at it right now, that's what I think happened. It just clicked for him and hopefully that was the case."
Anderson said Voytik, who has completed 54.9 percent of his passes for 349 yards with 1 interception in three games, will back up Hansen and still be used as a running threat. But at least for Saturday, the offense is being turned over to Hansen in the latest turn in a quarterback competition that began in the spring and continued through the summer and fall camp without any real closure.
Part of that was due to Hansen's showing in the spring. He started ASU's final spring scrimmage but was never named the starter. Then quarterbacks James Tabary and Cameron Birse each transferred, leaving it necessary for ASU to recruit Voytik. When Voytik arrived in time for fall camp, neither he nor Hansen took the job right away.
Anderson said Monday he doesn't regret how the competition has been handled, or not trusting Hansen's tools over his personality, saying he didn't feel comfortable eliminating Voytik from the competition when he didn't have much time in the offense.
"You didn't know that it was going to be one more quarter, one more series or one more game where it was going to click for him," Anderson said. "We hadn't been able to make that process faster for him. And I don't know if we truly knew who Justice was until the last game-and-a-half. I don't know if we could have found that out any earlier. Wish we had. It would have been great for us.
"There wasn't a body of work that made it truly a simple and easy decision."
The final straw may have come at the end of Friday's third series, when Voytik's errant pass from his own end zone was intercepted to set up a Utah State touchdown as the Aggies stretched their lead to 17-0. Hansen entered, was able to use his stronger arm to find receivers down field and provided ASU with an offense that worked consistently for the first time this year.
Eight of Hansen's 18 completions went for 15 yards or more, and he distributed the ball to seven different receivers.
"We're still not a finished product," Anderson said. "It's just a glimpse of where I think we can go and what our personality is going to be, and where the puzzle [pieces] can fit."
Sports on 09/20/2016