Continuity was on Arkansas State football Coach Blake Anderson’s mind as the Red Wolves began spring practice this week.
Anderson is entering his fourth season at Arkansas State University. He called the Red Wolves’ workouts Monday and Tuesday the best first two days of spring practice in terms of competitiveness in his tenure in Jonesboro.
“They have a knowledge of what we’re doing,” Anderson said. “You can tell we’ve got a lot of guys that are locked in. The culture alone is deeply established.
“They’ve been here long enough where we’ve had great relationships built. The culture is deep. We’ve been through adversity. The standard is high.”
Since Anderson replaced Bryan Harsin at ASU in 2014, he’s led the Red Wolves to three consecutive winning seasons. Last season, ASU started 0-4, but went on to win its fifth Sun Belt Conference championship in six seasons. The Red Wolves won 8 of their final 9 games, including the Cure Bowl against Central Florida, to finish 8-5.
Anderson said he was proud of how the Red Wolves recovered from last year’s slow start and called the comeback a momentum boost going into the offseason.
“That just shows the character of this group of guys,” Anderson said. “Nobody wants to be the guy who lets go of the rope.”
The Red Wolves return nine starters from last year’s team. Junior quarterback Justice Hansen returns along with junior running back Warren Wand on offense. Defensively, ASU returns four starters, led by senior end Ja’Von Rolland-Jones, last season’s Sun Belt Conference defensive player of the year.
“We did lose some guys, but we’ve also developed a lot of younger guys,” Anderson said. “I like the way our team looks.”
ASU practiced in half pads Friday and will practice in full pads at 9:30 a.m. today. The Red Wolves will practice again Monday, Wednesday and Friday before holding their first scrimmage at 9:30 a.m. April 8.
The Red Wolves have started spring practice well in Anderson’s eyes. He hopes they can continue to practice well over the next three weeks.
“I want to see constant improvement,” Anderson said. “We want to raise the level through 15 practices. We want guys who are willing to compete when they’re called out.
“It’s been a great start.”
The annual spring game will be at 6 p.m. April 21 at Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro.
In Anderson’s first two seasons, ASU auctioned off opportunities to coach alongside him in the spring game. Last season, two former ASU players, Demario Davis and Don Evans, and Sports Illustrated writer Thayer Evans helped coach in the spring game.
However, for this year’s spring game, Anderson doesn’t have any plans to have fans or celebrities coaching.
Anderson said there will be plans to have fans register at the spring game for a field goal contest, a quarterback challenge and a punt catching challenge. He added that the field will be open between 4 and 5 p.m. before the spring game.
“It will be a little more interactive,” Anderson said.