Jonesboro — Justice Hansen needed a few seconds to think it over.
“You’re one passing touchdown away from setting the school record at 68, does that mean anything to you?”
Per his typical demeanor, Hansen’s reply followed a smile and a giggle. The Oklahoma-grown quarterback is reluctant to discuss his individual accomplishments. He said he didn’t even know or care about the record.
But as Hansen sits on 67 touchdown passes entering tonight’s 7 p.m. game against Appalachian State at Centennial Bank Stadium, the latest accomplishment is sitting right there.
“Um, honestly, this may sound corny,” Hansen replied before crediting many others.
He bestowed thanks upon the receivers he has worked with since his arrival at ASU in 2016. He praised the culture and system fifth-year Coach Blake Anderson and his staff cultivate.
“It really is a testament to what we’ve been able to do as an offense as a whole,” Hansen said. “A lot of guys have scored those touchdowns. A lot of guys have done some great things. It’s really a team effort. I think it’s really just a testament to the team.
“You know, I happened to be the quarterback.”
Hansen enrolled at ASU in 2016 from a compact Kansas community college (Butler) after originally signing with the Oklahoma Sooners as a consensus top-five prospect in the state out of high school.
He slipped into a good fit in Jonesboro. The framework of Arkansas State’s offense under Anderson is tailor-made for his style, allowing the 6-4 senior to let the ball rip.
Those who have preceded Hansen marvel at his accomplishments.
“It’s why they’ve had success,” said Ryan Aplin, ASU’s quarterback from 2009-2012 whose 67 career passing touchdowns are tied with Hansen. “When your quarterback’s good, and he’s successful and does his job and does it well, your team wins.”
Hansen has bounced around, receiving input from multiple coaching staffs. But it was as a freshman in high school that Hansen said he established a foundation as a let-it-fly, fearless quarterback under “a old guy by the name of Roger Pheiffer,” one of Hansen’s high school coaches at Edmond Sante Fe in Edmond, Okla.
He redshirted with the Sooners under coach Bob Stoops in 2014. Despite signing as a legacy behind his father, Dusty, a former Sooners baseball standout, Hansen sought something else.
One season at Butler Community College in 2015 preceded the marriage among Hansen, Anderson and Arkansas State.
“He was a great kid when we got him,” Anderson said. “I just think the way he’s matured and truly turned into a quality leader, a quality young man — thinking about others more than himself, thinking about how he can help others on and off the field — he’s just so much more comfortable in his own skin.”
In 2016, Hansen walked into ASU’s competitive quarterback room without a guarantee he’d be given the ball for the next three seasons. He did not start his first three games, as senior Chad Voytik — a transfer quarterback from the University of Pittsburgh — got the first shot. Early in that third game, the team became Hansen’s for good.
“I know Blake has all the confidence in the world in him,” said Tim Langford, the school’s quarterback in the early 1980s and a current Little Rock urologist and ASU’s board of trustees chairman.
There’s a common theme among the former ASU quarterbacks who have watched Hansen work as fans: The Red Wolves’ current quarterback has the arm they wish they had.
“He’s got a phenomenal arm,” said Aplin, whose 906 completions and 10,758 passing yards are the most by any ASU quarterback. “He’s got, like, eight times the arm I ever had. You can just tell the ball jumps out of his hand. You watch him on film and you’re like, ‘Holy cow, this kid can play.’ ”
Then there’s Langford, a Wishbone quarterback in the ‘80s who deemed himself “an average college passer.”
“Oh gosh, 68 completions in a year would be good for me,” he said. “As a Wishbone quarterback, it’s hard to give [68 career touchdowns] perspective.”
Cleo Lemon, a quarterback for the Red Wolves from 1997-2000 whose 48 career touchdowns were surpassed by Hansen a year ago, also is a fan. His 7,706 passing yards were bumped from No. 2 to No. 3 by Hansen (8,015) earlier this season.
“When that guy’s the trigger man, he has the ability to change the game,” Lemon said. “When you feel like this guy can be put in any situation, he’s going to deliver. That in itself gives you confidence each and every Saturday.”
Hansen has made an obvious improvement between his junior and senior seasons: purging the interceptions.
Through five games of his first two seasons as a starter, Hansen threw six and five interceptions, respectively. Five games into 2018, Hansen has thrown two interceptions — one a deflected ball off a receiver’s hands in the opener against Southeast Missouri State and another returned for a touchdown at Alabama.
Hansen’s growth as a decision-maker has come with comfort and time. Unlike when he moved to Jonesboro, ASU’s semi-shy and humble quarterback does not hesitate to speak out when ASU needs a guiding voice.
“You know, there’s all kinds [of quarterbacks],” Anderson said. “There’s some that are brash and bold, and they’re going to put their feelings out there. He’s just not that guy. That’s one of the things that makes the guys respect him so much. He tries to be consistent with them, and show them he thinks a lot more about them than he does himself.”
Hansen’s demeanor as a quarterback is why there may not be a public spectacle when No. 68 is eclipsed.
Later on, when he’s able to reflect, the 68 will matter more.
“Anytime you break a record like that,” ASU offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said, “personally for him, that’s probably a big deal even though he’ll tell you it’s not. One day down the road, it will matter.”
