JONESBORO -- Between the time the 2018 football season ended and Arkansas State University opened spring camp Tuesday, plenty has changed.
The coaching staff has been overhauled -- some by choice and some by force.
ASU Coach Blake Anderson has surrounded himself with seven new assistants. None of Anderson's three returning assistant coaches are in their same jobs.
"How was the first day?" Anderson said Tuesday. "Pretty good. Not bad. A lot to work on. A lot of new bodies and people moving around, but the energy was pretty good.
"There's still a lot of work to do, but good first day."
ASU has two new coordinators -- Keith Heckendorf on offense and David Duggan on defense -- and has new faces at tight ends coach (Rashad Jackson), offensive line coach (Sean Coughlin) and running backs coach (Desmond Lindsey) on offense.
On Duggan's defensive staff, former ASU defensive end Brandon Joiner (2010-11) became defensive ends coach. Ed Pinkham, who previously worked with Duggan on Western Michigan's staff in 2016, was named interior defensive line coach.
Allen Johnson, the only assistant coach to remain with Anderson since Anderson's hiring in 2013, has moved from safeties coach (2014-18) to cornerbacks.
Second-year assistant Nick Paremski has moved from outside linebackers coach to safeties coach.
Paremski, Johnson and Kyle Cefalo (wide receivers coach) are ASU's only returning assistants, but each have new assignments or expanded jobs. Cefalo and Paremski also will serve as co-special teams coordinators.
"I did as much evaluating of coaches today as I did players," Anderson said, "just to see how they were prepared for their drills. I thought we got good work done. We were efficient and ready."
Heckendorf, who will become ASU's first offensive coordinator to assume full play-calling duties after Anderson announced in January that he would delegate the job, and Duggan will implement their schemes this spring.
"It was a lot of fun," Heckendorf said. "Was it perfect? No. We didn't expect it to be perfect. We asked them to have great attitudes and give great effort today, and I thought we did that.
Heckendorf said his goal for this spring is for the offense to establish depth, and also finding starters and their backups.
"When we come out of the spring, we want to know what we're good at," Heckendorf said.
Anderson does not expect extreme differences in scheme on either side of the ball with Heckendorf and Duggan running the show, but the terminology referring to specific plays or directions has changed.
"We talked about coming out here with great communication," Duggan said. "That was the No. 1 thing we wanted to establish."
With eligibility expiring for many players -- such as quarterback Justice Hansen, 2018 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year defensive end Ronheen Bingham, wide receiver Justin McInnis and left tackle Lanard Bonner -- the Red Wolves are in search for new starters across the field.
There won't be much competition at quarterback as redshirt junior Logan Bonner, a longtime backup to Hansen, is expected to succeed the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," Bonner said.
Sports on 03/27/2019