I was reading a story on another site about our opening opponent, North Dakota, and it got me curious about our other non-traditional, nonconference foe this year, Arkansas State. It seems their team almost mirrors ours in some respects.
The Red Wolves finished last season with a 6-7 record, including a 2-point loss to Northern Illinois in the Camellia Bowl. They return 10 starters on offense, and, according to their 2024 spring prospectus, 6 starters on defense. However, I've since found out that one of their defensive returners has transferred to Auburn. He was a DE, who led the team in tackles for loss and was second in sacks. He must have transferred after the spring game for him to be on the spring prospectus. That means they lost both DEs, both CBs and two out of three LBs on defense. They are woefully undersized along the DL as their two tackles are 5-11, 273 and 6-1, 288. They also have a 6-2, 270 senior, but the other three DTs listed on the roster are all redshirt freshmen. They do have a 300 pounder coming in as a true freshman, but he was just a 2-star with a 5.4 RR.
The reason I say they mirror us to some extent is on offense, where their QB, Jaylen Raynor, was a true freshman last year and was On3's true freshman all-American. He threw for 2,550 yards and 17 TDs last year, completing passes at a 58 percent clip. He also ran for 373 yards and 5 more scores. They return four of the five OLs, where they are massive, averaging about 320 among the four of them. Raynor returns his two top WRs and only loses his third leading WR from last year and the TE also returns. The top two RBs also return.
We should be able to dominate, but these early season games always seem to include way too much pucker factor for my liking.
The Red Wolves finished last season with a 6-7 record, including a 2-point loss to Northern Illinois in the Camellia Bowl. They return 10 starters on offense, and, according to their 2024 spring prospectus, 6 starters on defense. However, I've since found out that one of their defensive returners has transferred to Auburn. He was a DE, who led the team in tackles for loss and was second in sacks. He must have transferred after the spring game for him to be on the spring prospectus. That means they lost both DEs, both CBs and two out of three LBs on defense. They are woefully undersized along the DL as their two tackles are 5-11, 273 and 6-1, 288. They also have a 6-2, 270 senior, but the other three DTs listed on the roster are all redshirt freshmen. They do have a 300 pounder coming in as a true freshman, but he was just a 2-star with a 5.4 RR.
The reason I say they mirror us to some extent is on offense, where their QB, Jaylen Raynor, was a true freshman last year and was On3's true freshman all-American. He threw for 2,550 yards and 17 TDs last year, completing passes at a 58 percent clip. He also ran for 373 yards and 5 more scores. They return four of the five OLs, where they are massive, averaging about 320 among the four of them. Raynor returns his two top WRs and only loses his third leading WR from last year and the TE also returns. The top two RBs also return.
We should be able to dominate, but these early season games always seem to include way too much pucker factor for my liking.
