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2008ARKANSAS STATEFOOTBALL SPRING PROSPECTUS

COREY LEONARD, JR. QB‘07 DAVEY O’BRIEN SEMIFINALISTALL-AMERICA CANDIDATE

ARKANSAS STATE SPRING GAME & FAMILY DAY COOKOUT - APRIL 5, 2008

2008 ARKANSAS STATE SPRING PROSPECTUS

TABLE OF CONTENTS2008 Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/BC2007 Sun Belt Conference Standings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22008 Post-Spring Depth Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32008 Spring Roster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5Head Coach Steve Roberts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-72008 Season Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-11Spring 2008/Final 2007 Notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-152008 Top Returner Bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-202008 ASU Signing Class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-242007 Game Recaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25-362007 Final Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37-442008 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule. . . . . . . IBC

ARKANSAS STATE QUICK FACTSGENERAL

Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jonesboro, Arkansas (55,515)Nickname . . . . . Indians (Red Wolves beginning w/2008 season)Enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,869Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scarlet & BlackFounded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909Stadium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ASU StadiumCapacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,406Affiliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NCAA FBS (former NCAA I-A)Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sun BeltPresident. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Les WyattChancellor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Robert PottsDirector of Athletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Dean LeeAthletic Department Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870-972-3880Athletic Web Site . . . ASUIndians.com (astateredwolves.com after spring)

HISTORYFirst year of football . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911All-time record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397-422-37All-time bowl/playoff record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-8-1Last postseason appearance . . . . 2005, New Orleans BowlResult . . . . . . . . . . Southern Mississippi 31, Arkansas State 19

SPORTS INFORMATIONAssistant AD/Sports Information Director . . . . . . . Jerry ScottOffice/Cell Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . 870-972-3405/870-243-6021E-Mail Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870-972-3367Press Box Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870-972-2541Mailing Address . . P.O. Box 1000, State University, AR 72467Overnight Address . . 217 Olympic Dr., Jonesboro, AR 72401

2008 TEAM INFORMATION2007 Record..................................................................5-7Conference Record/Finish .................................3-4/T5thBasic Offense .......................................................MultipleBasic Defense ...............................................................4-3Lettermen Returning .....................................................46 Lettermen Lost ...............................................................18Starters Returning ....................17 (6 off./5 def./6 spec.)

Offense (6): Reggie Arnold (Jr., RB), DavidJohnson (Sr., TE), Kevin Jones (Sr., WR), CoreyLeonard (Jr., QB), Matt Mandich (Sr., OL), BrandonThompkins (Jr., WR)Defense (5): Alex Carrington (Jr., DE), Khari Mays(Jr., DL), Brian Flagg (Sr., DE), Ben Owens (Sr., LB),Javon McKinnon (So., LB)Special Teams (6): Josh Arauco (Jr., PK), AdamGaston (So., DS), Kevin Jones (Sr., PR), BrianSheffield (Jr., K), Brett Shrable (Sr., P), BrandonThompkins (Jr., KR)

Starters Lost ............................. 12 (5 off./6 def./1 spec.)Offense (5): Levi Dejohnette (WR), Kyle Koets (OL),Heath Lockley (OL), Matt Reibe (OL), VincentThrower (OL)Defense (6): Khayyam Burns (S), Montis Harrison(CB), Prince Hickman (DL), Tyrell Johnson (S), KobyMcKinnon (LB), Darren Toney (CB)Special Teams (1): Darren Toney (KR)

COACHING STAFFHead Coach ......Steve Roberts (Ouachita Baptist ‘87)Record at ASU..........................................31-41 (6 years)Career Record ....................................80-74-1 (14 years)Football Office Phone ................................870-972-2082Asst. HC/Co-Def. Coord./Linebackers .....Kevin CorlessCo-Def. Coord./Safeties................................Jack CurtisOff. Coord./Quarterbacks ............................Doug RuseTight Ends...................................................Maurice HarrisCornerbacks/Recruiting Coord. .................Tony GilbertRunning Backs ..............................................David GunnOffensive Line ...............................................Darren HillerWide Receivers ...............................................Tyler SiskeyDefensive Line ...........................................Kevin PeoplesStrength Coach...............................................John ArceGraduate Assistant Coach ....................Jason GregoryGraduate Assistant Coach.....................Adam FederleAthletic Trainer................................................Ron CarrollFacilities and Equipment Manager .........Ryan Dickson

2008 ARKANSAS STATE SPRING PROSPECTUS 1

CONTENTS AND QUICK FACTS

2008 ARKANSAS STATE SCHEDULEDate Opponent Site TimeAug. 30 . . . . . . . . . . at Texas A&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . College Station, Texas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBASEPT. 6 . . . . . . . . . . . TEXAS SOUTHERN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JONESBORO, ARKANSAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBASEPT. 13 . . . . . . . . . . SOUTHERN MISS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JONESBORO, ARKANSAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBASEPT. 20 . . . . . . . . . . MIDDLE TENNESSEE*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . JONESBORO, ARKANSAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBASept. 27. . . . . . . . . . at Memphis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Memphis, Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBAOct. 4 OPENOCT. 11. . . . . . . . . . LOUISIANA-MONROE* . . . . . . . . . . . JONESBORO, ARKANSAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBAOct. 18 . . . . . . . . . . at Louisiana-Lafayette* . . . . . . . . . . Lafayette, Louisiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBAOct. 25 OPENNov. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . at Alabama. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tuscaloosa, Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBANov. 8 . . . . . . . . . . . at Florida International* . . . . . . . . . . Miami, Florida. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBANov. 15 OPENNOV. 22 . . . . . . . . . FLORIDA ATLANTIC* . . . . . . . . . . . . . JONESBORO, ARKANSAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBANov. 29 . . . . . . . . . . at North Texas* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Denton, Texas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBADec. 6 . . . . . . . . . . . at Troy* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Troy, Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA*Sun Belt Conference game

2007 ARKANSAS STATE RESULTSDate Opponent Result AttendanceSept. 1. . . . . . . . . . . at No. 4 Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L, 13-21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84,440SEPT. 15 . . . . . . . . . . SMU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 45-28. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,465Sept. 22. . . . . . . . . . at Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L, 27-48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102,368SEPT. 27 . . . . . . . . . . MEMPHIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 35-31. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,774Oct. 6 . . . . . . . . . . . at Louisiana-Monroe* . . . . . . . . . . . . L, 13-30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,088OCT. 13. . . . . . . . . . LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE*. . . . . . . . . . . W, 52-21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18,242Oct. 20 . . . . . . . . . . at Middle Tennessee*. . . . . . . . . . . . L, 7-24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,505OCT. 27. . . . . . . . . . TROY* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L, 0-27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,694NOV. 3 . . . . . . . . . . FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL* . . . . . . . . W, 27-24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,326Nov. 10 . . . . . . . . . . at Florida Atlantic* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L, 31-34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18,540NOV. 15 . . . . . . . . . NORTH TEXAS* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 31-27. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,736Nov. 24 . . . . . . . . . . at Southern Miss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L, 10-16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,705*Sun Belt Conference game

FINAL 2007 SUN BELT CONFERENCE STANDINGSCONFERENCE OVERALL

Team W-L Pct. Pts. Opp. Streak W-L Pct. Pts. Opp. Home Away StreakFlorida Atlantic* 6-1 .857 253 185 W3 8-5 .615 405 432 3-2 4-3 W4Troy 6-1 .857 255 106 L1 8-4 .667 408 295 4-1 4-3 L1Louisiana-Monroe 4-3 .571 176 166 W1 6-6 .500 282 332 3-2 3-4 W3Middle Tennessee 4-3 .571 207 187 L2 5-7 .417 308 339 2-3 3-4 L2Arkansas State 3-4 .429 161 187 W1 5-7 .417 291 331 4-1 0-6 L1Louisiana-Lafayette 3-4 .429 205 237 L1 3-9 .250 285 430 1-5 2-4 L1North Texas 1-6 .143 161 251 L4 2-10 .167 298 541 2-3 0-7 L1Florida International 1-6 .143 149 248 W1 1-11 .083 181 469 1-4 0-7 W1*R+L Carrier New Orleans Bowl champion


‘08 SCHEDULE/’07 RESULTS

OFFENSELT 63 - Matt Mandich, 6-3, 305, Sr., 3L, Hattiesburg, MS

71 - Zach Eichenberger, 6-4, 290, Sr., 3L, Springdale, ARLG 60 - Dominic Padrta, 6-3, 295, Jr., 1L, Sandy, OR

68 - Alfred Louis, 6-3, 300, So., 1L, Ft. Lauderdale, FLC 55 - Brandon Ciaramitaro, 6-3, 295, Sr., 1L, Batesville, MS

75 - Jonathan Hissam, 6-1, 280, Jr., 2L, Aledo, TXRG 59 - Anthony Jackson, 6-4, 353, Jr., 2L, Sandy, OR\

61 - Drew Hilton, 6-4, 290, So., SQ, Batesville, ARRT 64 - Mark Clemons, 6-4, 330, Sr., TR, Reno, NV

72 - Bradley Guillory, 6-3, 308, Jr., TR, Lafayette, LATE 85 - David Johnson, 6-2, 250, Sr., 3L, Pine Bluff, AR

87 - J.T. Jordan, 6-1, 260, Jr., 2L, Monticello, ARWR 82 - Jarriel Norman, 5-9, 185, Jr., 1L, Troup, TX“Y” 9 - Jahbari McLennan, 5-11, 185, Jr., TR, Austin, TXWR 14 - Brandon Thompkins, 5-9, 180, Jr., 1L, West Palm Beach, FL“W”6 - Kevin Jones, 5-10, 169, Sr., 3L, Shreveport, LAFB 34 - Danny McNeal, 6-1, 255, So., 1L, Osceola, AR

43 - Jermaine Robertson, 5-11, 227, Fr., RS, Tuscaloosa, ALRB 2 - Reggie Arnold, 5-9, 220, Jr., 2L, Little Rock, AR

25 - Preston Brown, 5-10, 195, So., 1L, Smyrna, TNQB 1 - Corey Leonard, 6-1, 205, Jr., 2L, Covington, LA

17 - Travis Hewitt, 6-1, 205, Sr., 3L, Ballwin, MODEFENSEDE 98 - Alex Carrington, 6-5, 280, Jr., 2L, Tupelo, MS

52 - Bamidele Ayoola, 6-2, 244, Fr., RS, Plantation, FL NT 99 - Khari Mays, 6-2, 290., Jr., 2L, Memphis, TN

97 - Levi Thompson, 6-3, 270, So., 1L, Peculiar, MODT 90 - Bryan Hall, 6-2, 260, So., 1L, Paducah, KY

93 - Stanley Porter, 6-4, 240, So., 1L, Rosedale, MSDE 44 - Brian Flagg, 6-2, 243, Sr., 3L, Ripley, TN

54 - Stanley Wakwe, 6-1, 245, Jr., 1L, Little Rock, ARSLB 46 - Darius Glover, 6-2, 210, So., 1L, Bossier City, LA

23 - Demario Davis, 6-3, 210, Fr., RS, Brandon, MSMLB40 - Ben Owens, 6-2, 223, Sr., 3L, Bearden, AR

29 - Greg Hardy, 6-0, 215, Jr., 2L, Memphis, TNWLB51 - Javon McKinnon, 6-0, 205, So., 1L, Memphis, TN

48 - Elroy Brown, 6-0, 213, Fr., RS, Osceola, ARFS 39 - Evan Van Dolah, 6-2, 199, Jr., 2L, Mountain Home, AR

32 - Jaquan Kilcrease, 6-3, 195, Fr., RS, Nashville, TNSS 26 - M.D. Jennings, 6-0, 165, So., 1L, Calhoun City, MS

33 - Kelcie McCray, 6-2, 180, Fr., RS, Columbus, GALC 8 - Dominique Williams, 5-10, 170, Sr., 3L, Bastrop, LA

19 - Walter Moody, 5-11, 175, So., TR, Oakland, MSRC 36 - Daylan Walker, 5-9, 166, Jr., 2L, Milan, TN

20 - Leroy Trahan, 5-10, 175, So., TR, Rialto, CASPECIAL TEAMSP 11 - Brett Shrable, 6-2, 226, Sr., 3L, Walnut Ridge, ARPK 89 - Josh Arauco, 5-9, 193, Jr., 2L, Grand Prairie, TXKO 89 - Josh Arauco, 5-9, 193, Jr., 2L, Grand Prairie, TXKR 14 - Brandon Thompkins, 5-9, 180, Jr., 1L, West Palm Beach, FL

25 - Preston Brown, 5-10, 195, So., 1L, Smyrna, TN PR 6 - Kevin Jones, 5-9, 169, Sr., 3L, Shreveport, LADS 84 - Adam Gaston, 5-9, 215, So., 1L, Hattiesburg, MSPH 11 - Brett Shrable, 6-2, 226, Sr., 3L, Walnut Ridge, AR

RETURNING STATISTICAL LEADERSRushing . . . . . . . . . Reggie Arnold (163 att., 1,060 yds., 9 TD)Passing . . . . . Corey Leonard (182-349-15, 2,235 yds., 16 TD)Receiving . . . . . Brandon Thompkins (41 rec., 503 yds., 1 TD)Total Offense . . . . . . . Corey Leonard (520 plays, 2,782 yds.)All-Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brandon Thompkins (1,654 yds.)Punt Returns . . . . . . Kevin Jones (17 ret., 194 yds, 11.4 avg.)Kickoff Returns . . B. Thompkins (49 ret., 1,062 yds, 21.7 avg.)Field Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . Josh Arauco (15-23 FG, 34-34 XP) Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Josh Aruaco (79 points)Tackles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Owens (96)Tackles For Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Flagg (5.5, -29 yds.)Sacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evan Van Dolah (2.0, -21 yds.)Interceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.D. Jennings (1, 3 yds.)Punting Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brett Shrable (41.7)

LOST STATISTICAL LEADERSRushing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cedric Wilkerson (35 att., 143 yds.)Passing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . noneReceiving . . . . . . . . Levi Dejohnette (61 rec., 701 yds., 2 TD)Total Offense . . . . . . . . Cedric Wilkerson (35 plays, 143 yds.)All-Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Levi Dejohnette (701 yds.)Punt Returns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . noneKickoff Returns . . Darren Toney (9 ret., 253 yards, 28.1 avg.)Field Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . noneScoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Miller (18 points)Tackles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Koby McKinnon (101)Tackles For Loss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Koby McKinnon (7, -25 yds.)Sacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prince Hickman (3.5, -24)Interceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyrell Johnson (6, 142 yds.)Punting Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . none

PRONUNCIATION GUIDEJosh Arauco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Josh UH-ROCK-OBamidele Ayoola. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bomb-IDELI ay-OH-LANajel Byrd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NIE-JEL ByrdSpencer Canole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spencer KA-KNOLLBrandon Ciaramitaro. . . . . . . . . . . . . CEE-ARE-UH-MI-TAR-OHDemario Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DI-MARE-E-O DavisZach Eichenberger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IKE-EN-BERGERTrevor Gillot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trevor JUH-LOTTJonathan Hissam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jonathan HISS-UMJaquan Kilcrease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JU-KWAN KILL-CREASEKhari Mays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CAR-REE MaysKelcie McCray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KELL-SEE McCrayJarriel Norman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JUH-REL NormanDominic Padrta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dominic PAD-ER-TAYStanley Wakwe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stanley WALK-WE


POST-SPRING DEPTH CHART


SPRING ROSTERNo. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. CL Exp Hometown (previous school)1 Corey Leonard QB 6-1 205 Jr. 2L Covington, La. (Covington)1 Kansas Garrett WR 5-11 202 Sr. 1L Covington, La. (Covington)2 Reggie Arnold RB 5-9 220 Jr. 2L Little Rock (McClellan)4 Linzsy Harris WR 5-9 175 Fr. RS Hollywood, Fla. (South Broward)6 Kevin Jones WR 5-10 169 Sr. 3L Shreveport, La. (Fair Park) 8 Dominique Williams DB 5-10 185 Sr. 3L Bastrop, La. (Bastrop)9 Jahbari McLennan WR 5-11 185 Jr. TR Austin, Texas (Trinity Valley CC)10 Anthony Robinson WR 5-8 170 So. 1L Little Rock (Little Rock Hall)11 Brett Shrable P 6-2 220 Sr. 3L Walnut Ridge (Hoxie) 12 Neely Sullivent QB 6-0 181 Fr. RS Bauxite (Bauxite)13 Daylan Walker DB 5-9 175 Jr. 2L Milan, Tenn. (Milan)14 Brandon Thompkins WR 5-9 180 Jr. 2L West Palm Beach, Fla. (Palm Beach Lake) 15 Marlon Douglas DB 5-11 180 So. 1L Memphis, Tenn. (White Station) 17 Travis Hewitt QB 6-1 205 Sr. 3L Ballwin, Mo. (St. John Vianney)18 Brice Beck QB/P 6-4 240 Jr. TR Blytheville (Northeast Mississippi CC)19 T.J. Burk WR 6-2 187 Fr. RS Hot Springs (Jubille Academy)19 Walter Moody DB 5-11 175 So. TR Oakland, Miss.(Northwest Mississippi CC)20 Leroy Trahan DB 5-10 175 So. TR Rialto, Calif. (San Bernardino Valley Coll.)21 Marcus Brown DB 6-1 183 Jr. 1L Marianna (Lee)22 Greg Smith DB 5-7 175 So. HS Hope (Hope)23 Demario Davis LB 6-3 210 Fr. RS Brandon, Miss. (Brandon) 24 Taylor Clements WR 5-10 187 Jr. TR Chico, Calif. (Butte College)25 Preston Brown RB 5-10 195 So. 1L Smyrna, Tenn. (Antioch) 26 M.D. Jennings DB 6-0 180 So. 1L Calhoun City, Miss. (Calhoun City) 27 Marquette Williams DB 6-0 195 So. 1L West Memphis (West Memphis)28 Keith Wilcots DB 5-9 175 So. SQ Hot Springs (Hot Springs)29 Greg Hardy LB 6-0 225 Jr. 2L Memphis, Tenn. (Melrose) 30 Michael Adams LB 6-1 230 Fr. RS Cuthbert, Ga. (Randolph-Clay) 31 Matt Taylor LB 6-3 225 Jr. 2L Springdale (Springdale)32 Jaquan Kilcrease DB 6-3 195 Fr. RS Nashville, Tenn. (McGavock)32 Bud Tillman WR 6-0 175 Jr. SQ Little Rock (McClellan)33 Kelcie McCray DB 6-2 180 Fr. RS Columbus, Ga. (Columbus) 34 Danny McNeal FB 6-1 255 So. 1L Osceola (Osceola) 35 Cruise Walden WR 6-0 190 Fr. RS Fort Smith (Northside)36 David Terrell RB 5-10 180 Fr. RS Jonesboro (Jonesboro)36 Isiah Shepard DB 6-0 205 So. HS Akron, Ohio (Walsh Jesuit)37 Jonathan Burns DB 6-0 185 Fr. RS Little Rock (Southern Arkansas)38 Jeremy Reed RB 5-10 200 Jr. HS Blytheville (Blackburne Univ.)39 Evan Van Dolah DB 6-2 205 Jr. 2L Mountain Home (Mountain Home) 40 Ben Owens LB 6-2 230 Sr. 3L Bearden (Bearden) 41 Derek Lawson RB 5-11 210 Fr. RS Jonesboro (Nettleton) 42 Jeff Blake FB 5-10 220 So. 1L Paragould (Green County Tech) 43 Jermaine Robertson FB 5-11 227 Fr. RS Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Northridge)

No. Name Pos.30 Michael Adams LB89 Josh Arauco K2 Reggie Arnold RB52 Bamidele Ayoola DE18 Brice Beck QB/P42 Jeff Blake FB48 Elroy Brown LB21 Marcus Brown DB25 Preston Brown RB45 Najel Byrd LB19 T.J. Burk WR37 Jonathan Burns DB62 Spencer Canole DE98 Alex Carrington DE73 Tom Castilaw OL47 Vernon Catlin TE55 Brandon CiaramitaroOL24 Taylor Clements WR64 Mark Clemons OL23 Demario Davis LB15 Marlon Douglas DB71 Zach Eichenberger OL44 Brian Flagg DE1 Kansas Garrett WR84 Adam Gaston DS82 Jeremy Gibson DE95 Page Gill DL80 Trevor Gillott TE46 Darius Glover LB72 Bradley Guillory OL44 Jaurivis Halford RB90 Bryan Hall DL29 Greg Hardy LB69 Rudy Harrell OL53 Anthony Harris DE4 Linzsy Harris WR17 Travis Hewitt QB61 Drew Hilton OL75 Jonathan Hissam OL77 Tyson Holligan OL59 Anthony Jackson OL26 M.D. Jennings DB85 David Johnson TE


No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. CL Exp Hometown (previous school)44 Brian Flagg DE 6-2 250 Sr. 3L Ripley, Tenn. (Ripley) 44 Jaurivis Halford RB 6-0 200 Fr. RS Pine Bluff (Pine Bluff)46 Darius Glover LB 6-1 225 So. 1L Bossier City, La. (Airline)47 Vernon Catlin TE 6-4 225 Sr. 1L Culver City, Calif. (Los Angeles SW Coll.) 47 Jonathan Looney LB 6-0 220 So. SQ Memphis, Tenn. (Germantown)48 Elroy Brown LB 6-0 213 Fr. RS Osceola (Osceola)51 Javon McKinnon LB 6-0 220 So. 1L Memphis, Tenn. (Melrose) 52 Bamidele Ayoola DE 6-2 244 Fr. RS Plantation, Fla. (South Plantation) 53 Anthony Harris DE 6-1 255 Sr. 3L West Helena (Barton) 54 Stanley Wakwe DE 6-1 245 Jr. 1L Little Rock (Arkansas Tech) 55 Brandon Ciaramitaro OL 6-3 295 Sr. 1L Batesville, MS (Northeast Mississippi CC) 58 Sean Marshall OL 6-4 310 Sr. SQ Ashdown (Ashdown)59 Anthony Jackson OL 6-4 353 Jr. 2L St. Louis, Mo. (Hazelwood East) 60 Dominic Padrta OL 6-3 295 Jr. 1L Sandy, Ore. (Sandy) 61 Drew Hilton OL 6-4 290 So. 1L Batesville (Batesville) 63 Matt Mandich OL 6-3 305 Sr. 3L Hattiesburg, Miss. (Oak Grove) 64 Mark Clemons OL 6-4 330 Sr. 1L Reno, Nev. (Feather River CC)68 Alfred Louis OL 6-3 300 So. 1L Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Fort Lauderdale) 69 Rudy Harrell OL 6-6 295 Jr. HS Monticello (Monticello)70 Delano Moore OL 6-5 306 Fr. RS Sunrise, Fla. (Piper)71 Zach Eichenberger OL 6-4 290 Sr. 3L Springdale (Springdale) 72 Bradley Guillory OL 6-3 308 Jr. TR Lafayette, La. (Kilgore College)73 Tom Castilaw OL 6-3 275 So. SQ Flower Mound, Texas (Flower Mound) 74 Chris Pruitt DL 6-2 285 So. SQ Memphis, Tenn.75 Jonathan Hissam OL 6-1 280 Jr. 2L Aledo, Texas (Aledo) 77 Tyson Holligan OL 6-2 320 So. SQ Carrollton, Texas (Newman-Smith)80 Trevor Gillott TE 6-2 215 Jr. 2L Little Rock (Pulaski Academy) 81 Jonathan White WR 5-11 185 So. SQ Franklin, Tenn. (Battle Ground Academy) 82 Jeremy Gibson DE 6-6 240 Fr. RS Eutaw, Ala. (Greene County)82 Jarriel Norman WR 5-9 185 Jr. 1L Troup, Texas (Troup)83 Sam Leahey WR 5-10 185 Sr. SQ Warwick, R.I. (Tollgate)84 Adam Gaston DS 5-9 215 So. 1L Hattiesburg, Miss. (Oak Grove)85 David Johnson TE 6-2 250 Sr. 3L Pine Bluff (Pine Bluff)86 Richard Neal WR 6-1 200 Sr. SQ Little Rock (Little Rock Mills)87 J.T. Jordan TE 6-1 260 Jr. 2L Monticello (Monticello) 89 Josh Arauco K 5-9 210 Jr. 2L Grand Prairie, Texas (South Grand Prairie) 90 Bryan Hall DL 6-1 275 So. 1L Paducah, Ky. (Tilghman)92 Dorvus Woods DL 6-3 259 Fr. RS St. Louis, Mo. (Vashon) 93 Stanley Porter DL 6-4 240 So. 1L Rosedale, Miss. (West Bolivar) 95 Page Gill DL 6-3 275 Sr. 2L Dumas (Dumas) 97 Levi Thompson DL 6-3 270 So. 1L Peculiar, Mo. (Raymore-Peculiar) 98 Alex Carrington DE 6-5 280 Jr. 2L Tupelo, Miss. (Tupelo) 99 Khari Mays DL 6-2 290 Jr. 2L Memphis, Tenn. (Germantown)

No. Name Pos.87 J.T. Jordan TE32 Jaquan Kilcrease DB41 Derek Lawson RB83 Sam Leahey WR1 Corey Leonard QB47 Jonathan Looney LB68 Alfred Louis OL63 Matt Mandich OL58 Sean Marshall OL99 Khari Mays DL33 Kelcie McCray DB51 Javon McKinnon LB9 Jahbari McLennan WR34 Danny McNeal FB19 Walter Moody DB70 Delano Moore OL86 Richard Neal WR82 Jarriel Norman WR40 Ben Owens LB60 Dominic Padrta OL93 Stanley Porter DL74 Chris Pruitt DL38 Jeremy Reed RB43 Jermaine Robertson FB10 Anthony Robinson WR36 Isiah Shepard DB11 Brett Shrable P22 Greg Smith DB12 Neely Sullivent QB31 Matt Taylor LB36 David Terrell RB14 Brandon Thompkins WR97 Levi Thompson DL32 Bud Tillman WR20 Leroy Trahan DB39 Evan Van Dolah DB54 Stanley Wakwe DE35 Cruise Walden WR13 Daylan Walker DB28 Keith Wilcots DB81 Jonathan White WR27 Marquette Williams DB92 Dorvus Woods DL

SPRING ROSTER


HEAD COACH STEVE ROBERTSNot long after leading Arkansas State to the 2005 Sun Belt Conference championship and New Orleans Bowl, head coach Steve Robertscontinues to make ASU a dominant force in the Sun Belt Conference and has ASU on track for contin-ued success in the upcoming years.

When the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year took over the program in December 2001,he impressed everyone with his wide-eyed enthusiasm and limitless energy. And, most of all, theybelieved that Roberts would bring success to the Indian football program. Roberts has been thedriving force behind ASU’s recent success, leading the football program to its most victories overa six-year span since 1986-91.

Roberts came to Arkansas State University and brought with him a fresh enthusiasm, energy,and an “I Will” philosophy that has been adopted by everyone associated with the program.

“I Will” became the rallying cry as Roberts and his staff charged ahead through a grueling 13-gameschedule in 13 weeks with no open date in his inaugural season and came within 11 points of winningthe Sun Belt Conference championship and playing in the Sun Belt Conference prize—the NewOrleans Bowl.

ASU ended the season with a record of 6-7 and finished third in the league rankings.That tied the most wins since rejoining Division I-A in 1992. The Indians finished inthe top ten turnarounds by Division I-A football schools for improving footballrecords after finishing 2-9 in 2001. Also, attendance increased significantly in2002.

The 2003 season saw a lot of success as well. Among ASU’s many achieve-ments was another increase in attendance, two defensive linemen end-ing up in the National Football League and the team winning the SunBelt Conference academic award.

Under Roberts’ direction, ASU continues to add to the achievementsthat began upon his arrival. The 2006 and 2007 ASU teams backedup the 2005 Sun Belt championship with non-conference winsover teams such as Army, Memphis and SMU. The 2006 squadknocked off New Orleans Bowl champion Troy and the 2007team fell to then-ranked No. 4 Texas by just eight points andpushed New Orleans Bowl champion Florida Atlantic to thefinal minutes.

The 2006 team posted six wins for the second consecutiveyear, marking the first time since the 1986 and 1987 sea-sons that the Indians had recorded at least six victories inback-to-back seasons.

The 2007 team won the Sun Belt Conference aca-demic award for the fourth time in the last five yearsand finished with the second most yards of totaloffense in school history.

Roberts already holds the fifth most wins among ASU’s26 all-time head coaches and has led the Indians to a22-7 record at Indian Stadium, which included a 5-1record in 2007.

During his tenure, ASU has upgraded its facilities with a


HEAD COACH STEVE ROBERTS

THE ROBERTS FILEAge: 43Alma Mater: Ouachita Baptist ‘87Record at ASU: 31-41 (5 years)Record: 80-74-1 (13 years)Previous Coaching Experience: NorthwesternState (Head Coach, 2000-01), SouthernArkansas (Head Coach, 1994-99; AssistantCoach, 1990-93), Texas High School (AssistantCoach, 1988-89), Southern Arkansas (Asst.Coach, 1987)High School: Robinson (Little Rock, AR) HighSchool

Roberts Year-By-Year (Head Coach)2007 Arkansas State 5-7 (T5th Sun Belt)2006 Arkansas State 6-6 (T3rd Sun Belt)2005 Arkansas State 6-6 (T1st Sun Belt)2004 Arkansas State 3-8 (5th Sun Belt)2003 Arkansas State 5-7 (T4th Sun Belt)2002 Arkansas State 6-7 (3rd Sun Belt)2001 Northwestern St. 8-42000 Northwestern St. 6-51999 Southern Arkansas 9-11998 Southern Arkansas 8-21997 Southern Arkansas 9-21996 Southern Arkansas 4-61995 Southern Arkansas 4-61994 Southern Arkansas 1-7-1

new training room, weight room, locker room, recruiting room and state-of-the-artProGreen turf on the field.

Roberts was named Arkansas State’s 26th head football coach on December 21,2001, to bring full circle his coaching odyssey from his home state through Louisianaand back. But, the trek has been a successful one, including an 8-4 record andnational ranking in Division I-AA in 2000 at Northwestern (La.) State.

Roberts spent two seasons at NSU, where he and his staff and team took on a toughschedule which included a 27-24 overtime upset at TCU. While at NSU, Roberts wasa finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award. Prior to goingto NSU, Roberts served as the head coach and defensive coordinator at SouthernArkansas University in Magnolia from 1994-99. While there, his 1997 team won theGulf South Championship, earning him Gulf South Coach of the Year honors. TheMuleriders finished with a cumulative record of 26-5 from 1997-99, including 9-1 in1999, 8-2 in 1998 and 9-2 in 1997.

During that span, his teams enjoyed top conference rankings in scoring offense,scoring defense, total offense and total defense. At SAU, he also served as the

defensive secondary coach and recruiting coordinator from 1990-94 beforebeing named head coach. Academically, his program ranked first in academ-

ic achievements in the Gulf South Conference three seasons.

Roberts, an avid fisherman, graduated from Robinson High School inLittle Rock. A 1987 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University, where hewas an Academic All-American, Roberts received his masters from SAU

in 1989. He and his wife Sherri have one daughter – Abby (13).

� Roberts has led ASU to its most victories over a six-year span since 1986-91.

� Already holds the fifth most wins among ASU’s 26 all-time head coaches.

� 2005 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year.

� Holds non-conference victories over teams such as Tulsa, Army, SMU and Memphis.

� Led ASU to the 2005 Sun Belt Conf. Championship, the Indians’ first league championship since 1986.

� The Indians were undefeated at home in 2005 and are 22-7 at Indian Stadium under Roberts.

� ASU’s 2005 New Orleans Bowl appearance was the first for ASU since the 1970 Pecan Bowl.

� Under Roberts the Indians have picked up 53 all-conference selections, including 10 two of the lastthree years to tie its most ever as a member of the SBC. ASU also placed 10 players on the list in 2002, 2005and 2006 and nine in 2007. The Indians’ 10 all-conference selections in 2006 were the second most among

the league’s eight members.

� Roberts has coached a Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year,Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. In 2006, he coached two players that were

named to at least one Freshman All-America team.

� The Indians finished in the top 10 turnarounds by a Division I-A school his first season at the helm, goingfrom 2-9 in 2001 to 6-7 in 2002.


2008 OUTLOOKAt first glance it appears the 2008 Arkansas State footballteam lost a lot of firepower at some key positions, but theRed Wolves also return proven players at key positions anda deeper look at the squad reveals there are capableand experienced standouts ready to step in and fill someof the holes left by the departure of the 2007 senior class.

While the Red Wolves are faced with the challengeof replacing their entire starting secondary and fourstarters along the offensive line, they return 17starters that include several All-Sun BeltConference selections, signed another strongrecruiting class that is expected to make animmediate impact at a few positions andalso bring back a number of players thatsaw extended action last season asreserves.

ASU finished the 2007 campaign with a5-7 record, but claimed victories overnon-conference opponents such asMemphis and SMU and took both NewOrleans Bowl champion Florida Atlanticand national-powerhouse Texas deepinto the fourth quarter before falling by acombined 11 points.

With Davey O’Brien semifinalist CoreyLeonard, 2008 Rotary Lombardi preliminarycandidate Matt Mandich, two-time All-SunBelt running back Reggie Arnold, and five ofits top six leading receivers back, ASU has atalented offense that will present challengesfor any defense.

ASU will have a number of talent-ed freshmen in its fall camp, butalso had the services of juniorcollege wide receivers TaylorClements and JahbariMcLennan during springpractices. The RedWolves also addedthree junior-collegetransfers to their rosterthat could help on theoffensive line.

Expectations for the defense are high as well despite los-ing six starters. The Red Wolves defense will benefit fromthe leadership provided by senior defensive end BrianFlagg and senior middle linebacker Ben Owens, while also

receiving a lift from the return of All-Sun Belt Conferencedefensive end Alex Carrington. The defense will be look-ing for possible breakout performances from players suchas defensive linemen Khari Mays and Bryan Hall, lineback-ers Javon McKinnon and Darious Glover, safeties M.D.Jennings and Evan Van Dolah and corners Daylan Walker

and Dominique Williams, all of whom experiencedsuccess in back-up roles last season.

ASU returns its leading players on specialteams, including All-Sun Belt Conferencepunter Brett Shrable, junior kicker Josh Arauco,

kick returner Brandon Thompkins andpunt returner Kevin Jones. Thompkins

broke the Sun Belt Conferencerecord for kickoff return yards lastseason and Jones ranked 22nd inthe nation in punt returns. Under theinstruction of head coach SteveRoberts, the Red Wolves appear setat special teams after finishing last

season as the only team in theSun Belt Conference to rank

among the top three teams inthe league in kickoff returns,

punt return average, PATkicking and kickoff cover-

age.

ASU turned in a solidspring camp thatsaw several

young playersemerge as leaders

and is excitedabout its veteran

group as well as its incoming recruit-ing class, all leading to an opti-

mistic outlook about the upcomingseason that could end with a second

trip to the New Orleans Bowl over the last fouryears.

QUARTERBACKWhile Corey Leonard established himself as ASU’sstarting quarterback midway through the 2006 sea-

son and turned in a school-record setting 2007 cam-paign, the Red Wolves have two quarterbacks on its rosterwith starting experience that can both produce positiveresults. Leonard was a 2007 All-Sun Belt Conference selec-tion and a Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist after throwinga school-record 16 touchdowns and passing for 2,235

Corey Leonard, QB


2008 OUTLOOKyards that ranked as the most since Cleo Lemon, nowplaying in the NFL, threw for 2,721 yards in 1998. TravisHewitt led ASU to a victory over FIU last season in his onlystart and had a productive spring that included a three-touchdown performance in the spring game. TransferBrice Beck also went through spring practices with ASUand is one of three new quarterbacks on the 2008 rosterthat will help with depth.

RUNNING BACKTwo-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection ReggieArnold and sophomore Preston Brown are theonly two running backs with any collegiateplaying experience on the roster and areexpected to shoulder the heaviest loadat running back. Arnold is an explosiverunner who recorded 1,060 rushing yardslast year to become the first player inschool history to rush for over 1,000yards in each of his first two seasons.He ranked 44th in the nation in rushingand his 6.5 average per carry in 2007was the second highest in the nationamong all running backs ranked in thetop 50 for rushing yards. PrestonBrown is a dual-threat out of thebackfield, rushing for 298 yards andposting 192 receiving yards as welllast season. Brown averaged 5.5yards per rush and 9.6 yards perreception and his 20 receptions tiedthe third most on the squad. Redshirtfreshman Derek Lawson saw a lot ofaction during spring practices and couldfactor into the mix, while freshman RonnieJohnson, an Alabama high school all-stateselection, will join the team in the fall asthe tallest running back at 6-1.

TIGHT ENDASU is loaded with depth and talent attight end and it starts with 6-2, 250-pound senior David Johnson. Johnson,an All-Sun Belt Conference selection byPhil Steele’s, has caught 23 passes for 404yards and four touchdowns over the lasttwo seasons. Despite his large frame,Johnson has big-play potential with two touch-down receptions during his career that covered 62 and 84yards. Fellow senior Vernon Catlin and juniors J.T. Jordanand Trevor Gillott should all contribute at tight end as well.Gillott has made the biggest impact in the passing game

among the three, recording 20 receptions for 183 yardslast season and regularly hauling in passes during springpractices. Gillott’s 20 receptions last season were the mostamong the tight ends, but Catlin and Jordan also com-bined to record six receptions for 99 yards and three

touchdowns in 2007.

OFFENSIVE LINEASU returns just one starting offensive lineman,Matt Mandich, from last year’s team, but hecomes back for his senior season touted asone of the top linemen in the Sun Belt

Conference. Mandich has started everygame of his three-year career, is a three-timeAll-Sun Belt Conference selection and is on the

2008 Preliminary Rotary Lombardi AwardWatch List. Despite losing four players on theirline, the Red Wolves still have a wealth of matu-

rity available to step in. Among the playersexpected to step in as starters next seasonare a combined seven juniors and seniors.Seniors Brandon Ciaramitaro and MarkClemons saw a lot of work with the first team

this spring at center and tackle, respectively,and saw time last season in a reserve role.Dominic Padrta, Alfred Louis, Drew Hilton and

Anthony Jackson could all factor in at guard andwill battle for starting positions in the fall. Junior

college transfers Bradley Guillory, DerekNewton and Kiano Prater could contribute

right away and ASU added three highschool players to its roster as well.

WIDE RECEIVERSASU graduated three players from itsreceiving corp, including two-time All-SunBelt Conference selection LeviDejohnette, but returns two of its top threewideouts in junior Brandon Thompkins andsenior Kevin Jones. Thompkins caught justeight passes as a true freshman in 2006,

but broke out with 41 receptions for 503yards in 2007 to finish second on the

team in both categories. Jones hasbeen a consistent threat throughouthis career with 51 receptions for 753yards for an impressive 14.7 yards

per catch. The Red Wolves addedinstant depth with junior college transfers Taylor Clementsand Jahbari McLennan, who both played instrumentalroles during spring practices at the position. Junior JarrielNorman did not see any action in 2007, but is expected to

ReggieArnold, RB


2008 OUTLOOKsee time in 2008. ASU also signed two high school widereceivers in Allen Muse and Taylor Stockemer, who eachstand 6-4 to give the Red Wolves some needed height atthe position. Muse was an all-state performer at LeesvilleHigh School in Louisiana and Stockemer, out of Van Buren,Ark., was a Rivals.com national top-100 receiver.

DEFENSIVE LINE (TACKLES)ASU lost two interior defensive linemen off last year’s teamin Prince Hickman and Curtis Bonds, but return valuablereserves Bryan Hall, Stanley Porter and Levi Thompson andpart-time starter Khari Mays. Among that group, Maysposted the most tackles in 2007 with 17 to his credit. Hall,Porter and Thompson combined to record 17 stops lastseason. However, Porter played as a true freshmanand Hall and Thompson were both redshirt freshmenand playing behind two seniors. The Red Wolvessigned one defensive tackle in 5-11, 297-poundGregory McCall. McCall helped lead Prattville(Ala.) High School to back-to-back 6A statetitles as a junior and senior.

DEFENSIVE ENDLed by All-Sun Belt Conference per-former Alex Carrington and seniorstandout Brian Flagg, defensive endis possibly ASU’s biggest strengthdefensively. The two ends combinedto record 82 tackles, including 10.5tackles for loss in 2007. Carrington fin-ished with 38 stops and Flagg, a First TeamESPN The Magazine Academic All-DistrictVI selection, posted 44 stops to lead alldefensive linemen. The Red Wolves alsohave adequate depth at theposition as redshirtf r e s h m a nBamidele Ayoolaand junior StanleyWakwe both had anoutstanding spring.Wakwe recorded 23stops last season in aback-up role.

LINEBACKERASU lost the services of its leading tackler and All-Sun BeltConference selection Koby McKinnon, but has establisheddepth at linebacker that makes this group another defen-sive strength. Ben Owens will lead the way in 2008 afterrecording a career-high 96 tackles that ranked as the fifthmost in the Sun Belt Conference. Javon McKinnon was

also a starter last season at outside linebacker and finishedwith 41 tackles, including a career-high 11 against nation-ally-ranked Tennessee. ASU will be looking for big thingsfrom some young players in sophomore Darius Glover, red-shirt freshman Demario Davis, junior Greg Hardy and red-shirt freshman Elroy Brown.

CORNERBACKThe loss of starting cornerbacks

Darren Toney and MontisHarrison is deceiving becauseASU has both experiencedand talented players waitingin the wings to take overthose starting roles. Senior

Dominique Williams and juniorDaylan Walker, who have both

started multiple times, arethe frontrunners to startheading out of springpractices. Williams has

62 career tackles and fiveinterceptions to his credit,

while Walker posted 30 tackles lastseason and also had an interception as a freshman.

ASU also signed three junior college corners, including2007 First Team NJCAA All-America selectionCordarious Mingo. Walter Moody and Leroy Trahan,

both just sophomores, went through spring prac-tices with the Red Wolves and could see action.

SAFETYIt’s no easy task to replace the top two all-time lead-ing tacklers in Sun Belt Conference history, but ASUis off to a good start with junior Evan Van Dolah andsophomore M.D. Jennings. Those two players areexpected to fill the starting roles left by 2007 Sun Belt

Conference Defensive Player of the Year TyrellJohnson and First Team All-Sun Belt Conference choiceKhayyam Burns. Van Dolah and Jennings both saw play-ing time in all 12 games last season, finishing with 31 and26 tackles, respectively. Van Dolah also added two sacksand Jennings an interception. ASU will also get a boostfrom the return of Marcus Brown, who sat out last seasonafter posting 12 stops in eight games in 2006. The RedWolves will count on redshirt freshman Kelcie McCray andsophomore Marquette Williams for depth.

SPECIAL TEAMSSpecial teams was a strength for ASU in 2007 and the RedWolves return their leading kicker, punter and return spe-cialists. Brett Shrable took over the punting duties in 2006

Brian Flagg, DE


2008 OUTLOOKas a sophomore and was named Second Team All-SunBelt Conference in 2007 after averaging 41.7 yards perpunt, which ranked as the second-best average in the SunBelt Conference and 37th nationally. Junior Josh Araucohad one of the best seasons in ASU history for a kicker lastyear, recording a career-high 15 field goalsthat ranked as the third most in schoolhistory and connecting on all 34 of hisextra-point attempts. He ranked thirdin the Sun Belt in field goals made(1.3 per game) and 46th nationally.Brandon Thompkins had a record-setting season as a kick returnerin 2007, breaking the Sun BeltConference and ASU recordsfor single-season return yardswith 1,062 yards. He alsoranked third in the league and45th nationally in all-purposeyards with 137.8 yards pergame. Senior Kevin Jonesaveraged 11.4 yards perpunt return to rank 22nd inthe nation and showed hisbig-play potential when hebroke an 89-yard return for atouchdown against Memphis, whichwas the third longest return in Sun Belt histo-ry.

THE SCHEDULEThe 2008 schedule is highlighted by threehome games slated for September, includ-ing a marquee game against SouthernMississippi, as well as road games against long-time rival Memphis and tradition-rich Texas A&Mand Alabama. ASU’s schedule features five homegames, seven games against teams that finished .500 orbetter in 2007 and five contests against teams that wentto a bowl game last season. Arkansas State opens its 2008campaign on the road against Texas A&M on Aug. 30,playing the Aggies for the second time under head coachSteve Roberts. ASU and Texas A&M also met in 2003 atKyle Field in the third meeting ever between the twoschools. ASU will host Texas Southern in its home openerSept. 6. The Texas Southern contest will mark the first ofthree consecutive home games for ASU, which will playSouthern Mississippi a week later on Sept. 13 before host-ing Middle Tennessee on Sept. 20 in its homecominggame. ASU will catch Southern Mississippi for the third timein the last four years, also facing the Golden Eagles in the2007 regular-season finale and in the 2005 New Orleans

Bowl. ASU will open its seven-game league schedule withthe Blue Raiders, playing its first Sun Belt Conference gameon the earliest date in school history. Following its three-game home stand, its longest since 2002, ASU will play itsfifth game at Memphis Sept. 27 as part of a four-year dealwith the school that brings the Tigers back to Jonesboroagain in 2011. ASU won the last two meetings in the series,winning at Memphis in 2006 on a deep pass as timeexpired and again last season at Indian Stadium when itovercame a 25-point halftime deficit. After its first openweek, Arkansas State will host Louisiana-Monroe on Oct.

11 in its second of three Sun Belt Conference homegames during the season. ASU will travel toLouisiana-Lafayette for an Oct. 18 contest, fol-lowed by its second open date Oct. 25. While ASUwill play Alabama on Nov. 1 in Bryant-DennyStadium, which seats 92,138, for the first time ever,it actually played Alabama once before. TheIndians and Crimson Tide met Oct. 2, 1982, butplayed at Birmingham’s Legion Field in a gamethat Alabama won 34-7. The Alabama game hasthe potential to draw the second largest crowd to

ever watch an ASU football game, just behindthe crowd of 102,368 on hand for the Indians’game at Tennessee in 2007. Alabama has sold

out every home football game since the 1988season. The game will mark the third consec-

utive year ASU has played an SEC oppo-nent, also catching the Volunteers in2007 and Auburn in 2006. It will also be

ASU’s 49th all-time meeting with a cur-rent member of the Southeastern

Conference. ASU’s final four games willall be against Sun Belt opponents,starting with a trip to Miami to faceFlorida International on Nov. 8. ASUdefeated FIU 31-6 in its only roadgame ever played against FIU, but willface the Golden Panthers at their new

on-campus stadium in 2008.ASU’s third and final opendate will arrive the week after

the FIU game. As part of itsannual “Senior Night”, ASU willplay its final home game Nov.

22 against defending Sun BeltConference and New Orleans Bowl champion FloridaAtlantic. ASU closes out its regular season with two roadgames, facing North Texas on Nov. 29 and Troy on Dec. 6.

BrandonThompkinsWR/KR

DEFENSE TOPS OFFENSE IN ASU SPRINGGAME: JONESBORO (4/5/08) - TheArkansas State football team’s annualspring game was highlighted by a numberof big plays and solid performances onboth sides of the ball, but it was thedefense that came away with a 52-36 vic-tory over the offense April 5 at IndianStadium.

The outing consisted of three segmentsthat featured a combined 95 plays. TheASU offense finished the scrimmage with323 total yards and three passing touch-downs, while the defense forced theoffense into five “three-and-outs”, inter-cepted three passes and posted five sacks.

Using a special scoring system put inplace by the coaching staff, the defensejumped out to a 17-4 advantage beforethe offense trimmed its deficit to 17-14when senior quarterback Travis Hewittfound sophomore fullback Jeff Blake openfor a five-yard touchdown pass. However,the defense responded with several stops,sacks and turnovers to hold on for the 16-point win.

Hewitt led the offense, completing 16-of-30 passes for 198 yards and all three touch-downs. After the defense held strong dur-ing the first segment, which started eachdrive from the offenses’ 30-yard line, Hewittthrew his first touchdown pass on the firstseries of the “red zone segment”. He alsothrew an 18-yard touchdown pass to juniortight end Trevor Gillott in the second seg-ment and hit junior wide receiver JahbariMcLennan on a 41-yard touchdown strikedown the sideline in the third segment.

The offense also got nine points off threefield goals from junior Josh Arauco, whowas perfect on the day from 46, 44 and 38yards out. Arauco’s 46-yard field goalwould have topped his career-long of 45yards made last season against Texas.

The rushing game was paced by JaurivisHalford’s 50 yards on 12 carries, including a33-yard run that was the longest of the day.Preston Brown added 42 rushing yards on13 attempts.

Redshirt freshman linebacker MichaelAdams recorded a team-high seven tack-les, but linebacker Darius Glover’s 74-yardinterception return for a touchdown wasthe longest play of the scrimmage.Safeties M.D. Jennings and Evan VanDolah each added an interception anddefensive end Dorvus Woods finished witha team-high two sacks.

The spring game counted as the last of

REIBE NAMED TO NFF HAMPSHIRE HONORSOCIETY: Matt Reibe (El Dorado, Ark.), afour-year letterman and senior on the 2007Arkansas State football team, was beennamed a member of the 2008 NFFHampshire Honor Society, announced April9, 2008, by the National FootballFoundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF).

JOHNSON RECOGNIZED AT LRTDC AWARDSBANQUET: Former ASU safety and 2007 SunBelt Conference Defensive Player of theYear Tyrell Johnson (Rison, Ark.) was recog-nized at the Little Rock Touchdown Club’s4th Annual Awards Banquet as its ArkansasState Player of the Year.

MANDICH NAMED TO ROTARY LOMBARDIPRELIMINARY WATCH LIST: Matt Mandich, asenior offensive lineman on the ArkansasState football team, has been named oneof 54 players selected to the 2008 RotaryLombardi Award Preliminary Watch List.One of five Sun Belt Conference playersnamed to the list, Mandich was a FirstTeam All-Sun Belt Conference selection lastyear as a junior and is a three-time All-SunBelt performer. He has started every gameof his career at ASU and was a 2007 All-SunBelt Conference selection by Phil Steele’sas well.

JOHNSON PARTICIPATES IN HULA BOWL:Former Arkansas State safety Tyrell Johnson(Rison, Ark.), who completed his senior sea-son as the 2007 Sun Belt ConferenceDefensive Player of the Year, competed inthe 2008 Hula Bowl Saturday, Jan. 12, atAloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.

ROBERTS CLIMBING VICTORIES LADDER: Inhis first six seasons as the Indians headcoach, Steve Roberts already has the fifthmost victories among ASU's 26 all-timehead coaches with 31 wins. Larry Lacewell(1979-89) holds the record for victories with69 and is followed by Bennie Ellender (1963-70) with 52 wins, Bill Davidson (1971-78) with51 and Forrest England (1946-53) with 49.

ROBERTS AND INDIAN STADIUM: ArkansasState head coach Steve Roberts has ledthe Indians to a 22-7 record at IndianStadium over the last six years for a .759winning percentage. Not only that, theIndians are 13-2 at Indian Stadium over thelast three seasons.

ASU’s 15 spring practices, which began onFeb. 27. ASU opens its 2008 season at TexasA&M on Aug. 30.

TEAM AWARD WINNERS NAMED AT FAMILYDAY COOKOUT: Ten Arkansas State foot-ball players were honored at the team’sannual Family Day Cookout, held outsideIndian Stadium at the conclusion of theteam’s annual spring game.The award winners were:ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Freshmen -Kelcie McCray (DB), Adam Gaston (DS);Sophomores - Isiah Shepard (DB), T.J. Burk(WR); Junior - Jonathan Hissam (OL);Senior - Brian Flagg (DE)MOST IMPROVED: Offense - Neely Sullivent(QB), Defense - Bryan Hall (DL)HUSTLE AWARD: Mark Clemons (OL)“I WILL” AWARDS: Brian Flagg (DE), ZachEichenberger (OL)SPIRIT AWARD: Terry Bill, team videographer

SBC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEARJOHNSON AMONG NINE ASU ALL-SBCPICKS: Arkansas State senior safety TyrellJohnson (Rison, Ark.) was named the SunBelt Conference Defensive Player of theYear and was among nine Indians namedto the league’s postseason all-conferenceteam. Junior offensive lineman MattMandich (Hattiesburg, Miss.) joined ASU’ssafety combination of Khayyam Burns (FortSmith, Ark.) and Johnson as first-teamselections, while sophomore running backReggie Arnold (Little Rock, Ark.), seniorwide receiver Levi Dejohnette (Bastrop,La.), senior linebacker Koby McKinnon(Junction City, Ark.) and junior punter BrettShrable (Walnut Ridge, Ark.) representedASU on the second team. Sophomore AlexCarrington (Tupelo, Miss.) and sophomorequarterback Corey Leonard (Covington,La.) were both honorable mention selec-tions. ASU has now picked up 48 All-SunBelt Conference selections in six yearsunder head coach Steve Roberts, includ-ing 39 over the last three seasons. TheIndians’ 48 selections over Roberts’ first sixyears are the most over a six-year span forASU as a FBS (formerly Division I-A) member.

ASU’S MANDICH RECEIVES GARY WITHROWAWARD: Selected by the Arkansas Statefootball coaching staff and players, MattMandich (Hattiesburg, Miss.) was namedthe winner of the of the Gary WithrowAward that is given annually to the Indians’outstanding offensive lineman of the year.


SPRING 2008/FINAL 2007 NOTEBOOK

DOWN BUT NOT OUT: ASU defeated NorthTexas 31-27 to win its third game of the sea-son when trailing at the half. In fact, it wasthe second time last year that ASU trailedby 21 or more points in a game and cameback to win. The Indians trailed Memphisby 25 points at halftime before comingback to win that game as well.

DOUBLE-DIGIT COMEBACKS: ArkansasState rallied from 21 points down to defeatNorth Texas on Nov. 15, giving ASU its sev-enth victory under head coach SteveRoberts when trailing by double-digits.Following is a year-by-year list of ASU’s dou-ble-digit comeback victories underRoberts: Year Opponent Trailed by Final2002 ULM 11 33-22003 ULM 14 44-412003 NMSU 10 28-242005 ULL 16 39-362005 UNT 10 31-242007 Memphis 25 31-242007 UNT 21 31-27

LEONARD O’BRIEN AWARD SEMIFINALIST:Sophomore Corey Leonard was one of 15players nationwide to be named a semifi-nalist for the Davey O’Brien NationalQuarterback Award. In addition, Leonardwas one of just four players named to thelist that was not a junior or senior. Leonardranked 40th in the nation in total offenseand was named the Sun Belt ConferenceOffensive Player of the Week three timeslast season.

TOUCHDOWN STRIKE: Corey Leonard threwa school-record 16 touchdown passes lastseason. The previous record was 15, heldby Cleo Lemon and Jeremie Watkins.

QUICK CLIMB: Corey Leonard is making aquick climb up the all-time passing recordsat Arkansas State. Leonard is alreadyranked seventh all-time for career comple-tions (291), seventh for passing yards(3,556) and tied for fourth in passing touch-downs (24).

DUAL THREAT: Corey Leonard ranked 40thin the nation in total offense with 252.9yards per game and broke the schoolrecord for single-season total offense with2,782 yards. He posted a career-high 359yards of total offense against Louisiana-Lafayette and recorded more total yardsof offense in six of his 11 games played

MULTIPLE WEAPONS: ASU completed atleast one pass to a season-high ninereceivers two the last four games and com-pleted a pass to at least eight differentplayers in five games last season. ASU hascompleted a pass to at least seven playersin eight of its 12 games.

DEJOHNETTE POSTS CAREER-BEST NUMBERS:Senior wide receiver Levi Dejohnette hadmore receptions (61) and yards (701) thanhe posted his freshman, sophomore or jun-ior seasons. His 61 receptions were 18 morethan his previous best of 43, set his juniorseason, and he had 147 more yards thanhis previous career-best total set during hisjunior year (2005) as well. Dejohnette wasan All-Sun Belt Conference selection in2005 and 2007.

THOMPKINS BREAKS ASU AND SUN BELTKICK RETURN RECORD: SophomoreBrandon Thompkins returned 49 kicks for1,062 yards last year to break the single-season record at ASU. Thompkins replacesRobert Kilow, who picked up 724 yards dur-ing the 2000 season, as the single-seasonleader in the stat. Thompkins’ 1,026 kickoffreturn yards are also the most in Sun BeltConference history for a single season.

FINISHING IN THE RED ZONE: ASU reversedits fortune in the red zone in a big way sinceits season opener. Since posting just twoscores in six red zone trips against Texas inits season opener, the Indians scored on 35of its 44 trips in the red zone over the last 11games for an .795 scoring percentage,which would rank fourth in the SBC finalstats.

PICKING UP THE PACE: While junior line-backer Ben Owens did not record morethan eight tackles in any of ASU’s first fourgames, he posted double-figure tackles infour of the last eight. Owens posted acareer-high 13 tackles against North Texasranked fifth in the SBC in tackles.

TEAM DEFENSE: Arkansas State had fourplayers ranked among the top 10 in theSun Belt Conference for tackles, includinglinebacker Koby McKinnon at No. 3.Joining McKinnon as ASU players ranked inthe top 10 in the SBC for tackles were line-backer Ben Owens (5th) and safeties TyrellJohnson (7th)and Khayyam Burns (4th).

than he had in a game for all of last sea-son. Leonard combined to throw and rushfor 357 yards against North Texas, 329 yardsagainst Memphis, 318 yards against SMUand 296 yards against both Texas andLouisiana-Monroe.

FLAGG NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT:Junior defensive Brian Flagg was named aFirst Team ESPN The Magazine AcademicAll-District VI selection for the second timeof his career. Flagg, also an Academic All-District VI pick as a sophomore in 2005,missed the entire 2006 season with an injurybefore coming back to start every gamelast season for ASU. He posted 44 tackles,including 5.5 for loss, and 1.5 sacks last sea-son while holding down a 3.84 GPA inEngineering.

TWICE AS NICE: While senior safety TyrellJohnson broke the Sun Belt Conferencerecord for career tackles, his teammateand fellow safety Khayyam Burns alsobroke the old record of 300 tackles. Burnsfinished with 331 tackles for his career.

SPECIAL TEAMS SUCCESS: Arkansas Stateconsistently performed well last season onspecial teams, actually ranking among thetop three teams in the Sun Belt Conferencefor kickoff returns (2nd), punt return aver-age (2nd), PAT kicking (1st) and kickoffcoverage (3rd). In fact, ASU was the onlyteam in the league ranked among the topthree teams in all the above categories.The Indians have not allowed a kick returnfor a touchdown since 1998 and FIU’s puntreturn for a touchdown last season was thefirst allowed by ASU since the 2003 cam-paign.

DEFENSE SHINING: The Indians backed uptheir defensive performance from 2006when they ranked second in the Sun BeltConference in total defense, ranking first inthe league again in 2007. However, whileASU finished the 2006 season ranked 34th inthe nation in total defense, it ranked 43rd in2007.

PICK IT OFF: ASU intercepted at least onepass in each of the last six games aftergoing three straight games without aninterception. ASU’s eight interceptionsover its last six games was three more thanit had for its first six games. ASU, which had13 interceptions on the season, rankedninth in the nation in 2006 with 19 picks.



ARAUCO TOPS PERSONAL BEST: JoshAruaco posted 15 field goals on the seasonto top his total of 12 during his freshmanseason. His 15 field goals were the thirdmost in school history for a single seasonand ranked tied for 46th in the nation infield goals made (1.3 per game). His 27career field goals is tied for the sixth most inschool history.

AUTOMATIC ARAUCO: Sophomore kickerJosh Arauco made 34-of-34 extra pointattempts last season and has now made38 in a row dating back to 2006, whichranks as the third longest streak in ASU his-tory. Arauco had a streak of eight consec-utive field goals made at one point duringthe 2007 season that ranked as the sec-ond longest in school history and tied theschool record in 2006 with 10 in a row.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST: Arkansas State post-ed a school-record 681 yards of totaloffense against Louisiana-Lafayette onOct. 13, recording 406 rushing yards and275 passing yards. The game was one oftwo last season in which the Indians postedover 500 yards of offense (516 vs. SMU).

AMONG THE BEST IN THE BELT: ArkansasState was ranked among the top threeteams in the Sun Belt Conference in 13 sta-tistical categories and in the top half of theleague in 17 categories.

MOVING THE CHAINS: ASU racked up aseason-high 33 first downs againstLouisiana-Lafayette on Oct. 13, a totalgood enough to rank as the second mostin school history for a single game. ASUalso posted the fifth most first downs inschool history twice this year with 29 vs.both SMU and North Texas.

NEW LEAGUE LEADER: Preseason Sun BeltConference Defensive Player of the YearTyrell Johnson recorded seven tacklesagainst Memphis on Sep. 27 to give him302 for his career and break the Sun BeltConference record, previously held byASU’s Steven Tookes. Tookes, who playedfor the Indians from 2001-04, finished hiscareer with 300 tackles. Johnson finishedwith 363 career tackles to his credit.

BREAK IT UP: Senior safety Tyrell Johnsonrecorded a career-high five interceptionsand four pass break-ups last season. He fin-ished with 13 career interceptions and 15

at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstand-ing football ability as a first team player,and have demonstrated strong leadershipand citizenship.

CALL IT A COMEBACK: ASU posted itsbiggest comeback victory in school historySept. 27 against Memphis, erasing a 31-6halftime deficit by scoring 29 unansweredsecond-half points to claim the 35-31 win.ASU’s next closest rallies came from 21points down (vs. Lamar, 1989, and SouthernIllinois, 1992).

FAN SUPPORT: The crowd of 27,774 onhand for the Memphis game (Sept. 27) wasthe third largest in Indian Stadium history.Seven of the top 14 crowds in IndianStadium history have been played since2002, head coach Steve Roberts first yearat ASU.

ASU PLAYS IN FRONT OF RECORD CROWD:The crowd of 102,368 in attendance atNeyland Stadium for the Tennessee-ASUgame Sept. 22 was the largest to everwatch an Indians’ football game. The pre-vious largest crowd was 91,611 when theIndians played at Louisiana State in 2004.

HOME OPENERS: ASU improved to 5-1 inhome openers played at Indian Stadiumunder sixth-year head coach Steve Robertswith its victory over SMU on Sept. 15. TheIndians are now 23-11 all-time in homeopeners at Indian Stadium, which openedin 1974.

SBC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: The Indians hadfour players named Sun Belt ConferencePlayer of the Week at least once last sea-son. Most recently, Corey Leonard wasnamed the offensive player of the week forthe third time last season on Oct. 14. ASUhad a player named the league’s offen-sive, defensive or special teams player ofthe week a combined six times. TyrellJohnson (Sr., S) was named the defensiveplayer of the week Sept. 3, while BrandonThompkins (So., WR/KR) and Kevin Jones(Jr., WR/PR) were both named the specialteams player of the week.

STRINGING IT TOGETHER: ASU had two scor-ing drives that went at least 93 yards,including a 97-yard drive against SMU, and11 that covered at least three quarters ofthe football field. ASU had seven drivesthat covered at least 75 yards, including a

break-ups for his career.

THOMPKINS OVER 1,000: BrandonThompkins returned 49 kickoffs for 1,062yards in 2007, the most in ASU and Sun Belthistory, to give him 1,585 yards for hiscareer and move him into second placeall-time for career yards in the stat.

GAINING GROUND: With 1,060 rushingyards last season, running back ReggieArnold now has 2,136 career rushing yardsto leave him just 46 yards shy of joining thetop 10 career rushing leaders in ASU history.Arnold rushed for at least 100 yards in fourgames last season and has reached themark nine times for his career for the sev-enth most in school history.

RUSHING REGGIE: Reggie Arnold rushed fora career-high 225 yards against Louisiana-Lafayette last season, a total good enoughto rank as the third most in ASU history for asingle game and the most ever by an ASUplayer at Indian Stadium.

LEONARD BREAKS RECORD: Corey Leonardbroke the school record for touchdownpasses in a single game with five againstLouisiana-Lafayette. Leonard also threwfor a school-record 16 touchdown passesover the entire season.

400TH VICTORY: With its victory overLouisiana-Lafayette last year, ASU becamethe fifth Sun Belt Conference school with400 all-time wins. ASU was in its 93rd seasonof football and holds an all-time record of402-427-37 since its inaugural 1911 season.The Indians have played in seven bowlgames, including the 2005 New OrleansBowl.

REIBE NAMED DRADDY TROPHY SEMIFINAL-IST: The National Football Foundation &College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced the67 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerlyDivision I-A) semifinalists, including ASU sen-ior offensive lineman Matt Reibe (ElDorado, Ark.), for the 2007 Draddy Trophy.One of college football’s most sought afterand competitive awards, the DraddyTrophy recognizes an individual as theabsolute best in the country for his com-bined academic success, football per-formance and exemplary communityleadership. Each semifinalist on the listmust be a senior or graduate student intheir final year of eligibility, have a GPA of



long of 84 yards, during the 2006 season.

SIX-YEAR IMPROVEMENT: During sixth-yearhead coach Steve Roberts’ first six seasonsat Arkansas State the football program sawits win total increase by 12 wins over theprevious six years. ASU posted 31 wins overRoberts’ first six years. In fact, ASU's 31 winsover those six years are the most for a six-year span since it collected 34 victoriesfrom 1986-91.

A GOOD HOMECOMING: Arkansas Statewon its fifth consecutive homecominggame with its 52-21 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette, bringing its record to 53-26-1 all-time in homecoming games.

TEAM CAPTAINS: ASU’s senior class alter-nated throughout the year as team cap-tains. Permanent team captains werenamed at the end of the year (TyrellJohnson, Khayyam Burns, Koby McKinnon,Matt Reibe).

SBC PRESEASON AWARDS: The 2007 pre-season accolades continued to pile up forArkansas State football players TyrellJohnson (Sr., S), Matt Mandich (Jr., OL) andKoby McKinnon (Sr., LB) as all three werenamed to the Preseason All-Sun BeltConference Team and Johnson wastabbed the league’s Preseason DefensivePlayer of the Year, announced at the con-ference’s annual media days.

ASU PREDICTED TO FINISH THIRD IN 2007 SBCRACE: The Arkansas State football teamwas picked to finish third in the 2007 SunBelt Conference race according to theleague’s preseason poll of its eight headcoaches, announced by the conferenceoffice.

ASU received one first-place vote and 43points, finishing just one point behind sec-ond-place Middle Tennessee in the voting.Defending New Orleans Bowl championTroy received five of the eight first placevotes and 59 points to finish first in the poll.

TV TIME: ASU’s six regular-season televisedgames for 2007 were the most in school his-tory, just ahead of the 2005 season whenthe Indians were on television four timesduring the regular season.

17 AND UNDER: Arkansas State holds a 14-3 record under head coach Steve Robertswhen holding its opponents to 17 points or

fullback taken in the draft. O’Nealbecame the 40th ASU player to ever beselected in the NFL draft and the first sinceCorey Williams was taken in the sixth roundof the 2004 draft by the Green Bay Packers.Over 90 all-time Arkansas State playershave signed pro contracts with a NFL fran-chise.

TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD: The ArkansasState football team has won the Sun BeltConference Team Academic Award fourof the past five years, including 2007-08.

AFCA AWARD: Prior to the start of the 2007season, the American Football CoachesAssociation announced that the ArkansasState University football team was one ofjust 34 Division I-A football programs thatgraduated 70 percent or more of its stu-dent-athletes from their freshman classesof 2001-02.

THE WOLF NEW FLAGSHIP FOR ASU RADIO:The Arkansas State University AthleticDepartment, along with East ArkansasBroadcasters, announced July 6, 2007, thatradio station KWHF 95.9 FM “The Wolf” willbecome the flagship station for ASU foot-ball for the 2007 season.

ROBERTS PARTICIPATES IN YOUTH FOOTBALLCLINIC: Arkansas State Head FootballCoach Steve Roberts joined the head foot-ball coaches from all the Sun BeltConference schools on July 22 in hosting afree youth football clinic as part of a recent$750,000 contribution by NCAA Football toYouth Football Initiatives in the city of NewOrleans. The Sun Belt and Conference USAare working with NCAA Football and theNew Orleans Recreation Department toprovide two clinics. Roberts and fellow SunBelt coaches participated July 22 at theWilson Athletic Center at Tulane University,while Conference USA coaches will hostJuly 30.

A TIME TO BOND: When Head Coach SteveRoberts came to ASU, he brought a tradi-tion with him which caught on in a hurrywith the players. The night before eachgame, team members and coaches gettogether for milk and cookies. During thistime, each player sits by and visits with atleast three other players he has not visitedwith throughout the week in order to learnmore about his teammates.

less. However, ASU is 11-30 over the last sixseasons when allowing 17 or more points.The Indians have won their last 11 consec-utive games when holding their opponentto 17 or fewer points prior to falling atSouthern Miss, 16-10, in their 2007 regular-season finale. ASU has won 26 straightgames when holding their opponents to 10or fewer points.

ASU FOOTBALL RADIO BROADCASTSCARRIED BY KABF 88.3 FM IN LITTLE ROCK:Arkansas State football fans in and aroundCentral Arkansas had no problems follow-ing the Tribe last season, as ASU Athleticsand East Arkansas Broadcasters to carrythe games on KABF 88.3 FM in Little Rock.

KABF is operated by the ArkansasBroadcasting Foundation and has a100,000-watt signal. The station’s signalreaches more than 70 miles on any side ofthe Capitol City, reaching Brinkley to theeast, Fordyce to the south, Clarksville to thewest and the Twin Lakes area to the north.

ARNOLD ON DOAK WALKER AWARD WATCHLIST: Reggie Arnold was listed among the51 candidates for the 2007 Doak WalkerAward, presented annually to the nation’stop college running back.

McKINNON ON BUTKUS AWARD WATCHLIST: Koby McKinnon (Junction City, Ark.)was named to the 2007 Butkus AwardWatch List, announced by the DowntownAthletic Club of Orlando, Inc. (DACO).

JOHNSON ON BRONKO NAGURSKI WATCHLIST: Safety Tyrell Johnson (Sr. Rison, Ark.)was one of just 49 players from across thenation to appear on the watch list for the2007 Bronko Nagurski Trophy. The award isgiven annually to the best defensive playerin college football by the CharlotteTouchdown Club. Johnson was the onlySun Belt Conference player to appear onthe watch list, which is compiled by theFWAA All-America committee, with inputfrom schools and conferences from acrossthe country.

O’NEAL DRAFTED & MAKES ROSTER: FormerArkansas State standout fullback OrenO’Neal (Stuttgart, Ark.) was selected bythe Oakland Raiders with the first pick inthe sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft onApril 29, and has made the Raiders rosterfor the 2007 season. The Raiders madeO’Neal the 175th overall pick and the third



Preston BROWN 25RB, 5-10, 195, So. - Smyrna, TN (Antioch HS)

2007: Played in 10 games last season as aredshirt freshman, recording 298 rushingyards and a touchdown on 54 carries . . .Averaged 5.5 yards per rush and was thirdon the team in rushing yards . . . Posted 20receptions, the third most on the team, for192 yards and another touchdown . . .Brown’s 192 receiving yards were the mostamong ASU’s running backs . . . Rushed for69 yards on 11 carries, both season highs, inASU’s last game against Southern Miss . . . Hislongest rush went for a 30-yard touchdownagainst North Texas . . . Recorded a career-high 121 yards of total offense against NorthTexas with 48 rushing yards and 73 receiving. . . Also had five receptions for 48 yards,including a career-long reception of 32yards, against nationally ranked Texas inASU’s season opener.

BROWN’S CAREER RUSHING STATISTICSYr. No. Yds. Avg. TD LG2007 54 298 5.5 1 30Totals 54 298 5.5 1 30

Reggie ARNOLD 2RB, 5-9, 220, Jr. - Little Rock, AR (McLellan HS)

2007: Arnold rushed for 1,060 yards and a career-high nine touchdowns while averaging 6.5 yardsper carry in 2007, earning All-Sun Belt Conferencehonors for the second consecutive season . . .Named Phil Steele’s First Team All-Sun BeltConference . . . His 6.5 rushing average was thebest in the Sun Belt Conference among the top 10rushing leaders and his nine rushing touchdownswere the second most among the same group . .. Arnold ranked 44th in the nation in rushing andhis 6.5 average per rush was the second higest inthe nation among all running backs ranked in thetop 50 for rushing yards . . . The 2006 Sun BeltConference Freshman of the Year eclipsed 1,000yards rushing for the second straight season tobecome the only player in ASU history to accom-plish the feat in his first two seasons . . . Recordednine career 100-yard rushing games, including acareer-high 225-yard performance againstLouisiana-Lafayette last year . . . Arnold alsoadded 52 yards receiving and posted a touch-down receptions to give him 10 total scores onthe year.

ARNOLD’S CAREER RUSHING STATISTICSYr. No. Yds. Avg. TD LG2006 209 1076 5.1 4 312007 163 1060 6.5 9 44Totals 372 2136 5.7 13 44

Josh ARAUCO 89K, 5-9, 193, Jr. - Grand Prairie, TX (South Grand Prairie HS)

2007: Arauco had one of the best seasons inASU history for a kicker, recording a career-high 15 field goals that ranked as the thirdmost in school history and connecting on 34-of-34 extra-point attempts . . . Araucoranked third in the Sun Belt in scoring (6.6ppg), third in field goals made (1.3 pergame) and first in PAT kicking percentage(1.000) . . . Also ranked tied for 46th in thenation in field goals made . . . Kicked acareer-best 45-yard field goal against Texasand made three field goals from at least 40yards out . . . Made four field goals from 32yards or more . . . After two seasons, he isalready tied for the sixth most field goalsmade (27) in school history.

ARAUCO’S CAREER STATISTICSYr. FGM-A Pct. 1-19 20-29 30-3940-4950-99 Lg Blk2006 12-16 .750 2-2 5-6 5-7 0-1 0-0 38 32007 15-23 .652 1-1 7-9 4-7 3-6 0-0 45 2Totals 27-39 .692 3-3 12-15 9-14 3-7 0-0 45 5

Josh Arauco, K

Reggie Arnold, RB Preston Brown, RB


2008 TOP RETURNER BIOS

Travis HEWITT 17QB, 6-1, 205, Sr. - Ballwin, MO (St. John Vianney HS)

2007: Hewitt has seen action on and offthroughout his career, but saw extensiveplaying time just once last season . . . Startedthe FIU game and completed 19-of-30 pass-es for 174 yards in an ASU victory . . . Finishedthe season with 211 passing yards and hit 23-of-38 attempts . . . Played a key part in ASU’s2008 spring practices and although he isexpected to play a back-up role in 2008, heis very capable of stepping in with the firstteam offense.

HEWITT’S CAREER STATISTICSYr. Comp. Att. Yds. TD INT LG2005 3 8 50 1 0 262006 35 77 414 0 7 462007 23 38 211 0 1 21Totals 61 123 675 1 8 46

Brian FLAGG 44DE, 6-2, 250, Sr. - Ripley, TN (Ripley HS)

2007: Flagg started every game at defen-sive end for ASU and led all its defensive line-men in tackles with a career-high 44 tackles. . . He recorded 5.5 tackles for loss of 29yards and 1.5 sacks . . . He was namedCoSIDA Academic All-District VI in 2007 and2005 . . . Flagg posted a career-high seventackles against Louisiana-Monroe, had sixagainst Southern Miss and five against Troy .. . He helped lead the ASU defense thatranked No. 1 in the Sun Belt Conference intotal defense, No. 2 in rushing defense, No. 2in scoring defense and No. 2 in pass defense.

FLAGG’S CAREER STATISTICSYr. UT AT TOT TFL SACK2004 16 20 36 5-11 0-02005 17 15 32 7-24 5-212007 24 20 44 5.5-29 1.5-17Totals 57 55 112 17.5-64 6.5-38

Alex CARRINGTON 98DE, 6-5, 280, Jr. - Tupelo, MS (Tupelo HS)

2007: A 2007 Honorbale Mention All-Sun BeltConference selection, Carrington had the bestseason of his young career in 2007 with 38 tack-les, including five for loss of 25 yards, and onesack . . . Also named Phil Steele’s HonorbaleMention All-Sun Belt Conference . . . He posteda career-high nine tackles in ASU’s victory overMemphis and had a career-high 1.5 tackles forloss against Louisiana-Lafayette . . . He also hadeight tackles against Louisiana-Monroe andposted three or more tackles in seven games . .. He helped lead the ASU defense that rankedNo. 1 in the Sun Belt Conference in totaldefense, No. 2 in rushing defense, No. 2 in scor-ing defense and No. 2 in pass defense . . .Carrington was named to Phil Steele’s Mid-Season All-Sun Belt Conference First Team.

CARRINGTON’S CAREER STATISTICSYr. UT AT TOT TFL SACK2006 11 3 14 2-12 1-92007 20 18 38 5-25 1-8TotalS 31 21 52 7-37 2-17

Alex Carrington, DEBrian Flagg, DE Travis Hewitt, QB



David JOHNSON 85TE, 6-2, 250, Sr. - Pine Bluff, AR (Pine Bluff HS)

2007: Phil Steele’s Honorable Mention All-SunBelt Conference . . . Caught 10 passes for acareer-high 204 yards and three touchdownsin 2007, giving the junior tight end 23 recep-tions for 404 yards and four touchdowns overthe last two years . . . Johnson caught a sea-son-high three passes and had a career-best84 yard touchdown catch that ranked as thefourth longest in ASU history . . . In addition tohis 84-yard touchdown receptions, also hada 48-yard reception . . . Recorded a career-best two touchdown receptions in a victoryover UL Lafayette . . . Also a good blocker,Johnson helped ASU rank 39th in the nationin rushing offense.

JOHNSON’S CAREER STATISTICSYr. No. Yds. Avg. TD LG2005 0 0 0.0 0 02006 13 200 15.4 1 622007 10 204 20.4 3 84Total 23 404 17.6 4 84

David Johnson, TE

Kevin JONES 6WR/KR, 5-10, 169, Sr. - Shreveport, LA (Fair Park HS)

2007: Named Second Team All-Sun BeltConference by Rivals.com . . . Named SunBelt Conference Special Teams Player of theWeek on Oct. 1 . . . Ranked 22nd in thenation in punt returns with an 11.4 averageper return . . . Recorded his first career puntreturn for a touchdown with an 89-yardreturn against Memphis, which was also thethird longest return in Sun Belt Conferencehistory . . . . Finished the game with 109 puntreturn yards, the second most by an SBCplayer during the 2007 season . . . Finished theyear with 17 returns for 194 . . . Hauled in 18receptions for 236 yards, the third most onthe team . . . Averaged 13.1 yards per recep-tion and hauled in a career-best 60-yardcatch in ASU’s victory over SMU . . . Grabbeda career-high five receptions a week lateragainst Tennessee . . . Also returned six kick-offs for 96 yards with a season-high 29 yardreturn.

JONES’ CAREER STATISTICSYr. No. Yds. Avg. TD LG2005 8 161 20.1 0 482006 25 355 14.2 2 452007 18 236 13.1 0 60Total 51 752 14.7 2 60

Kevin Jones, WR/PR

Corey LEONARD 1QB, 6-1, 205, Jr. - Covington, LA (Covington HS)

2007: Leonard, one of 15 semifinalists for theDavey O’Brien Award last season, posted aschool-record 2,782 yards of total offense andwas named the Sun Belt Conference OffensivePlayer of the Week three times as a sophomore,earning Honorable Mention All-Sun BeltConference honors . . . Leonard set the ASUrecord for single-season touchdown passes with16 and threw for the third most passing yards inschool history with 2,235 . . . He added 547 rush-ing yards and five touchdowns on the ground,making him accountable for 21 total touch-downs, and finished the year ranked 40th in thenation in total offense . . . He threw a school-record five touchdowns in a game and also hada season-high 359 yards of total offense that ranksas the fourth most in school history . . . Finished theseason ranked 40th in the nation for total offense(252.9 yards per game) . . . During the season,Leonard broke into the top-10 career leaders atASU for total offense, passing touchdowns, pass-ing yards and completions as only a sophomore .. . Preseason All-Sun Belt selection by Athlon’s andPhil Steele’s.

LEONARD’S CAREER STATISTICSYr. Comp. Att. Yds. TD INT LG2006 109 222 1321 8 8 692007 182 349 2235 16 15 84Totals 291 571 3556 24 23 84

Corey Leonard, QB



Matt MANDICH 63OL, 6-3, 305, Sr. - Hattiesburg, MS (Oak Grove HS)

2007: Mandich is a three-time All-Sun BeltConference selection and has been namedto the 2008 Rotary Lombardi PreliminaryWatch List . . . Mandich was a First Team All-Sun Belt Conference selection as a junior andwas a 2007 All-Sun Belt Conference selectionby Phil Steele’s as well . . . He has startedevery game of his career and helped ASUpost the second most yards of total offense inschool history last season . . . Mandich alsohelped lead the way for ASU’s rushing attackthat ranked 39th in the nation.

Ben Owens, LB

Ben OWENS 40LB, 6-2, 230, Sr. - Bearden, AR (Bearden HS)

2007: Phil Steele’s Honorable Mention All-SunBelt Conference . . . Owens ranked fifth in theSun Belt Conference in tackles, averaging 8.0per game . . . He recorded a career-high 96tackles in 2007, just five fewer than team-leader Koby McKinnon . . . He posted threetackles for loss of 12 yards and had a career-high 13 tackles against North Texas . . . Owensalso recorded double figure tackles in fourgames and posted at least five tackles inevery outing . . . He helped lead the ASUdefense that ranked No. 1 in the Sun BeltConference in total defense, No. 2 in rushingdefense, No. 2 in scoring defense and No. 2 inpass defense.

OWENS’ CAREER STATISTICSYr. UT AT TOT TFL SACK2005 5 0 5 0-0 0-02006 20 14 34 2-20 2-202007 46 50 96 3-12 0.5-6Totals 71 64 135 5-32 2.5-26

Matt Mandich, OL

Brett SHRABLE 11P, 6-2, 220, Sr. - Walnut Ridge, AR (Hoxie HS)

2007: Shrable was a Second Team All-SunBelt Conference selection after enjoying thebest season of his career as ASU’s punter in2007, averaging 41.7 yards per punt thatranked as the second best average in theSun Belt Conference and 37th in the nation . .. He punted 47 times for 1,958 yards and hadseven fair catches and five punts inside the20 . . . Shrable booted a career-best 57 yardpunt and had long punts of over 50 yards insix games . . . He averaged at least 43 yardsper punt in seven games and had nine puntsof 50 yards or more . . . His 41.7 yard averageper punt was the fifth highest for a single sea-son in ASU history.

SHRABLE’S CAREER STATISTICSYr. No. YDS AVG LONG TB FC I202006 52 1983 38.1 54 3 4 132007 47 1958 41.7 57 5 7 5Totals 99 3941 39.8 57 8 11 18

Brett Shrable, P





Brandon THOMPKINS 14WR/KR, 5-9, 180, Jr. - West Palm Beach, FL

(Palm Beach Lake HS)

2007: Thompkins broke the ASU and Sun BeltConference records for kickoff return yards in2007, becoming the first player in the history of theleague to record over 1,000 kickoff return yardswith 1,062 to his credit . . . He averaged 21.7 yardsper return and posted a career-best 43 yardreturn against Middle Tennessee . . . He wasnamed the Sun Belt Conference Special TeamsPlayer of the Week after breaking the single-game records at ASU and for the Sun Belt with 194kickoff return yards against Tennessee . . . Heranked third in the Sun Belt and 45th in the nationfor all-purpose yards with 137.8 yards per game . .. Thompkins also returned five punts for 93 yardswith a long of 53 and averaged 18.6 yards perreturn . . . He posted career-best numbers forreceptions and receiving yards with 41 catchesfor 503 yards and a game-winning touchdownagainst North Texas . . . Finished the season rankedsecond on the team in both receptions andreceiving yards . . . Ranked seventh in the Sun Beltin receiving yards (41.9 ypg) and eighth in recep-tions (3.5 rpg) . . . Posted seven receptions for 103yards, both career highs against North Texas.

THOMPKINS’ CAREER STATISTICSYr. No. Yds. Avg. TD LG2006 8 89 11.1 0 332007 41 503 12.3 1 44Total 49 592 12.1 1 44

Brandon Thompkins, WR/KR

Dominique WILLIAMS 8CB, 5-10, 185, Sr. - Bastrop, LA (Bastrop HS)

2007: Played in 11 games as a reserve, buthas starting experience gained as a redshirtfreshman and freshman . . . Posted 16 tacklesin 2007, recording a season-high five stops atLouisiana-Monroe . . . Also recorded onetackle for loss against the Warhawks . . .Posted three pass break-ups.

QUICK HITTERS: Seen extensive playing timeduring his career and recorded 62 tackles, 16pass break-ups and five interceptions . . .Career-best numbers came during sopho-more campaign when he recorded 25 tack-les and three interceptions.

WILLIAMS’ CAREER STATISTICSYr. UT AT TOT INT-YDS PBU2005 17 4 21 2-8 72006 16 9 25 3-13 62007 9 7 16 0-0 3Total 42 20 62 5-21 16

Dominique Williams, DB


Arkansas State’s 2008 signing class is made up of 27 players from across eight different states and includes20 high school and junior college standouts that signed National Letters of Intent on Wednesday, Feb. 6, to playfor ASU.

“We are certainly very excited about this class,” said Roberts. “We were able to meet our immediate andmost pressing needs, both in the junior college and high school ranks. I feel like we’ve added a ton of size, ath-letic ability and speed to our football program.”

The Indians have added 14 offensive players, 10 defensive players, a kicker and one player who could playon either side of the ball. The signing class includes eight junior college transfers and 19 high school players,including five from the state of Arkansas. ASU’s five signees from within the state are from Bentonville, WestHelena, Fort Smith, Van Buren and Bearden.

ASU also signed five players from Alabama and at least two players from California, Florida, Louisiana,Mississippi, Missouri and Texas.

ASU inked six offensive lineman and six defensive backs, the most for any position. ASU also signed four widereceivers and two linebackers, quarterbacks and tight ends. ASU added a defensive tackle, defensive end andrunning back on national signing day as well.

2008 ARKANSAS STATE FOOTBALL SIGNING CLASS

1. Eric Allen: 6-1, 285, OL, Daphne, Ala. (Daphne High School)2. Ryan Aplin: 6-1, 190, QB, Tampa, Fla. (Fleming Island High School)3. Tyler Barnes: 6-4, 290, OL, Bentonville, Ark. (Bentonville High School)4. Graham Bates: 6-0, 182, DB, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Allen D. Nease High School)5. Najel Byrd: 6-0, 215, LB, West Helena, Ark. (Central High School)**6. Taylor Clements: 5-10, 187, Jr., WR, Chico, Calif. (Butte (CA) College)***7. Rashad Fields: 6-1, 195, DB, Caruthersville, Mo. (Caruthersville High School)8. Bradley Guillory: 6-3, 308, Jr., OL, Lafayette, La. (Kilgore (TX) College)***9. Nathan Herrold: 6-3, 230, LB, Ozark, Mo. (Ozark High School)10. Brandon Johnson: 6-4, 307, OL, Memphis, Tenn. (Whitehaven High School)**11. Ronnie Johnson: 6-1, 190, RB, Marbury, Ala. (Marbury High School)12. Don Jones: 6-0, 193, DB, Town Creek, Ala. (Hazlewood High School)13. Gregory McCall: 5-11, 297, DT, Prattville, Ala. (Prattville High School)14. Jahbari McLennan: 5-11, 185, Jr., WR, Austin, Texas (Trinity Valley (TX) CC)***15. Cordarious Mingo: 5-11, 195, Jr., DB, Terrell, Texas (Trinity Valley (TX) CC)16. Walter Moody: 5-11, 175, So., DB, Oakland, Miss. (Northwest Mississippi CC)***17. Kedric Murry: 6-3, 258, TE, Pleasant Grove, Ala. (Pleasant Grove High School)18. Allen Muse: 6-4, 205, WR, Leesville, La. (Leesville High School)19. Derek Newton: 6-6, 325, Jr., OL, Utica, Miss. (Hinds CC)20. Brandon Parker: 6-1, 180, K, Coral Springs, Fla. (St. Thomas Aquinas HS)21. Kiano Prater: 6-5, 280, Jr., OL, San Bernardino, Calif. (San Bernardino Valley (CA) College)22. Justin Schoemehl: 6-3, 212, TE, St. Louis, Mo. (Oakville High School)23. Andre Smith: 6-2, 190, QB, Killeen, Texas (Shoemaker High School)24. Timothy Starson: 6-5, 209, DE, Fort Smith, Ark. (Northside High School)25. Taylor Stockemer: 6-4, 200, WR, Van Buren, Ark. (Van Buren High School)26. Leroy Trahan: 5-10, 175, So., DB, Rialto, Calif. (San Bernardino Valley (CA) College)***27. Dewayne Watts: 5-11, 185, ATH, Bearden, Ark. (Bearden High School)

** Player originally signed with ASU in 2007 and sat out for a year to concentrate on academics***Junior College Midterm Signee and is available for spring practice

2008 ASU SIGNING CLASS

Eric Allen: 6-1, 285, OL, Daphne, Ala. (Daphne HighSchool)Three-year varsity letterman . . . Posted 12 pancakes andgraded at 90 percent blocking as a senior . . . Voted 2007Team Captain . . . Participated in the Alabama-MississippiAll-Star Classic . . . Named all-county, all-region and all-state . . . Track and field letterwinner . . . Also recruited byAuburn and Louisiana-Monroe.

Ryan Aplin: 6-1, 190, QB, Tampa, Fla. (Fleming Island HighSchool)Two-year varsity letterman . . . Recorded 1,300 passingyards and 350 rushing yards in seven games played . . .Posted 2,300 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, while alsorushing for 650 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior . . .Named Shrine Bowl MVP . . . 2006 and 2007 First Team All-County and Second Team All-District . . . Also was letteredin baseball and was an all-conference selection . . . Alsorecruited by Middle Tennessee.

Tyler Barnes: 6-4, 290, OL, Bentonville, Ark. (BentonvilleHigh School)Three-year starter on the offensive line at Bentonville HighSchool . . . 2007 Preseason All-State and All-Conferenceselection . . . Named Offensive Player of the Year as a sen-ior. . . Associated Press Super Team, All-Area, All-Districtselection while at Bentonville . . . Named to BentonvilleHigh School Honor Roll multiple times . . . Also recruited byMiddle Tennessee and Tulsa.

Graham Bates: 6-0, 182, DB, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AllenD. Nease High School)Four-year letterman, helping lead Allen D. Nease HS to one4A State Championship and two runner-up finishes . . .Helped lead Allen D. Nease High School to a 13-2 recordlast season . . . All-Conference, All-County and third teamAll-State selection . . . Also lettered in basketball, lacrosseand track and field.

Najel Byrd: 6-0, 215, LB, West Helena, Ark. (Central HighSchool)Played both running back and linebacker for Central HighSchool, but is expected to play linebacker at ArkansasState . . . 5A All-State selection as both a junior and senior .. . Recorded 1,210 rushing yards on 122 carries as a senior .. . Posted 75 tackles in eight games in 2006 . . . Runner-upat 2006 state track & field meet in the shot put with a bestthrow of 53-8 . . . Posted a season-best time of 10.78 in the100 meters.

Taylor Clements: 5-10, 187, Jr., WR, Chico, Calif. (Butte(CA) College)Named a 2007 first team all-conference selection after

catching 44 passes for 831 yards and nine touchdownswith the Butte College Roadrunners . . . Returned 23 kicksfor 662 yards, including a season-high 88 yard return, as asophomore . . . Helped lead the Roadrunners to a 7-4record, including a 61-33 win over Delta College in theStockman’s Bank Bowl, in 2007 . . . Named the bowlgame’s MVP . . . Received an Academic AchievementAward and was a multi-sport athlete at Butte, earning firstteam all-conference baseball recognition in the spring of2007 . . . Played both wide receiver and defensive back atPleasant Valley High School in Chico, Calif. . . . Named firstteam all-league on both offense and defense as a seniorafter recording 44 receptions for 921 yards and 14 touch-downs and posting eight interceptions from his safety posi-tion . . . Four-year baseball and basketball letterwinnerfrom 2002-06 . . . First team all-league selection in 2005 and2006 as an infielder and was named the school’sOutstanding Senior Male Athlete.

Rashad Fields: 6-1, 195, DB, Caruthersville, Mo.(Caruthersville High School)First Team All-District . . . First Team All-Region . . . First TeamAll-State selection . . . Part of two district championships . .. Played on both sides of the ball in high school . . . Tallied10 tackles, and interception and a 30-yard fumble returnfor a touchdown during the 2007 season opener . . .Recorded eight touchdowns (5 receiving/3rushing as ajunior) . . . Recorded 96 tackles and four interceptions dur-ing junior campaign . . . Also recruited by Ole Miss, Missouriand Kansas.

Bradley Guillory: 6-3, 308, Jr., OL, Lafayette, La. (Kilgore(TX) College)Helped lead Kilgore (TX) College to an 8-4 record and aNo. 15 national ranking in the final NJCAA/JCFootball.com poll . . . Part of an offensive line that led theRangers to a No. 6 national ranking in total offense with417.7 yards per game . . . Kilgore also ranked No. 9 nation-ally in rushing offense with 225.4 yards per game andadded 192.3 yards per game through the air to rank No. 16. . . A three-year football letterman at Carencro HighSchool in Lafayette, La., Guillory earned second team all-district honors as a sophomore, first team all-state recogni-tion as a junior and second team all-state honors as a sen-ior.

Nathan Herrold: 6-3, 230, LB, Ozark, Mo. (Ozark HighSchool)Three-year varsity letterman . . . During his three-year highschool career, recorded 379 tackles (109 soph., 121 junior,149 senior), five interceptions, nine touchdowns and threeblocked punts . . . Caught 29 passes for 500 yards during hissenior season . . . Helped lead Ozark to the state semifinals


2008 SIGNING CLASS BIOS

and an 8-5 record . . . 2007 awards and honors include:First Team AP All-State linebacker, First Team MFBCA All-State linebacker, First Team All-COC, First Team All-Districttight end.

Brandon Johnson: 6-4, 307, OL, Memphis, Tenn.(Whitehaven High School)Four year letterman . . . Named 2006 All-Metro . . . All-Region 8-5A selection as a senior . . . Selected to play in theLiberty Bowl Auto Zone game . . . Invited to and attendedthe U.S. Army Combine his junior year.

Ronnie Johnson: 6-1, 190, RB, Marbury, Ala. (Marbury HighSchool)First Team All-State and All-Metro selection as a senior . . .2007 All-Metro Player of the Year (1-4A) . . . Rushed for 1,790yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior despite missing onefull game and parts of two others due to injuries . . . Rushedfor over 200 yards in four games during the 2007 season,including a career-high 259 yards in the first round of theplayoffs . . . Also lettered in basketball and track and field. . . Also recruited by Troy and Alabama.

Don Jones: 6-0, 193, DB, Town Creek, Ala. (HazlewoodHigh School)Recorded 58 tackles from safety position in 2007 and fin-ished his high school career with 12 interceptions . . .Rushed for 1,853 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior aswell . . . Decatur Daily Player of the Year . . . MoultonAdvertiser Player of the Year . . . Named All-Area as both ajunior and senior . . . Times Daily Athlete of the Year . . . Four-time Player of the Week selection . . . State champion inthe 100, 200 and 400 meter events . . . All-County basket-ball selection in 2007 and 2008.

Greg McCall: 5-11, 297, DT, Prattville, Ala. (Prattville HighSchool)Helped lead Prattville to back-to-back 6A StateChampionships in 2006 and 2007 . . . Recorded 60 tacklesand two tackles for loss as a senior, including six stops in thestate title game . . . Birmingham News All-Metro team (tri-county team) selection as a senior . . . Honorable MentionClass 6A All-State Team.

Jahbari McLennan: 5-11, 185, Jr., WR, Austin, Texas (TrinityValley (TX) CC)Named 2007 First Team All-Southwest Junior CollegeFootball Conference after recording 29 receptions for 550yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore . . . Three-yearvarsity football letterman at Reagan High School, where healso lettered four years in baseball and two in track andfield . . . First team all-district selection at both wide receiv-er and defensive back his senior season . . . While at

Reagan, McLennan recorded 60 career receptions for1,832 yards and seven touchdowns . . . First team all-districtbaseball selection as a junior and track and field regionalqualifier in the 4x100, 4x200 and high jump events.

Cordarious Mingo: 5-11, 195, Jr., DB, Terrell, Texas (TrinityValley (TX) CC)2007 First Team NJCAA All-America, first team all-region,first team all-conference . . . While at Terrell High School,earned first team all-state and first team all-district honorsas a defensive back . . . Four-year high school varsity foot-ball letterman . . . Played running back and defensiveback in high school . . . High school 400 meter event . . .Also recruited by LSU, Clemson, Florida, Oklahoma State,Oklahoma, Southern Miss, Texas A&M and Baylor.

Walter Moody: 5-11, 175, Soph., DB, Oakland, Miss.(Northwest Mississippi CC)Played in all 10 games, including seven as a starter, forNorthwest Mississippi CC last season as a freshman . . .Helped lead the Rangers to a 6-4 record while recording38 tackles, four pass break-ups, two forced fumbles and afumble recovery . . . Part of a Rangers’ defense that rankedNo. 3 in the MACJC and No. 19 nationally in passingdefense, giving up just 127.7 yards per game . . .Northwest Mississippi’s defense also ranked No. 2 in theMACJC and No. 18 nationally in total defense, allowing241.7 yards per game . . . Received the team’s“Sledgehammer Award” for impact hitter . . . All-confer-ence selection his senior season at Coffeeville High School,located in Oakland, Miss. . . . Recorded 130 tackles, inter-cepted five passes and posted three touchdowns to helplead Coffeeville to a 10-3 record.

Kedric Murry: 6-3, 258, TE, Pleasant Grove, Ala. (PleasantGrove High School)Four-year varsity football letterman and three-year varsitybasketball letterman . . . Birmingham News First Team All-Metro as a senior . . . Honorable Mention 5A All-State . . .Caught 34 passes for 427 yards and three touchdowns in2007 . . . Helped lead Pleasant Grove to a 9-3 record as ajunior . . . Also recruited by Southern Miss, Middle Tennesseeand Troy.

Allen Muse: 6-4, 205, WR, Leesville, La. (Leesville HighSchool)Four-year starter on the varsity football team . . . During hisfour-year high school career, Muse was named all-state,All-Vernon Parish and all-district . . . Caught 53 passes for720 yards and four touchdowns as a senior . . . Track andfield letterman . . . Who’s Who Among American HighSchool Students . . . National Honor Roll . . . Received theHugey O’Brian Leadership Award . . . Also recruited by



Southern Miss, LSU, Louisiana Tech and Ole Miss.

Derek Newton: 6-6, 325, Jr., OL, Utica, Miss. (Hinds CC)First Team All-State selection at Hinds Community College .. . Played in the Mississippi Junior College All-Star Game . . .Helped lead Hinds Agricultural High School to a 10-0 regu-lar-season record during senior season, earning All-Metroand All-District honors . . . Named Most Improved Player asa senior as well . . . Also recruited by North Texas and Troy.

Brandon Parker: 6-1, 180, K, Coral Springs, Fla. (St. ThomasAquinas High School)Four-year letterwinner . . . Helped lead St. Thomas Aquinato a 5A state championship with a 15-1 record . . . Made80-of-84 PAT’s and 7-of-12 field goal attempts . . .Recorded 54 touchbacks on kickoffs . . . Member of SocialJustice Club . . . Also recruited by Miami (Ohio), SouthernMiss and Northern Illinois.

Kiano Prater: 6-5, 280, OL, San Bernardino, Calif. (SanBernardino Valley (CA) College)Two-year starter at San Bernadino Valley College . . .Named Second Team All-Conference as a sophomore . . ..Three-year varsity football and two-year varsity track let-terwinner at Arroyo Valley High School . . . high schoolhonor roll member . . . Also recruited by Temple and KansasState.

Justin Schoemehl: 6-3, 212, TE, St. Louis, Mo. (Oakville HighSchool)First Team All-Conference selection senior season afterrecording 738 receiving yards and a team-high 13 touch-down catches . . . 738 receiving yards led the SuburbanWest Conference . . . Averaged 25.4 yards per reception .. . Suburban Journal Athlete of the Week during Septemberof 2007 . . . Post Dispatch High School Weekender duringNovember 2007 after leading metro area in receivingyards . . . Received the Oakville HS MVP award and Eye ofthe Tiger award . . . Honor Roll student all four years . . .Member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Andre Smith: 6-2, 190, QB, Killeen, Texas (Shoemaker HighSchool)Rushed for 682 yards and nine touchdowns while averag-ing 5.4 yards per carry as a senior . . . Completed 103-of-205 passes (50.2 percent) for 1,414 yards and nine touch-downs during senior season as well . . . 2007 First Team 13-5A All-District selection . . . Rushed for 215 yards in onegame . . . Passed for 856 yards and six touchdowns as ajunior . . . Also recruited by Tulsa and SMU.

Timothy Starson: 6-5, 209, DE, Fort Smith, Ark. (NorthsideHigh School)Three-year letterman, including one as a starter atNorthside High School . . . Recorded 80 tackles, eight sacksand nine tackles for loss as a senior . . . Named OutstandingLineman of the Year and Defensive Newcomer of the Yearsenior season . . . All-State selection.

Taylor Stockemer: 6-4, 200, WR, Van Buren, Ark. (Van BurenHigh School)Rivals.com Top-15 (No. 12) player in the state of Arkansas .. . Rivals.com nationally ranked top-100 wide receiver (No.92) . . . Rivals.com three-star recruit . . . Three-year varsitystarter . . . Holds the Van Buren High School records for sin-gle-season receiving yards, career receiving yards (1,661),career receptions (100) and career receiving touchdowns(14) . . . Two-time All-Conference selection . . . All-NikeCombine Team . . . Hooten’s 2007 Preseason Super Team .. . Two-time Southwest Times Record Preseason All-AreaTeam . . . Named All-State track and field . . . Finished thirdin the state in the decathlon event . . . Also recruited byKansas and Air Force.

Leroy Trahan: 5-10, 175, Soph., DB, Rialto, Calif. (SanBernardino Valley (CA) College)Posted six interceptions for 89 yards, seven pass break-upsand 29 tackles as a freshman in 2007 at San BernardinoValley (CA) College . . . Earned First Team All-FoothillConference as an All-State Nominee, Region 3 Football All-America and All-California Community College First TeamDefense recognition . . . While at Carter High School inRialto, Calif., Trahan was a two-year varsity football letter-man as a wide receiver and defensive back . . . Two-yearvarsity baseball letterman and helped lead Carter to its firstever conference baseball title in 2006.

Dewayne Watts: 5-11, 185, ATH, Bearden, Ark. (BeardenHigh School)Named all-state in 2006 and 2007 . . . Rushed for 1,861yards on 234 carries as a junior and came back his seniorseason to post 1,130 rushing yards on 108 attempts . . .Rushed for a combined 43 touchdowns as a junior andseason and also threw 35 touchdown passes the last twoseasons . . . Recorded six career interceptions, includingone returned for a 90-yard touchdown . . . Accounted for79 touchdowns the last two seasons . . . Two-time all-con-ference selection . . . In addition to football, participated inbasketball, baseball and track and field.



Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 3 0 0 10 13Texas 14 0 7 0 21

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPTexas 1 12:25 Sweed 35 yd rec. 6-56 2:35ASU 1 08:12 Arauco 45 yd FG 8-47 4:13Texas 1 02:49 Cobb 16 yd rec. 1-16 0:06Texas 3 03:09 Charles 10 yd run 9-58 3:54ASU 4 09:29 Arauco 28 yd FG 9-52 3:14ASU 4 00:56 Arnold 2 yd run 13-93 3:07

Team StatisticsASU Texas

First Downs 26 23Net yards rushing 125 117Net yards passing 272 223

Passes Att-Comp.-Int 37-24-1 33-22-2Total Net Yards 397 340Fumbles: Number-Lost 0-0 1-0Penalties: Number-Yards 10-65 10-90Possession Time 30:12 29:48Third Down Conversions 3 of 12 9 of 15Sacks By: Number-Yards 1-10 4-30

Individual StatisticsRUSHING: Arkansas State-Arnold, Reggie 11-68; Leonard, Corey 16-37; Brown, Preston 6-21; Thompkins, B. 1-minus 1. Texas-JamaalCharles 27-112; Colt McCoy 7-11; Chri Ogbonnaya 2-6; Limas Sweed1-minus 1; TEAM 1-minus 11. PASSING: Arkansas State-Leonard,Corey 23-36-1-259; Hewitt, Travis 1-1-0-13. Texas-Colt McCoy 22-33-2-223. RECEIVING: Arkansas State-Dejohnette, L. 6-92; Brown, Preston5-48; Jones, Kevin 3-45; Gillott, Trevor 3-20; Thompkins, B. 3-17; Arnold,Reggie 2-27; Smith, Joe 1-14; Johnson, David 1-9. Texas-Nate Jones 9-72; Limas Sweed 5-93; Quan Cosby 5-29; Antwan Cobb 1-16; JermichFinley 1-8; Peter Ullman 1-5. INTERCEPTIONS: Arkansas State-Harrison,M. 1-6; Johnson, Tyrell 1-4. Texas-Eddie Jones 1-0. FUMBLES: ArkansasState-None. Texas-TEAM 1-0.

AUSTIN, Texas (9/1/07) — The fourth-ranked Texas Longhorns spoiledArkansas State’s hopes for a season-opening upset Saturday night,holding off the Indians for a 21-13 victory before 84,440 fans atDarrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.

Arkansas State pulled within a touchdown and two-point conver-sion at 21-13 on a two-yard touchdown run by sophomore tailbackReggie Arnold with 56 seconds remaining, then recovered the ensu-ing onsides kick, but game officials ruled that ASU did not have therequired four players on each side of the ball on the kickoff. After thefive-yard penalty was assessed, Texas recovered ASU’s secondattempt at an onsides kick, and ran out the clock to secure the win.

Arkansas State gave Texas all it could handle in the game, rolling

up 397 yards to the Longhorns’ 340, as sophomore quarterbackCorey Leonard passed for a career-high 259 yards on the night.Leonard completed 16 passes in the effort, also a career high, whilesenior safety Tyrell Johnson led the Indian defense with 14 tacklesand an interception.

Texas used a 35-yard touchdown pass from Colt McCoy to LimasSweed to crack the scoreboard on its first possession. McCoy’stouchdown pass completed a 56-yard drive, and placekicker RyanBailey added the extra point to give the ‘Horns a 7-0 lead with 12:25remaining in the first quarter.

Arkansas State answered with points on its first possession as well,getting a 45-yard field goal from Josh Arauco to cut the Longhornlead to 7-3. Arauco’s field goal was a career long for the Indiansophomore, and completed a 47-yard drive that put the Tribe on theboard with 8:12 to play in the opening quarter.

Texas stretched its lead to 14-3 later in the quarter on McCoy’s sec-ond touchdown pass of the day. McCoy hooked up with tailbackAntwan Cobb on a 16-yard lob into the end zone, the only play ofthe Texas drive. The Longhorn possession was set up by a 30 yardpunt return by Quan Cosby that put Texas deep into Indian territoryto start the drive.

The Indians missed on three opportunities narrow the gap in thesecond quarter when Arauco missed from 46 and 37 yards out, andLeonard was intercepted by Texas’ Eddie Jones in the end zone withless than a minute to play, and Texas went into the break holding the14-3 advantage.

Charles found the end zone from 10 yards out to extend the Texaslead to 21-3 with 3:09 to play in the third.

The Indians drove to the Longhorn 18 on their next possessionbefore turning the ball over on downs, then moved deep into Texasterritory again to set up a 28 yard field goal from Arauco to trim theLonghorn lead to 21-6 with 9:29 to play.

ASU forced Texas to punt with 4:03 remaining, then drove 97 yardsin 13 plays for Arnold’s touchdown that pulled the Tribe within eightpoints.

Corey Leonard was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Playerof the Week following the Texas game.

September 1, Austin, TX (Darrel K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium - 84,440) - No. 4 Texas 21, Arkansas State 13


2007 GAME RECAPS

Reggie Arnold tied his then-career high with 156 rushing yardsagainst SMU.

September 15, Jonesboro, AR (Indian Stadium - 17,465) - Arkansas State 45, SMU 28

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 21 0 7 17 45SMU 0 14 7 7 28

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPASU 1 12:44 Leonard 6 yd run 5-67 1:17ASU 1 5:47 Arnold 1 yd run 11-97 4:20ASU 1 1:02 Leonard 9 yd run 1-9 0:05SMU 2 3:46 Sledge 19 yd rec. 7-97 3:03SMU 2 1:13 Givens 20 yd rec. 3-58 0:39ASU 3 10:26 Miller 6 yd rec. 13-80 4:27SMU 3 2:59 Sanders 10 yd rec. 5-28 2:14ASU 4 10:10 Arauco 19 yd FG 11-77 3:50ASU 4 6:55 Leonard 3 yd run 6-66 2:11ASU 4 5:32 Johnson 12 yd rec. 2-20 0:56SMU 4 3:33 Lowery 25 yd rec. 9-69 1:51

Team StatisticsASU SMU



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: SMU-WILLIS, Justin 14-88; SANDERS, E. 1-3; MARTIN, DeMyron6-3; MAPPS, James 2-2. Arkansas State-Arnold, Reggie 19-156;Leonard, Corey 20-52; Brown, Preston 6-35; Wilkerson, C. 4-11; Hewitt,Travis 1-minus 4. PASSING: SMU-WILLIS, Justin 21-40-2-251. ArkansasState-Leonard, Corey 22-34-1-266. RECEIVING: SMU-SANDERS, E. 8-100; GIVENS, C. 5-47; LOWERY, Devin 3-46; SLEDGE, Zack 2-35; MAPPS,James 2-13; MARTIN, DeMyron 1-10. Arkansas State-Dejohnette, L. 6-77; Gillott, Trevor 5-36; Thompkins, B. 4-25; Brown, Preston 3-44;Johnson, David 2-18; Jones, Kevin 1-60; Miller, Chris 1-6.

JONESBORO (9/15/07) — After building a 21-0 first quarter lead, theArkansas State Indians thwarted a Southern Methodist comebackattempt with 17 fourth-quarter points, pulling away in the final periodfor a 45-28 victory over the Mustangs Saturday night at IndianStadium.

The Indians’ early 21-point lead was cut to a touchdown at 28-21in the third quarter, but career nights from sophomore quarterbackCorey Leonard and sophomore tailback Reggie Arnold helped theTribe slam the door on the Mustangs’ hopes for a comeback.

Leonard finished the night with a career-high 266 passing yardsand two touchdowns. He also added a career-high three rushingtouchdowns, and his pair of scores through the air tied his personal

best, while Arnold’s 156 rushing yards tied his career best as well.Arkansas State lit up the scoreboard on its first possession, getting

a 1-yard touchdown run from Leonard to take a 7-0 lead less thanthree minutes into the game.

A 1-yard scoring run by Arnold on ASU’s second possessioncapped a 97-yard drive and stretched the Indian lead to 14-0 beforeASU’s defense sparked the third Tribe touchdown of the openingquarter. Senior linebacker Koby McKinnon picked off a Justin Willispass at the ASU 40 and returned it 51 yards to the Mustang nine, andone play later Leonard found the end zone for the second time onthe night.

The Mustangs got on the board with 3:46 remaining in the secondquarter when Willis connected with wide receiver Zack Sledge on a19-yard touchdown pass, then completed his second touchdownpass of the night with 1:13 remaining in the half to cut the ASU leadto 21-14 at the break.

Arkansas State reclaimed the momentum early in the second half,marching 80 yards in 13 plays to take a 28-14 lead. Leonard hookedup with senior Chris Miller for a 6-yard touchdown to complete thepossession.

SMU refused to go away however, driving deep into Indian territo-ry twice in the third quarter. Willis connected with wide receiverEmmanuel Sanders on a 10-yard pass across the middle with 2:59 toplay in the third to pull the Mustangs within a touchdown at 28-21.

Arkansas State answered with a 19-yard field goal from Arauco onits first possession of the fourth quarter.

After SMU drove to the Arkansas State 18 on its next possession,ASU’s defense recovered a fumble for the Tribe at the ASU 34.

Arnold exploded for 22 yards on first down, then added 22 moreyards on the possession before Leonard completed the drive with a3-yard touchdown run that made it 38-21 with 6:55 to play.

ASU senior cornerback Montis Harrison intercepted Willis on thenext SMU drive to set up the Indians’ final touchdown of the night, a12-yard strike to junior tight end David Johnson to extend theArkansas State lead to 45-21.

SMU added a late touchdown when Willis hit wide receiver DevinLowery for a 25-yard score with 3:33 remaining.


2007 GAME RECAPS

September 22, Knoxville, TN (Neyland Stadium - 102,368) - Tennessee 48, Arkansas State 27

Brandon Thompkins was named the SBC Special Teams Player of theWeek on Monday, Sept. 24.

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 7 10 3 7 27Tennessee 17 14 7 10 48

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPUT 1 12:11 Taylor 17 yd rec. 6-64 2:49ASU 1 9:22 Miller 6 yd rec. 6-60 2:42UT 1 6:29 Brown 15 yd rec. 8-89 2:47UT 1 0:38 Lincoln 29 yd FG 9-55 3:21ASU 2 ----- Johnson 54 yd int. ----- -----UT 2 2:21 Coker 25 yd rec. 10-80 2:49UT 2 1:00 Foster 5 yd run 5-40 0:39ASU 2 0:00 Arauco 44 yd FG 6-30 0:51ASU 3 12:47 Arauco 37 yd FG 6-47 2:07UT 3 6:26 Coker 2 yd run 6-19 3:01ASU 4 14:54 Arnold 1 yd run 8-82 3:26UT 4 13:37 Taylor 24 yd rec. 5-65 1:17UT 4 8:57 Lincoln 39 yd FG 10-67 3:52

Team StatisticsASU UT



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: Arkansas State-Arnold, Reggie 16-130; Brown, Preston 4-37; Wilkerson, C. 3-9; Leonard, Corey 8-2. Tennessee-LaMarcus Coker 15-101; Arian Foster 12-57; LennonCreer 9-28; Kenny O'Neal 1-2. PASSING: Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 18-35-2-199;TEAM 0-1-0-0. Tennessee-Erik Ainge 27-39-1-334; J. Crompton 1-1-0-1. RECEIVING:Arkansas State-Jones, Kevin 5-37; Thompkins, B. 4-49; Dejohnette, L. 3-53; Brown,Preston 2-10; Johnson, David 1-48; Miller, Chris 1-6; Wilkerson, C. 1-minus 1; McNeal,Danny 1-minus 3. Tennessee-Lucas Taylor 7-104; Josh Briscoe 6-65; Chris Brown 4-32;Austin Rogers 3-37; LaMarcus Coker 2-49; Denarius Moore 1-13; Jeff Cottam 1-13;Kenny O'Neal 1-10; Quintin Hancock 1-8; Arian Foster 1-3; Luke Stocker 1-1.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (9/22/07) — Arkansas State sophomore BrandonThompkins racked up 194 return yards, and sophomore tailbackReggie Arnold added 130 rushing yards and a touchdown in a 48-27loss to the Tennessee Volunteers (2-2) before 102, 368 fans atNeyland Stadium.

Thompkins’ 194 return yards set a single-game record for ArkansasState(1-2), but Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge offset the effortwith a career high 334 yards and four touchdowns in front of thelargest crowd to ever witness an Indian football game.

Tennessee did not put the game away until the fourth quarter,answering an early fourth-quarter touchdown by the Indians with 10points down the stretch to put the game away. Arkansas Statepulled to within 38-27 when Arnold found the end zone from a yard

out with 14:54 remaining, but Tennessee took control in the remain-der of the game and kept the Tribe off the scoreboard to secure thewin.

The Vols took a 7-0 lead on their first possession courtesy of a 17-yard pass from Ainge to wide receiver Lucas Taylor, but ASUanswered on its first possession when sophomore quarterback CoreyLeonard found senior wideout Chris Miller in the back of the end zonefor a 6-yard scoring strike.

Tennessee went up 14-7 on Ainge’s second touchdown pass of thenight, a 15-yard completion to tight end Chris Brown that wrappedup the Volunteers’ second possession, then made it 17-7 on a 29-yard field goal from Daniel Lincoln with 38 seconds remaining in theopening quarter.

Tennessee drove into Indian territory on its next possession as well,but ASU senior Tyrell Johnson picked off an Ainge pass and returnedit 54 yards for a touchdown to pull the Tribe within three at 17-14 with9:13 remaining in the second quarter.

Tennessee scored two touchdowns in a span of 1:21 late in the firsthalf to build a 31-14 cushion before ASU sophomore kicker JoshArauco nailed a 44-yard field goal as time expired in the half tomake it 31-17 at the break.

Arkansas State got a 37-yard field goal from Arauco on the firstpossession of the second half to cut the Volunteer lead to 31-20, butthe Vols distanced themselves again with a 2-yard run from Coker tostretch the lead to 38-20 with 6:26 to play in the third.

The Indians answered with an 82-yard drive that was capped offby Arnold’s 1-yard plunge early in the fourth quarter to cut theTennessee lead to 38-27, but the Vols got a 24-yard touchdown passfrom Ainge to Taylor and a 39-yard yard field goal from Lincoln to goup 48-27 with 8:57 to play, then held ASU scoreless for the rest of thenight.

In addition to his 194 return yards, Thompkins added 49 receivingyards, while senior Levi Dejohnette led the Indians with 53 yards onthree receptions. Leonard completed 18-of-35 passes for 199 yardsand a touchdown, but was intercepted twice and sacked four times.


2007 GAME RECAPS

September 27, Jonesboro, AR (Indian Stadium - 27,774) - Arkansas State 35, Memphis 31

The crowd of 27,774 on hand for the Memphis game was the thirdlargest ever at Indian Stadium.

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 3 3 15 14 35Memphis 10 21 0 0 31

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPMemphis 1 11:27 Doss 1 yd run 9-84 3:33ASU 1 8:27 Arauco 40 yd FG 8-48 2:54Memphis 1 3:38 Reagan 32 yd FG 12-57 4:44Memphis 2 13:52 Black 80 yd rec. 1-80 0:11ASU 2 9:02 Arauco 21 yd FG 10-54 4:44Memphis 2 3:45 Malof 1 yd run 13-72 5:10Memphis 2 1:01 Barnett 88 yd fum. ret. ----- -----ASU 3 8:15 Jones 89 yd punt ret. ----- -----ASU 3 2:13 Catlin 10 yd rec. 9-77 2:29ASU 4 14:12 Dejohnette 27 yd rec. 7-72 1:55ASU 4 7:52 Brown 1 yd rec. 9-60 4:31

Team StatisticsASU Memphis



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: Memphis-DOSS, Joseph 17-50; PITTS, T.J. 11-49; MALOUF, Matt 9-32;WILLIAMS, E. 1-24; ROBINZINE, C. 2-13; BARNES, Miguel 2-6; HUDGENS, Will 1-3; HANKINS,Martin 1-0; JONES, Maurice 1-0. Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 22-74; Brown, Preston10-31; Wilkerson, C. 4-20; Arnold, Reggie 3-9. PASSING: Memphis-HANKINS, Martin 10-21-0-119; HUDGENS, Will 0-2-0-0; JONES, Maurice 1-1-0-19; THOMAS, Dave 1-1-0-80.Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 16-37-0-255. RECEIVING: Memphis-JONES, Maurice 3-71; BLACK, Steven 2-91; SINGLETON, C. 2-25; CALHOUN, Duke 2-5; MALOUF, Matt 1-19;ROBINZINE, C. 1-4; WILLIAMS, E. 1-3. Arkansas State-Dejohnette, L. 7-99; Thompkins, B.3-89; Jones, Kevin 2-24; Smith, Joe 1-21; Gillott, Trevor 1-11; Catlin, Vernon 1-10; Brown,Preston 1-1.

JONESBORO (9-27-2007) — In a game that was delayed almost threeweeks by severe weather, the Arkansas State Indians stormed backfrom a 31-6 halftime deficit, riding the arm and legs of quarterbackCorey Leonard to stun the Memphis Tigers 35-31 at Indian Stadium.The game was originally to have been played Sept. 8, but lightningaround Indian Stadium forced the postponement of the game untilThursday night.

Leonard totaled a career-high 329 yards on the night, rushing for74 yards and throwing for 255 and a career-high three touchdownsbefore a crowd of 27,774, the majority of which stayed until the enddespite the Indians’ large halftime deficit.

The Indian comeback was sparked with 8:15 remaining in the third,when junior Kevin Jones returned a Tiger punt 89 yards for a touch-down to trim the Memphis lead to 31-13. The Indians

then put together three touchdown drives on their next three posses-sions to complete the rally. Arkansas State took over with 4:42remaining in the third, and Leonard rushed for 55 yards on the 77-yard drive, capping the possession with a 10-yard touchdown pass totight end Vernon Catlin. The two-point try was good when Leonardcompleted the conversion to senior wideout Levi Dejohnette, cuttingthe Memphis lead to 10 at 31-21.

Arkansas State drove 72 yards on its next possession, getting a 27-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to Dejohnette that pulled theTribe to within three at 31-28 with 14:12 remaining, and Leonardhooked up with tailback Preston Brown for a 1-yard touchdown strikeon the next Indian possession to put ASU on top 35-31.

The Indians took possession with 12:23 to play and marched 60yards in 10 plays for the go-ahead touchdown. Brown scored with7:52 remaining in the game, and Arauco added his third extra pointof the night for the 35-31 final.

Memphis drove to the ASU 30 before turning the ball over ondowns on the Tigers’ next possession, then got the ball back with 3:16remaining at the Tiger 31, but never got past the Memphis 45, turningthe ball over on downs again with 46 seconds to play.

Memphis grabbed the momentum early, and didn’t let go untilJones’ punt return midway through the third. The Tigers opened thegame with an 84-yard drive that resulted in a 7-0 lead when tailbackJoseph Doss scored on a 1-yard run. The drive opened with a 56-yard completion from quarterback Martin Hankins to wideoutMaurice Jones to set the Tigers up at the Indian 28, and eight playslater, Doss put Memphis on the board.

Arkansas State answered with a 40-yard by Josh Arauco on its firstpossession to cut the Tiger lead to 7-3 midway through the first quar-ter, but Memphis matched the three-pointer with a 32 yard field goalfrom Matt Reagan to make it 10-3.The Tiger lead swelled to 17-3 on the first play of the next Memphispossession when receiver Dave Thomas took a lateral from Hankinsand lofted an 80-yard scoring strike to wideout Steven Black, who ranuntouched to the end zone to give the Tigers a 14-point cushion.

The Indians drove to the Memphis two on their next possessionbefore settling for a 21-yard boot from Arauco that trimmed the Tigerlead to 17-6 with 9:02 remaining in the half, but Memphis tacked ontwo touchdowns in the remainder of the half to build a 31-6 lead atthe break.

Memphis quarterback Matt Malouf dove in for a 1-yard score tomake it 24-6, and after ASU had driven to the Tiger 14, Memphisdefensive tackle Freddie Barnett scooped up a fumble by ASU’sCedric Wilkerson and returned it 88 yards for the score.


2007 GAME RECAPS

October 6, Monroe, LA (Malone Stadium - 12,088) - Louisiana-Monroe 30, Arkansas State 13

Senior linebacker Koby McKinnon recorded 11 tackles to match hiscareer high for the second straight game.

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 6 7 0 0 13Louisiana-Monroe 0 17 3 10 30

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPASU 1 9:59 Arauco 33 yd FG 9-49 3:39ASU 1 2:18 Arauco 29 yd FG 12-68 4:51ASU 2 13:02 Miller 21 yd reception 6-81 2:39ULM 2 9:35 Wilson 21 yd FG 7-39 3:27ULM 2 4:17 McNeal 4 yd reception 8-79 3:09ULM 2 0:45 Dawson 1 yd run 5-70 1:05ULM 3 3:59 Wilson 20 yd FG 13-71 6:19ULM 4 9:32 McNeal 26 yd reception 9-69 4:36ULM 4 3:04 Wilson 20 yd FG 11-69 5:23

Team StatisticsASU ULM



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 11-90; Arnold, Reggie 9-52; Brown, Preston 6-29; Wilkerson, C. 1-2; Thompkins, B. 1-minus 3. ULM-Dawson, Calvin 26-114; Goodin,Frank 11-72; Lancaster, K 10-49; Battles, D 1-11; Stringfellow, A 1-7; TEAM 2-minus 4;Love, Scott 1-minus 14. PASSING: Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 14-35-2-206. ULM-Lancaster, K 15-22-0-195; McNeal, Darrell 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING: Arkansas State-Dejohnette, L. 6-82; Thompkins, B. 4-33; Miller, Chris 2-43; Catlin, Vernon 1-33; Smith, Joe1-15. ULM-McNeal, Darrell 5-72; Sapp, LaGregory 4-62; Zacharie, Zeek 3-49; Dawson,Calvin 2-8; Stringfellow, A 1-4.

MONROE, La. (10/6/07) — After jumping out to a 13-0 lead, theIndians saw their Sun Belt Conference opener spoiled whenLouisiana-Monroe reeled off 30 unanswered points and went on todefeat the Indians 30-13 at Malone Stadium in Monroe.

Missed opportunities plagued Arkansas State. A pair of drops inthe end zone and two missed field goals kept 20 potential points offthe board, and the Tribe failed to capitalize on a botched puntattempt by the Warhawks at the ULM 26 midway through the thirdwith ULM on top 17-13.

Arkansas State scored on its first three drives, getting a pair of fieldgoals from sophomore placekicker Josh Arauco on the Indians’ firsttwo possessions. Arauco booted kicks of 33 and 29 yards to give theTribe a 6-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, and sophomore quar-terback Corey Leonard hooked up with wide receiver Chris Miller fora 21-yard touchdown with 13:02 remaining in the second quarter.Leonard’s touchdown pass completed an 81-yard drive, boostingthe ASU lead to 13-0.

The Warhawks charged back with 17 unanswered first-half points

to claim a 17-13 advantage at the break. Kicker Cole Wilson putULM on the board with 9:35 remaining in the half when he knockedthrough a 21-yard field goal, and the Warhawks cut the Indian leadto 13-10 on their next possession when quarterback KinsmonLancaster passed complete to wide receiver Darrell McNeal on afour-yard touchdown pass at the 4:17 mark.

After the ASU offense failed to pick up a first down on its next pos-session, Warhawk tailback Calvin Dawson wrapped up a 70-yarddrive with a 1-yard touchdown run that put ULM on top 17-13 with 45seconds remaining before the break.

Wilson tacked on a 20-yard field goal with 3:59 remaining in thethird to push the Warhawk lead to a touchdown at 20-13, and ULMtook a two-touchdown lead with 9:32 remaining when Lancasterhooked up with McNeal again on a 26-yard touchdown play thatpushed the Warhawk lead to 27-13.

Wilson added another 20-yard field goal with 3:04 remaining to setthe final at 30-13.

Leonard rushed for a career-high 90 yards and passed for 206yards and a touchdown to lead the Indian offense, but also suffereda pair of interceptions on the night. Linebackers Koby McKinnon,Javon McKinnon and Ben Owens led the ASU defense, with KobyMcKinnon logging 11 tackles, and Javon McKinnon and Owensnotching 10 stops on the night.

Tailback Calvin Dawson rushed for 118 yards and a score on 26carries to lead the Warhawk rushing attack, and Lancaster complet-ed 15 of 22 passes for 195 yards and a pair of touchdowns.


2007 GAME RECAPS

October 13, Jonesboro, AR (Indian Stadium - 18,242) - Arkansas State 52, Louisiana-Lafayette 21

Junior tight end David Johnson hauled in three passes for a career-high 93 yards and career-best two touchdowns.

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 7 24 14 7 52Louisiana-Lafayette 7 14 0 0 21

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPULL 1 12:18 McCoy 40 yd fumble ret. - -ASU 1 8:41 Leonard 4 yd run 8-71 3:30ASU 2 10:18 Arauco 28 yd FG 10-74 4:27ASU 2 8:56 Johnson 84 yd rec. 1-84 0:13ULL 2 7:43 Desormeaux 64 yd run 4-71 1:08ASU 2 4:55 Johnson 4 yd rec. 6-62 2:40ULL 2 4:03 Chery 64 yd rec. 3-78 0:46ASU 2 0:30 Dejohnette 6 yd rec. 9-82 3:28ASU 3 8:43 Catlin 29 yd rec. 5-64 1:50ASU 3 2:40 Wilkerson 10 yd rec. 14-79 5:02ASU 4 13:39 Arnold 16 yd run 6-66 3:04

Team StatisticsASU ULL



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: UL-Desormeaux, Mic 9-74; Levier, Abdule 6-27; Fenroy, Tyrell 8-20; Wallace,Deon 2-12; Chery, Jason 1-4; Morel, Connor 1-minus 4. ASU-Arnold, Reggie 24-225;Leonard, Corey 18-84; Easley, Chris 6-44; Wilkerson, C. 11-40; McNeal, Danny 1-11;Hewitt, Travis 2-2. PASSING: UL-Desormeaux, Mic 6-15-0-100; Morel, Connor 1-5-0-37.ASU-Leonard, Corey 17-23-0-275. RECEIVING: UL-Smith, Derrick 4-33; Chery, Jason 2-101; Nevels, Phillip 1-3. ASU-Dejohnette, L. 5-75; Johnson, David 3-93; Smith, Joe 3-31;Thompkins, B. 2-21; Catlin, Vernon 1-29; Gillott, Trevor 1-10; Wilkerson, C. 1-10; Jones,Kevin 1-6.

JONESBORO (10-13-2007) — Arkansas State sophomore ReggieArnold rushed for a career-high 225 yards and sophomore quarter-back Corey Leonard set a new ASU mark with five touchdown pass-es as the Indians rolled past Louisiana-Lafayette 52-21 at IndianStadium.

In addition to his five touchdown passes on the night, Leonardposted a career-high 359 yards of total offense against the Cajuns,completing 17-of-23 passes for 275 yards while adding 84 yards anda score on the ground.

The Indians churned out a school record 681 yards in the game,including 302 in the second half when they outgained the Cajuns302-63. ASU held ULL to just four total yards in the third quarter, help-ing the Tribe put away the Cajuns with a 21-0 outburst in the secondhalf.

An Indian miscue on the Tribe’s first offensive possession put theCajuns on the board early. A fumbled pitch from Leonard to Arnoldwas scooped up by ULL safety Daylon McCoy less than three minutesinto the game, giving ULL a 7-0 lead, but the Indians regrouped for

17 straight points to take the lead.Louisiana-Lafayette quarterback Michael Desormeaux broke

loose for a 64-yard touchdown run on the Cajuns’ next possession,trimming the Indian lead to 17-14 midway through the second quar-ter, but ASU answered with a second Leonard-to-David Johnsontouchdown, this one from four yards out. The touchdown moved theIndian lead back to 10 at 24-14 with 4:55 remaining before the break.

Desormeaux accounted for another 64-yard touchdown on ULL’snext possession, connecting with wideout Jason Chery to put theCajuns back in the end zone with 4:03 remaining in the half. Chery’stouchdown narrowed the Arkansas State lead to 24-21, but againthe Indians answered, putting together a 9-play, 82-yard drive thatresulted in a 31-21 advantage at the break. Leonard hooked up withsenior wide receiver Levi Dejohnette on a 6-yard touchdown passwith 30 seconds remaining to complete the drive.

Arkansas State put the game away with three unanswered touch-downs in the second half that gave the Indians a 31-point cushion.

Leonard completed a 29-yard touchdown pass to tight endVernon Catlin midway through the third quarter, then hit tailbackCedric Wilkerson with a 10-yard scoring strike later in the period, andArnold opened the fourth quarter with a 16-yard touchdown run thatextended the ASU lead to 52-21 with 13:39 remaining.

Johnson finished the game with 93 yards and two touchdowns onthree receptions, while Dejohnette hauled in five passes for 75 yardsand a score. Defensively, the Indians were led by linebackers KobyMcKinnon and Ben Owens with seven tackles each.


2007 GAME RECAPS

Junior linebacker Ben Owens tied his career high with 10 tacklesagainst the Blue Raiders.

October 20, Murfreesboro, TN (Floyd Stadium - 12,505) - Middle Tennessee 24, Arkansas State 7

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 0 7 0 0 7Middle Tennessee 14 10 0 0 24

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPMT 1 13:32 Isaac42 yd fum. ret. - -MT 1 2:32 Henry 17 yd rec. 11-80 3:59MT 2 14:38 DeFatta 38 yd FG 7-46 1:56ASU 2 12:22 McNeal 6 yd rec. 6-71 2:16MT 2 9:06 Henry 52 yd rec. 8-81 3:16

Team StatisticsASU MT



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: Arkansas State-Arnold, Reggie 14-39; Wilkerson, C. 1-2; Johnson,Tyrell 1-minus 1; Leonard, Corey 17-minus 18. Middle Tennessee-Dasher,Dwight 20-96; McNair, DeMarco 19-75; Gee, Desmond 3-29; Tanner, Phillip 6-12; TEAM 1-minus 7. PASSING: Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 9-19-3-116.Middle Tennessee-Dasher, Dwight 9-20-1-118; Craddock, Joe 2-4-0-61.RECEIVING: Arkansas State-Thompkins, B. 3-69; Jones, Kevin 2-22; Miller, Chris2-14; McNeal, Danny 1-6; Wilkerson, C. 1-5. Middle Tennessee-Henry, Taron 3-71; Gee, Desmond 3-19; Honeycutt, P. 2-13; Cannon, M. 1-49; Tanner, Phillip1-22; Ingle, Alvin 1-5.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (10-20-07) — ASU couldn’t overcome apowerful Middle Tennessee defense, as the Blue Raiders defeat-ed the Indians 24-7 at Floyd Stadium.

Middle Tennessee racked up a season-high nine sacks and384 total yards of offense to power past the Indians.

The Blue Raiders got on the board early after junior KevinJones’ fumble was recovered by Middle Tennessee’s Rod Isaacand returned 42 yards for the 7-0 lead with 13:32 left in the firstquarter.

The Blue Raiders increased their lead to 14 after Taron Henrytook a 17-yard pass from freshman quarterback Dwight Dasherwith 2:32 left in the first.

Middle Tennessee added a field goal and took a 17-0 leadbefore the Indians scored with 12:22 left in the second. FreshmanDanny McNeal caught a 6-yard pass from Corey Leonard in the

endzone and sophomore Josh Arauco added the extra point tomake it a 17-7 game.

Henry caught his second pass of the game, a 52-yarder fromJoe Craddock, with just over nine minutes left in the secondquarter to extend the Blue Raiders lead to 17.

Neither team managed to score in the second half, as the BlueRaiders held on for 24-7 win.

Leonard completed nine of 16 passes for 116 yards and soph-omore Reggie Arnold rushed for 39 on 14 carries. SophomoreBrandon Thompkins racked up 69 yards on three receptions,including a career-high 44-yard reception. Jones totaled 22receiving yards on two receptions and senior Chris Miller notched14.

Senior Koby McKinnon led the Indian defense for the with 12tackles, including two for losses. Senior Tyrell Johnson grabbed histeam-leading third interception of the season during the firstquarter and added six tackles for the Indians. Junior Ben Owenshad 10 tackles and sophomore Greg Hardy added five.


2007 GAME RECAPS

Senior Levi Dejohnette, ASU’s leading receiver, caught a team-highfour passes against the Trojans.

October 27, Jonesboro, AR (Indian Stadium - 14,694,) - Troy 27, Arkansas State 0

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 0 0 0 0 0Troy 7 3 7 10 27

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPTroy 1 5:37 Haugabook 1 yd run 8-77 2:49Troy 2 7:32 Whibbs 40 yd FG 10-58 3:16Troy 3 10:49 Haugabook 1 yd run 10-77 4:05Troy 4 10:22 Whibbs 45 yd FG 10-37 4:38Troy 4 7:15 Boris 1 yd fumble return - -

Team StatisticsASU Troy



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: TROY-Haugabook,Omar 18-94; Cattouse,Kenny 13-57;Hampton,Jamie 4-23; Harris,DuJuan 6-19; Dawkins,Sean 1-6; Jones,Tanner 1-1. Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 18-56; Arnold, Reggie 9-41; Wilkerson, C. 4-18; Thompkins, B. 1-7; Brown, Preston 1-1; Hewitt, Travis 1-minus 7. PASSING:TROY-Haugabook,Omar 14-23-1-156; Jones,Tanner 1-2-0-2; Hampton,Jamie1-1-0-10. Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 10-24-2-105; Hewitt, Travis 2-4-1-16.RECEIVING: TROY-Jernigan,Jerrel 5-61; Allen,Josh 3-35; Cattouse,Kenny 2-8;Terry,MyKeal 1-38; Banks,Gary 1-13; Williams,C. 1-5; Bray,Justin 1-4;Davis,Andrew 1-2; Dawkins,Sean 1-2. Arkansas State-Dejohnette, L. 4-11;Thompkins, B. 3-14; Smith, Joe 1-56; Jones, Kevin 1-22; Miller, Chris 1-12; Gillott,Trevor 1-9; Brown, Preston 1-minus 3.

JONESBORO (10-27-2007) — Arkansas State suffered its first home lossof the season as the Troy Trojans defeated the Indians 27-0 in a SunBelt Conference game at Indian Stadium.

Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook rushed for a pair of touch-downs in the game, including a 1-yard scoring run with 5:37 remain-ing in the first quarter that gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead.

Following a 40-yard field goal from placekicker Greg Whibbs thatgave Troy a 10-0 lead at the half, Haugabook added another 1-yardtouchdown run in the third to give the Trojans a 17-0 lead headinginto the fourth quarter.

The Trojans used a 45-yard field goal from Whibbs and a 1-yardfumble return for a touchdown from linebacker Boris Lee in the fourthto set the final score.

Indian quarterback Corey Leonard passed for 105 yards andrushed for 56 to lead the ASU offense, while linebacker Ben Owensled the Tribe on the defensive side of the ball with 11 tackles.


2007 GAME RECAPS

November 3, Jonesboro, AR (Indian Stadium - 12,326) - Arkansas State 27, Florida International 24

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 3 0 7 17 27Florida International 0 9 7 8 24

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPASU 1 00:35 Arauco 26yd FG 18-69 9:23FIU 2 10:10 Team safety - -FIU 2 02:50 Singleton 80 yd punt ret. - -ASU 3 14:02 Toney 17yd int. ret. - -FIU 3 03:02 Dickens 4yd rec. 14-75 6:50ASU 4 04:45 Arnold 16yd run 9-55 2:17ASU 4 02:24 Arnold 31yd run 4-61 1:25ASU 4 00:02 Arauco 32yd FG 6-15 0:34

Team StatisticsASU FIU



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: RUSHING: FIU-Younger, Wayne 16-53; Ned, A'mod 15-48; Reams,Julian 10-37; Owens, Daunte 1-2. Arkansas State-Arnold, Reggie 20-120;Wilkerson, C. 6-33; Hewitt, Travis 15-24. PASSING: FIU-Younger, Wayne 9-19-2-110. Arkansas State-Hewitt, Travis 19-30-0-174. RECEIVING: FIU-Ellingson, Greg2-35; Dickens, Jeremy 2-28; Dix, Elliott 2-17; Turner, Trenard 1-20; Frierson,Jason 1-7; Ned, A'mod 1-3. Arkansas State-Dejohnette, L. 6-39; Gillott, Trevor4-36; Johnson, David 2-31; Wilkerson, C. 2-4; Jordan, T.J. 1-21; Miller, Chris 1-15; Thompkins, B. 1-12; Arnold, Reggie 1-10; Smith, Joe 1-6.

JONESBORO (11-3-2007) — Kicker Josh Arauco’s 32-yard field goalwith two seconds remaining capped a wild fourth quarter, givingArkansas State a 27-24 victory over Florida International in a Sun BeltConference clash at Indian Stadium.

In addition to Arauco’s field goal, ASU and FIU combined to scorethree touchdowns in the final 4:45, including two by Indian tailbackReggie Arnold, who finished the day with 120 yards rushing on 20 car-ries. Arnold scored on a 16-yard run with 4:45 remaining to give theTribe a 17-16 advantage, then padded the lead with 2:24 to play ona 31-yard scoring run that made it 24-16, ASU.

While Arauco and Arnold provided the fourth quarter points forArkansas State, neither played a larger role in the victory than cor-nerback Darren Toney, who intercepted two passes on the day,returning one for a touchdown. Toney also returned three kickoffs for129 yards, including a 60-yard return that gave ASU the ball at the FIU34, setting up Arauco’s winning field goal after FIU scored a touch-down and converted the two-point try to tie the game at 24 with 48seconds remaining.

Arauco put the Indians on the scoreboard late in the first quarterwith a 26-yard field goal that gave ASU a 3-0 lead. The score

capped a 69-yard drive that was highlighted by a pass from juniorquarterback Travis Hewitt to wideout Levi Dejohnette on fourth andfour from the Panther 40. The play picked up seven yards and waspart of an 18-play possession that used up 9:23 on the play clock.

Hewitt drew the start Saturday, replacing Corey Leonard, whomissed the game with an injury after starting the first eight games ofthe season for the Tribe. Hewitt completed 19-of-30 passes on theday for 174 yards, with no interceptions.

The Golden Panthers took advantage of an Indian miscue with10:10 remaining in the second quarter to pull within a point. With ASUbacked up at its one yard line, Hewitt and Arnold mishandled anexchange, and Hewitt fell on the fumble in the Arkansas State endzone to score the safety for FIU.

Florida International went on top when punt returner LionellSingleton raced 80 yards down the left sideline with 2:50 remaining inthe half for the 9-3 Panther lead.

FIU’s halftime lead proved to be short-lived when Toney intercept-ed Panther quarterback Wayne Younger on the first possession of thesecond half and returned the pickoff 17 yards for the touchdown.Arauco’s extra point put the Tribe on top 10-9 with 14:02 remaining inthe third.

Florida International went back on top 3:02 remaining in the thirdwhen Younger passed across the middle to receiver Jeremy Dickensfor a 4-yard touchdown.

The Indians began their rally with 7:02 remaining in the game, tak-ing possession at the ASU 45 and capping the drive with Arnold’stouchdown that put the Tribe on top 17-16. Arnold’s second touch-down stretched the Indian lead to 24-16 with 2:24 to play, but FIUanswered with a 65-yard drive that tied the game at 24 whenYounger hit wide receiver Greg Ellison on a 29-yard touchdown pass,then scrambled and found tight end Moses Hinton open in the endzone for the two-point conversion.

Toney’s 60-yard kickoff return gave ASU the ball at the FIU 29, andsix plays later, Arauco booted the field goal for the win.

In his first start of the season, Travis Hewitt threw for a career-best 174yards and added 24 yards rushing.


2007 GAME RECAPS

November 10, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (Lockhart Stadium - 18,540) - Florida Atlantic 34, Arkansas State 31

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 7 3 14 7 31Florida Atlantic 7 10 3 14 34

Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPASU 1 13:16 Arnold 15-yd rec. 3-20 1:25FAU 1 8:47 Smith 1 yd run 11-64 4:29FAU 2 14:15 Rose 2 yd rec. 7-43 2:20ASU 2 5:37 Arauco 20 yd FG 4-2 2:08FAU 2 1:58 Leroy 33 yd FG 10-58 3:39ASU 3 9:46 Arnold 2 yd run 12-60 5:14ASU 3 3:37 Leonard 6 yd run 10-72 4:33FAU 3 1:15 Leroy 46 yd FG 8-35 2:22ASU 4 13:06 Arnold 4 yd run 2-5 0:47FAU 4 9:57 Rose 56 yd rec. 3-67 0:32FAU 4 2:49 Edgecomb 6 yd rec. 16-74 6:02

Team StatisticsASU FAU



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: ASU-Arnold, Reggie 14-58; Leonard, Corey 13-35; Brown, Preston 4-27; Wilkerson, C. 1-8; McNeal, Danny 1-1; TEAM 1-minus 2; Williams, M. 1-minus 2. FAU-Pierre, C. 14-52; Bonner, C. 2-20; Edgecomb, D. 8-17; Rose, W.3-15; Manley, B.J. 6-7; Walker, D. 1-0; TEAM 1-minus 1; Smith, R. 4-minus 5.PASSING: ASU-Leonard, Corey 19-33-1-131. FAU-Smith, R. 22-42-2-268.RECEIVING: Arkansas State-Dejohnette, L. 7-37; Thompkins, B. 4-30; Jones,Kevin 2-10; Arnold, Reggie 1-15; Brown, Preston 1-15; Smith, Joe 1-10; Gillott,Trevor 1-9; Johnson, David 1-5; Jordan, T.J. 1-0. Florida Atlantic-Edgecomb,D. 5-49; Gent, C. 5-48; Rose, W. 4-71; Harmon, J. 4-56; Bonner, C. 2-34; Jean,L. 1-8; Johnson, C. 1-2.

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (11/10/07) - Florida Atlantic overcame a back-and-forth 60-minute battle to power past Arkansas State 34-31 with alate fourth-quarter touchdown. FAU’s Rusty Smith completed a six-yard touchdown pass with 2:49 left in the game cap its fourth-quar-ter rally.

Sophomore quarterback Corey Leonard was 19-for-33 with 131yards, while sophomore Reggie Arnold rushed for 58. SophomoreBrandon Thompkins recorded 156 kickoff return yards for the Tribe.

The Indians got on the board first, after senior Koby McKinnon inter-cepted FAU’s Rusty Smith’s second pass of the game at the Owls’ 20-yard line. Sophomore Reggie Arnold took a 15-yard pass from soph-omore Corey Leonard into the endzone to put Arkansas State up 7-0 with 13:16 remaining in the first quarter.

FAU recovered quickly and answered with a 1-yard touchdownrun by Smith to tie the game at seven. The Owls tacked on sevenmore 45 seconds into the second quarter when William Rose took atwo-yard pass from Smith to put FAU up 14-7.

Sophomore Josh Arauco cut the Owls’ lead to 14-10 with 5:37 leftbefore the half. Freshman Javon McKinnon set up the score with an18-yard fumble return to the FAU five-yard line. Florida Atlanticpushed its lead back to seven with just under two minutes left in thehalf with 33-yard field goal by Warley Leroy.

The Indians came out of the half ready to play, scoring on their firsttwo drives. Arnold’s two-yard touchdown run tied the game at 17with 9:46 left in the third. Leonard followed that up with a 6-yard TDrun of his own to put the Tribe ahead 24-17.

FAU answered with a 46-yard field goal from Leroy to cut theTribe’s lead to four. Senior Tyrell Johnson took a Smith pick to the FAUfive-yard line, setting up a four-yard TD run by Arnold two minutesinto the fourth quarte to give the Indians a 31-20 advantage.

Florida Atlantic countered with a touchdown of their own with9:57 left. Rose took a 56-yard pass from Smith into the endzone tomake it a 31-26 game. The Owls failed the 2-point conversion aftersophomore Stanley Wakwe batted down Smith’s pass.

FAU took the lead with 2:55 to go when DiIvory Edgecomb caughtthe six-yard touchdown pass from Smith to put the Owls up 32-31. Thetwo-point conversion was successful this time around, giving FAU the34-31 lead.

The Indians failed to move the ball down the field and the Owlsgrabbed the 34-31 win. The Indians moved to 4-6 overall and 2-4 inSun Belt play. FAU improved to 5-4 and 4-1 in Sun Belt action.

Sophomore linebacker Greg Hardy recorded a career-high ninetackles against FAU.


2007 GAME RECAPS

November 15, Jonesboro, AR (Indian Stadium - 11,736) - Arkansas State 31, North Texas 27

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 0 7 10 14 31North Texas 7 14 0 6 27Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPNT 1 9:44 Thomas 4yd run 10-65 5:16NT 2 14:57 Mosley 2yd run 9-88 3:20NT 2 3:10 Thomas 4yd run 1-4 0:05ASU 2 1:37 Brown 30yd run 5-64 1:28ASU 3 12:39 Arnold 15yd run 7-67 2:14ASU 3 0:13 Arauco 32yd FG 11-46 3:45NT 4 11:07 Moreland 28yd FG 11-61 4:01NT 4 7:08 Moreland 37yd FG 7-19 3:39ASU 4 5:15 Jordan 6yd rec. 9-61 1:46ASU 4 0:02 Thompkins 27yd rec. 10-80 1:18

Team StatisticsASU NT


Passes Att-Comp.-Int 53-26-2 30-22-1Total Net Yards 480 381Fumbles: Number-Lost 0-0 2-1Penalties: Number-Yards 7-73 7-60Possession Time 25:49 34:11Third Down Conversions 9 of 18 4 of 12Sacks By: Number-Yards 1-10 2-15Individual StatisticsRUSHING: NT-Vizza, G. 17-79; Mosley, Micah 15-78; Thomas, Jamario 11-64.ASU-Arnold, Reggie 11-75; Leonard, C. 11-52; Brown, Preston 6-48; Hewitt,Travis 1-2; Thompkins, B. 2-minus 10. PASSING: NT-Vizza, G. 22-30-1-160. ASU-Leonard, C. 25-50-2-305; Hewitt, Travis 1-3-0-8. RECEIVING: NT-Fitzgerald, C.11-58; Jackson, Brando 4-27; Stickler, Brock 3-27; Washington, K. 2-5; Dibrell,Sam 1-42; Thomas, Jamario 1-1. ASU-Dejohnette, L. 9-108; Thompkins, B. 7-107; Brown, Preston 6-73; Gillott, Trevor 2-13; Jordan, T.J. 1-6; Miller, Chris 1-6.

JONESBORO (11-15-2007) — Arkansas State quarterback CoreyLeonard completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to wide receiverBrandon Thompkins with two seconds remaining, giving the Indians a31-27 victory over the Mean Green of North Texas at Indian Stadium.

The Indians overcame a 10-point deficit in the final 7:08 to claimthe Sun Belt Conference win, getting 305 passing yards and twotouchdowns from Leonard on the night.

Arkansas State finished the night with 480 yards of total offensedespite having just 93 yards with 3:10 to play before halftime.

Offensive struggles and kicking game breakdowns hurt ArkansasState in the first half as North Texas jumped out to a 21-0 lead.

The Mean Green made it 21-0 when Thomas scored on a 4-yardrun up the middle following a blocked punt.

Arkansas State answered with a 5-play, 64-yard drive that used up1:28 on the clock. ASU quarterback Corey Leonard completed pass-es of 13 and 16 yards on the drive, setting up a 30-yard touchdownrun by freshman tailback Preston Brown. Placekicker Josh Araucoadded the extra point to cut the North Texas lead to 21-7 with 1:37remaining in the half.

Arkansas State outgained North Texas 202 yards to 187 in the firsthalf, with 109 of those coming in the final 3:10 of the half. ASU’s

offensive momentum continued into the second half as the Tribe put10 points on the board in the third quarter to cut the North Texas leadto 21-17.

The Indians went 67 yards on seven plays to open the second half,capping the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run by tailback ReggieArnold. A 32-yard field goal from Arauco late in the quarter cut theMean Green lead to 21-17 heading into the fourth quarter.

North Texas answered with a 61-yard drive that resulted in a 28-yard field goal by Moreland that stretched the Mean Green leadback to a touchdown at 24-17.

An interception of a Leonard pass by North Texas linebacker CraigRobertson on the next Indian possession set up another Morelandfield goal that extended the Mean Green lead back to two posses-sions.

Robertson picked off the tipped pass at the ASU 40, and NorthTexas drove to the Indian 20 before Moreland made it 27-17 with a37-yard field goal with 7:08 remaining.

Arkansas State responded with a 61-yard drive that resulted in a 6-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to J.T. Jordan, cutting the deficitback to a field goal at 27-24 with 5:15 to play.

North Texas burned 3:57 on the clock and drove to the ASU ninebefore Moreland missed from 26 yards out to put the ball back in theIndians’ hands.

Leonard finished the game with 357 yards of total offense. Arnoldadded 75 rushing yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and Browntallied 48 rushing yards and a score on six carries. Senior wideout LeviDejohnette finished with 108 yards on nine catches and Thompkinstopped the century mark as well with 107 yards and a touchdownon seven receptions. Safety Khayyam Burns and linebacker BenOwens led the Indian defense with 13 tackles each, with safety TyrellJohnson adding 12 stops on the night.

Preston Brown rushed for a career-high 48 yards and his first touch-down in ASU’s victory over North Texas.


2007 GAME RECAPS

November 24, Hattiesburg, MS (M.M. Roberts Stadium - 11,736) - Southern Miss 16, Arkansas State 10

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 ScoreArkansas State 0 3 7 0 10Southern Miss 0 7 3 6 16Team Qtr Time Scoring play Plays-Yards TOPASU 2 14:10 Arauco 24yd FG 4-4 0:50USM 2 1:06 Fletcher 1yd run 7-45 3:13USM 3 9:23 Estes 21yd FG 13-73 0:00ASU 3 2:54 Thompkins 3yd run 11-80 3:51USM 4 14:54 Estes 29yd FG 7-49 2:52USM 4 6:26 Estes 37yd FG 11-60 4:52

Team StatisticsASU USM



Individual StatisticsRUSHING: Arkansas State-Arnold, Reggie 13-87; Leonard, Corey 17-83;Brown, Preston 11-69; Thompkins, B. 1-3. Southern Miss-FLETCHER, D. 27-133;HARRISON, Tory 8-26; YOUNG, Jeremy 6-25; MAGEE, Torris 1-2; MICHAELSON,S. 2-1; TEAM 2-minus 10. PASSING: Arkansas State-Leonard, Corey 9-23-1-118.Southern Miss-YOUNG, Jeremy 13-24-1-123. RECEIVING: Arkansas State-Thompkins, B. 3-37; Gillott, Trevor 2-39; Dejohnette, L. 2-28; Jones, Kevin 1-10;Brown, Preston 1-4. Southern Miss-MAGEE, Torris 3-22; NELSON, Shawn 2-37;BAPTISTE, G. 2-21; MORGAN, Ed 2-16; FLETCHER, D. 2-6; WEBB, Thomas 1-11;MICHAELSON, S. 1-10.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (11/24/07) — Arkansas State’s hopes of becom-ing bowl eligible were dashed when the Indians suffered a narrow16-10 loss at Southern Mississippi. The loss leaves ASU with a 5-7 recordfor the 2007 season.

Running back Reggie Arnold rushed 13 times for 87 yards to goover the 1,000-yard mark for rushing yards in a season for the secondconsecutive season. Arnold finished with 1,050 yards to become theonly ASU player in school history to have two straight 1,000-yard rush-ing seasons in his first two years.

Both teams remained scoreless through the first quarter until safe-ty Tyrell Johnson intercepted USM quarterback Jeremy Young at theASU 49 and returned the ball 39 yards. Johnson fumbled the footballafter a hit by the Golden Eagles’ Calvin Wilson, but Prince Hickmanalertly recovered the fumble at the USM 11 to keep possession for theTribe. Four plays later, Josh Arauco put ASU on the scoreboard witha 24-yard field goal at 14:10 to give the Indians the 3-0 lead.

The Golden Eagles managed their first score near the end of thesecond period when running back Damion Fletcher punched it infrom the one-yard line. The PAT was good by Justin Estes, giving USMthe 7-3 lead with 1:06 until the half.

USM scored again in the third period at 9:23 on an Estes 21-yard

field goal and ASU countered with a three-yard run by BrandonThompkins to knot things up, 10-10. The game’s final two scorescame in the fourth quarter courtesy of Estes field goals—one from 29yards out and the other a 37-yarder.

ASU led in rushing with 42 carries for 242, while USM had 46 for 177.Indian quarterback Corey Leonard completed nine of 23 passes for118 yards and one interception. Arnold led the Indians in rushing withLeonard close behind, carrying the ball 17 times for 83 yards, andPreston Brown had 11 for 69. Southern Miss’ Fletcher led all rusherswith 133 yards on 27 carries.

Defensively, Johnson was ASU’s top tackler with nine stops andHickman, Javon McKinnon, and Koby McKinnon each added seven.

Seventeen seniors played their final collegiate game includingdefensive backs Darren Toney, Tyrell Johnson, Montis Harrison, andKhayyam Burns; running back Chris Easley; wide receivers Chris Miller,Levi Dejohnette, Joe Smith; linebacker Koby McKinnon; offensivelinemen Matt Reibe, Heath Lockley, Vincent Thrower, and Kyle Koets;and defensive linemen Prince Hickman, Curtis Bonds, BrandonRollins, Rob Ramage.

Tyrell Johnson recorded a team-high nine tackles and one intercep-tion that he returned 40 yards against Southern Miss.


2007 GAME RECAPS


2007 FINAL STATISTICS


2007 TEAM GAME-BY-GAME STATISTICS


2007 TEAM STATISTICS


2007 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS


2007 DEFENSIVE STATISTICS


2007 TEAM GAME HIGHS


2007 INDIVIDUAL GAME HIGHS

2008 ARKANSAS STATE SPRING PROSPECTUS

AUGUST 28* Troy at Middle Tennessee

AUGUST 30Arkansas State at Texas A&M

Florida Atlantic at TexasFlorida International at Kansas

Louisiana-Lafayette at Southern MississippiLouisiana-Monroe at AuburnNorth Texas at Kansas State

WKU at Indiana

SEPTEMBER 6Texas Southern at Arkansas State

UAB at Florida AtlanticFlorida International at Iowa

Arkansas at Louisiana-Monroe (!)Maryland at Middle Tennessee

Tulsa at North TexasTroy at LSU

WKU at Eastern Kentucky

SEPTEMBER 13Southern Mississippi at Arkansas State

Florida Atlantic at Michigan StateLouisiana-Lafayette at Illinois

Alabama A&M at Louisiana-MonroeMiddle Tennessee at Kentucky

North Texas at LSUAlcorn State at Troy

WKU at Alabama

SEPTEMBER 20* Middle Tennessee at Arkansas State

Florida Atlantic at MinnesotaSouth Florida at Florida International

Kent State at Louisiana-LafayetteLouisiana-Monroe at Tulane

Troy at Ohio StateMurray State at WKU

SEPTEMBER 27Arkansas State at Memphis

Florida International at ToledoLouisiana-Lafayette at Kansas State

North Texas at RiceTroy at Oklahoma State

WKU at Kentucky

SEPTEMBER 30* Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee

OCTOBER 4* Florida International at North Texas

* Louisiana-Lafayette at Louisiana-MonroeWKU at Virginia Tech

OCTOBER 7* Troy at Florida Atlantic

OCTOBER 11* Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas State

* Middle Tennessee at Florida International* Louisiana-Lafayette at North Texas

Ball State at WKU

OCTOBER 18* Arkansas State at Louisiana-Lafayette

Florida Atlantic at WKU* Florida International at Troy

* North Texas at Louisiana-MonroeMiddle Tennessee at Louisville

OCTOBER 25* Florida Atlantic at Louisiana-MonroeMiddle Tennessee at Mississippi State

* Troy at North Texas

NOVEMBER 1Arkansas State at Alabama

* Florida International at Louisiana-Lafayette* Troy at Louisiana-Monroe

North Texas at WKU

NOVEMBER 8* Arkansas State at Florida International

* North Texas at Florida AtlanticUTEP at Louisiana-Lafayette

* Louisiana-Monroe at Middle TennesseeWKU at Troy

NOVEMBER 15* Louisiana-Lafayette at Florida Atlantic

Louisiana-Monroe at Ole MissMiddle Tennessee at WKU

NOVEMBER 22* Florida Atlantic at Arkansas State

* Louisiana-Monroe at Florida International* Louisiana-Lafayette at Troy

* North Texas at Middle Tennessee

NOVEMBER 29* Arkansas State at North Texas

* Florida International at Florida Atlantic

DECEMBER 3* Middle Tennessee at Louisiana-Lafayette

DECEMBER 6* Arkansas State at Troy

WKU at Florida International

* denotes Sun Belt Conference Game(!) denotes game to be played in Little Rock, Ark.

2008 COMPOSITE SUN BELT CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TV RADIO TIME

Aug. 30 at Texas A&M College Station, TX TBA ASRN TBA

SEPT. 6 TEXAS SOUTHERN JONESBORO TBA ASRN TBA

SEPT. 13 SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI JONESBORO TBA ASRN TBA(HALL OF HONOR WEEKEND)

SEPT. 20 MIDDLE TENNESSEE* JONESBORO TBA ASRN TBA(HOMECOMING, ASU OPEN)

Sept. 27 at Memphis Memphis, TN TBA ASRN TBA

OCT. 11 LOUISIANA-MONROE* JONESBORO TBA ASRN TBA(JAZZ IN JONESBORO)

Oct. 18 at Louisiana-Lafayette* Lafayette, LA TBA ASRN TBA

Nov. 1 at Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL TBA ASRN TBA

Nov. 8 at Florida International* Miami, FL TBA ASRN TBA

NOV. 22 FLORIDA ATLANTIC* JONESBORO TBA ASRN TBA(SENIOR NIGHT)

Nov. 29 at North Texas* Denton, TX TBA ASRN TBA

Dec. 6 at Troy* Troy, AL TBA ASRN TBA

*Sun Belt Conference game All Times Central

ARKANSAS STATE FOOTBALL2008 SCHEDULE

football spring prospectus - nmnathletics.com state spring game & family day cookout - april 5,...

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