Arkansas State Red Wolves Secure 10 Commitments over the Weekend

Written by Ryan Wright

Few programs can tout rising up from adversity as well as Arkansas State has been able to do in recent years. The program tucked up in northeast Arkansas, about an hour away from Memphis, has been a consistent winner on the field despite going through an unusual amount of coaching turnover in the past five years, but with a positive angle.

Starting in 2011 with Hugh Freeze, the Red Wolves hired one top of the line coach after another only to see them take another high-end head coaching position a year later. Freeze took off to Ole Miss helping the Rebels program trend upwards.

In 2012 Gus Malzahn came in before heading back to Auburn but this time as the head coach immediately pushing the Tigers into the BCS National Championship Game against Florida State. When 2013 rolled around Bryan Harsin continued the winning trend helping ASU to their third straight GoDaddy.com bowl invite finishing 7-5 after Freeze posted a 10-3 record and Malzahn with a 10-3 mark.

In 2014 Blake Anderson took over after two seasons as North Carolina’s offensive coordinator. Anderson kept the winning ways going despite all the adversity finishing with a 7-6 record and another GoDaddy.com bowl invitation.

Winning at ASU is not necessarily easy. Each year the Red Wolves go on the road to play Power Five Conference teams in hostile environments. In 2014 ASU played on the road at Tennessee and Miami and in 2015 the Red Wolves start the season off at USC in Los Angeles before returning home to host SEC East power Missouri before heading into a tough Sun Belt Conference schedule.

One of the keys to winning is recruiting and ASU’s efforts on the recruiting trail paid off handsomely over the weekend. The Red Wolves hosted recruits from all over the region leading to an impressive haul of 10 verbal commitments. The group included:
WR Onyx Brown, 6’3”, 205 lbs, Robertsdale HS, Robertsdale, AL
WR Troy Grant, 6’3”, 200 lbs, Highland C.C., Highland, KS
WR Shannon Smith, 6’4”, 208 lbs, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, Miami, OK
WR Shawn Thomas, 6’0”, 185 lbs, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, Miami, OK
WR Cedrick Wilson, 6’3”, 170 lbs, Coffeyville C.C., Coffeyville, KS
RB Jeremy Lewis, 6’1”, 193 lbs, Lone Grove HS, Lone Grove, OK
RB Torrance Marable, 5’10”, 180 lbs, Towers HS, Decatur, GA
CB Jeremy Smith, 5’11”, 157 lbs, Atlanta HS, Atlanta, TX
FS Ben Sukut, 6’1”, 175 lbs, Capistrano Valley Christian, San Juan Capistrano, CA
SS Trent Ellis, 6’2”, 190 lbs, Daphne HS, Daphne, AL

Arkansas State now has 16 verbal commitments to their 2016 class landing recruits from eight different states. The weekend haul included five 3-star recruits with a heavy emphasis on the offensive side of the ball, five wide receivers and two running backs.

Previous ASU Class of 2016 Verbal Commitments
CB William Bryant, 6’1”, 185 lbs, Lee County HS, Leesburg, GA
QB Logan Bonner, 6’0.5”, 206 lbs, Rowlett HS, Rowlett, TX
WR Brandon Bowling, 5’9”, 164 lbs, McKinney Boyd HS, McKinney, TX
OG Jacob Still, 6’1”, 285 lbs, St. George Independent, Collierville, TN
OT Jacob Atnip, 6’6”, 305 lbs, Sheridan HS, Sheridan, AR
OT Troy Elliott, 6’5”, 290 lbs, Marcus HS, Flower Mound, TX

Photo credit: Arkansas State;