Just a few weeks into the Butch Jones Golden Era of Red Wolves Football, we’re already on our third offensive coordinator. To sum: Major Applewhite moonwalked to Mobile, and A.J. Milwee decided it was better to be quarterbacks coach at Texas. Spurned twice, Arkansas State looked within and found Keith Heckendorf’s stuff already in the OC office. Is this a good idea?
First of all, I happen to know that Rex Steele drives a Subaru Impreza and he graduated with a degree in marketing, so his analysis and metaphors are sad and weak. Secondly, maybe the entire coaching staff doesn’t need to be a chlorine shock to the players.
After all, one of the things that actually worked for the Red Wolves in 2020 was the offense. In Heckendorf’s two years running the offense, A-State total offensive has ranked 26th and 33rd in the nation. In 2020, the Red Wolves ranked second in the nation for passing. This is with an offensive line that hasn’t really dominated and established a run game.
Speaking of the run game, Jones recruited Matt Limegrover and his impressive LinkedIn resume to coach the offensive line and be run game coordinator. That leaves Heckendorf to continue molding Layne Hatcher, Jeff Foreman and Corey Rucker into an elite air force squadron.
Butch Jones seems hype enough to have Heckendorf back. Per A-State press release:
“Coach Heckendorf is an individual that I have known for a number of years dating back to his days at North Carolina,” said Jones. “I have always had a tremendous amount of respect for him as a person, a mentor and a coach and have followed the success of his offenses for a number of years. Everywhere I have coached, Coach Heckendorf has always been on the top of my list, including from day one when I took the job at Arkansas State, and we are very excited to have him leading our offense.”
Hey, listen, that’s good enough for me.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Harper
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