Butch Jones, now in his fifth year as Arkansas State head football coach, often waxes philosophically about the zen of winning. Specifically, he speaks of creating a winning mentality; who’s playing winning football (and who isn’t)? He wants to know what winning football even looks like. He’s willing to dig deeper. He talks about getting 1% better every day, and playing 11 for 11, and creating a hot pocket. He talks about a player led team. He talks about eye discipline. He talks about taking care of your body.
All of this sounds like coach speak to the uninitiated, but after half a decade, we begin to smell what Coach Jones is actually cooking. We’re not being treated to a serving of coach speak. Butch Jones is establishing mantras – codes of discipline he expects to see on living display in the locker room and on the gridiron.
Is 2025 the season when the Red Wolves crack the code? All the clues will be formally presented to us this Saturday when the Red Wolves host the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, an FCS program not without some big league skills. Led by head coach Tom Matukewicz, now in his 12th season, the Redhawks went 9-3 last season and made a brief appearance in the FCS Playoffs. These guys know winning football.
Who Are These Hawks of Red?
SEMO is located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the school fielded its first football team way back in 1902 (or maybe 1904, Wikipedia seems confused). In that time, the program claims 21 conference championships, and they were once coached by a man awesomely named Tom Thrower.
This season, the Redhawks are projected to finish third in the Ohio Valley behind Tennessee Tech and UT Martin. The OVC doesn’t really do preseason all-conference teams, but eight members of the roster have received the conference’s “Players to Watch” designation: Payton Brown (So., RB), Brandon Epton, Jr. (Sr., RB), Cam Pedro (Jr., WR), Rashad Turner (Sr., OL), Nasim Cairo (Sr., DL), McCoy Casey (Sr., LB), Justus Johnson (Sr., DB), and Judd Cunningham (Sr., LS). We should probably keep an eye on those guys.
Last year, the Redhawks weren’t much for running the ball, but an air attack led by Paxton DeLaurent (2591 yards, 22 TDs) was more than enough to generate 30+ points per game. DeLaurent is no longer in the Redhawks huddle. This year, the offense is led by enormous quarterback Jax Leatherwood, a 6’8″ and 253-pound skyscraper originally recruited to Nevada as a three-star prospect. He’ll be the tallest guy on the field this Saturday (A-State offensive linemen Noah Smith and Noah Hacker are both listed as 6’7″.)
Leatherwood spent last season at San Diego Mesa College we he started 11 games and passed for 2,472 yards and 26 touchdowns. He knows where the end zone is, and his primary target will likely be former Marshall wide receiver Cam Pedro, who collected 897 yards and four touchdowns last season.
Defensively, the Red Wolves will need to put the brakes on Nasim Cairo, a 6’2″ 272-pound defensive end who accrued four sacks last season. Another guy to neutralize, 2nd Team All-OVC defensive back Justus Johnson (6’1″ 187), who collected a couple of picks last season.
Butch Speak
“Before you can win the game, you have to not lose the game.”
Amen, brutha.
Three Things We Want to See from Arkansas State
- Instant Synergy Between Jaylen Raynor and Corey Rucker. Last season, that connection seemed slow to develop and inconsistent all year. We’d like to see Raynor get the ball to Rucker early and often.
- Domination in the Trenches. The Redhawks offensive line is shallow compared to Arkansas State’s. We’d like to see the Red Wolves defensive front put plenty of pressure on Leatherwood and crush all hope of a Redhawks run game. Likewise, we want to see A-State’s heavy offensive line create plenty of room for JaQuez Cross and Co. to rack up yards.
- Rotation. Rotation. Rotation. Especially at the defensive and offensive lines. We’d like bodies to be kept fresh for the bigger games approaching.
Arkansas State Depth Chart
“We don’t really have a depth chart right now,” said Butch Jones on Tuesday, implying that the chart is a work on progress. Some surprises: Defensive end Bryan Whitehead listed behind Demarcus Hendricks, the 6’2″ 246 transfer from Texas A&M-Kingsville. Also, redshirt freshman Josh Flowers beats out Southern Miss transfer Ethan Crawford for QB2. Javante Mackey’s experiment at defensive end appears to be over, too.
Threads
Final Analysis
Once glance as the depth chart shows us a lot of newness on the defensive side of the ball – but not a lot of inexperience. Avante Dickerson, AG McGee, Cody Sigler and Trenton Alan Yowe among others are well-practiced hands. Now it’s time to gel. I expect to see a lot of experimental football this Saturday, with players rotating in and out. But I don’t expect Butch Jones to underestimate this opponent in the least. Look for the Red Wolves to establish themselves early for a solid, not-spectacular victory.
IMAGE: AI monstrosity
Howlraiser 