Depth first step toward upgrade

The second in a series previewing position groups for the Arkansas State University football team.

Finding Arkansas State on a defensive statistic leaderboard last season probably took some scrolling and clicking.

Second-to-last in total defense. Seventh-to-last in scoring defense. And no team among the 130 in the Football Bowl Subdivision allowed more rushing yards per game than the Red Wolves.

But there was a stat where ASU ranked near the top — and it’s one that perhaps explains the others: Kivon Bennett and Joe Ozougwu were both among the top 10 defensive lineman nationally in snaps played, each averaging upward of 60 per game.

At a position where rotational depth can be paramount to success, those exorbitant snap counts decimated the ASU defense late in games.

Consider the Oct. 21 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette, when the Ragin’ Cajuns bled the final 10:26 off the clock on 20 plays, all but one of them on the ground. Or the second half of a Nov. 6 defeat against Appalachian State, when ASU was shut out 24-0 and outgained 236-52.

To think that’s going to change with Bennett and Ozougwu — both All-Sun Belt Conference honorees — no longer a part of the Red Wolves’ defensive front might seem like lunacy.

The presence of depth this time around, however, suggests otherwise.

“They’ll definitely be able to keep those guys a little more fresh and rotate them a bit more because they have so much talent down there,” said Bennett, whose father Cornelius Bennett was an All-Pro linebacker in the NFL.

While Ozougwu exhausted his eligibility last season, Bennett isn’t going far, moving back from edge rusher to outside linebacker. But it’s given him the chance to watch ASU’s defensive line from a new vantage point.

And Bennett certainly has his eyes on Thurman Geathers, a fifth-year senior who joined the Red Wolves prior to last season after spending three years at Louisville.

Geathers also has NFL bloodlines — his uncle, Jumpy, was a Super Bowl champion with Washington in 1992. He and redshirt freshman Dennard Flowers have spent most of fall camp manning the two first-team edge spots.

“Everything in our program is based on how can we create value for the individual,” ASU Coach Butch Jones said. “All that goes into that, Dennard is a synopsis of that in one year — how far he’s come as a student, his style of play, the way he takes care of his body, his growth and his development.”

Jones acknowledged the challenge of making up for Ozougwu’s production — 71/2 sacks and 16 tackles for loss — and it’s unlikely any one player will be able to match those numbers alone.

But multiple waves should help the cause. Hazen native and former Arkansas Razorback Blayne Toll will be right in the mix after spending most of last fall in the ASU program. Redshirt freshman Israel Whitmore has been paired with Toll on the second team, and a combination of Purdue transfer Robert McWilliams, sophomore Ethan Hassler and true freshman Keyron Crawford have cycled in as well.

“You’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t played a ton of snaps, so you’ve got guys right now trying to learn how to compete,” defensive coordinator Rob Harley said. “[They’re] trying to show out and say, ‘Hey, I deserve to be here.’ … A lot of guys are hungry to be in the mix.”

All of that doesn’t even account for the interior — John Mincey and TW Ayers each have starting experience, although Ayers’ came on the edge. He’s now added 40 pounds and will shift inside to defensive tackle, adding a veteran to a group that is mostly comprised of freshmen and sophomores.

The Red Wolves’ defensive front might be the one position group where no player is yet a lock to start Week 1.

So long as it goes better than a year ago, that’s OK with them.

“We want to be that group on the team that sets the standard,” Ayers said. “When other teams turn the film on, [we want them to] get a little worried when they see us.”