Arkansas State 2017 Football Preview

Arkansas State ended last season on an impressive note by defeating Scott Frost’s Central Florida squad 31-13 in the Cure Bowl. Despite the game being essentially a home game for UCF (being played just 16 miles from campus), the Red Wolves dominated the Knights all game long. The bowl victory capped off an 8-1 conclusion to A-State’s 2016 season, matching the last parts of their 2015 season.

While Arkansas State has done very well in October and November the last two seasons, September has been another matter entirely, going 1-7 the last two season. Granted, some of those losses have been payday games on the road against Power Five competition (a 51-14 loss to Auburn last season), but others were just plain bad. Last season, A-State lost 31-10 at home to Toledo and 28-23 to 1-AA Central Arkansas.

(Good thing, the Huskers are playing the Red Wolves to open the season, right?)

Last season, Pitt graduate transfer Chad Voytik claimed the starting job in preseason practice, but after three games, A-State turned to Justice Hansen (6’4″ 207 lbs.) A former four-star quarterback recruit, Hansen redshirted his freshman season then decided to leave after finding himself behind Trevor Knight and Baker Mayfield on the post-spring 2015 depth chart. After a season at Butler Community College, he found himself at Arkansas State, though initially behind Voytik. For the season, he completed 58% of his passes for 2,719 yards and 19 touchdowns with eight interceptions. He’s a pro-style quarterback, though with some mobility, netting 131 yards gained on the ground with a touchdown.