ArkansasArkansas SSttateate 20062006 SSpringpring ProspectusProspectus University / Football Quick Facts Football Information Location . .Jonesboro, Ark. Head coach . .Steve Roberts Enrollment . .10,508 Alma Mater . .Ouachita Baptist (1987) Nickname . .Indians Record at ASU . .20-28 (four years) Mascot . .Indian Family Overall Record . .69-61-1 (12 years) Spirit Character . .“Red” Assistant Coaches / Pos. Colors . .Scarlet and Black . .Doug Ruse - OC / QB (NW Missouri ‘86) Founded . .1909 . .Kevin Corless - Co-DC / LB (NW Missouri ‘85) Stadium . .Indian Stadium (30,406) . .Jack Curtis - Co-DC / Safeties (Evangel ‘83) Surface . .Artificial Turf (ProGreen) . .Tate Behne / TE (NE Okla. St. ‘97) Affiliation . .NCAA 1-A . .Tony Gilbert (CB/Recr. Coor SW Mo. St. ‘89) Conference . .Sun Belt Conference . .David Gunn / RB (Arkansas ‘87) Radio Network . .Arkansas State Radio Network . .Darren Hiller / OL (West Texas St. ‘94) University President . .Dr. Les Wyatt . .Kevin Peoples / DL (Carroll College ‘93) Athletic Director . .Dr. Dean Lee . .Mike McCarty / WR (Oregon ‘88) Faculty Athletic Rep. .Nonie Wiggins Senior Woman Admin. .Melanie Richardson Support Staff Compliance Coor. .Randy Kalman . .John Arce / strength and conditioning Dir. of Game Management . .Randy Knowles . .Ron Carroll / Athletic Trainer . .Ryan Dickson / Equipment Supervisor Media Information Athletic Media Rel. Dir. .Gina Bowman Other Information . [email protected] First year of FB at ASU . .1911 Assistant / FB Contact . .Bill Bowen Style of Offense . .Multiple . [email protected] Style of Defense . .4-3 (base) Website . .ASUIndians.com Lettermen Returning (o/d/s) . .46 (21/24/1) Lettermen Lost (o/d/s) . .15 (9/5/1) Key Phone Numbers (area code 870) Starters Returning (o/d/s) . .18 (6/9/0) Football . .972-2082 Starters Lost (o/d/s) . .8 (5/2/1) Media Relations Office . .972-2541 Media Relations Fax . .972-3367 2006 Football Schedule Bowen’s Cell . .243-6021 9/2 ARMY Athletic Administration . .972-3880 9/9 OKLAHOMA STATE@ 9/16 OPEN 2005 Results 9/23 at Southern Methodist 9/3 vs. Missouri! L, 17-44 9/30 at Florida International* 9/10 Tennessee-Martin W, 56-7 10/7 LOUISIANA-MONROE* 9/17 at Oklahoma State L, 10-20 10/14 at Memphis 9/24 Florida International* W, 66-24 10/21 NORTH TEXAS*# 10/1 at Louisiana-Monroe* L, 27-31 10/28 at Florida Atlantic* 10/13 Louisiana-Lafayette* W, 39-36 10/22 Florida Atlantic* W, 3-0 (OT) 11/4 at Auburn 11/5 at Middle Tennessee* L, 7-45 11/11 MIDDLE TENNESSEE* 11/12 Troy* W, 9-3 11/18 at Troy* 11/19 at Army L, 10-38 11/25 at Louisiana-Lafayette* 11/26 at North Texas* W, 31-24 TBA New Orleans Bowl 12/20 Southern Mississippi# L, 19-31 ! - Played at Arrowhead Stadium (K.C., Mo.) @ - game to be played in Little Rock, Ark. * - Sun Belt Game * - denotes Sun Belt Conference game # - New Orleans Bowl (Lafayette, La.) # - Homecoming 2006 Team Information Starters returning (15 total : 6 offense / 9 defense / 0 spec.) LT Matt Mandich C Tanner Jenkins RG Kyle Koets WR Levi Dejohnette WR Gary Vincent FB Oren O’Neal DE Brian Flagg NT Jamarrow James DE Jonathan Najm LB Chris Littleton LB Devrett Wade LB Koby McKinnon FS Khayyam Burns SS Tyrell Johnson CB Montis Harrison Starters lost (8 total : 5 offense / 2 defense / 1 spec.) LG Lance Martin RT Cody Brown TE Manuel Burton RB Antonio Warren QB Nick Noce DT Myron Anderson CB James Johnson Lettermen returning (46 : 21 o / 24 d / 1 spec) Lettermen lost (15 : 9 o / 5 d / 1 spec) Primary offense : Pro Set Primary defense : base 4-3 Midterm singees : DE Rob Ramage : 6-3 / 230 / Hernando, Miss. (Hernando)(Northwest Miss. CC) 2005 Signees : OL Tom Castilaw : 6-4 / 270 / Flower Mound, Texas (Flower Mound) LB Kurt Delt : 6-2 / 228 / Fort Smith, Ark. (Northside) RB Chris Diggs : 5-10 / 175 / Hamburg, Ark. (Hamburg) DB Marlon Douglas : 5-10 / 170 / Memphis, Tenn. (White Station) S-LB Darious Glover : 6-2 / 210 / Bossier City, La. (Airline) DL Bryan Hall : 6-2 / 260 / Paducah, Ky. (Tilghman) LB Gregory Hardy : 6-0 / 215 / Memphis, Tenn. (Melrose)* OL-DL Rudy Harrell : 6-6 / 280 / Monticello, Ark. (Monticello) OL Drew Hilton : 6-4 / 295 / Batesville, Ark. (Batesville) OL Tyson Holligan : 6-2 / 315 / Carrollton, Texas (Newman Smith) DB M.D. Jennings : 6-0 / 165 / Calhoun City, Miss. (Calhoun City) QB T.C. Jennings : 6-2 / 185 / Brentwood, Tenn. (Ravenwood) DB Maurice Langston : 5-10 / 180 / Meridian, Miss. (Northeast Lauderdale) OL-DL Alfred Louis : 6-3 / 280 / Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Fort Lauderdale) DE Dean Madison : 6-3 / 230 / Colleyville, Texas (Harvest Christian Academy) LB Javon McKinnon : 6-0 / 205 / Memphis, Tenn. (Melrose) FB Danny McNeal : 6-1 / 227 / Osceola, Ark. (Osceola) S-WR Erick Stone : 6-3 / 198 / Little Rock, Ark. (Parkview) K Brian Sheffield : 6-2 / 210 / Plano, Texas (Plano) DL Levi Thompson : 6-4 / 245 / Peculiar, Mo. (Raymore-Peculiar) DL Jeremy Wallace : 6-5 / 225 / West Memphis, Ark. (West Memphis)* WR Jonathan White : 5-11 / 175 / Franklin, Tenn. (Battle Ground Academy) DB Marquette Williams : 6-0 / 185 / West Memphis, Ark. (West Memphis) * - denotes originally signed with ASU last year but sat out 2005 due to academic require- ments HeadHead CoachCoach SSteveteve RobertRobertss Steve Roberts came to Arkansas State University and brought with him a fresh enthusiasm, energy, and an “I Will” philosophy that has been adopt- ed by everyone associated with the program. “I Will” became the rallying cry and soon changed to “We Did” in 2005 when Roberts and the Indians took a Sun Belt Conference championship to the New Orleans Bowl. ASU finished the season with a 6-6 record and turned the heads of a lot of football experts toward Jonesboro. For his efforts, Roberts was named Sun Belt Conference “Coach of the Year.” After going 6-7 and finishing third in the league rankings in his inaugural season, the Indians finished in the top ten turnarounds by Division I-A football schools. Also, attendance increased significantly in 2002 and has been growing since. But, wait! The 2003 season saw a lot of success as well. Attendance increased even more, two defensive linemen ended up in the National Football League, the team won the Sun Belt Conference academic award, and so on, and so on, and so on. The 2004 season exploded when it came to fan involvement. Take a look at the Memphis game...a record crowd of 30,427 and a sea of red to cheer on the Indians. There were also accolades for nation- al and Sun Belt honors for players, and one player signed a contract with the NFL Seattle Seahawks. Then 2005 was the year?another SBC academic award, all-conference players, a bowl game, unde- feated in Indian Stadium, strong recruiting?you name it, Roberts and the Indians did it. After his first season as the Indians’ football chief, Roberts became the first ASU head coach since Gene Harlow (in 1955) to win at least six games in his first year as a head coach. Also, ASU’s two road wins at Louisiana-Monroe and Idaho were the most since 1989. Roberts, a native of Little Rock, was named Arkansas State’s 26th head football coach on December 21, 2001, to bring full circle his coaching odyssey from his home state through Louisiana and back. But, the trek has been a successful one, including an 8-4 record and national ranking in Division I-AA in 2000 at Northwestern (La.) State. Roberts spent two seasons at NSU where he and his staff and team took on a tough schedule, which included a 27-24 overtime upset at TCU. While at NSU, Roberts was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach Quick File of Steve Roberts of the Year Award. Coaching Record 69-61-1 (12 years) Prior to going to NSU, Roberts served as the head coach and at Arkansas State (20-28) defensive coordinator at Southern Arkansas University in 2005 6-6 / 5-2 (First) Magnolia from 1994-99. While there, his 1997 team won the 2004 3-8 / 3-4 (6th) Gulf South Championship, earning him Gulf South Coach of 2003 5-7 / 3-3 (t-4th) the Year honors. The Muleriders finished with a cumulative record of 26-5 from 1997-99, including 9-1 in 1999, 8-2 in 2002 6-7 / 3-3 (3rd) 1998 and 9-2 in 1997. at NW State (14-8) 2001 6-5 During that span, his teams enjoyed top conference rankings in scoring offense, scoring defense, total offense and total 2000 8-3 defense. At SAU, he also served as the defensive secondary at Southern Arkansas (35-25-1) coach and recruiting coordinator from 1990-94 before being 1999 9-1 named head coach. Academically, his program ranked first in academic achievements in the Gulf South Conference three 1998 8-2 seasons. 1997 9-2 1996 4-6 Roberts, an avid fisherman, graduated from Robinson High School in Little Rock. A 1987 graduate of Ouachita Baptist 1995 4-6 University, Roberts received his masters from SAU in 1989. 1994 1-8-1 20062006 SSpringpring PreviewPreview Battle for quarterback and tailback slots will highlight ASU spring practice The not-so-distant sounds of celebration can still be heard on and around the campus at Arkansas State after winning the Sun Belt Conference Championship and earning the accompanying berth in the New Orleans Bowl. Quarterback Nick Noce and tailbacks Antonio Warren and Shermar Bracey led the football team into the school’s first-ever I-A bowl game. But that was in 2005. The 2006 team has some holes to fill, especially on offense, but an experienced defense returns to lead the charge into a new season to repeat at SBC Champions.