Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

7/12/2010 at 12:00am

Critics will be closely monitoring ASU Coach Steve Roberts this season.

Arkansas State will not be among the on-paper favorites to win the Sun Belt Conference in 2010 — which, of course, should tell everyone that Steve Roberts’ Red Wolves will probably be dangerous and, if not a contender, at least a spoiler.

After last season, when ASU returned 15 fifth-year seniors and dominated the preseason All-Sun Belt teams with the top offensive, defensive and special teams players, that would seem only fair. ASU was pegged to battle Troy for the top in 2009, lost in heartbreaking fashion in late September to the Trojans before a huge home crowd, suffered an inordinate amount of season-ending injuries, and subsequently fell hard.

ASU, with Roberts on the coaching hot seat, will be in perfect position to surprise in 2010. But, truth be told, the Sun Belt doesn’t usually have many surprises. Troy wins. And the Trojans win again. For four straight seasons, the Alabama school has won or shared the league title and advanced to bowl games. The Sun Belt winner gets a spot annually in the New Orleans Bowl. Or, in Troy’s case, the Trojans (8-0 in winning the league last year) have enough pull to land somewhere else occasionally and give another Sun Belt squad a taste of the Crescent City before Christmas.

If Troy is to finally be pushed off its perch, it will likely be dethroned by Middle Tennessee, which has been carefully developed over the past four years by Coach Rick Stockstill. Middle’s breakthrough came last year in a 10-3 season, 7-1 in the conference, with the lone loss coming at Troy (of course), 31-7. Middle was the Sun Belt’s representative in the New Orleans Bowl, where the Blue Raiders outscored Southern Miss 42-32.

Last year’s record for the Blue Raiders wasn’t the result of upperclassmen all coming together for one last shot, either. Most of the talent is back for 2010. Maybe that had something to do with Stockstill turning down an offer to move to East Carolina, where he has previously worked as offensive coordinator.

Versatile Dwight Dasher (2,800 yards passing and nearly 1,200 yards running) returns at quarterback. Dasher was the MVP in the New Orleans Bowl. D.D. Kyles (857 yards rushing) is back at tailback. Brandon McLeroy, Alex Stuart and Mark Fisher lead up front. Middle also welcomes back Phillip Tanner, who redshirted in 2009 and rushed for 714 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2008. Middle may have the league’s best place-kicker in Alan Gendreau.

The main question for the Blue Raiders is whether they can improve on a defense that allowed 23 points per game. Jamari Lattimore, an end, is among several talented returnees.

Middle scored a monumental win for the conference last year in a 32-31 upset at Maryland. This year, the Blue Raiders take on the Big Ten’s Minnesota in the season opener Sept. 2 and also visit Georgia Tech on Oct. 16. They get Troy at home in the league showcase game.

Troy will have to replace quarterback Levi Brown to continue its wide-open offensive success, which last year averaged 33 points per game. Junior Jamie Hampton redshirted last season and takes over for Brown. Hampton was the starter for five games in 2008, completing 62 percent of his passes, before tearing up a knee.

Dantavious Parker and highly touted freshman Corey Robinson could also challenge at quarterback if Hampton has more knee problems. Running backs Shawn Southward and DuJuan Harris are back for the Trojans, as is wideout Jerrel Jernigan, who averaged 173.2 all-purpose yards per Sun Belt game.

Even though the Trojans went unscathed in the league, Troy Coach Larry Blakeney has had better defenses than the one that took the field last year, giving up nearly 30 points a game, including 44 in a three-point bowl loss to Central Michigan. Expect to see a lot of new faces in the front seven. Sophomore corner Bryan Willis, though, is a potential star.

Louisiana-Lafayette upset Kansas State last season, but that big nonconference win didn’t translate into league play, and the Ragin’ Cajuns went 6-6 for the year. The offense was inconsistent and the defense was as porous as any around, giving up more than 30 points per game.

Junior quarterback Chris Masson is back, as well as two of his favorite receivers: tight end Ladarius Green and wideout Marlin Miller. The Ragin’ Cajuns hope to run the football better in 2010 than they did last year. Yobes Walker will be counted on to handle the rushes. End Nate Douglas is back after a redshirt season to lead the defense with Terrell Richardson on the other side.

Howard Schnellenberger has Florida Atlantic improving, but like most of the league, FAU also plays a bruising nonconference schedule. He’ll have senior Jeff Vancamp back at quarterback after a strong finish to 2009, including a 35-18 win over Arkansas State. Alfred Morris had 1,392 rushing yards last season, including gaining 95 against Nebraska’s dominant defense. Lester Jean is back at receiver.

FAU’s defense — this seems to be the common thread in the Sun Belt — is the area needing most attention at improving on allowing nearly 34 points per game last year. Kevin Cyrille returns to the line.

Florida International went 3-9 last year and then suffered an off-season tragedy when running back Kendall Berry was stabbed to death in an argument on campus. The Golden Panthers will search for a new quarterback as well among Wayne Younger, Wesley Carroll (transfer from Mississippi State) and freshman Chris Schirripa. Running back Jeremiah Harden transferred in from Syracuse and redshirted last year.

Of course, the defense was as bad as most of the other Sun Belt bottom feeders, giving up more than 35 points a game last year.

Todd Berry replaced longtime Louisiana-Monroe Coach Charlie Weatherbie in the off-season after serving as associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Nevada-Las Vegas. Monroe went 6-6 last season and hasn’t had a winning season in 17 years. Berry was Weatherbie’s offensive coordinator in 2004-05, one of the best stretches of offense for the War Hawks behind all-everything quarterback Steven Jyles.

Quarterbacks Trey Revell and Cody Wells will operate out of the spread now, and they have Frank Goodin to assume the running load. Defensive back Darious Prelow is the best defender on a unit that surrendered 27.3 points per game last year.

ULM has Arkansas, Auburn and LSU on its schedule. Weatherbie faced similar rough slates every year, making more than six wins nearly impossible for the program to achieve. Still, ULM ousted the likeable Weatherbie at season’s end.

Time is about to run out on former high school coaching sensation Todd Dodge at North Texas if the Mean Green don’t improve on last year’s 2-10 mark. His wide-open offense has developed in three years, but the defense is still a joke, last year giving up 35.6 points per game. At least Dodge decided his son, former starter quarterback Riley Dodge, is better suited for receiver. Nathan Tune and Derek Thompson will contend for the quarterback job.

Western Kentucky hasn’t won in 20 games. Willie Taggart takes over as coach after serving as running backs coach at Stanford. He was an assistant at WKU from 1999-2006 while the school was competing in I-AA.

Predictions
Middle Tennessee
Troy
Arkansas State
Louisiana-Lafayette
Florida Atlantic
Louisiana-Monroe
Florida International
North Texas
Western Kentucky

Offensive POY: Dwight Dasher, Middle Tennessee
Defensive POY: Bryan Hall, Arkansas State

Tagged: Steve Roberts, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, Rick Stockstill, Dwight Dasher, Brandon McLeroy, Alex Stuart, Mark Fisher, Levi Brown, Jamie Hampton, Dantavious Parker, Corey Robinson, DuJuan Harris, Larry Blakeney, Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns, Chris masson, Marlin Miller, Nate Douglas, Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic, Jeff Vancamp, Florida International, Kendall Berry, Golden Panthers, Todd Berry, Louisiana-Monroe War Hawks, Trey Revell, Cody Wells, North Texas, Todd Dodge, North Texas Mean Green, Florida International Golden Panthers, Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, Willie Taggart, Bryan Hall, Arkansas State Red Wolves, Sun Belt Conference, Troy Trojans