Michigan football had a moment of silence for alumnus James Earl Jones ahead of Saturday’s home game against Arkansas State.

Jones, one of the greatest voice actors in American cinema history and a Michigan graduate in the class of 1955, died on Monday at the age of 93. Jones, best known for his roles voicing characters in “Star Wars” and “Lion King,” was also the voice of Michigan football’s pregame hype video that introduces the team before running out of the tunnel. On Saturday, there was a moment of silence honoring Jones at Michigan Stadium before the introduction played.

After the news broke on Monday, Michigan football shared the intro video on social media with a caption saying, “Honoring the greatest voice in acting history and a Michigan icon. Rest in peace, James Earl Jones.”

Former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh recruited Jones to create the video in 2015. On Monday, Harbaugh said online that Jones, “carved a magical moment in our lives with his introduction of The Michigan football team each home game… “WE ARE MICHIGAN.”

Michigan football gets its first chance to rebound from last week’s crushing rout by Texas as Arkansas State, led by former CMU coach Butch Jones, visits the Big House at noon Saturday.

Five Free Press sports writers make their picks between the Wolverines, who are favored by more than three touchdowns, and the Red Wolves.

Tony Garcia

Arkansas State is expected to compete for the Sun Belt this year and can throw the ball. Michigan gets the perfect opponent against which to fix its run game — the Red Wolves’ defense is No. 114 in the nation, allowing 199 yards per game. This is the week Michigan’s offense gets back to basics and Kalel Mullings goes over the 100-yard mark with two scores. The pick: U-M 30, Arkansas State 7.

SCOUTING THE RED WOLVES: Michigan vs. Arkansas State football prediction and scouting report

Carlos Monarrez

With a fat new contract in hand, head coach Sherrone Moore needs to prove he’s worth it with a resounding bounce-back game against the 2-0 Red Wolves. That shouldn’t be a problem, considering Arkansas State’s weak run defense. The Wolverines will have such an easy time they’ll be able to start planning for USC at halftime. The pick: U-M 38, Arkansas State 13.

Rainer Sabin

Arkansas State’s unblemished record should probably have a loss pinned to it after a controversial call at the end of its opener against Central Arkansas went in its favor. This isn’t a great team, and it shouldn’t pose much of a threat to Michigan. But the Wolverines, with a languishing offense and underperforming defense, are a bit of a mess at the moment.

The shellacking administered by Texas last weekend removed Michigan’s aura of invincibility, and it may take a while for the Wolverines to recover from the beatdown. It’s why this game could be uncomfortably close in the early stages before the reigning national champs assert their supremacy and pull away. The pick: U-M 33, Arkansas State 14.

Jeff Seidel

The Wolverines are gonna win this game, I have little doubt. But I’m so interested to see how Michigan looks against a team like this. Because it will put the Texas debacle into some perspective. Was Texas so dominant because it’s headed for an appearance in the national championship game? (Probably.) Or did Michigan look so bad because they lost so much talent? This game will give us a clue. The pick: U-M 31 Arkansas State 10.

Shawn Windsor

Hey, we have no idea who the Wolverines are. Is Fresno State really good? Will Texas be the national champs? I bet Michigan is somewhere between its first and second performances. Though that could be a scary place, too. The pick: U-M 27, Arkansas State 16.

No. 22 Arkansas volleyball split two matches at the Tulsa Volleyball Invitational, falling to Tulsa 3-2 (21-25, 18-25, 25-17, 25-22, 8-15) on Thursday and beating Stephen F. Austin 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-13) on Friday.

Arkansas will face Miami, Florida International and Texas Tech in the Canes Classic in Miami beginning Sept. 19.

“The weekend in general showed us the need to be clean,” coach Jason Watson said. “We struggled Thursday night. Tonight, Friday, we had some nice production out of our left sides and so, different result.”

The Razorbacks struggled with outside scoring on Thursday and were better in Friday’s win, but that will be an emphasis heading into the Canes Classic at Miami.

Friday’s contest against Stephen F. Austin was a rematch of last season’s NCAA Tournament opener, which Arkansas also won in a 3-0 sweep.

The Razorbacks had a strong defensive outing, only allowing 13 points in each set, and had a balanced scoring effort. Olivia Ruy and Romani Thurman tied for a match-high 14 kills while Aniya Madkin had 13 kills.

The attack, particularly on the left side, was much improved over Thursday’s defeat. That will be an emphasis as Arkansas prepares for its nonconference-closing Miami trip.

“To come back out the next night, with a limited amount of prep, to be able to play the manner in which you try to play every match, I think that was a pretty significant moment for us,” Watson said. “For some young kids in some key spots, they’ve got to learn and they’ve got to grow.”

The Razorbacks fell behind 2-0 against the Golden Hurricane on Thursday before coming back to force a fifth set. Tulsa, Watson said, is a team that plays clean and can make it difficult to rebound from an early deficit.

Tulsa, led by Lauren Eitler’s 21-dig, 10-kill double-double, beat Arkansas 15-8 in the tie-breaking set to give the Razorbacks their first loss of the season.

“You can only do that so many times,” Watson said. “When you get into a fifth set like that, it’s a sprint, not a marathon. They jumped on us pretty good. You want to avoid that as much as you can.

“But there’s some good things. We didn’t roll over, we tried and we battled and we came up short there in the fifth. So there’s some positives from it.”

That improvement — “on-the-job training,” Watson called it — is the focus ahead of the weekend Miami trip and SEC play. The Razorbacks lost several key players from last season’s Elite Eight team and have been integrating newcomers into those spots.

“We’re just learning to be better volleyball players longer,” Watson said. “I think there’s opportunities for them there because they continue to be engaged in learning. I think they’re asking good questions. They’re certainly mindful in the gym, the practice environment.”