Defense stars as Arkansas State football wraps up first scrimmage

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – Saturday marks an important day for many college football programs, including Arkansas State.

The Red Wolves wrapped the first scrimmage of fall camp at Centennial Bank Stadium.

A-State competed in the elements as rain poured Saturday afternoon. Butch Jones’ pack practiced for 2 hours, with the scrimmage taking up the bulk of the day.

“It will be one’s on one’s, offense vs defense with some situational football,” Jones said of the format last week.

The scrimmage saw some highlights, including two newcomers linking up for a score. Quarterback JT Shrout, who took the first snap at quarterback in Saturday’s session, found Khmari Thompson in the back of the end zone inside the red zone for the first and only touchdown of the scrimmage.

Jones said that the quarterback race, which appears to be between Shrout, Jaxon Dailey and Jaylen Raynor, is “nowhere close” to being decided, which the coach said isn’t unexpected.

“Nobody has really taken reins of [the starting role],” Jones said. “They’re battling every day. They’re competing every day. They want to do it. A lot of times, the quarterback is the byproduct of the other 10 individuals around them and being able to protect them in the pocket, being able to run precise routes and catch the ball on the perimeter and establish the run too. Too many times today we were one-dimensional, we were behind the chains, so again those are all things that we will continue to get better at and grow from.”

The defense was the story for the bulk of the day, forcing several turnovers including a pick by UCF transfer Justin Hodges. Turnovers and penalties marred the offensive momentum.

Jones said last week that this would be the first practice of fall camp with officials.

“Overall, we did not handle the elements very well,” Jones said of the first scrimmage. “We had too many balls on the ground, we couldn’t handle snaps. We couldn’t snap the football. Too many holding penalties, too many pass interference penalties down the field. And in catastrophic moments where it’s third and long, we have a defensive pass interference or we have a big play in offense and it’s nullified by a holding penalty, but also that’s why you practice and those are great learning opportunities in moving forward.”

“Everyone has to have a tremendous sense of urgency in our organization,” Jones added. “Right now, our execution is not there. We talked about three things heading into this scrimmage. The first thing is your effort… The second thing is fundamentals and details. And then the third thing is playing with a level of physicality. So they’ll be graded on those three things and then we’ll assess everything tonight and then get back and work at it tomorrow.”

The Red Wolves open their season in three weeks at Oklahoma. The Sooners checked in at #19 in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll this week. Kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m. on ESPN.

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