JONESBORO — Arkansas State’s football team reconvened after a holiday break on a freshly plowed field inside Liberty Bank Stadium on Friday night. The Red Wolves practiced Saturday, Sunday and will have one more workout today before heading to Mobile, Ala., to finish preparations for Sunday’s GoDaddy.com Bowl.

A return to practice means the Red Wolves’ minds are focused on their opponent, No. 25 Kent State (11-2). And that means the mind of interim coach John Thompson, who is also ASU’s defensive coordinator, is racing with ideas about how to stop Dri Archer, who might be the best player ASU has faced since September nonconference games against Oregon and Nebraska.

“He’s a difference-maker,” Thompson said of Archer, who lines up in the backfield, as a receiver and returns kickoffs for the Golden Flashes.

Archer, a junior, had 386 total yards in his first two seasons at Kent State before putting together a season so productive that he earned third-team All-American status as an all-purpose player.

Archer, 5-8, 175, is not only Kent State’s leading rusher with 1,352 yards and 15 touchdowns, he is the Golden Flashes’ leading receiver (35 catches, 539 yards,4 touchdowns) and a top special teams player (3 kickoff returns for touchdown and a 38.2-yard average on 15 attempts). He even threw a touchdown pass in an Oct. 13 victory at Army.

Archer, from Laurel, Fla., averages 9.0 yards per rush, 15.4 yards per reception and his 2,460 all-purpose yards rank fifth most in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.

“He can take the game and turn it around,” Thompson said.

Senior linebacker Nathan Herrold said Archer reminds him of Indianapolis Colts rookie T.Y. Hilton, a third-round draft pick last year out of Florida International.

ASU cornerbacks coach David Gunn said there might not be a caveat when calling Archer the most versatile player the Red Wolves have seen - and Gunn made sure to include Oregon star De’Anthony Thomas in his comments.

“The young man from Oregon was very good; this young man is every bit as good,” Gunn said. “He just has outstanding speed, and he’s a big-play guy. So we certainly have to contain him.”

The first step to doing that is finding Archer on the field.

He’s listed as a running back/wide receiver, but Herrold said there’s no way to figure out where he’s going to line up until the team breaks the huddle.

He could be in the backfield, but Kent State has another talented runner in 6-0, 250-pound Trayion Durham, who rushed for 1,248 yards and 14 touchdowns. So Archer could just as easily be lined up in the slot.

“You don’t know if he’s going to be the No. 1 receiver or the No. 2 receiver,” Thompson said. “Sometimes he’s going to be in the backfield, or they’ve got both of them in there. ... They can give you a lot of different looks with different personnel.”

The Red Wolves give up 153.3 yards rushing per game, fifth in the Sun Belt Conference, and their 14 rushing touchdowns allowed are lowest in the league.

But ASU (9-3) has had trouble with some of the better backs it has faced this season.

Oregon’s Kenjon Barner and Thomas combined for 130 yards on 12 carries and 3 touchdowns in a season opening loss. Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah churned out 167 yards and two touchdowns in a Sept. 15 loss in Lincoln, Neb. And Western Kentucky’s Antonio Andrews rushed for 215 yards in the Hilltoppers’ Sept. 29 victory in Jonesboro.

How well ASU’s defense does against Archer and Durham could go a long way in determining whether ASU celebrates its first FBS bowl victory or a second consecutive loss in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

“Basically, you want to keep in your game,” Herrold said. “You want to create third and longs, you ant to make them predictable. So that’s going to be our gameplan.”

GoDaddy.com Bowl

ARKANSAS STATE VS. KENT STATE

WHEN Sunday, Jan, 6, 8 p.m. Central WHERE Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Ala.

RECORDS ASU 9-3; Kent State: 11-2 COACHES ASU John Thompson (0-0 in first season as interim coach); Kent State (16-9 in two seasons at Kent State and overall) RADIO KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro; KKSP-FM, 93.3, in Bryant/Little Rock TV ESPN

Sports, Pages 13 on 12/31/2012