JONESBORO — The sum total of Arkansas State wide receiver Taylor Stockemer’s production this season came on one play against Oregon on Sept. 1.
The fifth-year senior lined up as an outside receiver against cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olumu and took four quick steps after a Shotgun snap. Quickly planting and turning back, Stockemer snared a throw from quarterback Ryan Aplin for a 5-yard gain on a quick out pattern.
Stockemer was targeted by Aplin only once more in the loss and hasn’t touched a football since.
Dogged by knee and ankle injuries, ASU’s top deep threat has missed the past two games and is expected to sit out Saturday when ASU (1-2) hosts Al- corn State (1-2) at Liberty Bank Stadium.
The absence of Stockemer, a 6-4, 210-pound native of Van Buren, has been a considerable blow to the team’s depth at receiver and has left a void in the Red Wolves’ vertical passing game.
“He’s always had a knack for making plays when the ball is in his hands,” Aplin said. “His average [for each catch] is ridiculous for a guy who’s been on the field for five years now.”
Stockemer, who was not available for an interview Thursday, has 99 catches for 1,668 yards and 13 touchdowns over 4 seasons. He has averaged 16.8 yards per catch while serving as ASU’s best vertical threat despite playing for three head coaches in three offenses. Since 2010, he’s caught 68 passes for 10-plus yards, including 25 for more than 25 yards.
“Taylor Stockemer being out has really been a factor,” ASU Coach Gus Malzahn said. “Anytime a guy is out — even if you’ve got to mix two people to play that position — it hurts you in other areas.”
Just how much has ASU’s deep game withered this season? In 2011, the Red Wolves averaged 10 passes per game of 10 yards or more. Three games into 2012, the number has shrunk to almost half.
Facing No. 3 Oregon and No. 25 Nebraska, both of which are allowing fewer than 200 yards passing per game, hasn’t helped. Each applied ample pressure on Aplin to force quick and short throws instead of deeper ones.
Aplin’s passing yards per game has slipped to 248 this season from roughly 276 in 2011.
“Anytime you throw the ball vertically, you’ve got to protect,” Malzahn said. “In pure passing situations, it’s been tough on us against those two teams.”
In Malzahn’s offense, receivers are moved around the formation and are used differently in route combinations, but a guiding principle is based partly on a concept called smash routes that are used frequently against defenses rolling out Cover 2 packages. In essence, the routes split safeties and force them to make a decision in coverage whether to roll over and provide help.
It’s a two-man combination of the outside receiver on a hitch route and an inside receiver running a corner route where a quarterback goes through a progression of the corner route to the hitch and looks underneath. Ideally, Stockemer works well on the corner or deep routes, where the ball is caught almost 20 yards downfield.
Without Stockemer, ASU has rotated reserve receivers such as Carlos McCants and Julian Jones and leaned more heavily on slot receiver J.D. McKissic.
“The good thing is we’re getting a lot of young receivers on the field that will get better,” Malzahn said. “But right now we’re experiencing a few growing pains.”
Even without Stockemer, the Red Wolves won’t change their approach of attacking secondaries down the field against the Braves, who rank 29th in the Football Championship Subdivision in passing yards allowed (158 per game)
“We keep all of our concepts the same,” McCants said. “We don’t want to change just because a guy may be gone or hurt. We want it to be based on the opponent we’ve got and what we can take advantage of.”
Alcorn State Coach Jay Hopson said he isn’t any more optimistic about the challenge of slowing the Red Wolves with Stockemer out of the mix.
“They’ve still got enough horses to run over you,” he said.
Up next ARKANSAS STATE
VS. ALCORN STATE
WHEN 6 p.m. Saturday WHERE Liberty Bank Stadium, Jonesboro RECORDS ASU 1-2; Alcorn State 1-2 COACHES ASU: Gus Malzahn (1-2 in first season at ASU and overall); Alcorn State: Jay Hopson (1-2 in first season at Alcorn State and overall) RADIO KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro; KKSP-FM, 93.3, in Bryant/Little Rock INTERNET astateredwolves.com, alcornsports.com, ESPN3.com
Sports, Pages 19 on 09/21/2012