ASU’s front 7 gets involved

Arkansas State defensive tackle Ronnell Wright shows off the football and a smile after recovering a fumble and scoring a touchdown during Saturday’s game against Alcorn State in Jonesboro.
Arkansas State defensive tackle Ronnell Wright shows off the football and a smile after recovering a fumble and scoring a touchdown during Saturday’s game against Alcorn State in Jonesboro.

— Defensive end Eddie Porter’s ninth snap as an Arkansas State starter signaled his arrival as a force for the Red Wolves.

Porter, a junior-college transfer, creeped up to the line, darted past Alcorn State left tackle Bradon McDowell and crunched quarterback Jordan Payne, jarring the ball loose at the 15.

Defensive tackle Ronnell Wright picked up the fumble and lumbered into the end zone. It was a play that set the tone for a Red Wolves front seven that mustered up 11 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.

The production came against Alcorn State, a struggling FCS program, but it’s reason for optimism among a front seven that struggled in the Red Wolves first two games.

“People talked about it, coaches talked about it, critics talked about it,” ASU defensive Tim Starson said. “We kind of took that personally.”

ASU (2-2) enters its conference opener against Western Kentucky (3-1) ranked No. 68 in total defense (388.8 yards per game) while yielding a less than-desirable 31.8 points per game.

But the Red Wolves are getting into the backfield more often, ranking 30th in the NCAA with 26 tackles for loss, while notching five sacks against Nebraska and Alcorn State.

“They’re improving and they’re getting more confidence,” Coach Gus Malzahn said Saturday. “We’ll need to improve next week. We’ll have our hands full next week.” Starson, a 6-5, 255-pound senior from Fort Smith, has been the catalyst - as he goes, so does the rest of the line.

All three of his tackles for loss came during Alcorn State’s opening two series. ASU also got solid production from its nose tackles with a combined nine tackles from starter Ryan Carrethers and reserve Dexter Blackmon

“This team was so focused,” Red Wolves defensive coordinator John Thompson said. “We spent a lot of extra time in the film room this week. We cut our package down, and when you do that you can spend more time on your opponent.”

The past two weeks provided hints at how ASU may handle its front seven moving forward, including the continued infusion of Porter, a 6-3, 235-pound transfer from Blinn (Texas) College, into the mix.

“He’s a big-time player, and last week was his first significant time,” Malzahn said. “He’s starting to get into his role and understand his position. He’s got a lot of potential.”

Malzahn said the staff wanted to find a way to get Porter on the field for snaps but do so in a way that allows him to continue to grasp its current system before adding wrinkles.

“We’re starting to identify roles a lot more specifically, starting to narrow things down,” Malzahn said. “That was our evaluation mode last week, and [we] put our plan in place going forward. For the most part, it looked like a pretty solid night.”

Starson said getting game reps, whether they be good or bad, is the best way for defensive linemen to improve.

“Each week you want to get better, and that’s all you can do,” Starson said. “I can’t say it’s one thing or one guy. We just weren’t getting it done at first. We’ve definitely wanted to step it up.”

Sports, Pages 15 on 09/25/2012

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