NEW ORLEANS -- Rocky Hayes' first two seasons at Arkansas State each ended with at least a share of the Sun Belt Conference title.
But the senior cornerback said the Red Wolves were overcome with an emotion that led to ASU missing out on what could have been a fourth consecutive ring.
"Everybody was kind of getting complacent," Hayes said Monday at Sun Belt media day at the Superdome.
ASU will enter a season without the notoriety of being a defending Sun Belt champ for the first time since 2011. Since, the league has seen five members leave its conference, six others enter and its own head coach change four times.
But Hayes said he doesn't think ASU's place among the Sun Belt elite has to change, too, even though it's coming off a 7-6 season in which its three Sun Belt losses were the most since 2010.
That finish has relegated the Red Wolves to contenders instead of favorites. ASU earned one first-place vote and a prediction of a third-place finish behind defending champion Georgia Southern and Louisiana-Lafayette in a preseason poll of league coaches.
"We realize that it's not going to land in our lap every season," Hayes said. "Guys are out here trying to grind and getting the same things we're trying to get. We just refocused ourselves and hit the reset button. Now, everybody is back on their horse, and we're going to be ready."
Blake Anderson, ASU's first second-year coach since Steve Roberts in 2003, spoke confidently about the possibilities Monday. ASU has 10 players on offense with starting experience, a defense that rebuilt its line with the additions of transfers and 11 preseason all-Sun Belt picks.
The Red Wolves are hoping that's enough to catch Georgia Southern, which swept its eight Sun Belt games en route to a conference title in its first season in the conference last year. But since ASU does not play Georgia Southern, Anderson said he's not interested in trying to gauge his team against the defending champ.
"I don't give it a thought at all," Anderson said. "I worry about who we're playing next and making sure we do our part. We take care of our business, it won't matter what they do or how good they are. Because we're not going to meet."
Anderson said he thinks ASU will be just as good as anybody on offense.
Quarterback Fredi Knighten, last year's Offensive Player of the Year, wide receiver J.D. McKissic, running back Michael Gordon, tight end Darion Griswold and right guard Colton Jackson each landed on one of the two all-Sun Belt teams released Monday.
The Red Wolves return their top seven rushers, their top six receivers and three starters along the offensive line from a team that was second in the Sun Belt in scoring (36.7) and total yards (476.5) last year.
It's the most returning talent Anderson has had to work with since his last season as Southern Mississippi's offensive coordinator in 2011. That team went 12-2 and won Conference USA, and Anderson ended up at North Carolina when Coach Larry Fedora became head coach of the Tar Heels.
Anderson didn't put expectations that lofty on this team while speaking from a podium at the Superdome, but he didn't put a limit on it, either.
"That's a very talented group that has had a good spring and a very good summer prep," Anderson said. "If we can stay healthy, there's a lot of points out there that group can score."
Enough to return ASU to the top of the Sun Belt?
"You can never count Arkansas State out," Griswold said. "We only had one bad season, you can't count us out. We're right where you want to be, the guys feel the same way."
Sports on 07/21/2015