Red Wolves’ Leonard recalls 2007 letdown, vows no repeat
Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008
JONESBORO — Arkansas State quarterback Corey Leonard feels like he has a few things to set right today.
The Red Wolves return to action after their bye week with a Sun Belt Conference game against Louisiana-Monroe at ASU Stadium. It was Louisiana-Monroe that handed Arkansas State its first conference loss in the Red Wolves’ opener at Monroe last year, and Leonard remembers the uphill struggle that followed as Arkansas State went on to lose three of its first four Sun Belt games and bowed out of the race, finishing 5-7, 4-3.
Leonard was slowed by a lacerated kidney and torn labrum last year but nevertheless accepts most of the blame.
“I talked about it at the end of the season. I thought last year I started out well and then dropped off a little bit,” said Leonard, who lost a fumble in Louisiana-Monroe’s 30-13 victory last year. “And I’ve been focusing on that not happening this year.” That’s why this is a critical time for Leonard.
After Arkansas State went 3-1 to start the year and rolled up more than 400 yards of total offense in its first four games, Leonard struggled in the second half of the Red Wolves’ last game at Memphis. Arkansas State had WHEN 6 p.m. Central today WHERE ASU Stadium, Jonesboro RECORDS Arkansas State 3-2, 1-0 Sun Belt; Louisiana-Monroe 1-4, 0-1 COACHES Steve Roberts (34-43 in seventh year at Arkansas State, 83-76-1 in 14 th season overall ); Charlie Weatherbie (22-41 in sixth year at Louisiana-Monroe, 67-105 in 16 th year overall ) SERIES Louisiana-Monroe leads 16-13 TELEVISION ESPN Plus (Channel 26, Jonesboro ), ESPN 360. com, JumpTV Webcasting (astateredwolves. com ) RADIO (programming subject to change ) Arkansas State Radio Network, including KFIN-FM, 107. 9, in Jonesboro, KABF-FM, 88. 3, in Little Rock, and WREC-AM, 600, in Memphis starting field position at the 35 or better four consecutive possessions and punted each time, and Leonard also threw only his second interception of the year and lost a fumble as Memphis won 29-17.
“I thought I had four pretty good games and then had definitely a bad half,” Leonard said. “The second half killed us against Memphis. The only thing you can do to bounce back from that is to get back on the field and start playing again. We’re ready for [today ]. I’m personally ready. I’ve got to get back on track and get back to what we were doing.” What the Red Wolves (3-2, 1-0 Sun Belt ) were doing was establishing the Sun Belt’s best scoring offense, with an average 34. 6 points a game, and the second best total offense, with an average of 464. 8.
“We feel like we can move our offense on anybody,” Leonard said. “We’ve just got to come out there and play.... We put up 400-plus yards on four out of five teams and it should have been five for five, so as long as we execute we’ll be fine no matter who we’re playing.” Leonard is 69 of 126 passing with 2 interceptions and a league-best 10 touchdowns and averages 222. 0 passing yards a game, good for third in the Sun Belt. He is the conference’s eighth-leading rusher with an average 60. 2 yards per game, which adds up to Leonard being second in total offense with an average 282. 2.
“I think they’re a very fine offense, and I think they are better just by watching them on film,” Louisiana-Monroe Coach Charlie Weatherbie said. “Of course, you’ve got a quarterback with a couple years of starting now, and he’s going to continue to improve. He’s done a great job for them. They do a great job of running and throwing, mixing up the run and the pass, and it’s going to be a challenge.” Arkansas State Coach Steve Roberts agreed that Leonard, a junior who has been starting since midway through his redshirt freshman year, has gained valuable experience that has allowed the Red Wolves to add more to their offense.
“The more experienced you are, the more you can operate different packages,” Roberts said. “Whether it’s no-huddle packages, what your mayday stuff is, your two-minute drill or just your regular offense, you can do more when you have an experienced quarterback.” Louisiana-Monroe (1-4, 0-1 ) is coming off a 44-35 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette in its Sun Belt opener. Louisiana-Lafayette had six touchdown runs of 52 yards or more and had 728 yards of total offense.
“They played 50-some odd plays defensively as good as you can play. They played very, very well,” Roberts said. “But they gave up seven big plays for touchdowns that ended up costing them an opportunity to win the ballgame because of mental mistakes, lack of communication or missed tackles, whatever the situation might have been.” Roberts said he doesn’t expect the same kind of letdowns from the Warhawks today. Leonard said the Red Wolves don’t need them.
“They’ve played some good teams, but I don’t think they’ve played offenses as good as ours yet,” Leonard said. “If we come out here and execute and we do what we’re supposed to, I’m not saying they’re not good, but I don’t think they’re going to be able stop us.”
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