Banged-up Wolves
Arkansas State Coach Blake Anderson (above) said with the injury bug hitting his team, several Red Wolves starters and key players are missing practice or are wearing no-contact jerseys during preparations for Saturday’s Sun Belt Conference game against South Alabama at Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro.
JONESBORO — Arkansas State University’s practice Tuesday afternoon was littered with red jerseys.
About 10 contributing Red Wolves were either absent from practice or donned red, no-contact jerseys for injured players attempting to heal.
The list includes plenty of starters or secondary options, including wide receiver Jonathan Adams Jr., safety Darreon Jackson, linebacker Tajhea Chambers, safety B.J. Edmonds, running back Marcel Murray, wide receiver Kirk Merritt and backup tight end Reed Tyler.
Wide receiver Bubba Ogbebor did not practice. Kendrick Edwards, a 6-5 senior wide receiver who has missed three games with a high ankle sprain, and defensive end William Bradley-King each practiced but are not fully healthy.
“Yeah, half the team,” ASU Coach Blake Anderson said. “They cannot afford to get hit in practice. This is the nature of our football team. This is what we’ve been dealing with.”
Anderson did not rule out any of the aforementioned players for Saturday’s 2 p.m. kickoff against South Alabama at Centennial Bank Stadium.
Bradley-King is “day to day,” Anderson said. He was listed as one of ASU’s two starting defensive ends prior to Saturday’s 47-43 loss at Louisiana-Lafayette, but he did not start and did not record a defensive statistic.
Edwards and Adams, who “popped” his hamstring in practice Oct. 21, are expected to be game-time decisions, the coach said.
Edwards, who has rolled both ankles this season, said he expects to play Saturday for the first time since Sept. 29 at Georgia Southern. One of Edwards’ ankle injuries occurred before ASU’s trip to Georgia Southern and limited him to fewer than 10 snaps. During his brief outing, Edwards’ other ankle was injured.
“The one I most recently rolled, that one was hurting so bad that the other one just stopped hurting,” said Edwards, who had 129 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 catches before his injuries.
Edwards and Adams each dressed out Saturday. A decision by the coaching and training staffs forced Edwards to miss his third consecutive game. Adams, in a limited role, caught one pass for 2 yards.
“So far, he has not really been able to put pressure on it the way he needs to when coming out of breaks,” Anderson said of Edwards.
Adams, a sophomore who has 226 yards and 3 touchdowns on 12 catches, gingerly ran through route patterns Tuesday but is far from full speed.
“It didn’t tear,” Anderson said of Adams’ hamstring. “It’s just how long does it take a fast-twitch guy to get back to full speed.”