Previewing Michigan vs. Arkansas State With A Red Wolves Insider

By Clayton Sayfie

TheWolverine.com caught up with Arkansas State radio play-by-play commentator Matt Stolz for insight on the Red Wolves ahead of their matchup with No. 17 Michigan Wolverines football. Stolz discussed what to expect from Arkansas State and how the game could go. We begin with the projected starting lineup for the Red Wolves:

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Arkansas State projected starters on offense

• #1 – Sophomore QB Jaylen Raynor (6-0, 201) — The reigning Sun Belt Freshman of the Year was named to the On3 true freshman All-America team last season, after completing 58 percent of his passes for 2,543 yards and 17 touchdowns and adding 380 rushing yards and 5 scores. He’s 45-of-79 (57 percent) for 572 yards and 3 touchdowns passing this season, also contributing 122 rushing yards and a pair of scores on 34 attempts.

• #2 – Redshirt junior RB Ja’Quez Cross (5-9, 197) — Has notched 17 carries for 55 yards through two games. He splits time with redshirt senior Zak Wallace, who’s notched 119 yards and 2 touchdowns on 31 rushes. The Cross-Wallace duo led the Red Wolves with a combined 1,291 rushing yards in 2023. Cross began his career at Purdue in 2021 before transferring to Arkansas State.

• #7 – Redshirt junior WR Corey Rucker (6-0, 214) — Leads Arkansas State in catches (13), receiving yards (239) and touchdown grabs (2) this season. He averages 7.8 yards after the catch per reception. He paced the squad with 705 receiving yards on 36 receptions last season. Rucker played two years in Jonesboro from 2020-21, before transferring to South Carolina for a season and then returning to Arkansas State ahead of the 2023 campaign.

• #9 – Redshirt senior WR Courtney Jackson (5-11, 189) — The honorable mention All-Sun Belt selection last season registered 689 receiving yards on 39 catches with a team-best 7 touchdowns a year ago. He’s hauled in 8 grabs for 89 yards so far this season. He spent his first four seasons of college football at Syracuse (2019-22), where he hauled in 63 catches for 662 yards.

• #5 – Redshirt junior WR Reginald Harden Jr. (6-5, 196) — The D-II transfer (Benedict College) totaled 23 catches for 564 yards and 6 touchdowns in two seasons at a lower level. He doesn’t have any receptions through two weeks with Arkansas State.

• #12 – Senior TE Manny Stevenson Jr. (6-3, 243) — Has 1 catch for 3 yards. Last season, he made 18 receptions for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns.

• #74 – Junior LT Elijah Zollicoffer (6-5, 330) — He’s only played 12 offensive snaps at left tackle (playing 31 at right tackle) despite opening the first two games at the position. There’s an ‘or’ in between his name and redshirt senior Tobias Braun, an Ole Miss transfer, on the depth chart. Zollicoffer started six games at left tackle last season, when he gave up 13 pressures and 2 sacks.

• #71 – Redshirt senior LG Mehki Butler (6-3, 320) — Has started 27 career games. He hasn’t given up any pressures on 100 pass-blocking snaps and leads the offensive line with a 68.0 PFF grade this season.

• #73 – Senior C Jacob Bayer (6-3, 310) — The first-team All-Sun Belt honoree was the highest-rated center in the Sun Belt and Group of Five and second in the FBS with an 82.9 overall PFF grade last season. He’s started 13 games at Arkansas State and 22 at his previous home, FCS program Lamar. Bayer injured his ACL this April but made a quick return to the field, with his season debut coming last week against Tulsa.

• #75 – Redshirt junior RG EJ Ndoma-Ogar (6-3, 323) — The Oklahoma (2019) and Missouri (2021-23) transfer has made four starts in his collegiate career, including the first two games of Arkansas State’s season. He’s leading the squad with an 86.7 PFF pass-blocking grade.

• #77 – Redshirt junior RT Makilan Thomas (6-3, 315) — The second-team all-conference pick was third among Sun Belt tackles with a 67.8 overall PFF grade last season. He’s set to make his first start of the season against Michigan.

Arkansas State projected starters on defense

• #45 – Senior DT Nate Martey (6-1, 288) — The Princeton trnsfer recorded 9 tackles for loss and 6 sacks for Arkansas State last season. He has 10 tackles, a half-stop for loss and a pass breakup this year.

• #90 – Redshirt junior DT Tim Hardiman (5-11, 294) — Recorded 28 tackles, 7 stops for loss and 1.5 sacks last season. He has 5 tackles and a quarterback hurry so far this fall.

• #22 – Redshirt junior DE Jayden Jones (6-5, 262) — The SMU transfer played in 20 games and totaled 16 tackles in his two seasons with his previous school. He has 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack for the Red Wolves.

• #80 – Redshirt senior DE Kamari Stephens (6-3, 251) — Posted 12 tackles, including 5.5 for loss and 3.5 sacks, adding 18 quarterback pressures for Jacksonville State last season. He spent the four prior years at Florida A&M (2019-22). He hasn’t played in a game yet this year.

• #36 – Redshirt senior LB Charles Willekes (6-1, 225) — The Rockford, Mich., native, former Michigan State walk-on and younger brother of 2018 Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year Kenny Willekes was an honorable mention All-Sun Belt pick last season. He ranked second on the team with 89 tackles, including 8 for loss and 1.5 sacks. He has a team-best 17 tackles this year.

• #5 – Redshirt senior LB Marvin Ham (6-1, 231) — The Belleville, Mich., native and Colorado transfer tallied 36 tackles for the Buffaloes last season. He’s posted 14 tackles, including 1.5 for loss and a half-sack, so far this year.

• #29 – Senior STAR Justin Parks (6-0, 197) — Second on the team with 16 tackles, adding a forced fumble, so far this year. He registered 44 tackles a season ago.

• #0 – Senior CB Justin Hodges (6-2, 184) — The UCF (2020-22) transfer started six of 13 games for Arkansas State last season, registering 26 tackles. He has 6 stops this year. He’s been targeted 10 times in coverage, giving up 3 receptions for 31 yards.

• #6 – Sophomore CB Dontay Joyner (6-0, 174) — Has totaled 10 tackles and a pass breakup through two games. He’s been thrown at 7 times in coverage, yielding 6 grabs for 42 yards.

• #9 – Senior S Trevian Thomas (5-11, 196) — Led the team with 91 tackles, 2 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries last season. He’s fourth on the squad this year with 11 stops, and he picked off a pass in last week’s game against Tulsa.

• #19 – Junior S James Reed III (5-10, 192) — Paces the Red Wolves with 2 pass breakups to go along with his 5 tackles and half-stop for loss. He finished last season with 20 tackles.

Arkansas State specialists

• #34 – Sophomore K Clune Van Andel (6-0, 202) — The Grand Rapids, Mich., native is 2-for-3 on field goals with a 44-yard long. He had an attempt of 50-plus yards blocked against Tulsa.

• #47 – Senior P Ryan Heicher (6-4, 226) — The Walled Lake, Mich., native and D-II transfer (Saginaw Valley State) is averaing 41.6 yards per punt on 10 attempts, with 5 that have wound up inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

• #2 – Redshirt junior KR Ja’Quez Cross (5-9, 197) —  Named third-team All-Sun Belt as a return specialist last season. He had a 93-yard touchdown return last year. This season, he’s averaging 19.4 yards per return with a 33-yard long.

• #9 – Redshirt senior PR Courtney Jackson (5-11, 189) — The wideout has returned 8 punts with a 17.5-yard average. He brought 1 back for a 77-yard touchdown last week against Tulsa.

Jaylen Raynor a ‘true dual-threat’ quarterback

Raynor is the team’s leading rusher, and he’s done it on both scrambles and designed runs. He’s forced a team-best 9 missed tackles, had 4 runs of 10-plus yards and picked up 10 first downs with his legs.

Over the past year, he’s become Arkansas State’s leader on offense, winning the job early in the season as a true freshman.

“He’s a true dual-threat at that quarterback position,” Stolz said. “Jaylen is a great, great story. He was a true freshman that actually graduated high school a semester early. He came in last year before his true freshman season and enrolled in the spring, went through spring camp with the team — and I think that was extremely helpful.

“Even going into the fall, you knew that they possibly had something with Jaylen, but he was No. 3 on the depth chart. After the first couple of weeks, he got his opportunity — actually it was the second half of the Week 3 game last year. He got in there and did a really good job in a win, and then the following week he got the start against Southern Miss and got the win in that game, and he was the man after that. 

“It was amazing last year as a true freshman, just kinda watching him. You don’t see many true freshmen where the rest of the players just kinda gravitate toward him, but he’s got that kind of it factor.

“He adds that other dimension. You gotta account for him in the run game. He’s just a really, really solid player, solid person, and he was one of three quarterbacks in the nation entering their sophomore year that went to the Manning Passing Academy this summer. I know one of the other two was [Texas’] Arch Manning. It’s neat that he was able to go do that. And he’s got a chance to be one of the better Group of Five quarterbacks in the entire country.”

Offensive line received major ‘boost’ last week

Bayer returned to the starting lineup last week, a huge addition at center after his spring knee injury.

“They’ve been banged up through the first couple of weeks,” Stolz said. “They did get a big boost on the offensive line last week when Jacob Bayer came back.

“Jacob is an amazing story. He’s a guy that was right there as one of the top two or three graded centers according to PFF last year in the entire country. He might just be their best player, period. He’s a phenomenal leader, he’s the anchor of the offensive line and certainly a guy that has the chance to play on Sundays. 

“To get him back last week was certainly big. There are a lot of other guys that have experience on that offensive line, as well. That has a chance, as the season goes along and as they get healthier, to be a strength of this team.”

Stolz also lauded the Arkansas State running back duo but especially raved about the wide receivers.

“I really, really like the receiving corps,” the commentator said. “They’ve got a couple of preseason all-conference selections, veteran guys, in Courtney Jackson, he’s a former Syracuse transfer. He’s good in the special teams game, as well. He had a punt return for a touchdown last week.

“Corey Rucker is already fourth in school history in touchdown catches. He was incredible two weeks ago against UCA (Central Arkansas) — he had 9 catches for 179 yards. He had the game-winning touchdown with three seconds left, and then he had another 4 catches last week, and he had the game-winning touchdown catch again. It happened to come in the third quarter, but it was the last score of the game. Yeah, he’s had what ultimately was the game-winning touchdown the first two weeks for us.”

Michigan natives headline defense

Willekes and Ham are two Michigan natives who transferred in under head coach Butch Jones, who’s from Saugatuck, Mich., and they highlight a defense that has struggled through two weeks. The Red Wolves rank 100th nationally in total defense, yielding 397 yards per game. They’ve been gashed on the ground, giving up 199 rushing yards per game and 5 total touchdowns.

“It’s a pretty good mix of returners and newcomers,” Stolz said of the defense. “I’d say the strength of the defense right now is the linebacking corps.

“Two of those linebackers are actually Michigan guys. Char Willekes is a guy that you probably know about his brother. Obviously, his brother was one heck of a player at Michigan State, but Char had actually began his career at Michigan State before transferring here.

“Man, he’s come a long way. He’s turned into one of the better linebackers in the conference. He’s a team leader, just a great, great young man. He’s kinda taken over at that MIKE spot.

“Marvin Ham is a guy from Belleville that played five years at Colorado, and played a lot last year for Coloado. He transferred this year and has made an immediate impact. He’s been really good for us, a sixth-year senior.

“And then Justin Parks is really the heart and soul of the team. He’s one of three players in the entire FBS that’s been a captain for four years. He’s been a captain since he was a true freshman.

“He had a phenomenal game last week, with a career-high 12 tackles. He made a big-time play at the end of the first quarter. It looked like Tulsa had a 37-yard touchdown run, and Justin, after missing a tackle at about the 5, recovered and then came in and poked the ball loose, forced the fumble at the 1, poked it through the end zone for a touchback. That was huge in what was ultimately a one-score game. So those three linebackers right now are the strength.”

Stolz mentioned allowing big plays as something Arkansas State has worked to correct early this season. Jones’ crew has given up 11 plays of 20-plus yards, ranking tied for 107th nationally.

How the game could play out, and a key

Stolz did not give a final score prediction since he’s set to call the game, but he did break down how the outing could play out.

“They gotta get off to a good start,” Stolz said of the Red Wolves. “Any time you go into an environment like this, if you can hang around, if you can avoid getting down 14-0 in the first five minutes of the game, and you can be there at the end of the first quarter, then you got that chance of sticking around until halftime. And then all of the sudden, you’re in the second half and you’ve got an opportunity.

“But Arkansas State teams in the past, they’ve gone into Power Five environments and had success. The win against Texas A&M back in 2008, they went in and beat a good Kansas State team back in 2020. So over the years, they have gone in and played well in these kind of environments.

“But I think this program is in a position now where they feel like hopefully they can go in and compete in a game like this. Hopefully, it’s an experience they can build on.”