Thanks to the fine folks at Arkansas Business Publishing Group, mainly A-State alum Jeff Hankins, we had our annual visit from the Red Wovles head football coach Thursday in Little Rock. The event was held at War Memorial Stadium, a place Gus Malzahn has an attachment. Of course winning state titles there it can have that result.
And don't be surprised is the Red Wovles return there soon. As in 2013 soon. There is nothing official or on the record here, but two sources have confirmed it is very likely.
With that happening, that would leave five games for Jonesboro -- four league games and non-conference with UAPB. The Red Wolves play at Auburn and Memphis next year for the other non-conference games.
Malzahn made no comment and was not asked about it by the 150-plus who were in attendance. Among the crowd were several members of the WMS Commission and other representatives of the stadium, which is fearful of losing one of two games that another FBS school in the state plays there. (In case you have not noticed they are still advertising ticket sales for those two games.)
Little Rock is going to happen. It is just a case of when.
A good move, and not a surprise based on Malzahn's roots, is the high school coaches who attended the press conference for Monday and Tuesday's games at the stadium, were invited to join the Howl Raisers.
As far as big news, KATV-Channel 7 will have an hour special on Red Wolves football --a first -- on Wednesday night. Malzahn's coach's show will also be on Channel 7 on Sunday afternoons.
He did very little mentioning of personnel, but praised the freshmen class and said "we did not miss on any of them." He said about the only rookies set for redshirts at this point are the running backs, where "we have good depth.''
On Fredi Knighten, in a battle for the backup quarterback spot, "he is what we thought he was."
As a resident of central Arkansas I am excited about the possibility of a game in Little Rock. As a Red Wolf fan, I can only hope that the game is financially worth while. But I was told by a former employer, "sometimes we have to be there just to be seen". Maybe the LR game will help grow the fanbase. Looking forward to seeing who we get to play.
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