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On Wednesday afternoon Arkansas State head football coach Blake Anderson was being interviewed by Brad Bobo on local Jonesboro radio station 95.3 FM KNEA and was going through the usual recruiting roundup, discussion over NCAA rules that could affect his staff and then the talk turned to staff assignments spurred by the return of Kyle Cefalo from Maryland back to the ASU staff.
Anderson: I want to get back involved offensively ... my plan is to coach the quarterbacks and call the plays.
— Brad Bobo (@TheDriveOnKNEA) February 8, 2017
Anderson said he wasn't as “involved as I needed to be” with the offense, so he now plans to have Luke Paschall split the duties of coaching the receivers with Cefalo. This will allow Paschall to take on more of the special teams coaching responsibilities and free Anderson to take over coaching the QBs and play calling.
So where does that leave OC Buster Faulkner?
Anderson: Coach Faulkner will coach the tight ends and continue to be the OC, but I want to be in on the ground floor of the offense.
— Brad Bobo (@TheDriveOnKNEA) February 8, 2017
Anderson says Faulkner will retain “coordinator title and a lot of the duties.” It remains to be seen exactly what duties that will include with Anderson taking over play calling.
There was plenty of criticism placed at the feet of Faulkner as the new OC last year along with new offensive line coach Allen Rudolph as the Red Wolves offense sputtered through the nonconference schedule only scoring 67 points (16.75 ppg.) That scoring average would only go up to 27 ppg as the season progressed. This was a drastic fall from Anderson’s first two seasons as the offense averaged 36.7 ppg in 2014 and 40 ppg in 2015.
It will be interesting to see if there is a noticeable change in offensive philosophy as spring football unfolds.
To hear the full interview with Coach Anderson click here: