Butch Jones addresses Jacob Bayer surgery; Postseason plans and more
Arkansas State junior center Jacob Bayer was not with the team in a 35-21 loss to Marshall after he had an unexpected surgery Saturday morning before the game.
No information has been released on what led to the surgery, but Butch Jones did address it following the loss to Marshall.
“Very, very unfortunate circumstance with Jacob Bayer this morning,” said Jones. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. He’s going to be fine. He’s going to have to stay over in Huntington.”
Sophomore offensive lineman Makilan Thomas filled in for Bayer in Saturday’s game.
“I thought Makilan Thomas did a really good job of moving from tackle to center,” said Jones.
The Red Wolves finish the year with a 6-6 record (4-4 SBC) and will now await their bowl destination.
“There’s a lot of things that are going to occur this week,” said Jones. “First of all we’ve got to get healthy. I think what you’re seeing is the rigors of a long football season has finally affected our football team. We have to work to get our health back as much as we can. The next thing is taking a couple of days off for academics,” said Jones. “Then getting back into the weight room, but also practicing.”
Jones said there are other things in play as well.
“On top of that now, you have to manage recruiting,” said Jones. “We will have an official visit next Friday, so there are a lot of moving parts and pieces in moving forward. A couple of days off is what this football team needs right now.”
Jones also said that getting to bowl eligibility after the way the season began is a bright spot for the program.
“It is a bright spot and obviously tonight is very disappointing, but you have to treat it as a learning experience and you’ve got to continue to move forward,” said Jones. “To have a 13th opportunity and to be able to grow and develop our young football team with more practice reps and more time in the weight room, and really for this team just to stay together and for our seniors as well – it’s just another opportunity to continue to improve and also be together as a football team and for our fan base to be able to have a bowl game for the holidays.”
The Sun Belt Conference has 11 bowl eligible teams. Jones gave his opinion on that.
“I think that speaks volumes. I think it speaks for itself,” said Jones. “We’ve spoke many times about this being one of the most competitive conferences in all of college football. It doesn’t matter if it’s Power Five or Group of Five, and I think there is evidence by the amount of bowl teams that are eligible for bowl games and postseason play.”
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