12/20/2023 football Edit

Red Wolves sign another top rated SBC recruiting class

Luke Matheson • RedWolfReport

Publisher

Arkansas State will finish day one of the early signing period with the top ranked class in the Sun Belt Conference on Rivals.com.

The Red Wolves finish the day with a lead over Appalachian State, Southern Miss, and Marshall. James Madison rounds out the Top Five in the conference.

The Red Wolves have seen top rated classes in the Sun Belt Conference each year Butch Jones has been head coach. Those top rated classes began to pay off in year three as Arkansas State saw the most success this year that they have seen in the Butch Jones era.

The class is highlighted by quarterback Josh Flowers from Mobile, Alabama. The former Mississippi State commit gave his pledge to the Red Wolves weeks ago. He held offers from numerous power five programs such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Marshall, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, Tulane, and UAB in addition to the Mississippi State offer.

Flowers is the #13 rated quarterback in the country, and is a Top 300 player on ESPN. He is the first Top 300 player to sign with Arkansas State in the history of the program, and only the fourth to sign with a Sun Belt Conference program in conference history.

“It’s exciting and Keith Heckendorf did a tremendous job [recruiting him],” said Arkansas State head coach Butch Jones. “We recruited Josh very strongly. Coach Heckendorf was in there and built a strong relationship. There’s a lot that goes into recruiting a top prospect like that.”

The Red Wolves signed two in-state athletes in Bentonville OL Trason Hunt and Little Rock Parkview DT Alex Martin.

In total the Red Wolves added 20 players from eight different states to its 2024 recruiting class that is currently ranked first in the Sun Belt Conference by at least one of the primary recruiting web sites, including Rivals.

“Today was a good day balancing bowl preparation with National Signing Day,” Jones said. “Early signing day has become the major signing day. I thought our staff did an amazing job addressing a lot of needs, and I will emphasize that we are not done yet as we will have more to come.

“We were able to sign 20 high school seniors today and it is a very balanced class with 10 on offense and 10 on defense. We filled some important program needs at every single position and we are still going to continue to evaluate players and add to this class. We still need to correct some deficiencies in our program that we will address through the transfer portal and the second high school signing period as well.”

The current class includes 10 offensive and 10 defensive players, including three linemen on each side of the ball. A-State added four cornerbacks and three wide receivers, but inked at least one player at every offensive and defense position.

A-State signed six players from Texas and four from Alabama. The Red Wolves added three players from Georgia, two from Arkansas, two from Florida and one each from Kansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

2024 Arkansas State Football Recruiting Class (Early Signing Period)

1. Brandon Barnes: 6-1, 165, Fr., S, Dallas, Texas (Skyline HS)

2. Royce Baucom: 6-5, 310, Fr., OL, Guntersville, Ala. (Guntersville HS)

3. Jaylen Boardley: 6-0, 190, Fr., RB, Texarkana, Texas (Pleasant Grove HS)*

4. Chase Bogle: 6-2, 205, Fr., LB, Lucas, Texas (Lovejoy HS)

5. Jabari Bush: 6-4, 200, Fr., TE, Katy, Texas (Paetow HS)

6. Drew Collins: 6-4, 235, Fr., DE, Adamsville, Ala. (Minor HS)*

7. Josh Flowers: 6-3, 210, Fr., QB, Mobile, Ala. (Baker HS)*

8. Trason Hunt: 6-5, 275, Fr., OL, Bentonville, Ark. (Bentonville HS)

9. Braden Jackson: 6-0, 180, Fr., CB, Gulf Shores, Ala. (Gulf Shores HS)

10. Alex Martin: 6-2, 305, Fr., DT, Little Rock, Ark. (Parkview HS)

11. David Moore: 5-11, 170, Fr., CB, Fort Worth, Texas (North Crowley HS)

12. Kemari Nix: 6-1, 195, Fr., S, Kennesaw, Ga. (Kell HS)

13. Baker North: 6-3, 315, Fr., OL, Mission, Kan. (Bishop Miege HS)

14. Montez Redding: 6-2, 180, Fr., WR, Jonesboro, Ga. (Jonesboro HS)

15. Jayvion Showers: 6-2, 170, Fr., WR, Pensacola, Fla. (Pensacola Catholic HS)

16. Devin Spencer: 5-8, 170, Fr., RB, Riverview, Fla. (Summer HS)

17. Joshua Stone: 6-0, 171, Fr., CB, Atlanta, Ga. (Carver HS)*

18. Kiandre Terry: 6-0, 170, Fr., WR, Byram, Miss. (Jackson Academy)

19. Obi Udom: 6-3, 235, Fr., DT, Frisco, Texas (Heritage HS)

20. Kyle Williams: 6-0, 172, Fr., DB, Slidell, La. (Northshore HS)

*Available to participate in A-State’s 2024 spring camp (4)