A-State's OL Coach Allen Rudolph Likes OL Progress

[Seminole Indian]

In the Sunday edition of Jonesboro Sun Newspaper Rudolph, while not down playing losing all five starters, including two All-SBC players, and two backups, feels A-State will be fine in the OL in 2017.

"...I feel very confident in the group of guys we have, and who they are athletically, and who they are physically," Rudolph was quoted a saying following ASU's final spring workout. "They feel like they've got something to prove. They've got a chip on their shoulder..."

Rudolph feels that this is a much more physical group than last years, and they should make A-State a strong "downhill" running team.

The starters coming out of spring are:

Center, Jacob Still (6, 288) RS-FR
Left Guard, Dalton Ford, (6-4, 307) RS-SO
Right Guard, Troy Elliott  (6-5 297), SO
Left Tackle, Lanard Bonner (6-5, 330), RS-JR
Right Tackle, Nour- Eddine Seidnaly (6-5, 300), JR

The primary backups are:
Jamal Fontenot (6-4, 302), RS-JR
Cam Davis (6-4, 303), RS-SO
Tyrell Reed(6-5, 332), RS-SO
Klint Harvey (6-6, 330), RS-SO
Chase Johnson (6-3, 286), JR
Alex Knovak (6-3, 293), RS-SO

Rudolph expects  former Iowa State starting Tackle Jaypee Philbert  (6-5, 315), SR, and JC All-American  Guard Marvis Brown III(6-3, 337), JR, who will arrive in June, to push for PT this fall.

[Seminole Indian]

Little additional info.

Sophomore Troy Elliott is the only player with starting experience, with two starts as a true freshman. Played well in those two starts and Rudolph says he is much further along gong into 2017, and is a player that just knows how to block people. 

Freshman center, Jacob Still's father, Eric, was an All-American at Tennessee, and  his brother, Ben, played center at Ole Miss. Rudolph said Still had a "fantastic" spring, and he was excited about the center position, where Alex Knovak, and Chase Johnson are the primary backups. Johnson, a mid-term transfer, and Memphis bounce back,  is a little behind Still and Knovak, but could make a strong push in the fall.   

Despite the fact that two of their players were All-SBC last year, Lanard Bonner, who sit out 2016 after transferring, was considered by their coaches and players as their best offensive lineman.

Most of the players are heaver than the weights listed.

Cam Davis, son of former Razorback Issac Davis,  is expected to backup Bonner in 2017.

Walkons' Klint Harvey, a former preferred walkon at Arkansas, and Tyrell Reed, a transfer from Henderson State, had solid springs, and both could earn pt in 2017. Reed was highly recruited out of HS.

True freshman Andre Harris (6-3, 330) was the starting point guard on his HS basketball team.

Former Razorback commit Dwayne Fisher (6-4, 345) will probably redshirt, along with the rest of the freshman OL recruits.