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SPORTS, PAGE 4OPINION, PAGE 2 NEWS, PAGE 3

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Vol. 91 Issue 40

Of interest online

Hunter Petrus was reelected over opponent Zach Brogdon by 14 votes

Day of Service, continued Going Home: softball feature photoKony 2012 video sparks human emotion

THE HERALDTHE HERALDInforming Arkansas State University since 1921

Same-sex couples attend military ball

As part of the "Blood, Sweat and Beers" tour, Eric Church made his way to the ASU Convocation Center on Friday, along-side Drake White and Brantley Gilbert.

The three performed in front of a nearly sold out Convoca-tion Center. Church sang some of his hits such as "Hell on the

Heart," "Hungover and Hard up" and "Country Music Jesus." He sang some of his newer tunes as well.

Gilbert warmed up the crowd with some of the songs that he's written for Jason Aldean such as "Dirt Road Anthem."

A review on the concert will be on Thursday's 'Campus Corner' page.

Ashley Helliwell/Herald

Blood, Sweat and Beers

Kayla PaineStaff Writer

For the fi rst time, gay members of the ASU Re-serve Offi cers’ Training Corp were allowed to bring same-sex dates to the Mili-tary Ball on Friday.

Since the repeal of the policy “don’t ask, don’t tell” on Sept. 20, 2011, two stu-dents have been able to ex-press who they truly are.

Skyler Mays, masters of sociology student from Cherokee Village, brought his ex-boyfriend Derek

Brown as his date.“It’s liberating to be able

to bring a same-sex date, because now I can be who I am and not hide it from the military,” he said.

“Everyone has been re-ally respectful of my date and I think everyone has really lived up to what the military expects of them.”

This being her fi rst ASU ROTC Military Ball, Cait-lin Marshall, a senior po-litical science major from Sacramento, felt very ac-cepted as well.

She brought Alex Ma-

hony, a sophomore English major from Maumelle, who is straight, but supports Marshall and wanted her to be able to bring a same-sex date.

“I just wanted to know what it felt like to bring someone of the same gen-der as I’ve always wanted to do,” Marshall said.

“I’m fi ghting and risking my life and it’s only fair for me to be who I am, I feel amazing being able to do this.”

The ASU ROTC Senior Military Instructor John

Hayden recognized that this may be a “momentous occasion” for Skyler and Caitlin, but also pointed out that it is the military’s intention to make this is-sue a non-issue and instill equality.

“The military has al-ways been a catalyst for social change, look at the early integration of blacks and women before the rest of society,” he said.

Rep. Rick Crawford (R) spoke at the event and left before the dancing began.

See MILITARY, page 3

Road closure hurts business,inconveniences students

Sara KrimmHerald Editor

Businesses on Caraway Road are beginning to suf-fer due to students being deterred from traveling in that direction, since the closure of the road on the south side of campus.

One of the businesses suffering is Quizno’s on the corner of Caraway and Matthews, just on the other side of the railroad tracks. Prior to the road closing, Quizno’s was a popular place for students who live

on campus to walk to for lunch or dinner.

However, owner Adam Sinnard said the store is down about 16 percent in sales from where it was a year ago.

Sinnard said all the dis-counts previously available are still in place, but that it doesn’t seem to be bring-ing students out of their way to a place that used to be so conveniently located and easy to access.

As far as doing anything differently to continue to

See CLOSURE, page 3

Students participate inannual 'Day of Service'

ROTC student: 'Now I can be who I am and not hide it from the military.'

Kayla Paine/Herald

For the fi rst time, ROTC students attend the military ball with a same-sex date Friday night.

Pictured above: Skyler Mays, Derek Brown, Krystle Lee, Alex Mahony and Caitlin Marshall.

Ari YukiStaff Writer

Jodie Cherry, coordinator of Student Services, said more than 130 students in 13 registered organizations at ASU joined the event with 10 non-profi t organizations.

The Day of Service event hosted by Student Activi-ties Board (SAB) and Volunteer ASU on Saturday gave students opportunities to serve people in the Jonesboro community.

Cherry said those students in organizations who signed up for the event were matched up with non-profi t organizations and were sent out all over Jonesboro to help people.

“The leadership organizations or students who want to serve our community have a day where they all partic-ipate together and it makes for a long day project,” said the leadership and community service director of SAB, Shelby Brooks, a sophomore chemistry major of Benton.

Brooks said each non-profi t organization had different projects.

“It just depends on exactly what they need,” she said.See SERVICE, page 3

Petrus reelected, plans agenda for next yearLindsey Blakely

News Editor

Hunter Petrus has been announced as president of SGA for his second term, and has received over-whelming support.

As only the second presi-dent in ASU history to win another term, winning against Zachary Brogdon by a mere 14 votes, he said he’s ready to serve the uni-versity.

“It was a great race,” said sophomore public re-lations major, Zachary Brogdon, who ran against Petrus. “With either of us

winning, the university was in great hands at the end of the day.

Petrus set forth a few resolutions during his fi rst term, but says he’s excited

to get started on more dur-ing his second term.

“The fi rst item on my agenda is to fi nish the Saferide program,” said Petrus, a junior marketing major of Jonesboro. “We started it this year, and I want to fi nish that in the beginning of my second term.”

The Saferide program is a program that Petrus put into resolution this semes-ter that will allow students to rent bicycles out of the Red Wolf Center with their student I.Ds.

Next on Petrus’ agenda See PETRUS, page 3

Ari Yuki/Herald

Alpha Gamma Ro fraternity and the Lady Red Wolves' soccer team served with Habitat for Humanity on Saturday.

Abdullah Raslan/Herald Photo Editor

Hunter Petrus (right) was reelected as SGA president on Thursday. His vice president will be Austin Copenhaver (left).

Brogdon 504

Petrus 518

The Herald is a public forum. Its content is written by students, for students, faculty and staff of Arkansas State University. Student editors of The Herald have the authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.OPINION

The Herald is located in Room 224 of the Communications Building.

The Herald is published twice weekly during the fall and spring semesters and is distributed around the Jonesboro campus. Its content is normally written by students. “Our View” represents the opinions of the editorial staff. Columns, letters to the editor, cartoons and other content on the opinion page are the views of the author. Content does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Herald.

Editorial Number Advertising Number(870) 972-3076 (870) 972-2961 www.asuherald.com

— Our View —

Be our voice

Last week, the student body voted to elect the SGA president and senators, resulting in a sec-ond term for incumbent Hunter Petrus and many other SGA representatives.

We would like to congratulate Petrus and the other SGA members in their election bids, but we would like to offer some words of advice as they go about their work this next school year.

This past year, many changes have occurred creating unforeseen problems. Among them are the closing of Caraway Road, tuition being in-creased and the school as a whole undergoing sev-eral budgetary and administrative changes.

While we understand many of these changes are good, we are calling upon all the members of the SGA, as representatives of the student body, to propose firm recommendations that address real problems, especially on budgetary matters.

First, we ask the SGA to consider slashing its operating budget. Since the SGA is given its own sum of money to spend each year to put on events, we ask that it use the money in the most efficient way possible by sponsoring events all students can enjoy attending but will not put a useless drain on school funds.

We also ask that resolutions are passed ask-ing the administration to cut operating expenses. Perhaps some of these recommendations could in-clude turning off lights in the Student Union, the Red W.O.L.F Center and other locations around campus at night, when they are closed.

Ask the administration to consider a temporary pay cut to reduce budgetary strain. It is unfair for students to receive a tuition increase at a time when households and businesses across the coun-try are being forced to cut their own budgets.

Small changes like these could go far in provid-ing funds for projects that are actually worthwhile.

Adding new computers to the library or con-structing a second exit in the Quads onto Univer-sity Loop, to prevent students from driving the traffic-heavy Johnson Ave., would be changes most students could agree on.

We understand the SGA has little authority to make sweeping changes on this campus, but we also know they can make recommendations that all students care deeply about.

We encourage the SGA, as our representative, to be our voice in administrative matters and de-mand action when possible.

“Our View” is written by the editorial staff. The opinions are not necessarily reflective of the student body, faculty or administration of Arkansas State University.

PAGE 2 Monday, March 12 The Herald

- Sara Krimm, editorsara.krimm@smail.astate.edu- Lindsey Blakely, news editorlindsey.blakely@smail.astate.edu- Abdullah Raslan, photo editorabdullah.raslan@smail.astate.edu

- Jeff Davidson, opinion editorjeffrey.davidson@smail.astate.edu- Haley Johnson, campus corner editorhaley.johnson@smail.astate.edu- Daniel McFadin, sports editordaniel.mcfadin@smail.astate.edu

- Rachel Carner, online editor rachel.carner@smail.astate.edu- Rachel Meredith, ad managerrachel.meredith@smail.astate.edu- Bonnie Thrasher, adviserbthrasher@astate.edu

– Letters to the Editor –The Herald welcomes letters to the editor in

electronic form and under 300 words.We reserve the right to edit for space.

Please email letters to:

jeffrey.davidson@smail.astate.edu sara.krimm@smail.astate.edu

On March 1, conserva-tive firebrand Andrew Bri-etbart died of an apparent heart attack.

His passing has evoked a tidal wave of debate as to whether his more provoca-tive approach to taking down political adversaries made any meaningful im-pact.

Count me as one of those viewing Brietbart’s so-called contributions to public discourse in the de-cidedly negative column.

It is one thing to claim the mantle of free speech and quite another to hide behind it when launching deeply personal and harm-ful attacks on people whose ideology and politics differ from yours.

The examples are so nu-merous with regard to Bri-

etbart that I will not even attempt to extrapolate of them in this space.

What I will share is this: Andrew Brietbart took great advantage of the death of liberal Mas-sachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy from brain can-cer in recent years.

He also savored target-ing rank-and-file govern-ment workers and never hesitated to brag about his “citizen journalism” ef-forts.

You can claim to be a champion of tackling me-dia bias (that old liberal slant on reporting) all day and night. The problem is, when it turns out, much of your time has really been spent attempting to de-stroy a person.

Rush Limbaugh, an-other stellar voice of the Right, called a Georgetown University law student a “slut” for daring to support

access to contraception, and the whole recent con-troversy surrounding the issue.

He reluctantly apolo-gized, but not until the al-mighty dollar smacked his considerably big mouth by way of advertisers pulling out of his three-hour radio show.

Of course, Limbaugh al-ways claims he is being si-lenced because he happens to be a conservative.

We see this self-victim-ization playing out by the far Right in myriad ways.

Ministers of this per-spective whine about being called bigots for anti-gay remarks during sermons.

Far too many Republi-can politicians take to the airwaves to assail critics for questioning the sincer-ity of their “traditional val-ues.” They, too, are upset when their own views are perceived as hateful and

close-minded. I have a simple solu-

tion: if you don’t want to be called a bigot, stop be-ing one.

I have deliberately avoided the blogosphere in the aftermath of Briet-bart’s death. I hear that many of the comments bring a sharp edge to the overall discussion.

I am reminded of some-thing overheard when a prominent Democratic politician cracked a joke about the late President Ronald Reagan’s passing in 2004 from Alzheimer’s disease. It was a ridiculous and classless thing to do.

The irony is that Briet-bart engaged in much of the same behavior throughout his career.

Will that be his legacy?

Childress is a graduate student in political science of Jonesboro.

Some rhetoric goes too far“You can claim to be a champion of tackling media bias...all day and night. The problem is...much of your time has

really been spent attempting to destroy a person.”

Anthony Childress

Having a senior momentName:Bobby Stevens

Hometown: Glen Rose

Major: Mathematics and Statistics

Favorite College Memory: Being an ASU intramural referee and winning top 3 intramural refs in the state

Plans after Graduation: Go into operational research analysis

Kony 2012 is a film produced to bring aware-ness to the practices of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa.

The film focuses on LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony, claiming that his ac-tions for the past 26 years included abductions of children and using them as soldiers of war.

Produced by the non- profit organization Invis-

ible Children, Inc., the 30-minute film has been able to capture 80 million viewers in the past five days.

Members on social net-working sites such as Fa-cebook and Twitter spread this film like wildfire, trying to reach the film’s objective—make Joseph Kony a celebrity.

The film’s producer and narrator, Jason Russell, is one of the cofounders of In-visible Children.

Russell effectively com-municates the objective of his campaign and suggests a solution everyone can be a part of.

On April 21, Russell will witness the fruits of his la-bor when believers of his cause will have painted their respective cities with “Kony 2012” posters.

“We’re living in a new world. A Facebook world in which 750 million peo-ple are sharing ideas. Not thinking in borders. It’s a global community, big-ger than the U.S.” Russell said.

I think Russell nailed it on the head with that statement.

We are no longer citi-

zens of different countries, we are citizens of the world and the film takes advan-tage of this realization.

In the article “12 Les-sons from Kony 2012 from Social Media Power Users” by author Anthony Wing Kosner in Forbes maga-zine, the article discusses possible reasons why this film was able to capture so many viewers.

One of the points the article makes is that Rus-sell’s narration commands attention.

The narration tells the viewers in the beginning “The next 27 minutes are an experiment. But in or-der for it to work, you have to pay attention.”

By letting the viewer in on the journey, you are bound to spark an emotion that will grasp people’s at-tention.

Another reason ex-plained by the article is the theme used in the movie.

The theme gives a sense of an emergency.

The repetitive “I can’t stop” musical hook, with an expiration date of De-cember 31, 2012, gives the film the vibe if you don’t act

now, it might be too late.Russell also incorpo-

rated the birth of his son into the film. By doing so, the viewer gets to see the contrast of the living be-haviors of two children in two different countries: A child born in the U.S. that enjoys all the freedom he can think of, and a child in Uganda who has to sleep with one eye open.

By creating a villain, the audience can now focus their energy on one man instead of a situation as a whole.

By creating a villain, a story is being created, and the audience wants a hero.

Whether you are a sup-porter or a doubter of the cause, there is no question that “Kony 2012” is only the beginning of new wave of films we will be witness-ing in this new technologi-cal era.

No matter what your views are, it is for certain that this movement has people talking. So where will you be on April 21st?

Raslan is a senior digital media and design major of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Kony 2012 video sparks human emotion“Whether you are a supporter or doubter of the cause, there is no question that ‘Kony 2012’ is only the beginning of a new wave of

films we will be witnessing...”

Abdullah Raslan

NEWSPAGE 3 Monday, March 12 The Herald

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Being a former bomb disposal technician in the army, he was personal in his address to the ball.

He talked about serving off of American soil, but re-turning home and how pre-cious this land is to him.

“It was an enjoyable ex-perience to fellowship with

my brothers and sisters in arms at ASU tonight,” he said as he left.

It was a night full of eating, dancing and smil-ing. They danced to Cupid Shuffle and Wobble and had cheesecake for des-sert. For some students it was their first Military

Ball and for others, it was their last.

“I really enjoyed tonight, my one, final night with my fellow cadets that I’ve been with since the begin-ning,” said Robert Davis, a senior interdisciplinary studies major from Cave City.

CLOSURE, CONTINUED

reach students, despite the now inconvenient lo-cation, Sinnard said they haven’t tried anything new yet.

“We’ve kind of discussed it.,” he said. “We do lots of couponing, anybody can go online at quiznos.com and print out coupons.”

What may be the best scenario for Quizno’s, Sin-nard said, is to wait until the store’s lease is up in the fall and look for a new building in a better loca-tion.

“We’re definitely looking at other locations within town, and when our lease is up we will definitely be reevaluating whether or not this is the correct spot for us,” he said.

Students who live on campus and don’t have cars have been affected greatly by the road closure, as they can no longer walk to sev-eral places they used to rely on, such as Walmart, Kroger or any of the res-taurants along Caraway.

“It is inconvenient for me that I cannot cross the railroad. I used to use that way when I went back to the dorm from Walmart, but I have to make a detour now,” said Choonhyang Kim, a freshman graphic communication major from Korea.

It isn’t just students without vehicles who no longer go to restaurants or stores on Caraway, though. Even students who drive find it inconvenient to drive in a circle around campus to get to anything on Caraway.

“Me and my friends hate that Caraway Road was closed. We don’t even go to Taco Bell anymore,” said Matt Penny, a sophomore interdisciplinary studies

major of Jonesboro.Eventually, there will

be access from the over-pass to the south side of campus, and campus will once more be a loop. Cara-way will then be a bit more accessible, since cars (or pedestrians) will be able to travel over the overpass from behind the library and HPESS buildings, and onto Matthews. However, that won’t be complete until sometime during the 2013 calendar year.

Most recently, the part of Caraway Road that used to meet University Loop and go across the railroad tracks has been blasted out, and now only a ditch remains.

This means that there is only one way to get to the rugby, intramural and

track facilities (driving or on foot), which is to use the access off of the Marion Berry Pkwy overpass.

This makes the walk for students much longer than it was before.

“I tried to go to the track across the railway for one of my classes, and I was told I cannot walk over there. So I have to go all the way around to get to the track. I felt it was inconvenient,” said Tonae Mitsuhashi, a theater major from Japan.

For now, these are in-conveniences that stu-dents and faculty are being told they just have to deal with.

As for the businesses suffering on the other side of the tracks, there is at least one (Quizno’s) looking to relocate within the year.

Chelsea Weaver/Herald

Quizno’s on the corner of Caraway and Matthews is looking into moving to a new location once its lease is up in the fall, due to a decrease in sales since the closing of Caraway Road.

Projects included paint-ing finger nails of senior citizens, playing card games with them, helping with animals, including feeding them, taking care of them for a while and playing with them, help-ing rebuild houses, orga-nizing clothing donations, and cleaning and reorga-nizing a food pantry.

Alexandra Furr, a soph-omore BSE mathemat-ics major of Midlothian, Texas, said some mem-bers of the ASU women’s soccer team, which joined the event, worked on a de-molition of a 120-year-old home at the site of Habitat for Humanity, one of the non-profit organizations.

The group ripped down old walls and nailed on water protecting mate-rial to the outside of the house.

“I learned a lot about Habitat for Humanity and how much they really help people.” Furr said. “It's completely all voluntary and they really do need help changing lives.”

Furr also said their site leader said it was the most work that has been done in that house in three years and it made them feel like they really made an im-pact. The women’s soccer team is planning on going out another Saturday to help out.

Colea Blann, a sopho-more nursing major of Little Rock, served as the site director at Skill Care Nursing Center and helped to accompany the patients and assist them in activities.

“I learned how some-thing as simple as paint-ing nails or playing bingo can really impact people’s lives,” Blann said. “It was such a blessing to serve at Skill Care because I think I learned so much about myself and how I can make a difference in oth-ers lives.”

Blann said sometimes she takes for granted the little things in life, but even in the midst of their adversities, “These amaz-ing people find joy in just

the ability to see another day.”

Cherry said the event was a huge success.

Brooks added that proj-ects make organizations stronger, and a good re-lationship with non-profit organizations makes com-munities want more vol-unteers from ASU.

“After the Day of Ser-vice, if they’re interested in volunteering again, (students) can just contact me to volunteer at ASU. We can help them sign up with another project,” Cherry said.

She also said next week, March 12-16, is the volun-teer week on campus, and a volunteer fair will be held on Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the second floor of the Stu-dent Union.

“Non-profit organiza-tions will be there and stu-dents will be able to talk to them and sign up to help if they’re interested,” Cherry said. “The Volunteer Fair is the perfect way for stu-dents to find their fit.”

SERVICE, CONTINUED

Yuri Shimizu/Herald

The Black Student Association participated in the Day of Service by volunteering at City Youth Ministries downtown.

is to have the new sen-ators meet with their re-spective deans.

“It’s important for them to meet with them so they can represent their col-leges well,” Petrus said.

One way Petrus is try-ing to make a difference on campus is through a program for the interna-tional students.

“We’d like to have a program at the beginning of the year to welcome the international stu-dents back,” Petrus said. “We’d also like to have a program for the inter-national students where everyone can learn about the different cultures.”

One way Petrus is aim-ing to do this is through a “Get to Know Me” se-ries which they hope will happen every couple of months.

“It would be a way to allow students to get to know the different cul-tures and interact with them,” Petrus said. “We have so many different cultures here, Indone-sian, Vietnamese, Japa-nese, Chinese, and stu-dents will be able to learn more about them.”

One program that Petrus said he is excited for is a panel for students

with the administrators of the university.

“We want the students to be able to talk to the administrators on a per-sonal level,” Petrus said. “This is something that Adrian Everett worked on when he was presi-dent and it’s something that I’m looking forward to.”

Vice president Aus-tin Copenahaver, a ju-nior of Jonesboro, said he is wanting to work on the programs that ASU has currently during his term.

“With a school like ASU, you need to support what you already have,” Copenhaver said. “We have a ton of registered organizations, and I don’t think a lot of students know what they are. We need more activities to support what ASU is al-ready about.”

Courtney Bolin, a Ju-nior finance major of Monticello, was the sec-retary for SGA last year and Petrus has assured her position as secretary again for next year.

“I’m really excited, I think the elections went really well,” Bolin said. “I’m glad that I was asked to come back and serve as

secretary again. It’s go-ing to be a great year.”

While many positions are still open, the follow-ing is a list of positions that were filled:Senior Senators:

Brendon AitkenAlyssa GoodinAlicia RoseJunior Senators:Katie CalawayChad EastonDeane MarksRodrick Warren

Sophomore Senators:Conner BranchJasmine CollierFulton ParlowGraduate Senators:Amanda MoralesSusan SmithCollege of Agriculture

Senator: Stevie OverbyCollege of Business

Senator: Zachary BooeCollege of Education

Senator: Kelsey DementCollege of Humanities

and Social Science Sena-tor: Eric Fiszer

College of Math and Science Senator: Calvin Diaz

College of Nursing and Health Professions Sena-tor: Danielle Goodwin

Honors College Sena-tor: Creighton Powell

International Student Senator: Raj Shende

PETRUS, CONTINUED

SPORTSPAGE 4 Monday, March 12 The Herald

Going Home

Ashley Helliwell/Herald

Sophomore Katie Collier, of Lake City, who plays at first base, slides into home plate dur-ing the first game of the Arkansas State Softball club’s series against Mid-Continent Univer-sity in a non-conference game. The Red Wolves lost the first game 11-3 and fell in game two 8-5. The team will next play at home against Southern Illinois-Carbondale at the Southside Softball Complex on March 31.

ASU Press Release

The Arkansas State men’s golf team shot a final-round 287 Sun-day at the Seminole In-tercollegiate, concluding the three-round tourna-ment at Southwood Golf Club with a combined 864 to finish in ninth place among 18 teams.

The Red Wolves’ 287 matched their second lowest single-round score this season, and their 864 total was their best for a three-round tournament since posting an 853 at the Sam Hall Intercolle-giate to start their 2010-11 campaign.

A-State lowered its score each round, also posting a 289 and 288 for the first and second

rounds, respectively. The Red Wolves fin-

ished only one stroke be-hind eighth-place Missis-sippi State, while defeat-ing Troy, Charlotte, Geor-gia State, South Florida, Toledo, James Madison, Florida Atlantic, Cincin-nati and Boston College.

No. 28 Florida State won the tournament with an 829, No. 8 Geor-gia Tech finished second with an 830 and Kenne-saw State took third place with an 842.

Senior Chris Pledger collected his fourth top-15 finish of the season, end-ing the tournament tied for 12th place with a sea-son-best 211.

Pledger carded a 70 for the first and third rounds and a 71 for the second 18

holes.Senior Cory Williamson

finished in a tie for 15th place with a 212, which matched the lowest three-round total of his career.

Williamson shot a ca-reer-tying 69 to start the tournament on Friday, then followed with a 73 on Saturday and a 70 on Sunday.

Also competing for ASU, Wessel Zwiegers finished tied for 53rd place with a 222 (74-72-76), Christian Helmbold tied for 58th place with a 223 (76-72-75) and Sawyer Radler tied for 85th place with a 230 (79-79-72).

A-State returns to ac-tion March 26-27 at the UALR/First Tee Intercol-legiate.

Men’s golf competes at Seminole Intercollegiate Red Wolves finishes ninth overall, Pledger finishes 12th

Sammy CowgillStaff Writer

Arkansas State moves to a 4-0 season defeating Oklahoma Saturday after-noon, 96-7. ASU’s fast scor-ing ways started when Zac Mizell ran in the first try at the 37:38 mark.

Oklahoma’s defense was then penetrated sev-eral times throughout the first-half, allowing 52 more points and an outburst of four of five tries by 8th man Shaun Potgieter.

After the game, he com-mented on his performance saying the performance was “the best that I have ever had in my 14 total years of playing rugby.”

Potgieter would score three consecutive tries at the 33:36, 28:59, and the 26:18 marks, putting ASU up 22-0. Kicker David Cas-well added 6 conversions in the first half and Nar-dus Wessels, James Cobble, Patrick Sullivan and Harry Higgers would add tries to the scoreboard making for a 57-0 halftime score.

After regrouping for the half, with a blowout in hand, OU continued searching for an answer for how to score. Paul Benade, Patrick Sulli-van and Potgieter’s fifth try

made the score 74-0 after Sullivan’s conversion kick.

OU’s only answer came in the 25th minute in the second half, when Sooner Bradley Henry dashed for a near 50 meter run only be-ing touched by a few defen-sive players, before scoring the first try against ASU since the Texas A&M on Feb. 18.

With the score 74-7, the ASU defense tightened down and the Red Wolves added 22 more points. Dales Bates dashed to make it in for a try for ASU with 12:48 left in the game.

The last five minutes of

the game was a very fluent and well developed offense for Arkansas State.

“The last two minutes was what I wanted from my subs,” said Coach Huckaby after the game.

After the game Hucka-by told his team, “good job, [we] are starting to feel it.”

Up next is a four games in five weeks road circuit starting with Life Univer-sity, whom Coach Huckaby says, “is as good as us.”

Potgieter said playing the circuit, “[will] make a difference due to travel…but we are confident in [our-selves].”

Daniel McFadinSports Editor

Another year, anoth-er season of high expecta-tions.

This week sees the start of the Gus Malzahn era in Jonesboro after Arkansas State’s most successful sea-son in a quarter century.

For Malzahn and his first coaching staff as a Division 1A head coach, spring prac-tice is a complete do over for the Sun Belt’s defending champions.

“Every position is wide open. We’re coming into this thing new; we’re start-ing over,” said Malzahn.

The process of deter-mining next season’s 22-man roster begins Wednes-day when the Red Wolves go through the first of 15 practice sessions spread out over five weeks, including the team’s Spring Game on April 14.

“We’re trying to evaluate our personnel, get a feel for our players and get some type of two-deep depth

chart for the spring,” said Malzahn.

The practices are closed to the public.

The former Auburn of-fensive coordinator and Ar-kansas native said that even the experienced play-ers on the Red Wolves ros-ter, including reigning Sun Belt conference Player of the Year Ryan Aplin, will be competing for their jobs.

“He’ll fight for his posi-tion just like every body else out there,” said Malzahn. “At the same time we have a lot of confidence in him, but he’ll have to earn his position just like the rest of the 22 [positions].”

Malzahn believes the returning offensive play-ers will benefit from having played in Hugh Freeze’s of-fense for two seasons.

One of the keys for Malzahn in developing a healthy relationships with players on his first team is through trust

“The key is that you’ve got to know each player personally,” said the Fort

Smith native. “They’ve got to trust you and you’ve got to trust them. We’re in the process of getting to know each other as we speak. Learning more about them,

more about our coaches. It’s a two way street.”

That two-way street met a bump in the road on Feb. 17 when Malzahn’s defen-sive coordinator, Keith Pat-

terson abruptly resigned af-ter two months in the po-sition to take the co-defen-sive coordinator position at West Virginia.

However, Malzahn does not seem to hold any hard feelings.

“He’s got to do what he feels is best for him. He did a great job for us recruit-ing; helped us get some ex-cellent players on the de-fensive side that will help us. At the same time that’s part of the business.”

Patterson was replaced on Feb. 25th by anoth-er Arkansas native, John Thompson.

“We’re tickled to death to have John Thompson. You’re talking about a guy that is one of the top defen-sive minds in college foot-ball, who has been at the highest level and been suc-cessful.”

Thompson, a coach with 29 years of experience, in-cluding coaching at five SEC schools and two years as the head coach at East Carolina, comes to ASU af-

ter previously coaching the upstart program at Georgia State for four seasons.

The addition of Thomp-son finalized a staff com-prised of many Arkan-sas natives and coaches Malzahn brought over with him from his time at Au-burn.

Working on the offen-sive side of the ball will be Rhett Lashlee (Springdale) as the offensive coordina-tor and quarterbacks coach, Eliah Drinkwitz (Alma) as the Running Backs Coach/Special Teams Coordinator, J.B. Grimes (Clarendon) coaching the offensive line, Dean Jackson instructing the tight ends and Casey Woods leading the wide re-ceivers in addition to being the teams recruiting coordi-nator.

Defensively, in addition to Thompson, long time ASU running backs coach David Gunn will now coach the defensive backs, Kenny Ingram takes the defensive line and Brandon Hall will coach the linebacker corps.

Operation: Spring Practice

Travis Sharp/Herald

Loose Forward Harry Higgens, an International Business ma-jor from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, pushes through Sooner defenders Saturday at the ASU Rugby fields in Jonesboro.

Red Wolves take the boom out of Sooners

Abdullah Raslan/Herald

Gus Malzahn, seen here at his introductory press conference in December, leads the Red Wolves into a 15-session spring prac-tice season beginning Wednesday.