The Hornets hope the momentum they picked up at the end of the 2015 season, winning four of their last five games, can carry over into Saturday's action against Conference USA member UTSA.
 
The Hornets have 17 starters back on the field and are looking to win their first game over an FBS program in the history of ASU football.  This is UTSA's sixth season to field a football team and finished the 2015 season with a 3-9 record.
 
Offensively, ASU has all-everything Khalid Thomas back on offense.  The senior from Florida has rushed his way on to the career rushing list despite being a backup for two years and sharing time in the backfield last season.  He enters the season with 1,416 yards and with 584 yards this season will become only the sixth player in ASU history to rush for 2,000 career yards.
 
Josh Davis is a home run threat from his wide out position.  He averaged over 22 yards per reception last season and actually started the 2015 season with an 81 yard touchdown reception on the first play from scrimmage.
 
ASU has the luxury of having three offensive linemen back led by All-SWAC performer Kerry Williams.
 
On defense, Kourtney Berry is the face of the SWAC.  The two-time All-American and reigning SWAC Defensive Player of the Year will look to lead a Hornet defense that showed improvement as the season went on in 2015.  The Hornets actually finished second last season in scoring defense allowing 24 points per game.
 
Roderick "Ghost" Henderson may be the best runs stopper in the conference.  The 350 pound Montgomery native makes it hard to run the ball in between the tackles for the opposition and his quickness shows in the fact he has six blocked field goals and PAT's to his credit over his career.
 
UTSA has a big-time runner of their own in Jarveon Williams.  The senior ball-carrier became the Road Runners first 1,000 yard rusher last season as he finished the year with 1,042 on 173 carries (6.0 ypc.)  He is on pace to become UTSA's all-time leading rusher needing only 260 yards.
 
UTSA also has a big play receiver in junior Kelly Thomas.  He had a school-record 52 receptions a season ago for 541 yards and four scores.
 
UTSA returns five starters on defense but three of those are their top three tacklers.  Nate Gaine led the team with 76 total stops while Marcos Curry had 74 and Michael Egwuago had 62.
 
The main addition to UTSA is new Head Coach Frank Wilson.  One of the top recruiters in the nation, Wilson moved to San Antonio for LSU where he was the recruiting coordinator and running backs coach for six seasons.  He served as the Tigers associate head coach his final four seasons in Louisiana where he was named the 2015 Scout.com SEC Recruiter of the Year.
 
Opening kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be heard on the Hornet Network with the pregame beginning at 5:30.  Tune into bamastatesports.com for all your listening options.