CAMP TONTOZONA - Arizona State defensive line coach Jamar Cain did not have much to work with in February’s spring practice, and that may be a gross understatement.

The Sun Devils’ first-year defensive line coach’s unit dealt with injuries and departures that left the group with just three scholarship players who suited up last season.

Now in the midst of preseason practices at Camp Tontozona, Cain’s squad is close to full strength and coming into their own, something that Cain naturally welcomes with open arms.

“Like I said, I came here in spring ball and I had three guys and I was like what the heck is this?” Cain said. “Now I’ve got some more bodies. It’s better.”

Cain says it has been just like studying feverishly for a test before school starts getting the players who missed time in the spring ready and up to speed in preseason practice

“As much time as they can spend with me, as much time as they can spend in the film room it’s just cram cram, cram,” Cain described. “You’ve got that test Friday and you’re going to start studying on Wednesday that’s how I look at it all the time. We’ve got to cram for it as much as we possibly can and we should be okay.”

ASU’s defensive line coach says it has been a little bit of a bumpy ride with his group to start practice given how many players were out in the spring. Nonetheless, he says his unit is improving after the seven preseason practices they have been through to date.

“We’re getting better,” Cain stated. “It’s like a rollercoaster. You have your good days. You have your bad days. Just trying to get consistent every single day.”

A player necessary for the Sun Devil defensive line to be consistent is sophomore defensive end Jermayne Lole.

Lole is coming off a freshman season in which he saw extended playing time even starting the final four games of the season. The four-star prospect coming into school put up respectable numbers in his freshman campaign as he had 27 total tackles, including five tackles for loss and three sacks. In his four starts, he had three games with tackles for loss and his 14 quarterback pressures ranked No. 5 among Pac-12 freshman.

This season, Cain is looking for Lole to become a special player for the Sun Devils.

“He’s got a chance to be a pretty good player here at Arizona State,” Cain remarked. “We’ve just got to make sure we’ve built up the consistency in him. Get up his practice habits a little bit better and then he’s got to decide if he wants to be an alpha or not.”

Cain added that he is starting to see Lole become the alpha-type player he wants him to be.

“I’ve seen it,” Cain noted. “I’ve seen him practice a little bit harder, take command of the room, coach people up, do the little things…Now we’ve got to see if we can do it over a long stretch of time.”

One of the more important players on the line who missed spring practice was nose tackle D.J. Davidson. The now sophomore was injured in the Sun Devils’ matchup with USC in 2018 and was forced to miss the rest of the season along with spring practice. Prior to his setback, he was having a productive season with 3.5 tackles for loss including two sacks. Cain commented that Davidson has started to truly showcase his skills after showing rust the first couple of days of preseason practice.

With the unit being relatively young and with the offseason injury struggles, Cain will have to rely on senior defensive end George Lea to lead the defensive line in 2019. Lea broke out in 2018 recording a career-high 27 tackles and was given the Curley Culp Outstanding Lineman award by his teammates.

“Being a senior leader, he’s (Lea) done a really good job at doing that,” Cain said. “…He just leads by example. He’s always trying to work hard…trying to get the guys to do little things.”

An added bonus for ASU’s defensive line this season will be veteran Roe Wilkins coming over from Rice. The graduate transfer defensive end is coming off an impressive 2018 campaign with the Eagles where he finished with 20 tackles in the last four games of the season. He was also a two-time Conference USA honorable mention pick during his time at Rice.

Cain praised the work ethic, consistency, and experience Wilkins brings to the table.

“He was a missing piece for that group,” Cain admitted. “He played a lot of snaps at Rice. He is a grinder, he knows how to play hard, he’s never complained since he’s been here and he’s just a worker.”

The player adding versatility to the defensive line this season for Cain is Shannon Forman. Cain said he views Forman, the 6’2, 304-pound junior who was No. 3 in the nation in 2018 in pass coverage by defensive lineman according to pro football focus, as a jack-of-all-trades player capable of playing both end positions and nose tackle. Cain said his goal is for Forman is to regain his starting position back but no matter what he will have a big role this season.

One of the new faces on the defensive line is local Goodyear Millennium High School standout Anthonie Cooper. Cain says the freshman has some ways to go but has been good in spurts for the team in preseason practice.

“Just a young kid…he’s got some work to do,” Cain stated. “He’s shown some flashes but again in high school those defensive linemen…they’re able to dominate and all they’re not able to dominate (in college). Now you’ve got to line up against (Alex) Losoya and Cohl Cabral. That stuff you did in high school doesn’t work anymore.”

Another newcomer, sophomore junior college transfer T.J. Pesefea has according to Cain…”got to get in shape.” Cain said once Pasefea achieves that feat he would be able to contribute to the group.

One aspect Cain stressed was how he does not listen to what fans, etc. have to say about his defensive line and its role in the 3-3-5 scheme. Cain said overall for the preseason he wants to see his squad show consistency, give effort and have a chip on their shoulder because he says people are doubting his unit.

“We’ve got to do our job,” Cain said. “We can’t worry about what other people say, what other people do because again, we do get lost but if a team rushes for 300 yards on us and passes for 400 yards on us it’s always the defensive line’s fault.

“We’ve got to make sure we (are) consistent in what we do.”

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