With ASU spring football practices less than a week away from concluding, head coach Herm Edwards still believes his group is not quite where it needs to be.

Edwards spoke on what he would like to see out of his team in the last few spring practices, saying he wants his squad to fine-tune the complex offensive and defensive systems it will be running in 2021.

“We’ve put a lot in (during spring practice) offensively and defensively for a reason,” Edwards stated. “We wanted to get it all on tape. And now we have to learn the finer things. And there’s going to come a point to where when you start the season, play opponents, you’re not going to do everything you’ve done on offense or defense. But you want to make sure you’ve got this in your system. You have it in your toolbox, per se.”

In most years, a major area of interest during spring football is the newcomers' performance. In his three seasons at ASU, Edwards and his staff have inserted younger players into games early in their freshmen seasons. Most notably, ASU started Jayden Daniels at quarterback as a true freshman in 2019 and gave freshman running back Chip Trayanum 12 carries in his college debut against none other than No. 20 USC. Edwards believes his track record of playing newcomers has resulted in more and more players showing up early for spring practice to try to prove themselves sooner rather than later.

This year, four-star defensive back Tommi Hill, linebacker Eric Gentry and quarterback Finn Collins are key freshmen already on campus and impressing so far in the spring practices.

Edwards did not specifically discuss any freshmen who have stood out to him so far in spring practice, but he did compliment the young players as a whole.

“I’m not going to mention any names because when I do that … I get the phone call from the parent,” Edwards remarked. “‘Why didn’t you mention my son? You don’t like my son?’ I love them all. I think if you followed this team the last three seasons, young players show up. They have an opportunity to play. And we have some at skill positions, especially, that will have an opportunity to get on the back end of our defense obviously and the receiving core as well. … We’ve got a few offensive linemen I think that’ll have a chance to be in a backup role to maybe come in and get some reps during the season.”

Edwards is not keen on padded practices. However, he held a live scrimmage this past Saturday with players in pads because he felt it was “necessary” for the young players. Edwards said Sunday’s final spring practice, a practice that will be held at Sun Devil Stadium with fans in the stands will be similar to last Saturday’s scrimmage.

When asked what has impressed him the most during spring practice, Edwards noted his team’s chemistry.

“This has been a solid month or so of football,” Edwards stated. “And I think the camaraderie and just the chemistry of the team are coming together because we’re in here every day. They get one day off. When we’re not practicing, they’re in meetings, or they’re lifting. So we’ve been together as a group now for almost a month. And that’s been a lot of fun. It really has. Guys knowing each other. The new freshmen class coming in. We had some transfers to come in. I think the bonding of the team and watching it, that’s been fun.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is still a factor in society, and none of the spring practices in 2021 could have taken place without the efforts of medical professionals testing players and coaches involved in spring football. Edwards thanked the tireless efforts of the medical staff for making spring practice possible.

“Got to take our hats off to our medical staff and all those professionals that are guiding us still through this virus that we’ve been able to get all these practices in,” Edwards said. “To start this thing up again, I was a little nervous about what is it going to look like. But to the players’ credit, to the coaches’ (credit) as well, doing the right thing. … Can’t thank the players and all the people that helped us through this enough.”

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