With its season set to kick off against USC in less than two weeks, the Arizona State football team was back in Sun Devil Stadium this past Saturday for the first time since last season’s Territorial Cup game in late November.
The Sun Devils staged an 80-play mock game on Frank Kush Field complete with an officiating crew, timeouts for water breaks, and a full game day routine.
“I thought it was good … due to the fact that we have a lot of new staff members, obviously a lot of new young players,” ASU coach Herm Edwards remarked. “The procedure of going through what it feels like on game day. The stretch, the pregame warmup, where we’re going to stand and sit on the sidelines, the communication from the box down to the field. I think it was critical for us to do that. And I thought the players, for a lot of our players that have never been in that stadium before, enjoyed it.”
Edwards did not provide much detail into how individual players performed in the Intrasquad scrimmage. However, he raved about his offense’s performance in the game.
“I thought the offense did some things that were kind of fun to watch,” Edwards explained. “And I’ll leave it at that. It was interesting to watch them. This offense is brand new. And I think this Saturday you saw signs of things to come hopefully. Now, the defense was a little upset. It was pretty competitive, but I saw some things offensively that kind of made me smile.”
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The 2020 ASU football team has a few different faces on the coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Zak Hill has arrived from Boise State, defensive backs coach Chris Hawkins is new to the program, co-wide receivers coach Prentice Gill is in his first season at ASU, and defensive line coach Robert Rodriguez is back in the college ranks after five seasons as an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings. In addition to the new coaches on the staff, co-defensive coordinators Antonio Pierce and Marvin Lewis as well as co-wide receivers coach Derek Hagan have elevated roles from a year ago.
Due to spring practice being cut short because of COVID-19, Edwards said Saturday was the first time he was able to gauge how the new coaches interacted with their players in a game situation.
“That’s what I wanted to see more than anything else is signaling different personnel groups in, out,” Edwards stated. “This was really the first chance we got as a coaching staff to hear what’s coming out of the booth, getting that coordinated with the players, with the personnel. So, it was fun to watch. And I think we needed to do it. That was very important that we got that in because you’d hate to not have a dress rehearsal before you play a real football game.”
With the fresh faces on the coaching staff, there were bound to be some hiccups communication-wise on Saturday.
According to Edwards, the game did not run smoothly but remarked that he would rather have it happen now versus the USC game.
Edwards said the coaching staff has more or less decided which coaches will be on the field and which coaches will be in the booth for games. Barring any last-minute changes, Lewis will be in the booth while Pierce and Hill will be on the sideline.
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One of the big questions heading into this season is whether or not quarterback Jayden Daniels will be able to top a terrific freshmen year in 2019. If Saturday is any indication, it appears Daniels has taken the next step.
“I’m always giving him grief,” Edwards said. “But he was pretty impressive Saturday.”
With USC right around the corner, Edwards went over preparations for the game. He said the coaching staff has been studying USC game film from last season as well as film of Texas’ defense last year. First-year Trojans’ defensive coordinator Todd Orlando spent the last three seasons with the Longhorns.
Edwards also discussed the offensive line and how USC will be a big test for them.
“The lineman have to play together,” Edwards stated. “And that’s what we’re going through now. We’ve kind of got that figured out, what the five guys are going to be. And it’s hard because we’re going against them every day defensively, and they’re going to get an entirely different look from USC. So it’ll be interesting when we get into the game and how we game plan them.”
Edwards was not concerned with the lack of experience in big moments for many of his players. With a lot of them coming from Southern California, he believes their familiarity with USC and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will calm their nerves on Nov. 7.
ASU will have another mock game this upcoming Saturday. While it will not be in the stadium, Edwards expects the intensity to be even greater this time.
“We have to be more efficient and more detailed, and it will be,” Edwards explained. “There’s a lot of things that need to be tied up. And the efficiency of sideline communication, whether it be through the coordinators, up to me as a head coach. Situational football is critical. Timeout usage, score, clock. All those little things are important. We need to do a little bit more of that this Saturday.”
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