Arizona State begins its fall semester in ten days, a day that effectively marks the end of the camp mode portion of preseason preparations. Yet, Herm Edwards isn’t planning to wait that long to establish his two-deep, let alone establish the starting quarterback role.
“We’ll probably make an announcement here shortly,” Edwards commented regarding that position. “I got an idea, but I don’t want the opponent to know. They can study for all four of those guys (four ASU quarterbacks). By the end of this week, we should have a pretty good idea of the guys on both sides of the ball; that’s gonna be interesting to watch how that develops. Lot of competition at a lot of positions. So that’s always fun.”
It’s no secret that while the Sun Devils’ passing game is seeking to put behind them a performance that fell short of expectations in 2021, that having a new starting quarterback (presumably Florida transfer quarterback Emory Jones) along with some newcomers at wide receiver who are poised to play a significant role, has manifested some growing pains in the first four preseason practices. Two passes were intercepted in the team segment, and multiple dropped passes were also part of today’s session. Edwards did agree that the lack of cohesion with several new faces at the skill position has been an obstacle to overcome thus far.
“That has something to do with it too,” Edwards admitted, “and I know one thing: When he (Jones) throws the ball, he doesn’t throw a lot of curveballs. It’s fast. So you better be ready cause it’s going to get on you. If you don’t have your head around, your hands ready, it can bounce off you. And that’s (about) the timing of receivers and quarterback. New offense, a lot of new receivers, a quarterback that wasn’t here in the spring (Jones). Other guys were here; I understand that. I just think that has something to do with it.
“We’ve been a good cover team. So we gotta realize some of these guys that haven’t been here in the past (know) that you’re gonna get tight coverage, you gotta make those catches. We had way too many drops; we gotta clean that up. Starting to like the way we look at running the football. There are some things we’re doing pretty well. I like the way we’re kind of progressing; it’s kind of fun to watch.”
And ASU’s head coach has also been pleased not only with the overall competition element at all positions but also with the fact that this aspect hasn’t gone off the rails as it can and oftentimes does during preseason practices.
“We don’t want to be combative,” Edwards explained. “When you’re combative, people get hurt. We have a lot of new guys, they’ve been to other places, and I think how we practice might be a little bit different, and they’re learning how to do that. And the more you put pads on, the more they realize this is how we have to do it.
“They got after it a little bit today. They were rested. Tomorrow we’re going in the bubble (Verde Dickey Dome) with helmets on; we’ll have a pretty good practice. Then Wednesday, we’ll get after it. Thursday it will be more of a relaxed day again, and Friday, we’ll go at it again. And then (Saturday) we get to go up to Camp (Tontozona). Hopefully, we don’t lose a coach or a player going up the (Kush) mountain. Not so much going up, but coming down. I think it will be fun for the guys to get to go up there. It’s a good trip, and it will be good just for a little nostalgia for some of these guys that have actually stayed up there. For the new guys, I think it will be fun to go up there.”
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On the injury front, Edwards stated that freshman tight end Jacob Newell has his ankle rolled over and that it could potentially be a serious injury that he would know the extent of following X-Rays. ASU’s head coach added that Senior cornerback Timarcus Davis suffered a sore knee and didn’t practice for the second session in a row. Senior tight end Messiah Swinson wore a non-contact green jersey due to soreness.
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Last Saturday night, the team held an open house event at Sun Devil Stadium, where players interacted with ASU fans who also got to tour the football facility. Edwards expressed his appreciation to the Arizona State supporters who showed up for this event.
“It was about approximately 2,000 fans from what I heard; coaches weren’t allowed in the building, we were gone,” Edwards said. “But just listening to the players speak, fans were very cordial, very encouraging, so that was nice. And it was hot. I think it was at five o’clock, so it was still warm. But they came into the stadium. I told the players before that (event), ‘there’s always going to be a little kid that when he sees your number, it’s just one of those deals.’ You’re bigger than life as a football player, as an athlete. So it always goes back to guys, you watch the Sun Devils players when you’re a little kid, and you get to come in and meet these guys. It was a good event for everyone involved.”
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