As it turns out, the biggest storyline in the much-publicized ASU’s quarterback battle is actually surrounding one true freshman who perhaps unexpectedly is now slated to skip a redshirt year, while ironically also playing a limited number of reps at signal-caller.
Ethan Long admitted that during his recruiting process with ASU, it was no secret that while he was being pursued as a quarterback, that other positions for him to play at Arizona State were undoubtedly on the table as well.
Simply put, the true freshman wants to get on the field this year, and he has proved that with his actions. That is a sentiment that is certainly shared by his coaches as well. This meeting of the minds has produced one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises of the Sun Devils’ preseason practices. This week’s sessions saw Long lining up at fullback, slot receiver and on kickoff coverage units, in addition to his quarterback duties.
“It’s fun been given the opportunity to be on the field,” Long said. “Not a lot of players in college get to do this. I’m blessed to have the coaches who have enough trust in me and have me play a couple of different positions. I’m just taking advantage of it.
“If it’s quarterback…whatever it is that they want me to play – I’ll do it.”
And in the age of a raging transfer portal, the true freshman embodies the team player term to the fullest.
“It all started with him,” ASU offensive coordinator Rob Likens recalled. “He walked into my office after spring practice and said: ‘coach, I don’t want to sit on the bench. I still want to compete for the starting quarterback job, but man I wanna play.’ I told him that I knew of a way that for a fact would get him playing and that’s at fullback. He said: ’let’s go!’
“So, we put him in at fullback and away we went.”
One NFL player who has undoubtedly served as inspiration for Long, is New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill who since joining his team last year, has already played on special teams, and has been used as receiver and tight end too. Long played just quarterback in high school, save for a little stint in his sophomore year playing limited reps at a slot wide receiver. Nonetheless, he had strongly admired the many hats a player like Hill wears every Sunday.
“Taysom is a guy that I have watched for a long time,” Long commented. “Just seeing the athlete that he is and how he is able to play a bunch of different positions, and succeed at a high level…it’s very special. Being molded like him is a true honor. That really excites me.”
“He is the one that brought up the name (Hill),” Likens stated, “and said that ‘I want to do the same things that they guy from the Saints is doing.’ I told him that we could even do more than that because you’re a quarterback. When he comes on the field, we can still run four verticals. We can run the whole passing game with him.
“When N’Keal (Harry) lined up at quarterback, he was running the ball or throwing up one little pass. Ethan can run the entire offense. He’s a quarterback.”
Second-year ASU head coach Herm Edwards has yearned to recruit exceptional athletes ever since arriving in Tempe. He isn’t only pleased that Long fully fits that team mission but also has been deeply impressed how Long has been able to utilize his arsenal of skills at the outset of his college football career.
“He's an athlete,” Edwards stated. “I think the more you can recruit athletes the better team you're going to become and then you just find a spot for him. You just get good athletes and generally, they can do a lot of things and so he's a guy who has those traits. He's a guy that all of a sudden you put him in the game instead of the starting quarterback and you got an issue. I just say that being a defensive coach because you don't know what he's going to do. That's part of what we're trying to develop for him.
“He's a jack of all trades who kind of does everything and the more he gets comfortable with our offense, I've already told him, 'I'm going to try to get you on defense too,' maybe a package or something for him. He says, 'Coach I just want to play' and I said 'I know. You're going to play a lot.' He'll help us and we're not going to put him in a situation where he can't be successful and we're trying to find what that is right now and he's all for it. He's a true team guy."
Needless to say, that Long hearing that his head coach was so adamant about getting him on the field in his first year with the team was viewed by the freshman as the ultimate compliment given Edwards’ background.
“Especially coming from a guy that has been around football that long,” Long commented, “the wisdom and knowledge that he has…and being able to soak it up all the time whenever he talks...him trusting me to be on the field is a huge honor.”
Long gained notable weight since the spring and is now coming in at 225 lbs. Likens is very bullish on the signal caller’s physical attributes, which naturally play a big role in his ability to help the team in the various fashions he is these days.
“When you get a guy like that who’s special, shows up an is so physically developed,” Likens remarked, “pound for pound he’s one of our strongest kids. He’s one of our fastest kids for his size and weight. He’s such a competitor.
“It’s not going to do us any good watching him sit over there and drink water on the sideline. He has to get onto the field. Some freshmen can play and he is one of them.”
Playing other positions on offense, Long knows that his background can be very beneficial in not only helping himself be productive as he lines up at various roles, but also being able to assist his teammates with his unique perspective.
“You understand where the ball is trying to go,” Long explained. “You’re in the mind of, ‘ok, so this is the coverage so this is where I would throw it’ and I try to make myself open in the parameters of the route. So, having that experience at quarterback gives me an advantage as a wide receiver and also an advantage to the quarterback.”
“He brings respect,” Likens remarked. “Everybody on this team loves this kid because they know how hard he works. He’s tough and they just believe in him. When he jogs out onto the field, everybody gets excited. When they watch film and see him get the ball, they are cheering for him. The players just love him and they love watching him play.
“I think that he gives us a lot of energy.”
Case in point, here are a couple of tweets from last night expressing how Long’s teammates on the other side of the line scrimmage feel about him and his abilities.
Long feels that the quarterback group is “leaps and bounds” better than it was in the spring. Yet, he feels that all signal-callers, including himself, have room to improve.
“We need to be like a coach Likens on the field,” Long said, “and have all ten other guys trust us. When they know we have to do something they need to count on us to show them the way.
Long has gained a lot of confidence in practices this week. A dropped ball here, a missed assignment there still manifests the fact that especially as a young player he has much more room for improvement, especially considering the fact that he is acclimating to positions he has generally never played on the high school level, let alone the college level.
“Being to go out there and making a little bit of a difference is definitely exciting,” Long said. “I’m looking forward to what’s to come. Being able to get on the field any way I can is the goal. I don’t really care what position I’m playing if I’m on the sidelines giving out signals or sitting on the bench. I just want to help the team.
“I just want to be the best I can be. When I look in the mirror, I can go to sleep at night knowing that I did my best.
“Whatever the coaches want me to do is totally fine. I’ll give it my best. I just want to have the trust of the guys to be able to trust me wherever I am on the field there won’t be a setback and I won’t let them down.”
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Chris Gleason contributed to this report
