Coach Rob Crowell surveyed the room as the Crusader coaching staff gave their pitch to a group of high school freshmen. As the offensive line coach at the prestigious Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, one of Crowell’s jobs was to help inform the freshmen about summer workouts and the process of trying out for the varsity squad. Most of the young high schoolers sat there, with Crowell’s comments falling upon deaf ears; however, there was one player who sat up in his chair, listening to every word, the player was an offensive lineman named Ben Scott.
Scott listened intently to Crowell’s words as the coach rattled off information about offseason training and workouts. Standing well above 6 feet tall, Scott towered above most of his peers in the room, and even as a freshman, he worked hard in the weight room and in practice, both of which did not go unnoticed by Crowell.
“He was just like kind of locked in,” Crowell explained. “All the rest of the kids were kind of doing their own thing, but Ben was locked in, and you could see, he was soaking it all in and really trying to take it seriously.”
Scott, who was first introduced to football through Pop Warner and flag football from a young age began to cultivate a love for the sport as he traversed middle school, enrolling at Saint Louis in the sixth grade.
By the time Scott listened to Crowell and the rest of the Saint Louis coaches’ pitch, he had played for the middle school and JV teams at the school. Scott wasn’t satisfied; he wanted more; he wanted to play on the varsity stage with the whole state watching.
When pondering on the most powerful high school football programs in the country, people typically gravitate towards those based in states like California, Florida, and Texas, however, due to the rugged, tough nature of the Polynesian, Samoan, and Hawaiian people on the chain of islands, football is naturally intertwined with the culture.
Saint Louis is Hawaii’s premier prep football program, with the Crusaders boasting a rich history of success that dates back to their first state championship win in 1983. In 1986, the Crusaders started a 13-year consecutive streak of Oahu State Prep Bowl Championships, a streak that came to an end in 1998. Since then, the Crusaders have played in the HHSAA Football Championship, winning in 1999, 2002, 2010, and from 2016 to 2019.
“(Saint Louis) has turned out the who’s who of Hawaii high school football stars that went on to play in college and the NFL,” Saint Louis Offensive Line Coach Rob Crowell explained. “(The success of Saint Louis in the 80s and 90s) got Hawaii on the map, and (the success) not only helped Saint Louis but for the rest of the islands.”
As a sophomore, Scott made the varsity roster at Saint Louis. He didn’t play much, though he was able to receive valuable practice against some of Saint Louis’s best players in each session. Scott went up against multiple players who are now at the Division I level daily, including names like Cal defensive tackle Stanley McKenzie, Washington defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele, among others.
Scott sprouted ahead of his junior year. When he returned to Saint Louis, Scott stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 270 pounds. It was at this same time when Scott realized that football could be a long-term possibility.
“I couldn’t ever really see myself playing (long-term) when I was younger,” Scott admitted. “I didn’t know if all the work was really worth it. I couldn’t see myself playing football for the rest of my life. Once junior year hit, I started getting bigger, stronger, and better, and then I realized that maybe I should do this.”
Scott played tackle for Saint Louis for some of his junior year before moving inside to guard as a test from Crowell. Scott managed the position change well and began to gain attention from recruiters due to his size, versatility, work ethic, and ability to be coachable in big situations.
“We always teach, ‘One snap and clear,’” Crowell noted. “You always want to play one snap and then clear your mind, no matter what happened on that last snap… That’s one thing that’s good about Ben; he never dwelled on one play. It was always let’s move on, let’s get better; let’s keep going throughout the game.”
In between his junior and senior years of high school, Scott and the rest of the offensive and defensive lineman from Saint Louis attended “big man camps” in California; lineman showcases that are essentially massive one-on-one tournaments for those in the trenches. The showcase allowed for Scott to come across the eyeballs of multiple recruiters, and shortly thereafter, the offers began to come in.
“His potential was always there,” Crowell said of Scott. “So, it was only a matter of time. I thought that he was going to start getting the (collegiate) attention.”
During Scott’s senior year, Arizona State offensive line coach Dave Christensen and former defensive line coach Shaun Nua flew to Hawaii to visit Saint Louis, and the pair of Sun Devil coaches delivered Scott and other players their recruiting pitches. Scott, just like he had many times before, listened intently to what the coaches had to say; however, he didn’t carry on the conversation following the pair of coaches’ departure.
It was offensive analyst Kevin Mawae (while Christensen was on medical leave) that reached out during the following summer, whilst Scott was in the midst of his summer big man camps and offered Scott a scholarship to ASU. The Sun Devils gave Scott his first Power 5 offer, as he had only previously received offers from Mountain West schools.
Scott finished his high school campaign with another dominant season as a senior. At the end of his run with the Crusaders, Scott racked up 33 wins and a singular loss, along with three state championships. The Saint Louis offense averaged over 46 points a game and 398 yards per contest in Scott’s senior year.
“We all bought into the program,” Scott said. “We all just made each other better, and we all ended up becoming really great football players in my opinion.”
Scott committed to ASU on August 22nd, 2018 during the early weeks of his senior season, signing with the Sun Devils due to the high level of Pac-12 competition.
Scott first arrived in Tempe ahead of the 2019 season and experienced a massive culture shock upon arrival. Long gone was the humid, tropical climate of the Hawaiian Islands, instead, Scott was met with the scorching, unwavering Arizona dry heat in August.
“At first, (the transformation) was terrible. I could not breathe,” Scott complained. “I was super out of shape because I wasn’t used to breathing dry air, so that really messed me up.”
However, Scott found salvation in his new teammates, specifically a 17-year-old freshman tackle from Waxahachie, Texas named LaDarius Henderson, who was one of Scott’s roommates. The pair of first-year players did their best to fight the transition together, however that would soon change.
Christensen’s plan was to redshirt most of his incoming freshman offensive linemen, however, injuries plagued the position group, requiring Henderson and another freshman, Dohnovan West, to brave the challenge and fill starting roles along the offensive line.
“(Christensen) told us when he was recruiting that we would probably redshirt from the beginning,” Scott said. “I wasn’t really planning on playing, especially with all the seniors we had on our line. So, I was just going to practice, learning what I could, learning the techniques the coaches wanted, learning the plays. The main thing was going into the weight room and getting as strong as possible.”
Scott’s plan was different than Henderson and West’s, as the first-year player, followed through with Christensen’s plan and opted to redshirt. However, Scott still traveled with the team, working harder than most due to his elevated training program.
“Even though I wasn’t in a position to play, I still traveled for all the games, but at the same time, I was still doing the non-traveling players lifting program, which was much harder than the traveling player (routine) because I wasn’t going to play in the game, and I wasn’t getting as many reps (as the starters) in practice,” Scott explained. “I would go and lift at 6 a.m. every day during the weekdays, during the season, and even before the season. I would just go in there and lift my butt off, trying to put on the heaviest weight, I could possibly lift each day.”
Scott first stepped on campus at 285 pounds, standing 6-foot-5. By the end of his freshman season, Scott had gained 20 pounds of “good” weight with his strict training program.
During spring practice earlier this year, Scott asked to move from his customary position at guard to take reps at center due to the absence of Cade Cote amid his appeal for a sixth year of eligibility. The redshirt freshman wanted to display his utility along the line, something he felt he could do at center. Scott impressed at spring ball, allowing the versatility that Crowell helped develop at Saint Louis, to shine through at ASU.
“I’ve been playing every position on the o-line since I can remember,” Scott recalled. “There’s always someone that’s going to get hurt or someone not performing as well as they should be. So, at some point in time you have to learn how to adapt and play every position.”
However, Scott’s promising spring came to a close shortly thereafter with the COVID-19 pandemic onset. Scott returned to Hawaii for the summer; however, his decision to return home made navigating quarantine a lot more difficult than Scott had originally thought.
“The thing that messed me up the most was the time change,” Scott noted. “We would have morning o-line meetings and morning offense meetings, and I would have to wake up at like 5:30 in the morning and hop on the meeting at 6 a.m.”
While the time change was certainly difficult for Scott, another aspect of his return to the islands was staying motivated to work each day. Relying on the philosophy of head strength and performance coach Joe Connolly, Scott maintained his physical shape.
“Plain and simple, no one cares. No one really cares about how you’re preparing; they care about how you do in-game and how you perform on film,” Scott explained. “Especially during quarantine, I really took that lesson into perspective because, during quarantine, you could do whatever you wanted to. There was no one there to mentor you and no one there to be on your back, telling you what to do. You had to prepare for the season how you should on your own.”
Scott returned to ASU for the 2020 season, poised to display the talents he had flashed during spring football months earlier. A few weeks before preseason practices started, Scott was taking reps at center, a position he was still learning and adapting to due to the mental strain of snapping the ball before fulfilling his blocking duties.
“I was playing center, and the coaches didn’t like the idea of going into the USC game with an inexperienced center,” Scott proclaimed. “At first, they took me out and had me work with the (second group), and then a couple of days later Coach Christensen told me, ‘You played tackle in high school, we want you to go to right tackle. Let’s see how it looks, and we may rotate you into the starting lineup.’”
Scott began taking reps at right tackle, initiating a battle with a familiar face for the starting spot. Scott’s competition was the player who had helped with Scott’s transition and, instead of redshirting, had played the entire season protecting quarterback Jayden Daniels. It was Scott’s close friend, LaDarius Henderson.
Henderson and Scott began their battle for right tackle supremacy just before preseason practices began in the first week of October. Since then, the pair’s battle has been a back-and-forth affair, fighting to be the most “consistent” option for Christensen and offensive coordinator Zak Hill.
“Coach C kept telling us that he wants someone consistent, you don’t have to be an All-American; he just wants someone that is consistently good, doing their job and not making any mental mistakes,” Scott explained.
“The evaluation process — and those guys know it — it’s daily,” Hill said of the position battle. “So, we may end up naming a starting five or whatever we end up doing, but that process is going on every single day. So, if a guy is doing really well in practice, steps up, and he takes over that role, that’s fine. We want guys to be able to keep developing, keep working hard, and nothing is solidified. “
Despite the battle between the two, Scott and Henderson maintain a solid friendship, assisting each other with whatever questions they might have. The pair still live together as well.
“It’s not ideal; it’s not what we wanted. We didn’t really see it coming,” Scott said of his battle with Henderson. “I don’t think it’s hurt our relationship. At the end of the day, it’s not our decision to be battling for this spot. If we could have it our way, we would both be starting. Overall, it’s a friendly competition. We still help each other on techniques and help each other with what we have to do because we are both playing the same position right now. If we both help each other, we will both be solid, and that’s what a good teammate does.”
For Scott, regardless of whether he wins or loses the starting job at right tackle, the redshirt freshman has proven that he is worthy of playing time for the Sun Devils and is optimistic about his future, as well as the future of the offensive line, ahead of the 2020 season.
“Every day we go out there and take it one day at a time, some days are good, some are bad, but every time we have a bad day, I feel like it’s not too big of a mistake,” Scott described. “It’s not the fact we are not capable of blocking the assignment; it’s more that it’s a quick and easy fix, something mental sometimes. So, we just want to go out there and get all the mistakes out in practice, so that hopefully by USC time, we should be ready to go.”
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