Arizona State’s coaches weren’t going to just let A.J. McCollum have a perfect, carefree senior year, one where he could show up each day with an assurance that he was the team’s starting center. They didn’t afford him the luxury of that security.

He had to earn it. They knew what kind of player he was, but they also had an idea of what he could be. They wanted to see more out of him.

“We challenged him,” coach Todd Graham said. “He had to fight for his job.”

The staff poked McCollum throughout Fall Camp to see how he’d react. One day, he’d take first-team reps at center. The next, it would be redshirt senior Tyler McClure, a former walk-on who started three games last season during a period where McCollum was held out for personal reasons. Sometimes, current starting left tackle Cohl Cabral moved inside to snap the ball.

It looked as if McCollum’s job could be in jeopardy. His next move was going to tell the coaches a lot about who he was and what they could expect from him going forward.

“You know what,” Graham said, “he rose to the occasion.”

When adversity struck, Graham saw McCollum rise. The lineman put his head down and worked. He practiced as if he had everything to lose because, well, he did.

McCollum started seven games at center last season, but perhaps some of that pedigree went out the window when Rob Sale replaced Chris Thomsen as ASU’s offensive line coach. McCollum wasn’t going to live off of what he did as a junior.

It was a clean slate. And at first, it wasn’t pretty.

“Sometimes, he would swell up and get sensitive on me,” Sale said of McCollum.

Asked about that, McCollum smirked.

“Is that what he said? I was trying to keep that a secret, I guess,” McCollum said, chuckling.

McCollum then said Sale had a coaching style he’d never been accustomed to. Sale describes himself as tough. His players say he’s intense.

It may have taken a bit of time for McCollum to adjust to Sale, but at a point, he shaped up quickly. Why?

During practice, he saw McClure taking first-team reps. He watched as the coaches experimented with Cabral, a sophomore who’s shown great promise on the line.

“I stopped butting heads with Coach Sale, that’s for sure,” McCollum said.

Instead, McCollum started to work harder. He got in better shape. He tried to be more coachable. There was nothing to do, he said, except get his act together.

This whole competition at center wasn’t the only challenge McCollum has faced during his ASU career. He entered the program last season after transferring from junior college. But because he wasn’t able to be there for spring practice in 2016, he missed out on a lot of instruction.

He had to quickly learn a new offensive system while getting used to the program during the summer. When practice started, he had to adjust to the Division I level. In practice, he found that players weren’t only bigger, but stronger and faster.

“It’s not like pushing around some easy D-linemen in junior college,” McCollum said.

What he’s done this year is working, though. Pro Football Focus grades players and forms a “Pac-12 Team of the Week” after each weekend of college football. McCollum has made PFF’s list both this week and last.

McCollum may be a senior, but he said that doesn’t mean he’s a mentor. He said he’s perhaps learned more from left guard Sam Jones and right tackle Quinn Bailey than he’s taught them. All the linemen help each other.

But, if McCollum weren’t doing his job correctly, it would show on the film. That’s where his seniority is on display.

”He has to be the leader of the offensive line just for the sake of knowing what calls are and how to call everything, and I think we’ve gotten to be on the same page about pretty much everything,” junior quarterback Manny Wilkins said.

This Saturday not only marks the penultimate regular-season game of McCollum’s college career, but also a homecoming. The Beaverton, Oregon, native will play an hour and a half from home when the Sun Devils take on Oregon State at Reser Stadium in Corvallis.

McCollum said he grew up more of an Oregon Ducks fan, and while many of the state’s residents identify with one team, they root for both. It’s a game he said he circled on the schedule, but the fact that he’ll be starting is a testament to his hard work and a key lesson he’s learned along the way.

“It’s Division I,” said McCollum, who expects a group of 40 people on hand to cheer him on against the Beavers. “There’s always someone behind you.”

Sale added: “It doesn't matter if you have a backup, somebody is right underneath you ready to take your job. You better be on your A-game, too. It’s no different in the real world and no different playing the offensive line position at ASU.”

With his starting job on the line and, in a way, his senior season, McCollum fought back.

“He said, ‘No, this ain’t happening,’” Graham said.