It’s safe to say that Arizona State running back Kalen Ballage is ready to move on from his sophomore season.

Why, do you ask? After all, he had solid production in gaining 739 all-purpose yards with four touchdowns and further cemented his status as one of the most integral parts of the Sun Devil offense.

This time last season, Ballage was riding high. Fresh off a stellar Sun Bowl performance as a freshman, an excellent spring camp primed him for what should have been a stellar sophomore campaign.

Instead, just days before the team’s season opener against Texas A&M, it all came crashing down.

Ballage was diagnosed with mononucleosis, dropped weight and missed the team’s first three games of the season. Even when he came back, it took much of the rest of the season for him to begin to feel like himself again.

The team struggled, too, suffering its first losing season under head coach Todd Graham by finishing 6-7 and falling short of just about everyone’s lofty expectations. Ballage took losing personally, notably after his first game of the season against USC. Following the 42-14 blowout loss, Ballage lashed out in a highly-criticized Facebook post.

Perhaps it was personal frustration boiling over, or maybe there were deeper issues lingering to the 2015 Sun Devils. Regardless, Ballage is ready to move on.

He’s aged, now entering his third season and displaying maturity in both personality and physicality. He’s a different person than the scrawny athlete who first signed to go to Tempe.

He even has a different number, a more physical representation of moving forward. Ballage entered spring camp sporting No. 7 instead of his usual No. 9.

“This is what I always wore,” Ballage said of the switch. “I wore this number in high school. I wanted this number when I first got here, and I wasn’t able to have it. It’s kind of like my family number, a lucky number for me so I just wanted to get it back.”

In his freshman year, the number belong to a senior – Kyle Middlebrooks. The following season, incoming freshman Brady White held the number. However, with White moving to his own old high school number of No. 2, Ballage finally got the number he wanted.

A year removed from the hype of his strong freshman finish, Ballage isn’t concerning himself with his slow start as a sophomore.

“Every time you’re in the spring you’re concerned about your effort and how to get better going forward,” Ballage said. “You can’t really think about the past because you can’t change that, so you’ve got to focus on the future that’s ahead of you.”

The future ahead of Ballage remains murky. While he and fellow junior Demario Richard have locked down their spots as the anchors of the offense, the rest of the core remains to be seen. The team will have a completely rebuilt offensive line, new weapons on the outside and a brand-new signal caller both on the field at quarterback and on the sideline in offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey.

“No matter who’s handing the ball off to us in the backfield, we always want to make sure we’re doing our job,” Ballage said. “Anybody that’s back there, they can trust us with the football in our hands and making plays.

“As far as the new offense goes, it’s difficult to learn a completely new thing when you’ve been in the same system for two years. But you start to catch on, and that’s all we can do.”

Lindsey oversaw the tail end of Ballage’s sophomore season, as he joined the program just in time for the team’s bowl preparation.

“Coach Lindsey is a real laid-back guy,” Ballage said of his coaching style. “He’s going to coach you, but he’s not going to scream at you, yell at you or anything like that. It’s an opportunity to play for somebody that you really want to play for.”