One of the most reiterated storylines throughout ASU’s Spring practice has been the defensive line’s lack of depth, to which coach Herm Edwards and defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales usually reply with some variation of “help is on the way.”
But this doesn’t bother sophomore defensive lineman Jermayne Lole, who’s one of about four to five guys that regularly practice with the position group.
“It’s beneficial to us because we’re getting more reps and learning the system more, getting in shape more,” Lole said.
Of course, this came as a result of losing key players from the 2018 team. Jalen Bates and Darius Slade both made the decision to transfer, with Bates recently announcing he’ll play at Colorado State, and nose tackle Renell Wren graduated and entered the NFL draft.
“Honestly I don’t care who transfers out,” Lole said. “I have faith in the system and the coaches, no matter who we have here, we’ll still compete with anybody in the country really.”
With all three of those players being upperclassmen, this has left a void for the unit both on and off the field, a void that Lole might be primed to fill as much as anyone.
“He better step up or the guys behind him that are coming in are going to take his job, just like he did last year,” linebackers coach Antonio Pierce said.
What Pierce is alluding to is Lole’s emergence as a playmaker over the last six weeks of the 2018 season.
He turned heads with his performance in ASU’s 38-20 upset of then No. 16 Utah, accounting for three tackles, two for loss including one sack, a forced fumble and two batted down pass attempts.
Lole played sparingly in September and October, but after that breakout performance against the Utes he combined for 19 tackles, two for loss, a sack and two passes defended over the season’s final five games, including the bowl game.
Pierce, who coached Lole in his high school days when he was leading Long Beach Poly, expects the 6-foot-2, 270-lb lineman to continue what he started at the end of his freshman season.
“I think the game’s slowed down for him a lot,” Pierce said. “I think that you can see when you watch him he’s getting in better shape, he’s getting stronger. He’s a guy that could put up double-digit sacks once he gets himself in that position and he really gets comfortable.”
This sentiment is shared by his position coach, first-year defensive line coach Jamar Cain, who has been impressed with the Long Beach, California native in his limited time coaching at ASU.
“Everything works together with him, hands, eyes, feet,” Cain said. “The sky’s the limit for that kid- I keep telling him that every day, like finish just finish. Once you start finishing plays, it comes easier in the games.”
As with any player, it’s not all positive for Lole, who knows what he wants to improve on most in the offseason months that follow Spring practice.
“Last year the biggest problem for me was probably just conditioning,” Lole said. “Changing my weight was a big thing this offseason, so it’s going pretty good this offseason. Just working on getting bigger, faster, stronger- the regular stuff.”
“He’s still got that little freshman mentality sometimes where he hits that wall about halfway through practice,” Cain said. “We’ll get through that, and that just comes with us having a little bit more and more depth and helping him out.”
A better conditioned Lole should be a scary thought for Pac-12 opponents, as he already proved he could make an impact against the likes of Oregon and Utah during that strong finish to his freshman season.
He credits his familiarity with coach Pierce from his high school days- although Pierce doesn’t coach his specific position group- as a key factor in easing his transition to the college level, allowing him to get acclimated fast enough to make an impact early in his college career.
“Most people coming in they don’t know what to expect,” Lole said. “But when I came in, I already knew what to expect because the way we practiced at Long Beach Poly was similar to here, like fast tempo. That’s probably like the hardest thing for incoming freshmen, just the speed of everything, the practices, the games, and stuff.”
Lole’s proven capabilities along with the established trust the coaching staff has in him should mean he’s in the rotation week one, alongside Shannon Forman, and George Lea.
However, the promised help will arrive come the Fall with a pair of talented recruits in four-star lineman Stephon Wright and three-star prospect Amiri Johnson, in addition to recent JUCO signee T.J. Pesefea.
Although these guys could compete for reps as the season progresses, Lole and his teammates view the incoming players as a positive thing that will help give the d-line the depth to perform to its highest potential.
In fact, he offered some advice for the incoming players that Wren shared with him while the two were teammates last season.
“Just go slow, step-by-step, don’t try to make too many strides or too big of a stride for yourself,” Lole said.
He added that Wren used to tease him about redshirting at the beginning of the season, possibly something this year’s vets could do to push the young guys in preseason practice.
But for now, Lole will try to use the chemistry he’s built with Forman and Lea throughout Spring practice to his advantage, as he looks to continue his success into the 2019 season.
“They should feed off each other,” Cain said. “I’m on them a lot about communication like you guys all hang out together, there should be no communication errors at all.”
The Sun Devil defensive line might look like one of the feebler position groups to anyone watching them in Spring practice, yet if Lole can continue his emergence on the field, it could change the whole perception of ASU’s defensive front once it gets its full complement of talent.
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