More than two dozen freshmen and redshirt freshmen saw action in ASU’s season opener Thursday night, a 30-7 victory over Kent State. Here is a breakdown of their individual performances.
Offense
The most significant storyline of Arizona State’s offensive newcomers was naturally starting quarterback Jayden Daniels, the first true freshman to start at quarterback for the Sun Devils since Dillon Sterling-Cole in 2016 as well as the first true freshman signal-caller to open the season as the starter in program history. While displaying some shaky moments throughout the game, Daniels still showed poise and maturity and certainly had an overall formidable performance for the Sun Devils.
Following an incompletion on his first-ever career snap, Daniels first completion a couple plays later was a 42-yard downfield throw to wide receiver Frank Darby aided by the junior’s athleticism to adjust to that ball. This play led to the first three points scored ASU. Daniels’ first career touchdown came on the third drive of the contest as he attempted a bootleg pass but ultimately made a better decision throwing an across-body eight-yard jump pass to junior running back Eno Benjamin to put the Sun Devils up 10-0.
Some of the more impressive moments for Daniels on the night came displaying his dual-threat abilities rushing for multiple first-downs. His ability to slide or run out of bounds but still gaining precious yards stood out all night long and included his first rushing touchdown in the third quarter on a fake handoff to Eno Benjamin. Daniels’ signature moment was when he found wide receiver, Brandon Aiyuk for a 77-yard touchdown with 3:53 to go in the third quarter.
While a mostly positive performance, Daniels as expected did show the freshman in him from time to time in the game especially when he threw dangerously into the heart of the Kent State defense on a play in the fourth quarter. He also had two delay of game penalties on the night, part of the freshman learning curve. Overall though Daniels finished a solid 15 of 24 passing with 284 yards and two touchdowns through the air. He was 19 yards away from breaking Dillon Sterling-Cole’s freshman single-game passing record of 302.
“It’s a special moment (to) go out there and get my first college win,” Daniels said, “but there’s a lot we have to improve on. We can’t be too content with the win. There’s a lot we have to improve on - myself, the running backs, receivers, the whole offense has to improve on a lot of things. But I thank Coach Likens, the offensive line, Eno and all of them for helping me out to get this win.”
On the ground, the signal-caller had just 12 carries for 13 yards but he was sacked five times in the game losing 24 yards which naturally skewed that figure. He could have been sacked two more times but used his strength to avoid the Kent State rush defense to make positive gains on both plays including a 37-yard throw to Aiyuk to pick up a first down at the end of the first half.
While Daniels was a significant component for the ASU offense tonight, he was not the only freshman to see playing time and have a positive impact for the Sun Devils.
True freshman and jack of all trades Ethan Long, who saw playing time on the punt coverage team as well tonight, took some snaps in the Sparky direct snap formation and most notably had a 16-yard run which set up the first Sun Devil touchdown. Long would go on to finish with three carries for 21 yards.
Another newcomer with some impressive plays on offense was true freshman wideout Ricky Pearsall who had a solid block leading to a 10-yard Isiah Floyd run and a 16-yard reception late in the game.
True freshman Elijah Juarez, who came to ASU as a linebacker, came in sparingly at fullback (his permanent role for the season) blocking for Benjamin and leading the running back for his first sizeable gain of the night for eight yards on ASU’s second drive of the game. Redshirt-freshman running back AJ Carter had a 17-yard reception in the first half to make his presence known.
One of the bigger storylines of the week was the injury to starting senior center Cade Cote that thrust true freshman Dohnovan West into the starting center role. West had a roller coaster of performance on Thursday yet only had one bad snap the entire game, effectively cleaning up a shortcoming displayed in the preseason.
Offensive coordinator Rob Likens did not shy away from his praise of West stepping in and stepping up on Thursday. “…We’re very pleased with Donovan’s attitude, how hard that he plays, he’s smart and he’s extremely tough and he’s a freshman,” Likens said. He’s going to get better and better and better and better…”
Other newcomers seeing time on offense in the game were true freshmen wide receivers Jordan Kerley and Keith Davis, and a trio of redshirt freshmen in offensive tackle Spencer Lovell, offensive tackle Ralph Frias, defensive end Michael Matus.
Defense
Defensively, the standout newcomer for the Sun Devil defense was redshirt junior and former USC player Jack Jones. He made his presence known almost immediately stripping the ball away from Kent State running back Jo-El Shaw which was recovered by a fellow newcomer and redshirt freshman Cam Phillips (who saw action in two games last season). With reduced snaps for senior Chase Lucas due to the senior’s illness and ankle injury, defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said that Jones’ contributions were a pleasant surprise as the junior dealt with his own ailment.
“We tried to watch Chase's reps a little bit and I think we probably played Jack a little more than we anticipated,” Gonzales remarked. “He did a nice job. He's the one who caused the fumble on the first one that they broke for a first down. So, he helped there and good for him. He was able to overcome his ankle and play more than we anticipated so that was good."
Another standout newcomer for the Sun Devils on defense Thursday was true freshman safety Willie Harts who had a pass breakup in the game on a fourth and two to stop a potential scoring drive for Kent State in the first half. Gonzales said Harts was the newcomer who impressed him the most on defense in the game. “…I thought Willie did some really good things,” Gonzales said. “Made a couple of plays in coverage that were really good.”
Special Teams
The top newcomer award would have to go to punter Michael Turk. The redshirt-sophomore in his first action as a Sun Devil put video game-like numbers recording punts of 64, 62, 65, 49 and 75 yards for a gaudy average of 63 yards. His 315 total punting yards were 115 more than the TOTAL offensive yards by Kent State. He also averaged a whopping 58 net yards per punt.
ASU’s starting kicker junior Brandon Ruiz was held out of precaution with a lower-body injury leading to redshirt-sophomore and former Gilbert Perry standout kicker Cristian Zendejas to make his debut on the same filed where his father Luis Zendejas starred for Arizona State. Zendejas was a perfect 3-3 with kicks of 31, 35 and 40 yards. Handling the kickoff duties was true freshman Josh Plaster, who recorded no touchbacks as the Golden Flash racked up 143 kick return yards.
Other newcomers seeing time on defense or special teams were true freshmen defensive backs Jordan Clark (one solo tackle) and Kejuan Markham (two solo tackles) as well as redshirt freshmen linebacker Stanley Lambert and defensive back Alijah Gammage, true freshman defensive back Connor Soelle, junior college transfer and sophomore nose tackle TJ Pasefea, the tandem of true freshmen linebackers Fritzny Niclasse and Case Hatch and graduate transfer defensive end Roe Wilkins.
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