The Sun Devils suffered their first loss of the 2024 season in a 30-22 loss to Texas Tech on Saturday. The inaugural Big 12 game for ASU’s first season in the Big 12 didn’t go according to plan, with miscues eventually costing the Sun Devils the game, but the newcomers for this season left their fingerprints all over it.
(Note: all transfer players, true freshmen, redshirt freshmen regardless of if they played last year, and other players, regardless of class, who redshirted last year are the ones mentioned in this article series)
Offense
Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt helped spark ASU’s comeback win last week against Texas State and picked up right where he left off. Although he threw an interception for the second consecutive week, that was one of the few mistakes he made. Throwing in 15-20 miles per hour wind is no easy task, but that didn’t hinder Leavitt’s ability to air out the football, throwing for a career-high 282 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Leavitt has shown growth in every game he’s played as a Sun Devil, both on paper and on the field. His decision-making is something that’s seen from a veteran quarterback rather than a redshirt freshman, and his ability to balance staying in the pocket and scrambling has helped his team tremendously.
“Last week, he scrambled to run, this week he scrambled to throw,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said after Saturday’s game. “That’s part of the maturing process. He’s got to be able to see the different looks from defenses. All that stuff is a learning experience that he’s going to see again in the season.”
After a breakout week for redshirt sophomore receiver Jordyn Tyson last week, he followed up with a quiet game vs. Texas Tech, catching two passes for 33 yards. With veterans taking up the bulk of the targets and receptions, Tyson and redshirt junior tight end Chamon Metayer were the only two newcomers to record receptions, and Metayer was tied for the most targets on the team with senior running back Cam Skattebo.
Defense
While the veterans started the charge on defense last week, this week, it was much different. On the defensive line, redshirt junior Justin Wodtly had four tackles, one of them a tackle for loss. Graduate lineman Jeff Clark returned to play and was part of the interior linemen group that tried to stop senior running back Tahj Brooks, but the run game from Texas Tech was just too much for the line.
In the linebacker room, nearly every player that saw the field was a newcomer. Junior Keyshaun tied the team lead with nine tackles and shut down the middle of the field. His partner, redshirt junior Zyrus Fiaseu, was more effective in the air, breaking up a pass to go along with four tackles of his own.
Perhaps the biggest group on defense where the newcomers made a difference was the secondary. Junior safety Myles Rowser was everywhere on the field, recording nine tackles and sacking the quarterback for a loss on a key third down. It seemed like ASU would get the ball back, but Rowser couldn’t keep his composure and was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty that gave Texas Tech a free first down.
“It was unacceptable for us, and that’s my fault,” Dillingham admitted. “We have to get that stuff cleaned up. We can blame the players all we want, but at the end of the day, it’s our job and responsibility to get them to act right.”
Special Teams
On the first play of the game, special teams placed ASU at a disadvantage, where Ohio State placekicker transfer graduate Parker Lewis kicked the ball out of bounds on the kickoff that placed Texas Tech at the 35-yard line instead of the 25. He did it again in the third quarter after ASU scored, and both drives ended in a Texas Tech touchdown.
One of the penalties for ASU was an unnecessary roughness call on one of the kickoffs as well, where redshirt sophomore Max Ware leveled a Texas Tech player after the whistle to signal a touchback was blown. Unneeded mistakes on special teams hurt the Sun Devils little by little and added up over time.
“That penalty is a fundamental thing,” Dillingham noted. “Everyone has a signal when they’re not returning a kick, and he just didn’t look back to see that signal. We just have to emphasize more that everybody looks back at that signal.”
Redshirt sophomore kicker Ian Hershey hit his lone field goal attempt from 34 yards but missed one of his two extra-point attempts in the fourth quarter. Still, Hershey is considered the strongest and most consistent kicker for the position and has shown flashes of his ability to be the starter all season long.
Freshman punter Kanyon Floyd continued his consistency, punting three times for 130 yards. His longest on the day was 51 yards, and he now has recorded 50 yards or more punts in three out of four games. In a position where last year was interchangeable, the Sun Devils looked like they may have found their boot for the foreseeable future.
Newcomer Participation List for Texas Tech
QB Sam Leavitt
WR Malik McClain
WR Jordyn Tyson
WR Jake Smith
TE Chamon Metayer
TE Douglas Markeston
TE Coleson Arends
TE Cameron Harpole
DL Roman Pitre
DL Justin Wodtly
DL Jeff Clark
LB Keyshaun Elliot
LB Zyrus Fiaseu
LB Martell Hughes
LB Jordan Crook
LB K’Vion Thunderbird
DB Javan Robinson
DB Xavion Alford
DB Myles Rowser
DB Montana Warren
DB Adama Fall
DB Keontez Bradley
DB Kamari Wilson
DB Kyan McDonald
K Parker Lewis
K Ian Hershey
P Kanyon Floyd
Number of games played by Freshmen
LB Martell Hughes - 4 games
P Kanyon Floyd - 4 games
DB Kyan McDonald - 3 games
DB Rodney Bimage Jr. - 3 games
RB Jason Brown - 1 game
DB Tony-Luis Nkuba - 1 game
DL Albert Smith III - 1 game
Freshman who haven’t played yet this year
OL Terrell Kim
OL Champ Westbrooks
OL Semisi Tonga
WR Zechariah Sample
TE Jayden Fortier
TE James Giggey
DL Ramar Williams
DL Salesi Manu
DB Plas Johnson
DB Chris Johnson II
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