ASU head coach Todd Graham spoke at his first weekly presser of the 2016 season on Monday but did not formally name a starting quarterback for Saturday’s opener against NAU.

Graham hinted at letting offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey make the final decision on when to announce the starter but did not go much further.

“Our team knows who our guy is and who will run out there with the starting lineup,” Graham said. “We’ve got two guys that we have a lot of confidence in with Manny and Brady (White), and a young quarterback that will be our third guy — Dillon Sterling-Cole — who is extremely talented and has had a great camp. That’s where we’re at and we’ll announce it when we get ready.”

However, all signs seem to point to redshirt sophomore Manny Wilkins, who has run with the first team at practice more consistently and led it in last Saturday’s pregame routine walkthrough.

Wilkins has also matured a great deal, Graham said. He is following the previously set standard for playing the position at ASU.

“It’s leading by their actions on the field, off the field and in the classroom, so that’s where I’ve seen the most maturity from him,” he said.

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NAU enters the season off of a 7-4 year in 2015 and was voted to win the Big Sky Conference in this year’s media poll.

Graham said the Lumberjacks are a formidable opponent, especially with offensive talent like quarterback Case Cookus and wide receiver Emmanuel Butler.

Cookus completed 69 percent of his passes during his freshman season en route to 3, 117 yards and 37 touchdowns while Butler caught a team-high 64 passes for 1,208 yards and 15 touchdowns.

“The two of them have this ability to always know where the ball will be located,” Graham said. “Their quarterback operates in a way that can help extend plays with a lot of success.”

Graham spent much of his press conference raving about NAU’s offensive explosives, which he said is its strength. Naturally, that puts an emphasis on ASU’s secondary, which is filled with players who have not had much Division I game experience.

“I want to see our guys perform at a high level, but they have some talent, they’re going to catch some passes and have some plays because they are very talented,” he said. “…I have confidence in our guys, we have to go out and be disciplined and every single play be better than the play before.”

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Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson has said redshirt junior A.J. Latu was one of the most improved players in the program. Graham agreed and said Latu will receive starter reps along with Koron Crump at the Devilbacker position.

“I always tell (AJ) he’s one of my favorite players on defense, just the passion from which he plays, he’s very tenacious,” Graham said. “He’s a guy that just brings it with passion, a very smart player, a very physical player and loves this game.”

As for the Spur position, Graham said Tyler Whiley and Marcus Ball will both play there.

Graham praised special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum’s job in his first year and said there is room to build upon that.

He said the team has spent a great deal of time preparing for any possible trick plays.

“Obviously, in this first game it is really important on special teams that we’re alert early in the season for surprise onside kicks or fake punts and things like that,” Graham said.

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Graham tabbed seniors Zane Gonzalez and Matt Haack as leaders in the kicking game. Gonzalez is the NCAA’s active leader in career scoring with 9.9 points per game and needs jut 16 field goals to break the NCAA’s career field goals record. Last year, Haack’s 32 punts downed inside the 20-yard line ranked second among FBS punters.

Additionally, he said receiver Tim White and running back Kalen Ballage will be big in the return game.

“We want to be the best in the country and the best in the conference in special teams and with those guys, it gives us an opportunity to compete to do that,” he said.