CAMP TONTOZONA - The Arizona State football team wrapped up its annual Camp Tontozona preseason practice sessions on Saturday. Offensive coordinator Rob Likens had somewhat mixed, but mostly positive feelings about where his offense is with just under three weeks until game one against Kent State.

Likens had some interesting things to say about the much-discussed starting quarterback position. He also talked about his biggest needs before the season begins and standout freshman swiss army knife Ethan Long.

Camp T is in the books, how do you feel about the progress of the offense these last five practices?

RL: “The whole thing that you know practicing is the technique of the skill players and offensive line their toughness but you know everything is centered around developing quarterbacks and finding out what they can do, what they can handle. We were very simple at first, tried to be a little more taxing on their minds in the last couple days just to kind of see how much they can handle. And so that’s what this part and especially when they were tired. The end of this week man…you just get no sleep, everybody’s tired, you’re grumpy and it really kind of put the pressure on them and I put some more offense in just to kind of see how their minds could handle it and they did a great job. We really struck gold with this quarterback class.”

Has this camp given you more clarification as to who the starting quarterback is going to be?

RL: “I’ve talked with Coach Herm here very shortly in this evening and we will probably having something for you guys and let you know when we’re going to do it here probably tomorrow.”

Jayden Daniels…what progress have you seen from him?

RL: “You know he…just doesn’t turn the ball over much. He protects the ball. That’s what I love about him. You never see him throwing up the ball for grabs. He threw a bad pick yesterday…but if he throws one per camp and that’s what he’s done so far. He’s thrown one in the fall and one in the spring so that’s pretty good so we’re excited about that part of his game.”

Joey Yellen has been practicing under some pretty difficult circumstances but has really impressed out here…

RL: “Oh wow. It just speaks volumes of his character and the type of kid he is. He’s so unselfish, he loves this football team, he loves his brothers out here and just wanted to be out with them and wanted to be a part of this football team and I’ll remember this and what he did and the time he spent at the campfires with the guys. I’ll remember that for the rest of my career.”

As far as mechanical with him, he seems to have totally changed his mechanics for the better since the spring, what has he done to do that?

As far as mechanical with him, he seems to have totally changed his mechanics for the better since the spring, what has he done to do that?

RL: “If you noticed there right before camp started, he was losing just a little bit of power in his throw and so he kind of went back to the drawing board a little bit with his feet and his base and his hip torque and things like that. It’s almost like a golfer…you know you kind of you lose your stroke sometimes and then you’ve just got to kind of work to find it and I think he’s in a good place.”

What have you seen from Dillon Sterling-Cole?

RL: “Just unselfishness. His willingness to do whatever it takes to help the football team and that part of him…I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a player in that area and leadership improve as much as I have since the day I walked on campus to today. Amazing job.”

Herm mentioned announcing the starting quarterback on Monday. Was that news to you?

RL: “We’re going to talk tonight and we will get in touch with you guys and let you know here very soon.

Do you guys already know who the starter is?

RL: “Yes. We already know. We’re going to make a decision. We’re going to be public about it here very soon. Herm will do that and it’s coming pretty soon. We want to do that. It’s not going to be a fun day. I’ve got three guys in there I love like sons and you’ve got to give them some bad news.”

Will you also set the second-string quarterback?

RL: “No. We will not. We’re just going to keep fighting for that.”

How has the QB play been in camp overall?

RL: “The last couple days I’ve noticed that there may have been some gray areas on some reads that I didn’t see until yesterday…just today I thought we missed a couple reads in the two-minute drill. We only really had one procedural penalty. In your first scrimmage, you’re really concerned about that as an offensive coordinator. You don’t really want it to look sloppy and I don’t think it looked sloppy.

Looks like Camp T was Ethan Long’s breakout period at QB and elsewhere…how impressed are with what he is doing?

RL: “I’ve never had a player like him and I’ve had athletic players like him but a freshman and be able to do all of the things he is doing…he’s on all special teams, he’s playing quarterback, he’s playing receiver, he’s playing fullback, wingback, he’s all over the field, he doesn’t bust assignments, he makes plays, it amazes me.”

Will he start?

RL: “I don’t know but I know he will play for us. Yes, he’s going to be in the game plan. ”It just speaks volumes of his character and the type of kid he is. He’s so unselfish, he loves this football team, he loves his brothers out here and just wanted to be with them and wanted to be part of this football team. I’ll remember this and what he did and coming out here and the time he spent at the campfires with the guys. I’ll remember that for the rest of my career.”

So kind of like a Taysum Hill type player for the New Orleans Saints?

RL: “Absolutely.”

Are you happy with where your offensive line is?

RL: “We’ve got some work to do in some areas because of the shifting around. There are some things that some guys got to get better at. Obviously, Cohl’s got to develop you know as a tackle. We got some guys playing center. Cade…he’s got to develop They all (have) to do a better job.”

When it comes to the running game, have you decided on who your No. 2 is?

RL: “We’ve got to get back together as a staff and that still probably won’t get decided because we have a couple more weeks of camp so that’ll take a little bit of time. Impressed. Very impressed with both of those guys and they’re both a little different so we might go into the game not saying he’s the second team guy but each guy does something different and they both could be the second team guy but doing what their talent can do. “

Does Herm being enthralled with running 13 personnel mean you are super excited about the tight ends?

RL: “Yes. Very impressed. I think coach Donnie Yantis has done an amazing job with those guys. It’s not easy trying to get a freshman ready to play and then also we moved a wide receiver over to play tight end and all of that entails that’s very hard and he’s done an amazing job and that group has been as impressive as any other group out in this camp.”

When it comes to the wide receivers it seems like the story is with the young guys…

RL: “Yeah. So we kind of know what we have in Frank (Darby), Kyle (Williams) and Brandon (Aiyuk). This is a perfect time to find who the guys are going to come and give them a break when the game starts and we’ve got to be able to rely on those guys and…coach (Charlie) Fisher amazing job, those guys have been battling it out, fighting for playing time…they want to stay in there. They know what’s at stake and their focus with (Ricky) Pearsall, (Jordan) Kerley…it’s unbelievable those two guys.”

Where are you with your starting receivers?

RL: “Frank (Darby) got a little banged up early and was out of practice so that kind of hurt his development a little bit because Frank had some things that I really wanted him to work on…Me and Frank have talked extensively that we’re trying to develop him into a complete wide receiver not just the long ball guy that we throw it up to. It’s slowed him down a little bit not practicing…Kyle Williams, Brandon Aiyuk…they’re right where they need to be. But the big thing is the emergence of Jordan Kerley…”

Who will be your 5-7 receivers?

RL: “I just don’t know about Geordan Porter. There’s a chance he could and a chance he couldn’t be ready for the first game so we have to plan like he’s not in hopes that he is. That’s why the emergence of Jordan (Kerley) has been huge because he kind of took the place of what we thought we were going to get out of Porter.”

Is John Humphrey closer than Geordan Porter?

RL: “…He looks like he is. If we can get him back, that’ll be some really good speed we can put back out on the field.”

Any specific aspect of the offense you would label as a pleasant surprise…

RL: “I didn’t realize how much our freshman were going to be able to handle which will allow us to be a little more multiple formations.”

Who is the player or players who surprised you the most?

RL: “Ethan (Long) and Nolan (Matthews) have been really, really good surprises and I would say probably Jordan Kerley.”

Is there a general area of concern before the opener?

RL: “We’ve just got to get our offensive line and center position solidified which I think we have. We’ll find five guys on the offensive line, five starters but the sixth and seventh guy who that guy is that’ll be a battle all the way to the end and quite frankly I’m excited about that because there’s a couple of guys I really like that have been doing a really good job…Cody Shear has been one of them and I really like his attitude and what he brings to the table in Jarrett Bell so it’ll be fun watching those guys battle it out.”

How much of your offense is in right now?

RL: “We didn’t show a lot of it today but we got a good bit in. The run plays, the run game is all in but we’ve just got to package some more RPOs I think. But our pass game is done. I’m not going to put anymore. I can’t do that to the quarterbacks. The pass game is done, the run game is done, the formations, screens, and RPOs and play actions are still evolving.”

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