Here are the quotes from ASU’s offensive coordinator media availability session today:

DevilsDigest: You said you’re looking at some point for separation from two quarterbacks from the rest, without naming names do you feel like you’ve reached that point?

Rob Likens: “Yes, yup. I see some stuff that I really like, and it’s not…it means the other guys are doing poorly. There are just some guys that are stepping up in situations- they’re not perfect, don’t get me wrong like we’re not doing everything perfectly and really making some really poor decisions at times. But I see some good stuff out of a couple guys that I’m very impressed with and excited about.”

Reporter: So does that mean the rep distribution is going to start to change?

Rob Likens: “It will, probably the last two practices it might, yep.”

Reporter: So is it safe to say Dillon’s (Sterling-Cole) one of those?

Rob Likens: “Wow, you’re going to try to pull me in there like that. I am not willing to say anything right now at this moment about that, but we will have some more information for you after the Spring’s over.”

Reporter: Obviously Jayden Daniels is more slight of build, what is realistic for him to put on weight muscle by to get ready for the Fall?

Rob Likens: “It’s a good question, I just talked to coach Joe Connolly about that the other day, and now that I’m getting up there in age I can’t remember what he said. But no, I think that 10 pounds probably is totally realistic, I really do. He’s already gained I think 10ish, maybe somewhere around there eight-ish to 10 since he’s been here, so I mean you’re looking at possibly when he came in to the start of the season he could be 15 to 20 pounds heavier, which is great and that’s a good pace to be on.”

Reporter: I think he’s listed at 180 right now, is he around 180…?

Rob Likens: “You know how rosters are.”

Reporter: What do you think just about how the receivers are coming along this Spring?

Rob Likens: “You know- and I’m hard on those guys because of my past coaching and I am really hard on them, I love them. What I’ve seen is we have, you know, we got some- we only got three scholarship players going, you know on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and so the rest of the guys are guys that are not on scholarship and really trying extremely hard to get a scholarship and working towards that and, you know, when you have that and you got inexperience at quarterback and then you got inexperience at wide receivers you’re going to have days like we saw today. But here’s what I’m impressed with is man, like I said I’m hard on those guys and man they just bounce right back ‘yes sir, let’s go,’ and jump right back in, they fail and they get right back up and they try again, so the thing that I can say about them is just I love those guys. You know I was a former walk-on, I get the life it’s not easy, it’s hard. The expectation level, sometimes you live up to the perception of others which I’m trying to teach them that’s not what you should do as a walk-on, you should walk out there believing you’re the best football player that’s ever lived, and that’s their mindset that they need to have. So that’s just what I expect out of them, so it’s going to be a process, I’m very pleased though with the attention to detail that they’re trying to do.”

Reporter: Frank Darby with his…he’s got such a high capability if he can just kind of broaden his game a little more, how’s he doing…

Rob Likens: “That’s exactly right. There was a day that Frank had a couple- I can’t remember, you guys might remember he had really good one-on-one’s, and it was really good, and when Frank gets that confidence and he relies on his quickness and his speed and has a good pre-snap thought process of what he’s going to do when the ball is snapped, then he’s at is best. It’s when- and all players are like this- he’s just got to learn as a young guy that that focus needs to happen on every single snap of football, and man it is so hard it seems like to me, with the emergence of Fortnite and stuff like that, but it’s just so hard for the kids to just maintain and lock that focus in for an extended period of time.”

Reporter: How do you feel that, you got a secondary that’s a little more veteran, but the walk-ons and even the receivers, how are they responding to the challenge of the secondary facing them is giving them, but also how are they improving from that?

Rob Likens: “Yeah, you know, our secondary we got good numbers out there now, and you know you got some guys with experience, those two corners. You know, when they get up and they give you the hardest look you’re going to see, which is press coverage, and you got an inexperienced guy and you got an experienced guy, you know most of the time you’re probably going to lose that battle, and you just got to learn, and that’s where the most intricate details of a release, of a restack, how to position your body, what other routes are combined with what you’re doing. If you have an inside breaking route coming back to the outside there’s a certain type of release you have to- you can’t go inside and they lose their focus sometimes on that and that’s because of their inexperience and it’s a normal process that it’s frustrating as heck but they all go through it.”

Reporter: Speaking of wide receivers, it feels like Paul Lucas was sloppy…

Rob Likens: “You know, today he kind of had a little struggle today, but up until today I was extremely proud of him, and I’m still proud of him, love him. But the thing that Paul- he was a running back, and he’s just not like doesn’t have the natural hands you know, so you develop his hands and up to this point- today he had a couple drops and he struggled and that’s going to happen with his development- but up until today, I thought he’s been just been doing great, and he was one that, he went from a guy that was not really focused because some guys aren’t real focused when they’re not playing all the time, it’s very hard for them. So now that Kyle is working on becoming a surgeon and he’s not out at practice- which is fine with me- is that Paul now is in the leadership role, he’s like the starting H, and so a lot is demanded from him, a lot is expected from him, we’ve put a lot on his shoulders and it ran together a little bit on him today but up to this point he’s been doing really well, I’ve been really pleased with him.”

DevilsDigest: If you could get Newsome and Humphrey healthy, are you still optimistic that they can bring some stuff to the table based on what you’ve seen from them in the past?

Rob Likens: “Yeah, because Ryan Newsome- so you got two guys that have elite something that they do. You have Ryan Newsome who’s- he’s the quickest guy we have on our football team, and it’s not even close. I mean he’s got Julian Edelman quickness-type stuff to him. His biggest thing is he’s just, you know, he’s been injured a lot, and I mean you got to practice, and when he’s out there and when he’s fine and when he’s healthy, he’s going to help us. Same thing, John Humphrey he’s probably the fastest guy we have on our team, alright and so you saw two years ago he caught what, four touchdowns three touchdowns in the Spring game, so we saw what he’s capable of doing and for some reason he’s just been not healthy, and so I know what those guys can bring to the table but until that they can prove that they can be out there on the practice field over an extended period of time, then you just, you know, it’s tough to like go ‘hey in the future we’ll do this,’ well they got to prove that, and it’s not their fault, it’s nobody’s fault man it just happens.”

DevilsDigest: It’s not unusual for offensive linemen to take longer to develop compared to other positions on offense. With that being said, the development of Ralph Frias…what have you seen from him?

Rob Likens: “Just quickness, you know, and understanding- and going against our defense now, if you don’t know what’s going on and have a great understanding of defensive structure you have no shot against this defense, none, as a young experienced offensive lineman. They never stand still, they’re always moving, they’re always blitzing somebody somewhere, so you learn at an early age- now does it impede their development a little bit, yeah probably because they don’t get used to base-blocking a five-technique, double-teaming a three-technique and it’s just all over the place…it’ll help them maybe later down the road in recognizing blitzing and all that stuff, but it is tough. It’s tough for their development, like your normal double teams and things like that, but the guy that I’ve been extremely impressed with up there is Dhonovan West. I mean he’s the guy right there that could, I mean if he continues his development, he’ll have a shot to play for us this year as a freshman. In some- you know, not starting right now but you know what I’m talking about, he’ll have a chance to contribute.”