With starter Manny Wilkins suffering an injury that assumes to keep him out of action at least one week, should ASU in fact have to use reserve Brady White in the starting role, the Sun Devils will then be in a position that is somewhat uncommon at Arizona State in having to fill in for an injured quarterback.

Looking back over the past 20 years, stalwarts like Jake Plummer, Andrew Walter, Rudy Carpenter and Taylor Kelly started for long stretches without injury – though a couple of the aforementioned signal callers had points at which they had to watch from the sidelines.

In the post-Jake Plummer era at Arizona State, the Sun Devils had a revolving door at quarterback after health and off-field issues involving Ryan Kealy created instability at the position and players such as Steve Campbell, Chad Elliott, Griffin Goodman, Jeff Krohn and John Leonard earned substantial time for the Devils.

The first two seasons of the Dirk Koetter era had performance based switches at quarterback as redshirt freshman Andrew Walter filled in for Jeff Krohn for two starts in 2001 and after Walter came in second to Chad Christensen to be the team’s starter in 2002, he would replace Christensen in the early portion of the year and blast off to his record-setting career as starter.

Beyond that point, from the end of the 2004 season prior to this year, there have been five years in which backup quarterbacks were pressed into starting duty due to injuries suffered by the typical starting quarterback. There have been mixed results overall, but there have been cases of individually incredible games that served as a launching pad for memorable careers.

2014

Usual Starter: Taylor Kelly

Replacement: Mike Bercovici

Replacement Record as Starter: 2-1

After an outstanding run that included 18 wins over the 2012-13 seasons and a division title in 2013, the Sun Devils continued the momentum in 2014 with two wins to open the year but faced a major obstacle when Kelly suffered a foot injury in the third win at Colorado.

In his place came Bercovici, seasoned in terms of team experience but light in game day reps as he had only played in six games from 2011-13. Though he set a school record for passing attempts (68) in his first career start, that mark was achieved for an unsavory reason as the Sun Devils were trying to work their way back from a massive deficit that resulted in a 62-27 loss to UCLA.

The next game, however, Berco had an unforgettable moment – and a spectacular game – when the Devils defeated USC in the Coliseum at the hands of the “Jael Mary” game-winner and Bercovici as a whole threw for 510 yards and five touchdowns. Altogether, the 998 passing yards Bercovici totaled in his first two starts stands as a NCAA record by a quarterback in his first two career starts. Bercovici then threw for 245 yards against Stanford to lead ASU to back-to-back wins over prominent conference foes.

Kelly would return to the starting lineup the next game, though Bercovici was inserted into the lineup in the fourth quarter at Arizona in hopes of more comeback magic. Kelly then started the final game of the season and his career in the Sun Bowl against Duke and Bercovici was ASU’s starter in all 13 games of the 2015 season.

2010

Usual Starter: Steven Threet

Replacement: Brock Osweiler

Replacement Record as Starter: 1-0

A preseason quarterback stable that included Threet, Osweiler, Samson Szakacsy and true freshman Taylor Kelly, it was the former Michigan transfer in Threet that earned the first-team nod for the Sun Devils. Threet held the starting position the vast majority of the season until suffering an injury in the next-to-last game of the season at home against UCLA, where he was replaced by Osweiler.

That game served as a bit of a coming out party for Brock Osweiler as the Sun Devils were down 17-0 in the first quarter when he entered the game but Osweiler helped ASU rip off 21 unanswered points and ultimately a 55-34 victory after completing 27-of-36 passes for 380 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions while rushing for 35 yards and a score. Osweiler went on to start the final game of the season against Arizona in an unforgettable win over the Wildcats.

After both Threet and Szakacsy left the program with a season of eligibility to play in 2011, Osweiler was the unquestioned starter and became the first 4,000-yard passer in school history before leaving ASU a year early to enter the NFL Draft.

2009

Usual Starter: Danny Sullivan

Replacements: Brock Osweiler, Samson Szakacsy

Replacement Record as Starter: Osweiler 0-1, Szakacsy 0-2

The primary starter, senior Danny Sullivan was ASU’s quarterback the first eight games until he suffered an arm injury in the ninth against USC, paving the way for Brock Osweiler to start the next week at Oregon. However, Osweiler was injured in that game and Samson Szakacsy entered for the duration of that contest, all of the next game at UCLA and the early portion of the final game against Arizona before being replaced midgame by a healthy Sullivan.

In his first career start, Osweiler completed 5-of-10 passes for 14 yards and an interception against Oregon and then in Szakacsy’s first start, he completed 15-of-22 passes for 197 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

Szakacsy only played in one more game as a Sun Devil beyond the 2009 season and left the team prior to the 2011 season with one season of eligibility remaining. Osweiler, of course, emerged as the most prominent quarterback of this group and in terms of professional standing, is the top quarterback from Arizona State since Jake Plummer.

2005

Usual Starter: Sam Keller

Replacement: Rudy Carpenter

Replacement Record as Starter: 4-1

Following an impressive fill-in performance in the Sun Bowl to end the previous season, Keller came into his junior year with tremendous momentum and validated the hype early by averaging 358 passing yards with 18 touchdowns in his first five starts. In his sixth start, at home against Oregon, Keller suffered a hand injury but remained in that game and started the next game against Stanford before being replaced by Carpenter for the remainder of the season.

From that point, Carpenter put together one of the more impressive seasons by a freshman in recent conference history as he was the nation’s leader in pass efficiency and threw for an average of nearly 366 yards per game with 12 touchdowns with only one interception in his five games as a starter and 2,273 yards with 17 touchdowns and two interceptions for the season as a whole.

Beyond the 2005 season, Keller and Carpenter were involved in a controversial offseason after which Keller transferred to Nebraska and Carpenter started every game of the 2006-08 seasons and ended his career as one of the most accomplished passers in Arizona State history.

2004

Usual Starter: Andrew Walter

Replacement: Sam Keller

Replacement Record as Starter: 1-0

At the tail end of one of the most statistically legendary careers in program history, Walter was injured late in the regular season finale at Arizona which opened the door for the second-year Keller to see the most important minutes of his young career. After falling just short of a comeback win against the Wildcats, Keller was set up to start in the ASU’s Sun Bowl matchup with Purdue.

In an exciting come from behind victory against the Boilermakers, Keller connected on 25-of-45 passes for 370 yards with three touchdowns and was named Sun Bowl MVP in Arizona State’s 27-23 victory.

Keller’s sophomore postseason experienced help set the table for high expectations for his junior year in 2005. That season was unfortunately cut short and Keller later left Arizona State in unceremonious fashion by transferring prior to his senior year.