This is a refreshing and much-needed change of pace coming off a frustrating aerial attack in 2021. Even in a losing effort, the Arizona State offense found great success in the air. Graduate Emory Jones found five different receivers, racking up 223 yards in the air in the 34-17 loss. It was arguably the best the passing game has looked since last year’s 42-23 win over UCLA at the Rose Bowl, where the Sun Devils threw for 287 yards.
It was only a matter of time for Elijhah Badger. The potential has always been there for the Sacramento, California, native wide receiver; he just took a little longer to find it at the collegiate level. Now? Badger has arrived. He made himself known on a national stage on Saturday night in Stillwater. His career game included six passes for 91 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown reception, his first not only of the year but his inaugural touchdown reception in an ASU uniform. In 2021, he often looked overwhelmed by the offense. Through two games this season, he looks refined and confident. The change has been apparent to his teammates and coaches for most of the offseason and preseason camp. Positive predictions have given way to performance-backed bold statements.
“I expect him to compete with any defensive back in the country,” wide receivers coach Bobby Wade said following Tuesday’s practice. “That’s how good I think he can be. I constantly talk to him about being great, not good. Can’t get complacent. It’s good to see that performance, but there’s a lot of things we have to get better at.”
Wade is typically tight-lipped when it comes to explicit praise. His coaching style is hard-nosed, and the high expectations he has for each of his receivers are evident both on the field and in interviews.
“He’s been a person in the offseason who has taken real accountability for what he has to get better at,” Wade commented. "We’ve had a lot of talks about being very specific with what he’s working on. He took that personally; he took it as a challenge, and he put in the work. He’s not skipping a beat with his work ethic either.”
How does Wade coach a personality like Badger?
“You gotta push him,” Wade replied. “You gotta push guys like that. You obviously want to let him know he’s doing good, but at the same time, you have to point out the things he can be better at.”
Wade also discussed the overall state of his room, touching on the many needs the receiver group still has to meet in order to be considered one of the best in the conference.
“We gotta attack the ball; that’s the thing about it,” Wade explained. “When we get opportunities in the back end, regardless of the ball we get, we have to attack the football. That challenge is there. We do a great job of letting them see what the quarterback is seeing. It’s not an easy job, so we have to be fast and clean with our route depth.”
Badger, assuming a leadership role just as quickly as he ascended the depth chart, was quick to point out following Saturday’s game that because the team didn’t win, he couldn’t categorize his performance as one of the breakout variety. Those who aren’t a part of the team can look at things more objectively and come to the obvious conclusion that, yes, it was.
“It felt good, a big start for me; it just felt good to be out there,” Badger said. “I don’t feel like I played my best performance. I feel like I just came out there and did what I had to do. I feel like I could play better. A lot better.”
The sophomore did acknowledge the jump he’s made from last season to this season, and thus his emergence as a valid number one option in ASU’s passing game has been no accident. It’s the product of tireless work, not only on the field but studying the playbook.
“Learning the plays, and just learning college football basically,” Badger described. “Just learning how to read offenses and defenses has helped. The chemistry with Emory is big, it’s good already, but it’s gonna get better.”
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If you were placing bets on which ASU offensive player would have the longest play from scrimmage prior to Saturday night’s game, Giovanni Sanders would have been among those with the longest odds. The senior hauled in three catches against the Cowboys, highlighted by a 73-yard catch and run on the second play of the second half that set up an ASU touchdown by senior running back Xazavian Valladay a couple of plays later.
For a walk-on who only earned a scholarship in May of last year, the moment certainly didn’t look too big for Sanders. How could it? Football is just a game compared to the arduous path he took to get here.
“I did a lot of praying; my parents helped me a lot, my friends and my close friends too. People who have been in my position before, who didn’t have scholarships to start,” Sanders said. “I was a grocery clerk; I was pushing carts. My friend and I would work there during Covid, and we’d finish up work and go to the park to work out. I asked God if this was the right place for me, and he sent me a sign.”
Coming from a Riverside (Calif.) Community College, Sanders has played with a chip on his shoulder for most of his college career. He put up big numbers in high school, so the fact that he was under-recruited never sat well with him.
“My grades were never an issue,” Sanders recalled. “I always had over a 3.0 GPA. So I thought maybe it was my size (currently 6-0 185 lbs.) and my speed; I really was confused. That’s why I worked the most this offseason on my weight and my conditioning.”
Although he hasn’t let the honor of earning the scholarship create a sense of complacency or change his intense motivation and consistent work ethic, he acknowledged how special the moment was.
“It was unreal,” Sanders described. “I remember I actually got offered the official scholarship on my 21st birthday. I was on the beach with my closest friends. Coach Gill (former ASU wide receivers’ coach Prentice Gill) called me, and he told me the news. It was literally like a dream come true. Unreal moment.”
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