When looking back at Arizona State’s win on the road in Washington on Saturday, many will look at redshirt senior running back Rachaad White as the hero in for the Sun Devils. It’s hard to find an issue with that, considering White rushed for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns when the ASU offensive couldn’t seem to produce anything beyond the bountiful successes of the back.
An unsung hero guiding White to his performance, though, was the Arizona State offensive line, specifically junior center Dohnovan West, whose performance garnered him Pac-12 Offensive Lineman of the Week honors. West helped guide the offense to 376 yards of total offense, 286 of those yards coming on the ground.
While the numbers might say otherwise, things haven’t been easy for the Sun Devil offensive over the past few weeks. The penalties are the first thing most gravitate towards, as false starts and holding calls have plagued the front five in hostile territory and even at home.
“We went on a tough losing streak a couple of weeks ago, and our offense struggled a good amount,” West told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s hard to get points on the board; we had a lot of penalties that hindered our drives. But after the past two weeks, I feel like we’ve been able to just keep fighting. It wasn’t always pretty, but I feel like we didn’t give up on ourselves. It just shows that we’re going to keep working to improve our game.”
With West in front and White behind, Arizona State holds two of the best offensive players in the conference. After 202 yards and three touchdowns against USC the week before UW, and his performance against the Huskies, White won back-to-back Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week awards. West explained the joys of blocking for the dynamic rushing threat.
“I love blocking for him,” West said of White. “You don’t always have to be perfect. You can still try and make something happen out of a (blown play). It’s not like everything has to be fitted up for him to try to hit a hole. He’s the type of guy where you’re going to try to be perfect, but if you do make a mistake, it’s not always the end of the world. (White) is something special.”
Another man in the trenches who works alongside West and played a significant role in blocking for White is junior left guard LaDarius Henderson. The Waxahachie, Texas native started as a freshman in 2019 before rotating in last season in 2020. Henderson is now the full-time starter at left guard and made a lot of people laugh with his jovial personality and remarks after the UW game, specifically his “game face” he made at the UW defensive line to show he wasn’t tired on ASU’s monster 20-play scoring drive in the fourth quarter.
Henderson and West arrived in Tempe at the same time in 2019 and have been working together ever since. They compose an experienced trio alongside redshirt sophomore right tackle Ben Scott. Working with West, the two guards compose a critical crux in the blocking effort of the Sun Devil front.
“I got here around the same time he did, and since then, we’ve just been grinding,” West said of Henderson. “This summer, I went out to Texas with him, and we worked all summer to better our game. He’s been a good player ever since he’s gotten here, but this year, he’s brought a different type of intensity. He’s trying to hit people more. That could be him playing guard because he has more of an opportunity (on) trap (plays). I feel like he’s definitely helped out a lot.”
The other offensive lineman that West has been working next to is redshirt junior right guard Spencer Lovell, who has seen action since graduate student guard Henry Hattis suffered an injury against USC on Nov. 6.
“I think Spencer played well for his first (full) game this season (in Washington),” West commented. “Especially for the short amount of time he’s had with getting into the game the week before. I feel like it was just picked up where we left off. He came in did his thing, and that’s all you can do, just get better each and every week.”
West and Co. face a new but at the same time familiar challenge in the Oregon State Beavers this Saturday. Only six teams have ever made back-to-back trips to the Pacific Northwest in the ten years since the Pac-12 expansion. No team has won both games. When asked if he was prepared for another week of harsh weather on the road, West shrugged. In three years of football for ASU, he’s visited Corvallis three times.
“Honestly, I don’t really mind going up there,” West said confidently. “(Oregon State hasn’t even played us (in Tempe) since I got here, so at this point, it’s just a normal thing.”
The weather isn’t the only thing that West and the Arizona State offense are used to; they know exactly who they’re facing as well when it comes to their matchups on defense. Last year, White posted a season-high 158 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Five different players scored touchdowns in the 46-33 victory to close out the season.
“This will be my third time playing them, so I remember (redshirt junior linebacker Avery Roberts and sophomore linebacker Omar Speights) in particular. They like to fly around and make a lot of tackles, and we are going to see a lot of stem stuff, so the offensive line needs to be locked in on that. We will also try to eliminate the false starts.”
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