As Arizona State drove down the field and entered the red zone on its opening drive against UNLV, junior quarterback Jayden Daniels lofted a pass in the direction of redshirt freshman wide receiver Johnny Wilson. The fade route was thrown by Daniels toward the back shoulder of his 6-foot-7 receiver and picked off.
But on the next Sun Devil drive, Arizona State once again found itself in the red zone and once again Daniels targeted Wilson. This time, an in-breaking Wilson settled near the back of the end zone and corralled the first receiving touchdown of his Sun Devil career.
“It was big for me at least,” said Wilson, whose lack of on-field connection with Daniels has been scrutinized at times. Against Southern Utah, Daniels and Wilson appeared to be on different pages on an early target, resulting in a near interception. “Being here last year and only being able to play in a couple of games and not being able to score, it would get frustrating at times. To finally score that first touchdown, it felt really good.”
Daniels played a role in the recruitment of Wilson to Arizona State, and the close bond the two share along with Wilson’s elite physical tools has helped the young Sun Devil see plenty of playing time. Even with the passing game operating at a B-minus level, according to head coach Herm Edwards, there are glimpses of what could make Wilson special in maroon and gold.
On the first play of the fourth quarter during ASU’s 37-10 win over UNLV, Daniels used play-action to find Wilson open over the middle. Wilson snatched the first-and-10 pass for what would’ve been a 10-yard gain and a first down but bounced off a Rebel defender and carried four others for what would turn out to be a 20-yard pickup.
“You probably want to have as close of a relationship to your quarterback as possible, and with the limitations and restrictions that we had last year, it was kind of hard to do that,” said Wilson, whose accumulated as many catches – six – in the first two games of 2021 as he did in 2020’s abbreviated slate. “This year, we’ve been really big on getting together and working on a lot of the stuff that we needed to work on last year. I think it’s big to have that bond and connection to your quarterback.”
While the passing game is still trying to find its footing and elevate to the level necessary to compete for a Pac-12 crown, Wilson and the rest of the receivers have taken great pride in run-blocking.
“We all have a job to do, whether that’s a run play or pass play,” said Wilson. After ASU’s opening game, ASU had four receivers ranked in the top 25 of FBS wide receivers in run-blocking grades, with junior Andre Johnson and Wilson ranking first and second, respectively. No other program had more than two in the top 25. “On run plays, we’re supposed to block. You block as hard as you can and go 100 percent every time. It can set up a lot of things for you in the pass game as well.
“Ultimately, doing your job with a full effort is how you win games.”
At times, Wilson’s blocking has been so ferocious it’s led to penalties. One of Arizona State’s 13 penalties in the season-opening win over Southern Utah was an unnecessary roughness levied against Wilson for escorting a Thunderbird defender to the ASU sideline. But Wilson says there’s a reason he kept going.
“I got yelled at because they said I couldn’t block him out of bounds. My thing was they just didn’t blow the whistle yet,” explained Wilson. “So, I was like, ‘I’ll just keep blocking him.’ If I let him go and he makes the tackle again, then I get in trouble again. It was kind of a lose-lose in my eyes.”
Wilson said a trip to Provo for the 19th-ranked Sun Devils provides a game in which the trenches will determine who wins. Without great pass-blocking, the chances of improvement for Daniels and company through the air is unlikely. During the Cougars' upset win over then No. 21 Utah, pressure from the defense on the first possession forced Utah’s Charlie Brewer into throwing off his back foot for an interception.
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Offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh said he’d been impressed so far with what his unit has shown him but knows the first road trip provides ASU with its toughest challenge yet.
“(BYU) is a multiple front team. They’ve got some really good football players up there,” said Cavanaugh of a BYU defense that allowed Utah’s freshman running back, Micah Bernard, to rush for 146 yards last week. “To me, I always tell my guys, ‘it’s not what they do, it’s what you do, and you have to operate and trust your technique.’
“That’s what it comes down to. It’s what you do.”
Junior center Dohnovan West was not seen at practice during Tuesday’s viewing portion for the media. Offensive coordinator Zak Hill said that ASU was “working through some things” but that they weren’t worried about that right now. When West missed snaps against UNLV, redshirt junior Jarrett Bell stepped in at center.
“I thought he did a good job,” said Cavanaugh of Bell’s snaps against the Rebels. “He’s gotten a lot better this year, and he has grown and will continue to grow. He has a better understanding of what’s going on and what we’re doing.”
With a white-out planned for the BYU crowd and the first road game – with fans in attendance – since Arizona State lost 35-34 in Corvallis on Nov. 16 of 2019, Cavanaugh said there’s little he’ll say to his unit about the noise. Throughout the week, the Sun Devils have used the Verde Dickey Dome and pumped artificial crowd noise in to prepare for Saturday’s environment.
“We’ve got to do our job,” the first-year Sun Devil offensive line coach said. “Have poise and do our job. We’re working on that with how you practice.”
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