Taking a walk over to the West side of the Bill Kajikawa practice fields and observing tight ends coach Juston Wood instruct his position group provides a glimpse into another ASU position battle. As the tight ends work close enough for the media in attendance to hear, Wood’s teaching tactics can be clearly heard.

Wood is stern but not loud, commanding but not demeaning. Under his guidance is a physically impressive group. Describing the position battles at quarterback and tight end can sound similar; at each position, an SEC transfer is attempting to overtake a backup from last year’s ASU squad. Regardless of who winds up taking control of the job, Wood told reporters Wednesday he feels the group will be a trustworthy one for ASU.

“I think coming out of spring ball,” Wood said, “I think that we have a lot of ability in the room, and I think that we’re going to be a very productive unit. I think that we’re going to be a unit that can be relied on and hopefully very trusted in this offense. I like the competition that we have with the group, and I think that competition maybe had been lacking at times in my time here the last couple of years.”

There’s absolutely no lack of size in the room. Missouri transfer Messiah Swinson towers over the rest of the group at 6-foot-7, but second-year Sun Devil Jalin Conyers is 6-foot-4, and JUCO transfer Bryce Pierre is 6-foot-5.

Swinson tweeted his excitement with his Arizona State experience early during spring practices.

Knowing what talent the transfer portal was bringing him excited Wood and the ASU coaching staff, but seeing it in person has been even more impressive. Swinson, Conyers, and Pierre each give the Sun Devils options as to who steps into the role previously occupied by Curtis Hodges.

“When you have two transfers obviously you do your homework on them,” Wood said Wednesday. “Off film and off video you feel like you’ve got some talented kids coming in, but you’re never quite sure until you get them on the field and put your hands on them.”

The fresh faces in the tight ends group along with a new offense under first-year offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas has led to a lot of processing. Wood said once the concepts are grasped the physical tools of Swinson, Conyers, and Pierre can take over.

“It’s been a transition with offensive changes so to start off there’s a ton of thinking involved,” Wood said. “It’s hard to just play and cut it loose and let your abilities show, but as we start to get to the back end of spring we start to see those guys play a little more confident which equates to them playing faster and more aggressive and just better overall.”

During a recent practice, Wood was coaching the tight ends and offensive tackles on an outside zone concept. After a third consecutive rep of the drill was done below his standards, Wood told the group it was unacceptable to still be going over the concept that many times.

“There’s not a ton that’s really new from what we were asked to do,” Wood said of the new offensive scheme under Thomas’ direction. “Just the way it’s all put together I think that the role has probably expanded a little bit. I think more importantly now is really to develop guys that are complete tight ends. Guys have to be dynamic enough to line up flexed and be a single wide receiver to the boundary or playing the slot, and then be able to come in and be physical in our gap schemes and athletic enough for our zone schemes. It’s a challenge because they are asked to do so many different things.”

During Herm Edwards’ coaching tenure in Tempe, the Sun Devils have frequently used 12 personnel near the goal line and relied upon solid blocking from their tight ends over dynamic pass-catching.

“It has to be a group with a high football IQ, guys that love ball and want to be complete players, that don’t just want to catch 80 passes,” said Wood. “These are guys that understand what they are coming into.”

Wood cited the production of Hodges in 2021 as something that his position group can use as a barometer for expectations. Hodges had 20 catches for 373 yards during the 2021 season, but Wood cited his all-around abilities as what he wanted his group to strive for. For Conyers, who came into college at Oklahoma as more of a receiver than a blocker and began his transition into a complete tight end at ASU, Wood said that process is underway.

“That piece of it didn’t come real natural to him,” Wood said. “And that’s something that he’s been working extremely hard at trying to develop the run blocking technique that will allow him to play to his athletic ability. He’s a physical kid. We’re just trying to give him the tools to be a physical football player.

“He’s one of the best pass-catchers that I’ve been around.”

When ASU returns for fall camp, the Sun Devils will add Jacob Newell to Wood’s room. Newell’s addition is another one that excites the third-year ASU coach and should allow for added depth.

“He’s one of those guys that there were some things I liked,” Wood said. “Not enough to be like, ‘Yes, I’m all in,’ but enough to say, ‘I’ve got to be watching this guy the first couple games of the season.’ I really liked – I went up and watched a playoff game and that’s when I was all in. He reminds me a lot of Case Hatch, not in body type – but he plays every play like it’s his last. There are very few players that I’ve seen play so hard and compete like that on a play-to-play basis.”

As the spring practices round out, Wood sees enjoyment from his group.

“I think they are all excited about it,” said Wood. “They see they are being asked to do a lot of things and it is a challenge, it’s a challenge to do all those things, but that’s kind of become our motto. You’ve got to do more with less. We’ve got to be intentional on every rep that we get.”

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