Four games into the season, Arizona State is still searching for their offensive identity.

Even after scoring a season-high 31 points in a three-point loss against Colorado, the team has struggled to gain momentum on the offensive end.

These struggles stem from the team’s inability to run the ball, an area that was presumed to be the team’s strong point heading into the year behind junior Eno Benjamin.

Despite not having completely found their identity, one thing is clear. The Sun Devils are young on both sides of the ball. On offense alone, they start true freshmen at left tackle, right guard, quarterback, and have several talented freshmen at skill positions including tight end and receiver.

But just how young are they?

Starting left tackle LaDarius Henderson needed a permission slip to be signed in order to go paintballing with his team earlier this year due to only being 17 years old. An age that even his fellow freshmen use against him.

“Every single day,” Henderson admitted when asked if his teammates give him a hard time about his age. “Even my fellow freshman teammate Dohnovan West walks up to me and says, ‘hey you little baby’, like you’re six seconds older than me.”

All joking aside, this youth movement has been one that has made things difficult for the team to establish a rushing attack given a constant changing of the offensive line.

This transition from an offensive line that a year ago led Benjamin to a school-record 1,642-yard season to one filled with freshmen has been anything but an easy transition for the back.

“From a guy that had a pretty dominant line last year, they were all older and then coming in we’re fitting in 2-3 freshmen,” running back coach Shaun Agauno stated. He has to feel confident. The more he feels confident, the more he doesn’t have to think, and I think he’s better. We saw that from the Michigan State game to Colorado. We saw Eno coming back.”

Despite this being less than ideal circumstances for any running back, the junior rusher is taking it in stride.

After rushing for only 69 and 38 yards in the last two games, Benjamin rushed for 83 yards and two touchdowns against Colorado, a sign of his comfortability according to Agauno.

“I think Eno is becoming more and more comfortable now with the younger guys,” Aguano admitted. “I thought we had a huge jump from the Michigan State game to the Colorado game from an offensive standpoint just because the younger guys are getting older.”

This performance of the offensive line is in large part due to the ability of the team’s older players to take the young players under their wing.

After being moved back to center from left tackle, senior Cohl Cabral has unified the offensive line on the field and given his running back a sense of familiarity.

“It gives Eno a comfort level,” Aguano said. “Those two have worked so long together. Now Cohl is the quarterback of it and we have to fit in pieces. He’s helping the younger guys.”

Cabral’s ability to help his younger teammates digest the information given to them and turn it to success on the field has helped lead to the turnaround on the offense.

The senior’s words of advice on almost every play have assisted the transition of both Henderson and his freshmen counterpart West on the line.

“It’s really great just being able to play next to the guys I play next to,” Henderson admitted. “We believe in each other, are confident in each other and help each other. Cole (Cabral) and Alex (Losoya) they are just really in my corner. Every play, if it’s a simple play they know I know, we’re still communicating, making our calls, making sure we’re on the same page.”

These words of encouragement go beyond the field of play as both Cabral and Losoya also helped the pair of freshmen cope with their first collegiate loss.

“They were encouraging they didn’t want us to be too down about it,” Henderson said. “They were like hey on to the next one. Pick it up, our standard is going to be higher, we’re going to keep doing what we do and go out here and beat Cal.”

Given this optimistic outlook, it would be easy for the offensive line to believe after their success against Colorado that they would simply be able to do the same moving forward.

Despite only giving up one sack against Colorado, Henderson doesn’t let the week before or the week ahead get in the way of what is right in front of him.

“I don’t really look at it as well I did good last week so I do this good this week,” Henderson said. “Well I did this good this week so I can do good next week. I look at it as we need to practice great, we need to practice well. We know our standard, we know how good we are. We know what we can do, and we need to come out there and do that week in and week out and we’ll roll against any team.”

While the offensive line boasts multiple freshmen in Henderson and West, the skill positions also boast plenty of other skilled first-year players.

One of which comes in form of true freshman wide receiver Ricky Pearsall who has hauled in two catches for 35 in his first four games.

Pearsall points to the team’s offensive output against Colorado to his fellow true freshman, Jayden Daniels, someone who he considers an honor to play next to.

“He’s a great player, he’s breathtaking,” Pearsall admitted. “Even the fans, the coaches, everyone realizes it, he’s going to go far. Watching him, playing next to him, it’s an honor.”

Much like the offensive line’s relationship with Eno Benjamin, the connection between the team’s receivers and Daniels is beginning to come together.

This connection is one that began the day Daniels stepped on campus and one that has been improving since that day.

“I think it’s very important to have that relationship with the quarterback and develop that throughout the year,” Pearsall said. “He obviously has a really good relationship with Brandon Aiyuk, their connection is really good. Developing that relationship with him throughout practices and stuff like that is important for the other receivers and just getting everyone going makes you more lethal on offense.”

While it would be easy for the young receiver to show a certain amount of jealousy towards the likes of the relationship between the pair of Daniels and Aiyuk, the freshman takes a different approach.

Pearsall has used Aiyuk as someone he looks up to, someone he attempts to emulate and learn from during their time together.

“I think it’s very important, obviously he’s a great player,” Pearsall said of learning from Aiyuk. “He’s going to go really far in life in football. Learning from him is really important, it’s really made my game even better. He’s really helped on the field and off the field.”

This improvement-based approach from learning from those with experience is one that the Arizona State team has begun to be defined by.

From freshmen to seniors, the Sun Devils are starting to piece their identity together, with a next game approach that puts the freshmen’s level of maturity well beyond their years.

Even if one of them is only 17-years old.

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