Defensive report by Sammy
First Team:
EDGE: Clayton Smith
DT: Dashaun Mallory
DT: Tristan Monday
EDGE: BJ Green
LB: Travion Brown
LB: Tate Romney/Will Shaffer
CB: Ed Woods
CB: Ro Torrence
Nickel: Jordan Clark
S: Xavion Alford
S: Chris Edmonds
Second Team:
EDGE: Gharin Stansbury
DT: Sam Benjamin
DT: Tristan Monday
EDGE: Elijah O’Neal
LB: James Djonkam
LB: K’Vion Thunderbird
CB: Demetries Ford
CB: Keith Abney
Nickel: Macen Williams
S: Damon Williamson
S: Josiah Cox
_____________
Fall Camp is finally behind Arizona State football, and the team has now shifted its focus to their first opponent, Southern Utah. With that change comes a change in the way ASU practices, constantly rotating the second and third teams to give both the offense and defense the best possible look of their upcoming opponent.
On Saturday, you could tell that the change in practice format made a change in how intense practice was. Head coach Kenny Dillingham mentioned in his post-practice speech to the team that Saturday was a much less intense practice than he would have liked but that he was ok with it given the adjustment both the players and the completely new staff had to make.
On the defensive side of the ball, they got started with the three-station drill they do, focusing on takeaways. The first drill saw each position group come around the edge of the offensive line and jump to attempt and deflect the ball or come away with the interception. The highlight of this drill was when linebacker Tate Romney came around the edge and jumped up, intercepting the ball with one hand, Odell Beckham style.
They then rotated to a more linebacker-focused drill that saw one player hold on to the ball as tight as they could as their teammate punched as hard as they could force the ball out. Finally, the drill ended with a simple interception drill.
Following the rotation through each station, the team went into their first 11-on-11 tempo session. The first drive was led by quarterback Trenton Bourguet, and it was impressive. In just six plays, Bourguet went down the field and scored on a touchdown pass to Cameron Skattebo. However, the defense quickly recovered, and on the next drive, led by quarterback Jaden Rashada, the defense was able to intercept a bad Rashada pass over the middle that overshot the receiver and fell right into the hands of safety Damon Williamson.
Following the solid tempo session for both sides, the team separated into their different positional groups for their individual sessions. By far, the most interesting group of this period was the defensive line led by defensive line coach Vince Amey. The focus of Amey’s period was for every lineman to “be violent.”
Amey had their first practice, a drill to shed a block and get in the backfield to make the tackle-for-loss. It appeared as if the setup was for a more lateral run, like a jet sweep. Amery was preaching to avoid the swim move saying, “If you start swimming, they will take us down.”
The line then transitioned to working on each player's move around their blocker. They started with just one player to make their move around, but Amey did not just want them to make one move. He wanted each player to make a slew of different moves as they circled around the guard.
Amey then moved them to a drill with five tackle dummies, with each player making a move on two of them before sacking the quarterback dummy in the middle. In this drill, the difference between the veteran lineman and the younger lineman was distinct. Each time defensive tackle Dashaun Mallory would come up, he would attack each dummy with vigor, ending the drill with a huge hit on the final dummy. Whereas the freshman would try to be a bit more technical and were therefore slower. Amey berated the young guys saying, “Everybody wants to be fancy and pretty. Don’t be violent.”
After each group’s positional sessions, the team moved on 7-on-7, which was a period to forget for the defense. Besides one interception by defensive back Ed Woods on Rashada, both quarterbacks seemed comfortable in the session, completing nearly all of their passes and making a few excellent throws along the way.
The final 11-on-11 session for the team was a more subdued one than usual. It appeared that the coaches were attempting to get more game-like practice situations in. The defense was constantly making substitutions in and out of the game, getting caught for 12 men on the field at least two times.
The one highlight play the defense made was on a slant thrown by Rashada over the middle. Linebackers Travion Brown and Tate Romney were planted in the middle, and both sprang up at the same time to bat down the ball. However, that was it, as the third team rotated more often to give the offense similar looks they would get at Southern Utah.
Saturday’s practice was definitely more subdued than the usual practices under Dillingham, but as the team exits Fall Camp mode into game-prep mode
, it is a reminder that ASU football is just over ten days away from returning.
First Team:
EDGE: Clayton Smith
DT: Dashaun Mallory
DT: Tristan Monday
EDGE: BJ Green
LB: Travion Brown
LB: Tate Romney/Will Shaffer
CB: Ed Woods
CB: Ro Torrence
Nickel: Jordan Clark
S: Xavion Alford
S: Chris Edmonds
Second Team:
EDGE: Gharin Stansbury
DT: Sam Benjamin
DT: Tristan Monday
EDGE: Elijah O’Neal
LB: James Djonkam
LB: K’Vion Thunderbird
CB: Demetries Ford
CB: Keith Abney
Nickel: Macen Williams
S: Damon Williamson
S: Josiah Cox
_____________
Fall Camp is finally behind Arizona State football, and the team has now shifted its focus to their first opponent, Southern Utah. With that change comes a change in the way ASU practices, constantly rotating the second and third teams to give both the offense and defense the best possible look of their upcoming opponent.
On Saturday, you could tell that the change in practice format made a change in how intense practice was. Head coach Kenny Dillingham mentioned in his post-practice speech to the team that Saturday was a much less intense practice than he would have liked but that he was ok with it given the adjustment both the players and the completely new staff had to make.
On the defensive side of the ball, they got started with the three-station drill they do, focusing on takeaways. The first drill saw each position group come around the edge of the offensive line and jump to attempt and deflect the ball or come away with the interception. The highlight of this drill was when linebacker Tate Romney came around the edge and jumped up, intercepting the ball with one hand, Odell Beckham style.
They then rotated to a more linebacker-focused drill that saw one player hold on to the ball as tight as they could as their teammate punched as hard as they could force the ball out. Finally, the drill ended with a simple interception drill.
Following the rotation through each station, the team went into their first 11-on-11 tempo session. The first drive was led by quarterback Trenton Bourguet, and it was impressive. In just six plays, Bourguet went down the field and scored on a touchdown pass to Cameron Skattebo. However, the defense quickly recovered, and on the next drive, led by quarterback Jaden Rashada, the defense was able to intercept a bad Rashada pass over the middle that overshot the receiver and fell right into the hands of safety Damon Williamson.
Following the solid tempo session for both sides, the team separated into their different positional groups for their individual sessions. By far, the most interesting group of this period was the defensive line led by defensive line coach Vince Amey. The focus of Amey’s period was for every lineman to “be violent.”
Amey had their first practice, a drill to shed a block and get in the backfield to make the tackle-for-loss. It appeared as if the setup was for a more lateral run, like a jet sweep. Amery was preaching to avoid the swim move saying, “If you start swimming, they will take us down.”
The line then transitioned to working on each player's move around their blocker. They started with just one player to make their move around, but Amey did not just want them to make one move. He wanted each player to make a slew of different moves as they circled around the guard.
Amey then moved them to a drill with five tackle dummies, with each player making a move on two of them before sacking the quarterback dummy in the middle. In this drill, the difference between the veteran lineman and the younger lineman was distinct. Each time defensive tackle Dashaun Mallory would come up, he would attack each dummy with vigor, ending the drill with a huge hit on the final dummy. Whereas the freshman would try to be a bit more technical and were therefore slower. Amey berated the young guys saying, “Everybody wants to be fancy and pretty. Don’t be violent.”
After each group’s positional sessions, the team moved on 7-on-7, which was a period to forget for the defense. Besides one interception by defensive back Ed Woods on Rashada, both quarterbacks seemed comfortable in the session, completing nearly all of their passes and making a few excellent throws along the way.
The final 11-on-11 session for the team was a more subdued one than usual. It appeared that the coaches were attempting to get more game-like practice situations in. The defense was constantly making substitutions in and out of the game, getting caught for 12 men on the field at least two times.
The one highlight play the defense made was on a slant thrown by Rashada over the middle. Linebackers Travion Brown and Tate Romney were planted in the middle, and both sprang up at the same time to bat down the ball. However, that was it, as the third team rotated more often to give the offense similar looks they would get at Southern Utah.
Saturday’s practice was definitely more subdued than the usual practices under Dillingham, but as the team exits Fall Camp mode into game-prep mode
, it is a reminder that ASU football is just over ten days away from returning.
