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Know Your Foe: Cincinnati

Midway through the season, if ASU is considered to be the biggest surprise in the Big 12, Cincinnati is surely not far behind. The Bearcats present an explosive passing offense and a defense that doesn’t yield many points. The Front Office News Publisher JT Smith dishes out on ASU’s upcoming opponent.

STORY: Sam Leavitt out for Cincinnati game, Jeff Sims to start

“We brought him in to compete to start. Jeff had a good camp. And now Jeff, who has started a crap ton of games, gets to go start again." Dillingham and Arroyo have full faith in QB Jeff Sims taking the reins of the offense due to Sam Leaviit's injury

Tuesday's Practice Report

The media was asked to be diligent about detailed availability during this week's practices. Therefore, we won’t be recording a two-deep in our report. We kindly request that you don’t ask any questions about player availability because we cannot answer them. Thanks for your understanding.



Full report by Ryan Myers



Post stretches, the offensive unit got underway with its usual individual drills, which consisted of hard hits and intense action following the team's most impressive victory of the season.



The offensive line got started with one-on-one work as the players took turns running through one another and pushing them forward to warm up footwork and movement. They quickly shuffled over to the machines for individual explosive drills, getting off the blocks fast and pushing forward in a hurry.



The remainder of the offense drilled routine catching and ball security drills, there was no contact segment in the beginning stages of practice for the offense, with two games in six days resetting the body was a critical portion of Tuesday’s practice.



The offense moved to its first team tempo segment of practice. The offense put together smart drives, connecting on medium-distance passes and not making negative plays. Running back DeCarlos Brooks made the play of the segment, breaking past the line of scrimmage for a 20-yard carry.



Following tempo, the wide receivers worked on controlling depths, running a variety of routes such as curls and comebacks without exposing their next move or motion, as position coach Hines Ward expressed the importance of being dynamic to avoid giving away reads. Ward lined up at defensive back to cover his guys one-on-one as they practiced helping out with the progression of his players. Wide receivers Troy Omiere and Xavier Guillory ran notable routes that earned praise from Ward.



The tight end group worked with the offensive line on blocking sequences, working with tackles on outside blocking and run-game movements. At the same time, the inside players did their own thing with formational movement and shifting across the offensive front.



The second session of Team tempo got underway; Guillory opened up strongly for the offense on a first down completion; the unit was up and down on the drive, however, struggling to sustain momentum as the defensive shut down on the run game.



Post-tempo, the offense practiced against the scout team in preparation for Saturday's matchup with Cincinnati. They began from the red zone, eyeing possible touchdown plays and exploitable situations. The plays consisted of a mixed bag of running and passing looks. The offensive coordinator wanted to switch formations consistently on Tuesday, assuming that was intentional to stay multi-dimensional.



The defensive unit migrated to the offense, and the seven-on-seven session of practice got underway. The offense started off growing, with Skattebo and Guillory making athletic receptions. The team progressed its looks to become more direct as time went on, as Tyson appeared eager to catch deep passes routinely.



The offensive practice ended with a lot of scout team plays. The team looked drilled on preparing for the upcoming opponent over running the players into the ground after two energetic home games. The flow was still ticking, however, as the focus was high, and the team’s play was subsequently executed with diligence.



Defensive report



Following stretches the defensive line started with machines, hitting the tackle dummies and focusing on form and hand placement over anything, Defensive tackle Justin Wodtly, who missed the Utag game, did practice and struggled for his first rep however position coach Diron Reynolds gave him some quick advice along with defensive end Clayton Smith and Wodtly executed the drill to perfection his next go around. Defensive ends Prince Dorbah and Elijah O’Neal started off the drill with strong reps.



The first iteration of team tempo started cautiously for the defense, not posing any negative plays against the offense whilst keeping them at bay and limiting any big or explosive plays, forcing completions for short gains, and limiting the running game on numerous occasions. Kicker Ian Hershey finished the segment with a made field goal from roughly 45 yards out.



Following tempo, the individual drills began staying on par with the usual practice days, defensive backs got going with footwork and ball anticipation breaking on passes and catching them in stride. Safeties hit the open field dummies and bags continuing to channel wrapping up opponents and not allowing big plays.



Linebackers worked rushing on the scout team's offensive line, which prevented them from getting to the pocket and taking down the offensive players. Jordan Crook and Caleb McCullough led the way with two impressive reps back-to-back on the drill.



The second iteration of team tempo started again, the defnese was well kept up front adding pressure to the pocket and forcing difficult plays for the running backs. Over the air, they stayed draped on the wide receivers minimizing any completions.



Following tempo, the punt team spent time going through the motions on blocking schemes, as freshman Kanyon Floyd got to keep his legs loose by blasting punts downfield despite the team not running through any live reps. Running back Cam Skattebo was on the punt team for practice, Dillingham claimed he called him out for not participating in a past practice after he took up the role wanting to do it. The Kickoff unit was simple walk-throughs as the kicks by Parker Lewis were blasted the players jogged through live-action kick-off plays not making any tackles or contact.



During 11-on-11 against the scout team, the defense prepared the same situations as the offense, defending from their own 20-yard line, which consisted of stopping the run and forcing awkward passes without giving up the deep ball.



The secondary split up from the lineman as defensive coordinator Brian Ward started with zone coverages and scheme as they simulated shifts with the scout team offense



The seven-on-sevens began and the defensive unit turned it up a notch from team tempo, linebackers Keyshaun Elliot and Crook made quality reads time and time again forcing incompletions over the middle. Elliot ended up with an interception after reading the quarterback's eyes and getting into the lane.



11-on-11 against the scout team was the ending of practice for the defensive players as well, starting with run defense safety Myles Roswer showed why he leads the team in total tackles, stopping the scout team guys from gaining any momentum reading runs and making big plays.



A special guest made an appearance at Tuesday’s practice, former Arizona State and NFL tight end Todd Heap. He was seen talking to coaches and players enjoying his time watching the program work.

Hockey v Michigsn

After losing to #10 Michigan yesterday, our boys had a wild one today. Down 3-1 heading to 3rd period, we score 2 goals in last minute and tie it up… no goals In OT so officially a tie but we did win the shootout, but for some odd reason the shootouts really don’t count…. So happy to get out w a tie against a tough Michigan team

STORY: Defense boosted its confidence with last week’s win

"You can’t have much of a better performance. I’m excited that our guys were able to go through a short week and perform on a big stage Friday. That’s very pleasing for me as a coach.” The momentum following the win over Utah is one that the ASU defense aims to build on

Sun Devil Mens & Womens Golf, Fall 2024!

I enjoy following ASU Mens/Womens golf teams, so will try to post updates a couple of times per month moving forward

It is hard finding updated info on the team rankings, but the one poll I am able to find that has current rankings has Men listed @ #7 currently.......most of the events were in the fall, which is more or less considered like FB or Basketball "non conference" games...the spring is pretty much considered regular season, so moving forward with the spring events there will be much more updated rankings that are more realistic
* https://scoreboard.clippd.com/ranki...Type=Team&gender=Men&division=NCAA+Division+I

The men have a Freshman - Wenyi Ding - who joined the team in DEC I believe, and just won an event in Hawaii with a NCAA Mens record 189 score over 3 rounds.......he broke the ncaa record of 192 score over 3 rounds in his 2nd event with ASU, and DEvils finished #2 to N Carolina who won the 2023 NCAA's and are pretty much the team to beat for 2024.....here is brief story
https://thesundevils.com/story.aspx...-needed-for-this-headline&file_date=2/10/2024

Next big Mens event is Feb 25-27 @ Vegas

Will get to the Womens 2024 spring updates tomorrow........but since we are ranked in top 10 after finishing #2 in 2023 should be fun to follow this spring

Howell, Larson Join ASU's Men's Basketball Staff

I really like these two hires. Texas prevented Larson from following Chris Beard to Ole Miss, so that tells you something.

Perseverance pays off for McCullough

"When you are patient and you wait, good things happen. So I'm just glad I was able to be patient. I never got impatient." In a robust transfer portal era, ASU LB Caleb McCullough didn't seek greener pastures and thus enjoyed a career performance in a significant team win

June 9th Recruiting Snapshot



When you have the top-rated 2025 recruiting class in the Big 12, it should probably come as no surprise that many of the Sun Devils' needs for this group have been fulfilled. There's still some work to be done, albeit at a low volume, and some good news should be coming ASU's way this month, so let's examine Arizona State’s current recruiting picture.

New Speak of the Devils Podcast: A big win & ASU vs. Cincy preview with Jordan Crook & Kyle Scott

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A maroon Blackout, a gritty win, and a field storming for the ages. @Joe Healey and I look back on the wild win over No. 16 Utah before talking with two key players from the victory: LB Jordan Crook (41:09) and RG Kyle Scott (50:26). We then go behind Bearcat lines with Cincinnati insider J.T. Smith of TheFrontOfficeNews.com (56:12) before diving into our game preview and predictions.

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