Due to Hod celebrating his birthday, I was brought in from the bullpen for Friday's practice.
The team was in helmets and pads in the Dickey Dome for the penultimate spring practice before they hit the field in Sun Devil Stadium this Sunday.
Due to our location within the bubble it wasn't easy to make out the faces of those lifting in the opposite corner, but here's the best personnel news that I could muster.
Senior safety Evan Fields, who returned and took reps on Monday was not dressed and went through a full lift on the sideline.
Junior defensive lineman Jermayne Lole was at his second practice of the spring and also went through a workout.
Joining Fields and Lole in the lift group were sophomore reciever Ricky Pearsall, redshirt freshman kicker Jack Luckhurst, and redshirt freshman defensive lineman Amiri Johnson.
Senior tight end Curtis Hodges was at practice but was not dressed.
Didn't see freshman offensive lineman Triston Miller, redshirt freshman offensive lineman Alijah Bates or freshman wide receiver Chad Johnson - who has turf toe at the moment and was in a boot on Monday.
Freshman offensive lineman Sioene Veikoso (ankle) was not dressed and did not condition.
Here's the two deep from the bubble - almost same exact group from earlier this week.
First team offense
QB Jayden Daniels
RB Rachaad White
OL left to right Kellen Diesch, LaDarius Henderson, Dohnovan West, Henry Hattis and Ben Scott
WR Johnny Wilson
WR LV Bunkley Shelton
WR Andre Johnson
TE Jalin Conyers
RB Chip Trayanum split reps with White
Most of the first team defense sat on the sideline today, allowing for second-teamers and players further down the depth chart to get reps against the first team offense.
First team defense
Right defensive end Travez Moore
3-technique Shannon Forman
Nosetackle TJ Pesefea
Left defensive end Anthonie Cooper
LB Eric Gentry
LB Caleb McCullough
LB Connor Soelle
S Cam Philips
S T Lee
CB Tommi Hill
CB Ed Woods
Jordan Clark filled in at the nickel, swapping for several of the linebackers.
Second team offense
QB Trenton Bourguet and Finn Collins rotated
RB Daniyel Ngata
OL left to right Isaia Glass, Ralph Frias, Cody Shear, Jarrett Bell, Spencer Lovell
WR Elijhah Badger
WR Geordon Porter
WR Giovanni Sanders
TE/H-back Case Hatch
Freshman tight end/H-back Ryan Morgan rotated in for reps, as well as freshman wide reciever Cade Cadam.
Armon Bethea rotated in at guard with Frias as Glass got to play the lion share of the practice. Freshman running back DJ Taylor got some reps in at running back towards the end of the practice
Second team defense - retained bits and pieces of first team group
Right defensive end Travez Moore
3-technique TJ Pesefea
Nose Corey Stevens
Left defensive end Stanley Lambert
LB Jacob Jornadal
LB Jordan Banks
LB Will Shaffer
S Vicenzo Granatelli
S Alijah Gammage
DB Keon Markham
DB Macen Williams
Sophomore safety Kejaun Markham, sophomore defensive back Chandler Fincher, freshman defensive back RJ Regan and freshman walk-on safety Jean Boyd III all rotated for reps at corner.
Friday's primary focus was situational preparation and light individual drills, as well as incorporating a lot of younger faces ahead of Sunday's final spring practice at Sun Devil Stadium. The starting offense flowed well going through its motions, shifting through offensive coordinator Zak Hill's final preparations before Sunday. Johnny Wilson, LV Bunkley-Shelton and Andre Johnson all looked excellent running their routes and Jayden Daniels delivered perfectly-placed passes over and over again. The threesome of receivers, along with Geordon Porter and Elijhah Badger rotating in for the fourth spot, practiced double-doubles sets and trips to each side.
The running game looked strong, with good push and execution from the front five, who now know how to work with each other and it's becoming increasingly evident as they progress. Chip Trayanum and Rachaad White looked explosive in each of their own ways per usual, White with his speed and shiftiness, Trayanum with his explosiveness and ability to stay up through tackles and congestion on the line of scrimmage.
The team spent a good portion of time practicing onside kickoff recoveries with the hands team and applying situational incentives. Special teams coach Shawn Slocum kept painting scenarios for the hands team such as: "We are up by 13, there's just a few minutes left on the clock and the other team lines up to onside...."
Sound somewhat familiar? Seems as if the USC loss is a major incentive to improve in the special teams department. Those amongst the hands team included Wilson, Hatch, Porter, DeAndre Pierce, Chase Lucas, Merlin Robertson, White, Woods, Darien Butler, Conyers, Kyle Soelle and Bunkley-Shelton further back for return duties.
The wide receivers took a lot of individual route work today, focusing on hands and releases. Badger, Wilson, Porter and Johnson all stood out amongst the group.
On punt return, Jack Jones, DJ Taylor and Tommi Hill all caught kicks from Logan Tyler and Michael Turk, who both looked to be in great form. Turk had two punts that landed inside the 10-yard-line with perfect bounces to stay out of the endzone for good field position.
In 7-on-7 drills, Daniels connected with Badger on four consecutive plays, all for a variety of routes and distances.
T Lee had two interceptions in the drill, one being a deflection off of Regan after a contested pass to Andre Johnson from Trenton Bourguet. The other was a pickoff in the endzone just a few plays later on a short pass to Sanders.
Daniels thrived in the 7-on-7 drills, connecting with Johnny Wilson for two touchdowns in just three plays. The first was a 40+ yard strike to Wilson on a go route to the right corner of the endzone. The ball fluttered perfectly in the air before dropping into Wilson's arms with perfect timing. Two plays later, Daniels connected with Wilson again, this time for an incredible grab in the back of the endzone, with Wilson just getting a foot in bounds for a score. Daniels was also able to connect with Conyers for a short touchdown.
Practice ended with several periods of live 11-on-11 with the second offense against a multitude of defenses ranging, primarily made up of players from the second and third groups. Ed Woods was the biggest standout, deflecting passes intended for Badger and Cadam with precision. Corey Stephens and Travez Moore each logged sacks.
Overall, the younger defense completely halted the efforts of the second-team offensive platoon. With most of the starters and veterans on the sideline, they were treated to a show and seemed to thoroughly enjoy watching the younger guys go at it. Cadam dropped a surefire touchdown ball in the endzone, sending the first team offense into raptures from the potential excitement, yet unfortunate ending of the play. Jayden Daniels and Geordon Porter ran what looked to be 15 yards in the opposite direction with massive smiles on their face. Herm Edwards and Marvin Lewis cracked jokes, comparing Cadam's play to a baseball player taking his cap off and waving to the crowd thinking he hit a home run, but not so.
Fire away with questions!