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Four-star Isaiah Pola-Mao..

I talked with the Pola-Mao Bros. this weekend and I got the sense, especially from Matthew, that staying close to home is being favored at this point and the two will definitely play together in college.

Matthew Pola-Mao seemed like it was a foregone conclusion that the two would stay together for college and seemed to say the Sun Devils were absolutely the team to beat right now. Still think USC and Washington might play a factor but it's boding well for ASU.

https://n.rivals.com/news/four-star-isaiah-pola-mao-ready-to-start-official-visits

Sun Devil Athletics Implements New Security Measures Ahead of Season Opener

TEMPE, Ariz.– Sun Devil Athletics will implement new security measures, including the adoption of a clear bag policy, at Sun Devil Football's home opener on Sept. 3 against Northern Arizona. ASU will also allow fans to bring in factory-sealed individual plastic water bottles or an empty, reusable plastic water bottle to fill once inside the stadium.

"The safety of our fans and visitors to Sun Devil Stadium is paramount," said Vice President for University Athletics and Athletics Director Ray Anderson. "The policies we are implementing ensure security can easily identify personal belongings to get fans through the gates and on to enjoying the game day experience and Sun Devil Football. Fans should arrive early and visit the websiteto find the best way to get to their seats because we want to see the stadium full for kickoff."

ASU is one of eight schools in the Pac-12 Conference to implement a clear bag policy. The policy is also in line with similar security measures at University of Phoenix Stadium for Arizona Cardinals games and at Chase Field for Diamondbacks games.

Sun Devil Athletics encourages fans to review the clear bag specificationsbefore heading to Sun Devil Stadium. Fans with non-compliant bags will be asked to return them to their vehicles before entering the stadium. Guests may still bring small clutch-style bags, up to 6.5 inches wide, into the game to secure personal belongings.

Given the potential for high temperatures at the start of football season, it is important that our fans stay hydrated throughout the game. This season, fans also are allowed to bring factory-sealed water bottles up to 1.5 liters or empty, clear plastic reusable water bottles into the game. Glass and metal water bottles are still prohibited.

Due to the reinvention of Sun Devil Stadium, entry on the north and south sides of the stadium will change for the upcoming season. ASU encourages fans to arrive early to the game and to visit www.thesundevils.com/findmyseatfor the best route to access seats on game day.

Sun Devil Football opens the 2016 season against Northern Arizona on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 8 p.m. PT.

Prospect Search

Before the improvements to the website, there was a direct link to a list, by position, of all recruits to whom ASU had made offers. I seem to be too dense to figure out how to get that list from the current incarnation of the website. I thought I followed the directions given a week or so ago, but I cannot seem to make it work.

Help, please, or is this not available?

Fox College Kickoff

Missed some and saw some but in the Pac 12 portion they discussed Stanford/Washington/Wazzu/Oregon & USC/UCLA/Utah

They did not even mention ASU/AU/CU/Cal/OSU

OUCH! The thought of having Utah and Wazzu in a Pac 12 conversation that we are not allowed to be part of is a hard punch to the gut.

Every time we inch up in the national conversation we take a huge step backward (most recently for about a week in 2014 after beating ND and before losing to OSU)

Another thing that rang a bell was when Dave Wanstedt was detailing Oklahoma and said that he saw them running away with the Big 12 title
IF Stoops didn't have amnesia and forget how, after the Texas game last year, that he quit all of the crazy blitzing and started running the ball more.

Just have to prove it on the field.

ASU Hockey @ DU in January

ASU Hockey is coming back to Colorado!

We've established an ASU section for both games on Friday & Saturday, January 6-7. Seats are lower level behind the "ASU Shoots Twice" goal and can be purchased NOW at a reduced price of $21 per.

Head to the link below and type in ASUHOCKEY (in all caps). It will then take you to choose between both games, and then subsequent screens will let you pick seats and pay.

ASU Hockey @ DU in January

Sunday Walkabout

Morning Mates...

Today's Topic = Ready or Not

I guess we'll know within the next couple of weeks if the Devils will be a contender or pretender this season...nobody is anticipating a contender for anything other than a PAC bottom feeder, except a few crazies like me, who see big things on the Sun Devil horizon for this team...

NAU will be a good test since they are well thought off in the Big Sky Conference and have some gifted players on their team that include QB Case Cookus and receiver Emmanuel Butler, and then free wheeling Texas Tech comes to town with a great offense...

So, will the Devils play pretty vanilla against the Jacks to save stuff for the Red Raiders or will just about everything be on the table against the Jacks in order to be ready for Tech..??

I'm not worried about our offense at all, as I've mentioned many times before, but I am anxious to see how Manny does at QB and how Chip Lindsey calls games as OC...he did wonderful things at So Miss and has more talent in Tempe than he had in Miss but the competition is stronger here than there, so we'll see...

The Republic is calling D Richard and K Ballage "thunder and lighting" out of our backfield and that seems like an apt description to me, as they are both proven big time backs but will be running behind an inexperienced line...however, under Lindsey, I think they will excel and may well each reach 1,000 yards in rushing this year...

The RBs at So Miss, under Lindsey, didn't "rotate" they way they have at ASU under Mike Norvell and both will be used more to see who may have the "hot hand" during a game against a particular defense...I'm also anticipating seeing some new schematic wrinkles out of the backfield...

If I'm reading things correctly, N'Keal Harry has been very impressive at WR and will play a lot this year and C Smith looks like he may be close to being his old self that will add to our ability to stretch the field vertically...

Could Harry end up being another J Strong type receiver for us..??

Time will tell I guess...

Nobody is concerned about our front seven on defense but we'll find out about how our D-backer position and secondary play out in the next several weeks...I think we will be fine, knock on wood, as long as we don't have a lot of injuries back there...

Our D should be able to handle the Jacks but the Red Raiders are much more gifted than the Flagstaff crew...

I didn't realize that Zane Gonzales is only 16 FGs away from setting a new career NCAA record, which would be awesome, as long as we are doing better with our Red Zone offense that needs to score more TDs than settling for FGs this season...

The Red Zone is where I'm going to be really measuring Chip Lindsey, just like the measure of Patterson on defense, will be how many big plays we give up under his leadership...

Are those fair measures for each coordinator..??

Here is how the Republic sees the best units in the PAC...

QB - UCLA

RB - Stan and Oregon

WR/TE - USC

OL - USC

DL - Utah and Stan

LB - Wash and Stan

Secondary - Wash

Special Teams - Stan and Utah

So, how many degrees of separation are we from those units respectfully..??

I don't think we all that far removed from them and is why I think 10+ wins is not our of the question for the Sun Devils...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

Jacob Connover

Keep an eye on this kid, a sophomore quarterback after Chandler High School who just dropped nearly 500 passing yards on nationally-ranked Corona Centennial in just his second career start (they lost 56-49). He's the latest in the line of Chandler quarterbacks, with each of the previous four (Brett Hundley, Darrel Garretson, Bryce Perkins and Mason Moran) winding up at Pac-12 programs.

He may not have ideal size (he's listed at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds), but he has a strong arm and throws a really pretty deep ball. Has some really nice touch on his throws and pocket awareness for someone his age.

I was out shooting his game tonight, so if I get a chance this week I might try to compile some of his best throws for you guys.

Other Chandler notes: WR Gunner Romney (yes, he's related to Mitt) was impressive yet again with nearly 250 receiving yards. UNLV commit Johnny Johnson nearly did this:

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