Hey guys, Arizona State kicked off Camp T today. Here is the full report from the first practice of the week.
LOCATION: Camp Tontozona
ATTIRE: Full Pads
STRETCH MUSIC: We Ready x Archie Eversole, Bodies x Drowning Pool
GREEN (Non-contact): QB Brady White, OL Marshal Nathe, DL Jalen Bates, DB Demonte King, LB Khaylan Thomas
MUSCLE BEACH: WR N'Keal Harry, WR Terrell Chatman
Camp T practices are 100% open, so I'll start by listing the two-deep I charted. I tried to make notes of who subbed in/who I saw working with a different team at times.
First team offense: QB Manny Wilkins, RB Kalen Ballage, WRs John Humphrey/Jalen Harvey/Frank Darby, TE Jay Jay Wilson, LT Cohl Cabral, LG Sam Jones, C A.J. McCollum, RG Steven Miller, RT Quinn Bailey
Notes: ASU ran out in some two-back sets, so the personnel changed when Demario and Kalen were both out there. WR Curtis Hodges received a few reps with the first team near the goal line. I believe Manny Wilkins took all of the first team reps today. Last Tuesday, Blake and Manny split first team reps.
Second team offense: QB Blake Barnett, RB Demario Richard (again, was on first team a lot, but listing here to give a base formation), WRs Ryan Newsome/Kyle Williams/Trent Gilber (not expected in two-deep, but team had two WRs who didn't practice today), TE Tommy Hudson, LT Mason Walter, LG Connor Humphrey, C Cade Cote, RG Alex Losoya, RT Zach Robertson
Notes: Also saw Nick Ralston and Eno Benjamin get reps with the second team, but it just depended on the number of reps during each period. Curtis Hodges also received reps with the second team, as did TE Jared Bubak. Hudson and Bubak have seemed to both receive ample opportunity early in the fall. Jacom Brimhall received third team reps, some second team reps.
Third team offense: QB Dillon Sterling-Cole, RB Trelon Smith were the notables
First team defense:
D-Line: Tashon Smallwood, George Lea, JoJo Wicker
LBs: Koron Crump (Devil), Christian Sam, D.J. Calhoun,
SPUR: J'Marcus Rhodes
DBs: Chase Lucas (corner), Kobe Williams (corner), Chad Adams (safety), Das Tautalatasi (safety)
Second team defense:
D-Line: Renell Wren, D.J. Davidson, Doug Subtyl,
LBs: A.J. Latu (Devil), Malik Lawal,
SPUR: Marcus Ball
DBs: Joey Bryant (corner), Darien Cornay (corner), Ty Thomas (safety), Jeremy Smith (safety), Deion Guignard
Notes: Langston Frederick also received reps with the second team. I'd say it was a pretty fair split between Bryant/Cornay/Frederick. ASU has had five DBs a lot in its second team defense throughout the first week of the fall.
Third team defense: Perhaps the most notable player was CB Alex Perry. Perry didn't make any big mistakes from what I saw. He was also fine in 1-on-1s too. In my opinion, he could just not be in the two-deep yet because he's so young. He looked pretty good to me today.
Now that I've listed the teams, onto the important drills/periods:
1-on-1 (WR/DB open field tackling): The coaches were really watching this closely and it seemed like a lot of the players who went through were yelled at, but that's typical. The DB who stood out to me was Joey Bryant. He's athletic and quick, but he did a great job of squaring up and driving receivers to the sideline instead of giving them space to make a move.
The other main point I noticed in this drill is that ASU has some receivers who are going to make defenders miss badly on multiple occasions. The receivers and running backs are the strength of the offense, and you can see why everyone is so high on them. Lots of speed, lots of athleticism, a ton of versatility.
1-on-1 (WR/DB passing): I was particularly intrigued for this drill because I wanted to get an up-close look at how the DBs were in man coverage. Joey Bryant was good in this drill, too. He lined up against Ryan Newsome and forced no throw on one rep, and a bad throw on another. John Humphrey also showed he's going to be a threat. He did well in this drill. On one rep, he burned freshman Alex Perry. This was the only big mistake I saw Perry make. He stepped up a bit slowly and Humphrey blew right by him because Perry couldn't get his shoulders turned around quickly enough. Kyle Williams also got the best of Ty Thomas by a lot on one rep.
I also saw Kobe Williams and Darien Cornay look pretty solid in this drill. ASU has great receivers, but the DBs surely seem like they're competing. They may not be good once the season starts, but it seems the competitive nature is there. Plus, players from other position groups have raved about the defensive backs.
During these 1-on-1 drills and the skeleton passing drills, I watched the quarterbacks. Honestly, I thought Brady threw the best ball out of all the quarterbacks. I've always loved his arm, but it's a shame he won't be able to truly compete for the starting job. Other than that, I think Manny had the best day of all three (11-on-11 reps, plus drills). He's consistent. You know what you're getting. I'll have a rundown of some plays down below, but I think Barnett's best play was a TD throw to Newsome. Newsome got wide open over the top and it was an easy throw, but one some college quarterbacks mess up. Blake was calm and dropped it in there nicely. Manny had a couple nice throws downfield to Humphrey.
SPECIAL TEAMS: For starters, I believe Brandon Ruiz hooked the game-winning kick attempt to end practice. But ASU showed a lot of kickoff stuff. The first two guys ASU had as its return men were Humphrey and Ballage. Demario was the up-back for some of the reps. Newsome took a couple reps as the returner. It'll be interesting to see if ASU risks putting Ballage (arguably its best offensive player) back to return kicks. Personally, I don't think they will.
PLAYS: I tried to chart some plays in addition to getting who was on each team. Obviously I don't have every rep, but here's what I do have from a number of different periods:
-Run to Kalen
-Manny to Humphrey
-In first 11-on-11, Calhoun had three tackles I believe.
-Manny had two non-passes (team isn't allowed to hit QB, so it's blown dead)
-Blake handoff to Demario for a few yards
-Blake non-pass
-Blake to Kyle Williams (Williams looked good today)
-Blake incomplete to Newsome
-Blake handoff to Eno Benjamin for a couple yards
-Eno Benjamin run, but stuffed
-DSC handoff to Trelon Smith for 3 yards
-DSC throws WR screen pass to Trent Gilbert
-Situation: 4th and goal, ASU down six in red zone, Play: End zone fade to Darby, Result: Incomplete
(7-ON-7)
-Richard run
-Richard stuffed
-Richard two-yard run
-Manny keeper for 8 yards, then blown dead
(11-on-11)
-Blake to Newsome for about 10 yards (good throw just out of reach of outstretched CB)
-Blake pass dropped (couldn't identify receiver)
-Chase Lucas pick-six
-Kyle Williams TD catch (maybe the coolest play today). Kyle Williams caught it from Manny and bounced off Kobe Williams, then Chad Adams)
-Manny pass dropped
-Blake incomplete pass
-Jay Jay Wilson dropped pass
-Demario receives handoff from Manny, runs for a TD from about 5 yards out. Nice burst from him on the play.
-Manny incomplete pass, intended for Humphrey
-Manny to Hodges, bounced off Hodges' hands, but No. 84 caught it in the end zone. It wasn't Darby, but it was someone else I couldn't identify. There's no other No. 84 listed on the roster.
-DSC TD pass to Brimhall
-Manny completes to Darby
-Manny completes to Humphrey
-Manny throws swing pass to Demario and Demario outruns Christian Sam. Demario was laughing the entire way down the sideline during the run.
-Christian Sam picked Manny
-Blake to Newsome TD over the top
-Ruiz misses game-winning field goal
OBSERVATIONS:
-I'm waiting for Blake Barnett to act the part. I think many people assume he'll start based on his build and frame, but I haven't been overly impressed with his arm thus far. He can put some zip on the ball for sure, but his accuracy leaves a bit to be desired at times.
-Phil Bennett said after practice that he didn't know if Kareem Orr would've played for him. He said sometimes "you gotta get the room right," maybe implying Kareem had an attitude or something.
-Chase Lucas looked pretty good today. I think he and Kobe Williams have done a good job dealing with the first team receivers, which is no easy task on this group.
-The pass rush was pretty good today. There were more than a few plays that were blown dead because of the pass rush. I think JoJo Wicker and Tashon Smallwood are finally progressing under Michael Slater.
-The players swear by the DBs' improvement. Even those from other position groups. Koron Crump at media day said the way the DBs compete will surprise people. Today, Ryan Newsome said they're far and away better than the group last year.
Practice ended right after the missed field goal. Stay tuned for more coverage this week. As always, let us know if there are any questions.
LOCATION: Camp Tontozona
ATTIRE: Full Pads
STRETCH MUSIC: We Ready x Archie Eversole, Bodies x Drowning Pool
GREEN (Non-contact): QB Brady White, OL Marshal Nathe, DL Jalen Bates, DB Demonte King, LB Khaylan Thomas
MUSCLE BEACH: WR N'Keal Harry, WR Terrell Chatman
Camp T practices are 100% open, so I'll start by listing the two-deep I charted. I tried to make notes of who subbed in/who I saw working with a different team at times.
First team offense: QB Manny Wilkins, RB Kalen Ballage, WRs John Humphrey/Jalen Harvey/Frank Darby, TE Jay Jay Wilson, LT Cohl Cabral, LG Sam Jones, C A.J. McCollum, RG Steven Miller, RT Quinn Bailey
Notes: ASU ran out in some two-back sets, so the personnel changed when Demario and Kalen were both out there. WR Curtis Hodges received a few reps with the first team near the goal line. I believe Manny Wilkins took all of the first team reps today. Last Tuesday, Blake and Manny split first team reps.
Second team offense: QB Blake Barnett, RB Demario Richard (again, was on first team a lot, but listing here to give a base formation), WRs Ryan Newsome/Kyle Williams/Trent Gilber (not expected in two-deep, but team had two WRs who didn't practice today), TE Tommy Hudson, LT Mason Walter, LG Connor Humphrey, C Cade Cote, RG Alex Losoya, RT Zach Robertson
Notes: Also saw Nick Ralston and Eno Benjamin get reps with the second team, but it just depended on the number of reps during each period. Curtis Hodges also received reps with the second team, as did TE Jared Bubak. Hudson and Bubak have seemed to both receive ample opportunity early in the fall. Jacom Brimhall received third team reps, some second team reps.
Third team offense: QB Dillon Sterling-Cole, RB Trelon Smith were the notables
First team defense:
D-Line: Tashon Smallwood, George Lea, JoJo Wicker
LBs: Koron Crump (Devil), Christian Sam, D.J. Calhoun,
SPUR: J'Marcus Rhodes
DBs: Chase Lucas (corner), Kobe Williams (corner), Chad Adams (safety), Das Tautalatasi (safety)
Second team defense:
D-Line: Renell Wren, D.J. Davidson, Doug Subtyl,
LBs: A.J. Latu (Devil), Malik Lawal,
SPUR: Marcus Ball
DBs: Joey Bryant (corner), Darien Cornay (corner), Ty Thomas (safety), Jeremy Smith (safety), Deion Guignard
Notes: Langston Frederick also received reps with the second team. I'd say it was a pretty fair split between Bryant/Cornay/Frederick. ASU has had five DBs a lot in its second team defense throughout the first week of the fall.
Third team defense: Perhaps the most notable player was CB Alex Perry. Perry didn't make any big mistakes from what I saw. He was also fine in 1-on-1s too. In my opinion, he could just not be in the two-deep yet because he's so young. He looked pretty good to me today.
Now that I've listed the teams, onto the important drills/periods:
1-on-1 (WR/DB open field tackling): The coaches were really watching this closely and it seemed like a lot of the players who went through were yelled at, but that's typical. The DB who stood out to me was Joey Bryant. He's athletic and quick, but he did a great job of squaring up and driving receivers to the sideline instead of giving them space to make a move.
The other main point I noticed in this drill is that ASU has some receivers who are going to make defenders miss badly on multiple occasions. The receivers and running backs are the strength of the offense, and you can see why everyone is so high on them. Lots of speed, lots of athleticism, a ton of versatility.
1-on-1 (WR/DB passing): I was particularly intrigued for this drill because I wanted to get an up-close look at how the DBs were in man coverage. Joey Bryant was good in this drill, too. He lined up against Ryan Newsome and forced no throw on one rep, and a bad throw on another. John Humphrey also showed he's going to be a threat. He did well in this drill. On one rep, he burned freshman Alex Perry. This was the only big mistake I saw Perry make. He stepped up a bit slowly and Humphrey blew right by him because Perry couldn't get his shoulders turned around quickly enough. Kyle Williams also got the best of Ty Thomas by a lot on one rep.
I also saw Kobe Williams and Darien Cornay look pretty solid in this drill. ASU has great receivers, but the DBs surely seem like they're competing. They may not be good once the season starts, but it seems the competitive nature is there. Plus, players from other position groups have raved about the defensive backs.
During these 1-on-1 drills and the skeleton passing drills, I watched the quarterbacks. Honestly, I thought Brady threw the best ball out of all the quarterbacks. I've always loved his arm, but it's a shame he won't be able to truly compete for the starting job. Other than that, I think Manny had the best day of all three (11-on-11 reps, plus drills). He's consistent. You know what you're getting. I'll have a rundown of some plays down below, but I think Barnett's best play was a TD throw to Newsome. Newsome got wide open over the top and it was an easy throw, but one some college quarterbacks mess up. Blake was calm and dropped it in there nicely. Manny had a couple nice throws downfield to Humphrey.
SPECIAL TEAMS: For starters, I believe Brandon Ruiz hooked the game-winning kick attempt to end practice. But ASU showed a lot of kickoff stuff. The first two guys ASU had as its return men were Humphrey and Ballage. Demario was the up-back for some of the reps. Newsome took a couple reps as the returner. It'll be interesting to see if ASU risks putting Ballage (arguably its best offensive player) back to return kicks. Personally, I don't think they will.
PLAYS: I tried to chart some plays in addition to getting who was on each team. Obviously I don't have every rep, but here's what I do have from a number of different periods:
-Run to Kalen
-Manny to Humphrey
-In first 11-on-11, Calhoun had three tackles I believe.
-Manny had two non-passes (team isn't allowed to hit QB, so it's blown dead)
-Blake handoff to Demario for a few yards
-Blake non-pass
-Blake to Kyle Williams (Williams looked good today)
-Blake incomplete to Newsome
-Blake handoff to Eno Benjamin for a couple yards
-Eno Benjamin run, but stuffed
-DSC handoff to Trelon Smith for 3 yards
-DSC throws WR screen pass to Trent Gilbert
-Situation: 4th and goal, ASU down six in red zone, Play: End zone fade to Darby, Result: Incomplete
(7-ON-7)
-Richard run
-Richard stuffed
-Richard two-yard run
-Manny keeper for 8 yards, then blown dead
(11-on-11)
-Blake to Newsome for about 10 yards (good throw just out of reach of outstretched CB)
-Blake pass dropped (couldn't identify receiver)
-Chase Lucas pick-six
-Kyle Williams TD catch (maybe the coolest play today). Kyle Williams caught it from Manny and bounced off Kobe Williams, then Chad Adams)
-Manny pass dropped
-Blake incomplete pass
-Jay Jay Wilson dropped pass
-Demario receives handoff from Manny, runs for a TD from about 5 yards out. Nice burst from him on the play.
-Manny incomplete pass, intended for Humphrey
-Manny to Hodges, bounced off Hodges' hands, but No. 84 caught it in the end zone. It wasn't Darby, but it was someone else I couldn't identify. There's no other No. 84 listed on the roster.
-DSC TD pass to Brimhall
-Manny completes to Darby
-Manny completes to Humphrey
-Manny throws swing pass to Demario and Demario outruns Christian Sam. Demario was laughing the entire way down the sideline during the run.
-Christian Sam picked Manny
-Blake to Newsome TD over the top
-Ruiz misses game-winning field goal
OBSERVATIONS:
-I'm waiting for Blake Barnett to act the part. I think many people assume he'll start based on his build and frame, but I haven't been overly impressed with his arm thus far. He can put some zip on the ball for sure, but his accuracy leaves a bit to be desired at times.
-Phil Bennett said after practice that he didn't know if Kareem Orr would've played for him. He said sometimes "you gotta get the room right," maybe implying Kareem had an attitude or something.
-Chase Lucas looked pretty good today. I think he and Kobe Williams have done a good job dealing with the first team receivers, which is no easy task on this group.
-The pass rush was pretty good today. There were more than a few plays that were blown dead because of the pass rush. I think JoJo Wicker and Tashon Smallwood are finally progressing under Michael Slater.
-The players swear by the DBs' improvement. Even those from other position groups. Koron Crump at media day said the way the DBs compete will surprise people. Today, Ryan Newsome said they're far and away better than the group last year.
Practice ended right after the missed field goal. Stay tuned for more coverage this week. As always, let us know if there are any questions.
Last edited:
