With the run game struggling, yesterday was the ideal day to talk to offensive line coach Chris Thomsen and he gave some great insight into what the line's configuration may look like moving forward.
Thomsen acknowledged the fact the offensive line needs to up its level of play moving forward if the Sun Devils want to have success.
"Bottom line, up front we've gotta do better," he said. "We have to do better at getting on blocks, staying on blocks (and) giving our backs a chance to make plays. We just haven't done that consistently and at the end of the day that's on us."
Thomsen also hinted that the line could see some new faces on it and feature some new combinations of players, especially with guard Sam Jones being banged up and the rest of the line with some nicks and scrapes.
Thomsen was mum on Jones' injury, not wanting to give much away but did mention some guys including Steve Miller could get a shot at playing time.
"We looked at a combination (Tuesday) at practice because a couple of guys are banged up that we aren't sure if they're going to play or not," Thomsen said. "There could be some other guys getting opportunities this week."
Depending what combination Thomsen rolls out Saturday there could be a dearth of live game experience but Thomsen isn't concerned about that, noting the amount of time many of his linemen have been in the program.
"The young guys that we're talking about have been in our program for a year and a half," Thomsen said. "It's not like you've got a rookie true freshman going out there...fortunately we've got guys that have been in our program, that know our system, going out there (instead of) guys going out there that don't know what they're doing. If other guys do get an opportunity I'm excited to see them play."
Thomsen acknowledged the fact the offensive line needs to up its level of play moving forward if the Sun Devils want to have success.
"Bottom line, up front we've gotta do better," he said. "We have to do better at getting on blocks, staying on blocks (and) giving our backs a chance to make plays. We just haven't done that consistently and at the end of the day that's on us."
Thomsen also hinted that the line could see some new faces on it and feature some new combinations of players, especially with guard Sam Jones being banged up and the rest of the line with some nicks and scrapes.
Thomsen was mum on Jones' injury, not wanting to give much away but did mention some guys including Steve Miller could get a shot at playing time.
"We looked at a combination (Tuesday) at practice because a couple of guys are banged up that we aren't sure if they're going to play or not," Thomsen said. "There could be some other guys getting opportunities this week."
Depending what combination Thomsen rolls out Saturday there could be a dearth of live game experience but Thomsen isn't concerned about that, noting the amount of time many of his linemen have been in the program.
"The young guys that we're talking about have been in our program for a year and a half," Thomsen said. "It's not like you've got a rookie true freshman going out there...fortunately we've got guys that have been in our program, that know our system, going out there (instead of) guys going out there that don't know what they're doing. If other guys do get an opportunity I'm excited to see them play."
