I was back at practice tonight, and it was nice to experience a night session for change. Was even nicer that Herm Edwards came through and set up bleachers on the east side of the practice field, which allowed us to see that part of the field where the defense practices. Also made for some better filming of practice, and you’ll see it in the footage (and they're close to 30 minutes of it once it gets uploaded)
As always, let’s start with personnel news:
Senior safety Evan Fields returned to practice after missing Wednesday with an illness. But didn't see him in team or 7x7 segments, and later on, he was out of uniform in the last few periods where it was strictly 11x11.
I didn't see freshman defensive lineman Joe Moore.
Otherwise, here the players that were absent/not practicing on Wednesday and were missing in action tonight:
Junior defensive lineman Tyler Johnson (knee)
Redshirt defensive tackle Stephon Wright (recovering from shoulder surgery)
Junior defensive tackle Jermayne Lole (personal)
Sophomore safety Willie Harts (personal)
Freshman offensive lineman Sioene Veikoso (ankle)
Freshman offensive lineman Armon Bethea didn't practice tonight but was at practice doing some conditioning on the side. Sane with redshirt freshman defensive end Amiri Johnson.
Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Ben Scott (almost hit me by accident with a Gatorade bottle he was trying to throw away) and sophomore offensive lineman Dohnovan West continued to wear non-contact green jerseys.
Team was still in helmets and shorts. I believe they will be in shells tomorrow.
Looking at the footage I took from the 11 on 11, here's the two-deep:
First team offense
QB Jayden Daniels
RB the three that rotated were Chip Trayanum, Rachaad White, and Daniyel Ngata
OL from left to right Kellen Diesch, LaDarius Henderson, Dohnovan West, Henry Hattis, and Ben Scott
WR Geordon Porter
WR Ricky Pearsall
WR Andre Johnson
TE Curtis Hodges
Fullback Case Hatch was in two tight-end sets; LV Bunkley-Shelton and Johnny Wilson were in there too at times with the first team.
First team defense
Right defensive end Anthonie Cooper
3-technique Shannon Forman
Nose DJ Davidson
Left Right defensive end Michael Matus
LB Merlin Robertson
LB Darien Butler
LB Kyle Soelle
S DeAndre Pierce
S Kejuan Markham
CB Chase Lucas
CB Jack Jones
Jordan Clark nickel corner, and in those alignments, he replaced Soelle.
Second team offense
QB Daylin Mclemore and Finn Collins rotated
RB the three that rotated were Chip Trayanum, Rachaad White, and Daniyel Ngata (same as the first team)
OL from left to right Ralph Frias, Ben Bray, Jarrett Bell, Triston Miller, and Spencer Lovell
WR Johnny Wilson
WR Geordon Porter
WR Elijhah Badger
TE Jalin Conyers
RB DJ Taylor saw some second team reps.
Second team defense
Right defensive end Stanley Lambert
3-technique Omarr Norman-Lott
Nose TJ Pesefea
Left Right defensive end Travez Moore
LB Connor Soelle
LB Will Shaffer
LB Caleb McCullough
S Cam Phillips
S T Lee
CB Timarcus Davis
CB Tommi Hill
Freshman RJ Regan replaced T Lee at nickel corner. Sophomore cornerback Keon Markham saw some reps here too.
The biggest news today was Finn Collins seeing a lot of second-team reps. Has mixed results playing behind a shaky second team offensive line and against a defense that blitzed quite a bit tonight. He threw one interception to Kejuan Markham, who took full advantage of Fields’ absence and played well. Daylin Mclemore threw an interception to Tommi Hill, and that freshman looks like a grown man already, and you would never know that he just arrived on campus two months ago. Hill being in the two-deep for the season opener should surprise nobody.
Even with these interceptions and both coming on the second team, I thought the passing game was crisper today, especially with Daniels and the first team. Geordon Porter stood out a little above the rest.
Speaking of Hill, he Jack Jones and DJ Taylor all lined up at punt return. Gage King seemed to have replaced Eric Dickerson as the starting long snapper, and Michael Turk looked in mid-season form with his punting. Shawn Slocum said that he wanted Turk to work more on his directional punting, and we aw a lot of that tonight.
Interesting note on Slocum, he was actually the USC linebackers’ coach when Chris Claiborne, now ASU’s linebackers coach, played and won the Butkus award. The two are close, and it probably wasn’t a surprise to see Slocum there with Claiborne in some of the linebacker drills doing some coaching. Slocum did coach outside linebackers when Todd Graham was the head coach, but in recent years was solely coaching special teams.
And during those drills, you can’t help but notice how skinny freshman Eric Gentry is. I’m not being hyperbolic that he needs to add 50 lbs. on that listed 6-6 220-pound frame. Looks closer to 200 lbs. in my opinion. I know Antonio Pierce expects him to play this year, but he’s gonna have to eat himself into playing time. His quickness, though, isn’t in doubt, and obviously, the goal is to have a sizeable weight gain without losing that quickstep. Sometimes easier said than done, but not impossible.
Much like Wednesday, Jack Luckhurst and Logan Tyler struggled on longer field goals. Freshman Jayce Feely, who begins classes next week, is scheduled to practice at that time. Curious to see what kind of impact he can have. Right now, I can’t say he’s facing very stiff competition.
As you know, the media outlets covering the team rotate in coverage, so we cannot be there at practice for all 15 sessions. So, chances are my next practice I will be covering will be Wednesday the 10th. The team will be in pads at that time.
As always, I can answer any questions you have.
As always, let’s start with personnel news:
Senior safety Evan Fields returned to practice after missing Wednesday with an illness. But didn't see him in team or 7x7 segments, and later on, he was out of uniform in the last few periods where it was strictly 11x11.
I didn't see freshman defensive lineman Joe Moore.
Otherwise, here the players that were absent/not practicing on Wednesday and were missing in action tonight:
Junior defensive lineman Tyler Johnson (knee)
Redshirt defensive tackle Stephon Wright (recovering from shoulder surgery)
Junior defensive tackle Jermayne Lole (personal)
Sophomore safety Willie Harts (personal)
Freshman offensive lineman Sioene Veikoso (ankle)
Freshman offensive lineman Armon Bethea didn't practice tonight but was at practice doing some conditioning on the side. Sane with redshirt freshman defensive end Amiri Johnson.
Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Ben Scott (almost hit me by accident with a Gatorade bottle he was trying to throw away) and sophomore offensive lineman Dohnovan West continued to wear non-contact green jerseys.
Team was still in helmets and shorts. I believe they will be in shells tomorrow.
Looking at the footage I took from the 11 on 11, here's the two-deep:
First team offense
QB Jayden Daniels
RB the three that rotated were Chip Trayanum, Rachaad White, and Daniyel Ngata
OL from left to right Kellen Diesch, LaDarius Henderson, Dohnovan West, Henry Hattis, and Ben Scott
WR Geordon Porter
WR Ricky Pearsall
WR Andre Johnson
TE Curtis Hodges
Fullback Case Hatch was in two tight-end sets; LV Bunkley-Shelton and Johnny Wilson were in there too at times with the first team.
First team defense
Right defensive end Anthonie Cooper
3-technique Shannon Forman
Nose DJ Davidson
Left Right defensive end Michael Matus
LB Merlin Robertson
LB Darien Butler
LB Kyle Soelle
S DeAndre Pierce
S Kejuan Markham
CB Chase Lucas
CB Jack Jones
Jordan Clark nickel corner, and in those alignments, he replaced Soelle.
Second team offense
QB Daylin Mclemore and Finn Collins rotated
RB the three that rotated were Chip Trayanum, Rachaad White, and Daniyel Ngata (same as the first team)
OL from left to right Ralph Frias, Ben Bray, Jarrett Bell, Triston Miller, and Spencer Lovell
WR Johnny Wilson
WR Geordon Porter
WR Elijhah Badger
TE Jalin Conyers
RB DJ Taylor saw some second team reps.
Second team defense
Right defensive end Stanley Lambert
3-technique Omarr Norman-Lott
Nose TJ Pesefea
Left Right defensive end Travez Moore
LB Connor Soelle
LB Will Shaffer
LB Caleb McCullough
S Cam Phillips
S T Lee
CB Timarcus Davis
CB Tommi Hill
Freshman RJ Regan replaced T Lee at nickel corner. Sophomore cornerback Keon Markham saw some reps here too.
The biggest news today was Finn Collins seeing a lot of second-team reps. Has mixed results playing behind a shaky second team offensive line and against a defense that blitzed quite a bit tonight. He threw one interception to Kejuan Markham, who took full advantage of Fields’ absence and played well. Daylin Mclemore threw an interception to Tommi Hill, and that freshman looks like a grown man already, and you would never know that he just arrived on campus two months ago. Hill being in the two-deep for the season opener should surprise nobody.
Even with these interceptions and both coming on the second team, I thought the passing game was crisper today, especially with Daniels and the first team. Geordon Porter stood out a little above the rest.
Speaking of Hill, he Jack Jones and DJ Taylor all lined up at punt return. Gage King seemed to have replaced Eric Dickerson as the starting long snapper, and Michael Turk looked in mid-season form with his punting. Shawn Slocum said that he wanted Turk to work more on his directional punting, and we aw a lot of that tonight.
Interesting note on Slocum, he was actually the USC linebackers’ coach when Chris Claiborne, now ASU’s linebackers coach, played and won the Butkus award. The two are close, and it probably wasn’t a surprise to see Slocum there with Claiborne in some of the linebacker drills doing some coaching. Slocum did coach outside linebackers when Todd Graham was the head coach, but in recent years was solely coaching special teams.
And during those drills, you can’t help but notice how skinny freshman Eric Gentry is. I’m not being hyperbolic that he needs to add 50 lbs. on that listed 6-6 220-pound frame. Looks closer to 200 lbs. in my opinion. I know Antonio Pierce expects him to play this year, but he’s gonna have to eat himself into playing time. His quickness, though, isn’t in doubt, and obviously, the goal is to have a sizeable weight gain without losing that quickstep. Sometimes easier said than done, but not impossible.
Much like Wednesday, Jack Luckhurst and Logan Tyler struggled on longer field goals. Freshman Jayce Feely, who begins classes next week, is scheduled to practice at that time. Curious to see what kind of impact he can have. Right now, I can’t say he’s facing very stiff competition.
As you know, the media outlets covering the team rotate in coverage, so we cannot be there at practice for all 15 sessions. So, chances are my next practice I will be covering will be Wednesday the 10th. The team will be in pads at that time.
As always, I can answer any questions you have.
