With ASU’s fall camp winding down and the season opener two and a half weeks away, how have the various Sun Devil position battles resolved themselves? Here’s how we see the current Sun Devils’ two-deep picture.
Quarterback
Trenton Bourguet
Jaden Rashada/Drew Pyne (injured)
Analysis: The goal of every Camp T is to return to Tempe with no significant injuries, and unfortunately for Arizona State, that goal was not achieved. Although the injury to Drew Pyne suffered in the Camp T scrimmage is not expected to be a long-term one, his “minor hamstring tear,” according to head coach Kenny Dillingham, definitely shuffles the deck when it comes to the two-deep at quarterback, even though there’s currently no timetable for Pyne’s return.
Trenton Bourguet was the better quarterback in all the August practices, and while the gap between him and Pyne did narrow since spring practice concluded, I still believe that even if Pyne was 100 percent healthy that he would serve as the second-team quarterback at the end of fall camp.
To Jaden Rashada’s credit, he turned in a strong Camp T scrimmage performance at the most opportune moment for him. And now some fans think he should be the starter over Bourguet. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I do think it’s a skewed perception just because Bourguet happened not to play as well as Rashada yesterday. Ultimately, there’s no doubt that his grasp of the playbook, let alone his chemistry with the primary aerial targets on this team, is stronger than that of Rashada’s (and Pyne for that matter), and as it is when it comes to overall consistency in fall camp performance, this is an advantage that Bourguet does hold over any signal caller on this roster.
It would be inconceivable to see Pyne not be limited in the remaining practices before the August 31 season opener, and it would be no surprise to see him forced to sit out that contest. Therefore, we will see Rashada get a healthy dose of snaps in the practices in the preseason and during that contest, and now the question is can the true freshman excel at such a rate that once Pyne is fully healthy, he may still take a backseat to Rashada on the depth chart? That is certainly an intriguing question that will create a lot of debate in the upcoming weeks.
Running back
Cameron Skattebo
DeCarlos Brooks
Javen Jacobs
George Hart III/Tevin White
Kyson Brown
Analysis: I’ll get this off my chest and say that Tevin White is an enigma to me now, and I was wrong to think that he could elevate his performance to be the first man off the bench to replace starter Cameron Skattebo, let alone prove to be an integral part of this offense. Yes, White was injured midway through spring, missed the last two weeks or more of those practices, and thus wasn’t coming into fall camp with any momentum. I thought he could have corrected that, but I was wrong. All White can hope for is to finish preseason practice on a much, much stronger note than they began and make sure your performance can give you a chance to create a “good headache” for the coaches who will now have to re-evaluate your roster niche.
DeCarlos Brooks, Javen Jacobs, and George Hart III took full advantage of this situation. Brooks’ experience as a Pac-12 running back at Cal, let alone as someone who played in high school under his position coach at ASU, Shaun Aguano, does create a measure of comfort on the staff. Hart actually never looked better during any point of his ASU career, and Jacobs had a solid fall camp, so that battle between both will be interesting. Not surprised to see Kyson Brown show some flashes here and there, and while I think he’s destined for a redshirt, he has looked impressive for a true freshman.
Wide Receiver
X-wide receiver: Elijhah Badger, Andre Johnson, Troy Omeire
H-wide receiver: Melquan Stovall, Gio Sanders, Coben Bourguet
Z-wide receiver: Xavier Guillory, Troy Omeire
Analysis: With Badger and Guillory established as the starters, the slot wide receiver starting role was the only mystery going into fall camp. Well, there’s much more clarity now regarding that position, as I see Melquan Stovall capturing that role. I think Gio Sanders, the returning starter, has performed well in practices but just not enough to unseat Stovall.
The biggest news at this position group, naturally, is the NCAA’s decision to deny USC transfer Jake Smith’s waiver for immediate eligibility. Now, bogus reasons aside, if there was any unit on this team where ASU could afford to lose a bona fide two-deep player, it is wide receiver. And all Jake Smith disappointment aside, the coaches must be thrilled by the preseason performance of Andre Johnson, and Troy Omeire and Coben Bourguet are as solid as they come for backup wide receivers.
Tight end
Jalin Conyers
Messiah Swinson
Bryce Pierre
Ryan Morgan
Analysis: With Jalin Conyers being another obvious starter on this side of the ball, going into fall camp, we wanted to see whether Messiah Swinson could prevent Bryce Pierre from being the backup or the second player in any two-tight end sets. And the answer was: Yes. Any two-tight end set we saw featured Swinson, which makes sense due to his blocking prowess. Make no mistake about it; we won’t have to wait for blowouts to see Pierre take Saturday snaps, but the volume of those plays will likely be second to that of Swinson. Morgan would be even more hard-pressed to find these game day snaps throughout the year, but he has made strides during practices.
Offensive line
Left tackle: Isaia Glass OR Bram Walden
Left guard: Sione Finau, Aaron Frost, Sean Na’a, Max Iheanachor (Ben Coleman is expected to be back from injury in mid-October at the earliest)
Center: Leif Fautanu, Ben Bray
Right guard: Joey Ramos, Cade Briggs, Sean Na’a, Kyle Scott
Right tackle: Emmit Bohle, Aaron Frost, Max Iheanachor
Analysis: With fall camp just days from completion, clarity is not a word that should describe the pecking order of this group. Let’s start with what we do know: center Leif Fautanu, right guard Joey Ramos (needs to return to practice, but I think that will happen this week), and right tackle Emmit Bohle are your staters if the season opener were today. If we’re taking the first one of the bench backup, Ben Bray is that at center.
So, what needs to be figured out? Starting left tackle and the battle between Isaia Glass and Bram Walden. This competition would be classified as unlikely coming out of spring ball, but what a difference a couple of August weeks make. Walden, who prepped locally AT Scottsdale Saguaro and played under Dillingham last season at Oregon, has been pushing Queen Creek High School product Glass. So, it would be an easy prediction to state that a local lineman will protect the blindside of ASU’s quarterback, but the coaches still need to figure out which one of the two will be running on the first team versus Southern Utah.
Arron Frost remains, and I hate to use that word again on another player, an enigma. It was widely believed that the only reason that Emmit Bohle was the starter at right tackle coming out of spring was the fact that Frost was rehabbing from an ACL injury he suffered last year at Nevada. Yet, what should have been an apparent shoo-in bookend for the front five, is still probably going to be less of a question mark, but with a different answer instead, since I believe Bohle will hold off Frost for the starting role.
And what we’ve seen just last week is Bohle and Glass trading right and left tackle spots and Frost taking some left guard first-team reps. I would assume that this was nothing more than just another early fall camp experimentation, but worth keeping an eye on to see if any of those shuffles repeat themselves.
And speaking of left guard, with the absence of Cal transfer Ben Coleman who injured his Achilles in the winter, it was believed that Purdue transfer Sione Finau has that starting role on lockdown, and that could still happen, but we saw Frost and Cade Briggs take some reps there.
In my opinion, no other position on offense, if not the entire team, has more to figure out depth chart-wise than the ASU offensive line. And the swiftness and quality of those answers can and will determine a lot of the success many expect this Sun Devil offense deep with skill players to produce.
It would be unexpected development not to see this starting five listed here line up in the August 31 season opener. We saw Glass, Fautanu, and Ramos all Spring long. Coleman’s pre-spring Achilles injury that may have him only fully healthy in mid-October or later forced ASU to get spring portal addition in Finau and Briggs, with the former probably the clubhouse favorite to be the starter. Frost, another portal addition, missed all spring due to injury but is expected to be fully healthy for camp. Briggs is a good veteran backup option at either guard position, and Bohle saw a lot of playing time last year at ASU. Bray is entrenched as the backup center. Scott, a summer arrival and junior college transfer, will be expected to be a depth player.
Quarterback
Trenton Bourguet
Jaden Rashada/Drew Pyne (injured)
Analysis: The goal of every Camp T is to return to Tempe with no significant injuries, and unfortunately for Arizona State, that goal was not achieved. Although the injury to Drew Pyne suffered in the Camp T scrimmage is not expected to be a long-term one, his “minor hamstring tear,” according to head coach Kenny Dillingham, definitely shuffles the deck when it comes to the two-deep at quarterback, even though there’s currently no timetable for Pyne’s return.
Trenton Bourguet was the better quarterback in all the August practices, and while the gap between him and Pyne did narrow since spring practice concluded, I still believe that even if Pyne was 100 percent healthy that he would serve as the second-team quarterback at the end of fall camp.
To Jaden Rashada’s credit, he turned in a strong Camp T scrimmage performance at the most opportune moment for him. And now some fans think he should be the starter over Bourguet. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I do think it’s a skewed perception just because Bourguet happened not to play as well as Rashada yesterday. Ultimately, there’s no doubt that his grasp of the playbook, let alone his chemistry with the primary aerial targets on this team, is stronger than that of Rashada’s (and Pyne for that matter), and as it is when it comes to overall consistency in fall camp performance, this is an advantage that Bourguet does hold over any signal caller on this roster.
It would be inconceivable to see Pyne not be limited in the remaining practices before the August 31 season opener, and it would be no surprise to see him forced to sit out that contest. Therefore, we will see Rashada get a healthy dose of snaps in the practices in the preseason and during that contest, and now the question is can the true freshman excel at such a rate that once Pyne is fully healthy, he may still take a backseat to Rashada on the depth chart? That is certainly an intriguing question that will create a lot of debate in the upcoming weeks.
Running back
Cameron Skattebo
DeCarlos Brooks
Javen Jacobs
George Hart III/Tevin White
Kyson Brown
Analysis: I’ll get this off my chest and say that Tevin White is an enigma to me now, and I was wrong to think that he could elevate his performance to be the first man off the bench to replace starter Cameron Skattebo, let alone prove to be an integral part of this offense. Yes, White was injured midway through spring, missed the last two weeks or more of those practices, and thus wasn’t coming into fall camp with any momentum. I thought he could have corrected that, but I was wrong. All White can hope for is to finish preseason practice on a much, much stronger note than they began and make sure your performance can give you a chance to create a “good headache” for the coaches who will now have to re-evaluate your roster niche.
DeCarlos Brooks, Javen Jacobs, and George Hart III took full advantage of this situation. Brooks’ experience as a Pac-12 running back at Cal, let alone as someone who played in high school under his position coach at ASU, Shaun Aguano, does create a measure of comfort on the staff. Hart actually never looked better during any point of his ASU career, and Jacobs had a solid fall camp, so that battle between both will be interesting. Not surprised to see Kyson Brown show some flashes here and there, and while I think he’s destined for a redshirt, he has looked impressive for a true freshman.
Wide Receiver
X-wide receiver: Elijhah Badger, Andre Johnson, Troy Omeire
H-wide receiver: Melquan Stovall, Gio Sanders, Coben Bourguet
Z-wide receiver: Xavier Guillory, Troy Omeire
Analysis: With Badger and Guillory established as the starters, the slot wide receiver starting role was the only mystery going into fall camp. Well, there’s much more clarity now regarding that position, as I see Melquan Stovall capturing that role. I think Gio Sanders, the returning starter, has performed well in practices but just not enough to unseat Stovall.
The biggest news at this position group, naturally, is the NCAA’s decision to deny USC transfer Jake Smith’s waiver for immediate eligibility. Now, bogus reasons aside, if there was any unit on this team where ASU could afford to lose a bona fide two-deep player, it is wide receiver. And all Jake Smith disappointment aside, the coaches must be thrilled by the preseason performance of Andre Johnson, and Troy Omeire and Coben Bourguet are as solid as they come for backup wide receivers.
Tight end
Jalin Conyers
Messiah Swinson
Bryce Pierre
Ryan Morgan
Analysis: With Jalin Conyers being another obvious starter on this side of the ball, going into fall camp, we wanted to see whether Messiah Swinson could prevent Bryce Pierre from being the backup or the second player in any two-tight end sets. And the answer was: Yes. Any two-tight end set we saw featured Swinson, which makes sense due to his blocking prowess. Make no mistake about it; we won’t have to wait for blowouts to see Pierre take Saturday snaps, but the volume of those plays will likely be second to that of Swinson. Morgan would be even more hard-pressed to find these game day snaps throughout the year, but he has made strides during practices.
Offensive line
Left tackle: Isaia Glass OR Bram Walden
Left guard: Sione Finau, Aaron Frost, Sean Na’a, Max Iheanachor (Ben Coleman is expected to be back from injury in mid-October at the earliest)
Center: Leif Fautanu, Ben Bray
Right guard: Joey Ramos, Cade Briggs, Sean Na’a, Kyle Scott
Right tackle: Emmit Bohle, Aaron Frost, Max Iheanachor
Analysis: With fall camp just days from completion, clarity is not a word that should describe the pecking order of this group. Let’s start with what we do know: center Leif Fautanu, right guard Joey Ramos (needs to return to practice, but I think that will happen this week), and right tackle Emmit Bohle are your staters if the season opener were today. If we’re taking the first one of the bench backup, Ben Bray is that at center.
So, what needs to be figured out? Starting left tackle and the battle between Isaia Glass and Bram Walden. This competition would be classified as unlikely coming out of spring ball, but what a difference a couple of August weeks make. Walden, who prepped locally AT Scottsdale Saguaro and played under Dillingham last season at Oregon, has been pushing Queen Creek High School product Glass. So, it would be an easy prediction to state that a local lineman will protect the blindside of ASU’s quarterback, but the coaches still need to figure out which one of the two will be running on the first team versus Southern Utah.
Arron Frost remains, and I hate to use that word again on another player, an enigma. It was widely believed that the only reason that Emmit Bohle was the starter at right tackle coming out of spring was the fact that Frost was rehabbing from an ACL injury he suffered last year at Nevada. Yet, what should have been an apparent shoo-in bookend for the front five, is still probably going to be less of a question mark, but with a different answer instead, since I believe Bohle will hold off Frost for the starting role.
And what we’ve seen just last week is Bohle and Glass trading right and left tackle spots and Frost taking some left guard first-team reps. I would assume that this was nothing more than just another early fall camp experimentation, but worth keeping an eye on to see if any of those shuffles repeat themselves.
And speaking of left guard, with the absence of Cal transfer Ben Coleman who injured his Achilles in the winter, it was believed that Purdue transfer Sione Finau has that starting role on lockdown, and that could still happen, but we saw Frost and Cade Briggs take some reps there.
In my opinion, no other position on offense, if not the entire team, has more to figure out depth chart-wise than the ASU offensive line. And the swiftness and quality of those answers can and will determine a lot of the success many expect this Sun Devil offense deep with skill players to produce.
It would be unexpected development not to see this starting five listed here line up in the August 31 season opener. We saw Glass, Fautanu, and Ramos all Spring long. Coleman’s pre-spring Achilles injury that may have him only fully healthy in mid-October or later forced ASU to get spring portal addition in Finau and Briggs, with the former probably the clubhouse favorite to be the starter. Frost, another portal addition, missed all spring due to injury but is expected to be fully healthy for camp. Briggs is a good veteran backup option at either guard position, and Bohle saw a lot of playing time last year at ASU. Bray is entrenched as the backup center. Scott, a summer arrival and junior college transfer, will be expected to be a depth player.
