The sixth spring practice was a solid day for defense and Todd Graham doled out high praise to a few of the leaders on the defensive side of the ball. While Jordan Simone was the only player with an Inferno helmet for the second straight practice, Graham said Lloyd Carrington may have had his best ever practice and would likely get the Inferno helmet that he wore on Saturday back.
He also said that Carrington and Simone are coming close to earning the right to wear the Pat Tillman camouflage jersey, so apparently the Inferno helmet isn't replacing the PT42 jerseys, but working in the conjunction with them.
There weren't many notable changes in the lineup with the exception of Marcus Ball's absence. He dressed out, worked through walkthroughs fine and suddenly wasn't on the field for 11-on-11. He looked visibly frustrated on the sideline and eventually gingerly made his way to muscle beach without a limp.
Graham revealed after practice that it was back spasms for the redshirt sophomore, who has been the starting spur in Laiu Moeakiola's absence. The full two-deep on the defensive side on Thursday:
1st team defense: Edmond Boateng (DE), Demetrius Cherry (DT), Tashon Smallwood (DT), Alani Latu (DEVIL), Antonio Longino (WILL), Salamo Fiso (SAM), Carlos Mendoza (SPUR), Lloyd Carrington (CB), Kweishi Brown (CB), Jordan Simone (S), and James Johnson (S).
2nd team defense: Renell Wren (DE), Connor Humphreys (DT), Ami Latu (DT), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (DEVIL), DJ Calhoun (WILL), Christian Sam (SAM), Luke Williams (SPUR), Solomon Means (CB), Ronald Lewis (CB), Chad Adams (S), DeAndre Scott (S)
The injury news remained constant with Jamal Scott, Chans Cox, Mo Latu, Ezekiel Bishop, Armand Perry and Laiu Moeakiola all in green and Jordan Simone in gold.
Outside of Ball sitting out for the remainder of practice, the other notable swap in the lineup is Kweishi Brown's return to the starting group. He lost that spot to Solomon Means, who has put together a solid spring. Means' play didn't really drop off, but Brown had a great day on Tuesday and just earned his spot back.
I've talked a lot about the struggles Ronald Lewis is having with the transition to cornerback, but I do think he'll get better at it. In individual drills, he's very detail-oriented and looks good, but he just doesn't have the experience at the position to hang with receivers in 11-on-11 and skeleton drills.
Still, Jayme Otomewo has looked excellent every opportunity he has received to play one-on-one man coverage against a receiver. He spent the first five practices working with the safeties and only tried his skills at the line of scrimmage during his few chances to play man, but on Thursday he worked with Todd Graham and the cornerbacks. Late in the practice he worked with the second-team defense and I wouldn't be surprised if he spends more time there ahead of Lewis.
On the defensive line, Edmond Boateng continues to put together a solid spring after a subpar first season at ASU. He's the only player that doesn't get yelled at by Jackie Shipp much and he digests information from Shipp and Graham quickly and translates it into his game right away.
Boateng's backup, Renell Wren, is having a solid spring too, but consistently struggles with being too upright and not keeping his pads low. He's 6'5 and has long arms, so it's probably going to be something that Shipp continues to work with him on before he sees significant time on the field.
Another raw athlete who is still figuring out his way on the field is redshirt freshman Ismael Murphy-Richardson. There are high expectations and his athleticism is evident on the field, but he can't quite get first-team snaps ahead of A.J. Latu. After practice, Graham talked about IMR's struggles to play both fast and smart at the same time, which was something that Boateng struggled with in 2014. Still, Murphy-Richardson recorded two sacks in practice.
Probably the most interesting battles in camp has been the ones at WILL and SAM where Longino, Fiso, Sam and Calhoun all have performed very well. Christian Sam may be having the best spring of any ASU player, but Longino has to be the team leader in tackles for loss. The senior has a knack for getting to the line of scrimmage in a hurry and knifing his way to the ball, and did so late in the 2014 season as well.
The coaches seem to like the combinations of Fiso/Longino and Sam/Calhoun, but if I were to evaluate right now, I think Longino's beating Calhoun and Sam is beating Fiso.
Marcus Hardison showed up to watch practice, as did Aaron Taylor, a former NFL offensive lineman who is now a college football analyst for CBS. As always, questions are welcome.
He also said that Carrington and Simone are coming close to earning the right to wear the Pat Tillman camouflage jersey, so apparently the Inferno helmet isn't replacing the PT42 jerseys, but working in the conjunction with them.
There weren't many notable changes in the lineup with the exception of Marcus Ball's absence. He dressed out, worked through walkthroughs fine and suddenly wasn't on the field for 11-on-11. He looked visibly frustrated on the sideline and eventually gingerly made his way to muscle beach without a limp.
Graham revealed after practice that it was back spasms for the redshirt sophomore, who has been the starting spur in Laiu Moeakiola's absence. The full two-deep on the defensive side on Thursday:
1st team defense: Edmond Boateng (DE), Demetrius Cherry (DT), Tashon Smallwood (DT), Alani Latu (DEVIL), Antonio Longino (WILL), Salamo Fiso (SAM), Carlos Mendoza (SPUR), Lloyd Carrington (CB), Kweishi Brown (CB), Jordan Simone (S), and James Johnson (S).
2nd team defense: Renell Wren (DE), Connor Humphreys (DT), Ami Latu (DT), Ismael Murphy-Richardson (DEVIL), DJ Calhoun (WILL), Christian Sam (SAM), Luke Williams (SPUR), Solomon Means (CB), Ronald Lewis (CB), Chad Adams (S), DeAndre Scott (S)
The injury news remained constant with Jamal Scott, Chans Cox, Mo Latu, Ezekiel Bishop, Armand Perry and Laiu Moeakiola all in green and Jordan Simone in gold.
Outside of Ball sitting out for the remainder of practice, the other notable swap in the lineup is Kweishi Brown's return to the starting group. He lost that spot to Solomon Means, who has put together a solid spring. Means' play didn't really drop off, but Brown had a great day on Tuesday and just earned his spot back.
I've talked a lot about the struggles Ronald Lewis is having with the transition to cornerback, but I do think he'll get better at it. In individual drills, he's very detail-oriented and looks good, but he just doesn't have the experience at the position to hang with receivers in 11-on-11 and skeleton drills.
Still, Jayme Otomewo has looked excellent every opportunity he has received to play one-on-one man coverage against a receiver. He spent the first five practices working with the safeties and only tried his skills at the line of scrimmage during his few chances to play man, but on Thursday he worked with Todd Graham and the cornerbacks. Late in the practice he worked with the second-team defense and I wouldn't be surprised if he spends more time there ahead of Lewis.
On the defensive line, Edmond Boateng continues to put together a solid spring after a subpar first season at ASU. He's the only player that doesn't get yelled at by Jackie Shipp much and he digests information from Shipp and Graham quickly and translates it into his game right away.
Boateng's backup, Renell Wren, is having a solid spring too, but consistently struggles with being too upright and not keeping his pads low. He's 6'5 and has long arms, so it's probably going to be something that Shipp continues to work with him on before he sees significant time on the field.
Another raw athlete who is still figuring out his way on the field is redshirt freshman Ismael Murphy-Richardson. There are high expectations and his athleticism is evident on the field, but he can't quite get first-team snaps ahead of A.J. Latu. After practice, Graham talked about IMR's struggles to play both fast and smart at the same time, which was something that Boateng struggled with in 2014. Still, Murphy-Richardson recorded two sacks in practice.
Probably the most interesting battles in camp has been the ones at WILL and SAM where Longino, Fiso, Sam and Calhoun all have performed very well. Christian Sam may be having the best spring of any ASU player, but Longino has to be the team leader in tackles for loss. The senior has a knack for getting to the line of scrimmage in a hurry and knifing his way to the ball, and did so late in the 2014 season as well.
The coaches seem to like the combinations of Fiso/Longino and Sam/Calhoun, but if I were to evaluate right now, I think Longino's beating Calhoun and Sam is beating Fiso.
Marcus Hardison showed up to watch practice, as did Aaron Taylor, a former NFL offensive lineman who is now a college football analyst for CBS. As always, questions are welcome.
