Tuesday marked the start of week number three for Arizona State's Spring Camp and it was probably a day the offense wishes it could take back. The Sun Devils mustered only six explosive plays on offense, three of which came from Kalen Ballage and two were because of blown assignments by the defense.
For starters, Mike Bercovici, Lloyd Carrington and Jordan Simone were once again dressed in the PT-42 practice jerseys. Demario Richard, Kalen Ballage, Kody Kohl, Nick Kelly, Ellis Jefferson, Jacom Brimhall and Billy McGehee wore the flame helmets.
Fred Gammage and Grant Martinez returned to action while Christian Westerman continues to sit (no word why and once again he wasn't dressed in a green non-contact jersey).
While Gammage participated in full contact drills, I didn't see Martinez do any. Nonetheless, he did all the tight end drills and seemed to be moving around just fine on the previously injured foot.
Guys in green: Evan Goodman, Vi Teofilo, Raymond Epps, and Eriquel Florence.
By the looks of it, Evan Goodman is getting closer to recovering from whatever injury he has (ankle/hamstring). Last week he spent most of his time at Muscle Beach working on conditioning but today he spent the morning going through various offensive lineman drills with a trainer off to the side, which is a good sign.
Former Sun Devils Chris Coyle and George Bell stopped by for a little bit to watch practice.
1st team offense: Mike Bercovici (QB), Kalen Ballage (RB), D.J. Foster (WR), Gary Chambers (WR), Eric Lauderdale (WR), Kody Kohl (TE), Sam Jones (LT), Stephon McCray (LG), Nick Kelly (C), Devin Goodman (RG), Billy McGehee (RT).
2nd team offense: Brady White (QB), Jacom Brimhall (RB), Ellis Jefferson (WR), Tyler Whiley (WR), Jalen Harvey (WR), Dan Vear (TE), Steve Miller (LT), Jack Powers 9LG), Tyler McClure (C), Devin Goodman (RG), and Quinn Bailey (RT).
Like I said earlier, not much went the offense's way this morning.
None of the quarterbacks had much luck moving the ball downfield. Brady White threw his first INT of the Spring when he tried to sail a pass over the defense to Ellis Jefferson but left it a little short as Ronald Lewis came up with the pick.
Manny Wilkins threw a 25 yard touchdown to Fred Gammage but it looked like that was more due to a defensive miscue as the corner and linebacker messed up on the coverage call. Wilkins also fumbled a snap inside the five but was able to recover it without the turnover.
There was a lot of mixing and matching along the two-deep. Ellis Jefferson took first team reps. Fred Gammage took both first and second team reps. Ballage, Richard and Hayes all shared carries and the offense even used a Ballage/Hayes backfield a couple of times.
There was even a two tight end look with Vear and Kohl and then of course Demetrius Cherry served as a tight end/offensive lineman and a couple short distance runs.
The guy who really stood out was Ballage though. Like I said, he had three of the six explosive plays for the offense and all three were sort of improvised by the sophomore running back. Once, he juked Antonio Longino after a short catch before cutting back inside for a near 20 yard gain. Later he beat a couple of the linebackers to the outside on a run play before heading up the sideline for 15 yards. He's just so big and fast that when he gets any momentum going, he's a load for anyone to tackle.
Something else that stood out, and we've mentioned it before, was Manny Wilkins' eagerness to block downfield. Manny is 6-2, 180, but he loves to throw his body around to try springing a guy free. Two or three times today he was leading the charge downfield, putting a helmet on guys on run plays for Richard or Brimhall. It's fun to see but I wonder how much Norvell enjoys seeing it.
Brady White had a 60 or so yard TD run late in the session on what appeared to be a missed assignment by Ismael Murphy-Richardson. Like, a badly missed assignment.
The QB's overall appeared to spend more time working from under center this morning than in previous practices.
Zane Gonzalez was 2-3 on the day.
Matt Haack brought his good leg to practice. The guy was booming the heck out of everything.
Coach Slocum had the defense practicing punt blocks with volleyballs and rather than just knocking the balls down, he was instructing players to catch the ball to better control their bodies and avoid roughing penalties.
That's kind of it for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
For starters, Mike Bercovici, Lloyd Carrington and Jordan Simone were once again dressed in the PT-42 practice jerseys. Demario Richard, Kalen Ballage, Kody Kohl, Nick Kelly, Ellis Jefferson, Jacom Brimhall and Billy McGehee wore the flame helmets.
Fred Gammage and Grant Martinez returned to action while Christian Westerman continues to sit (no word why and once again he wasn't dressed in a green non-contact jersey).
While Gammage participated in full contact drills, I didn't see Martinez do any. Nonetheless, he did all the tight end drills and seemed to be moving around just fine on the previously injured foot.
Guys in green: Evan Goodman, Vi Teofilo, Raymond Epps, and Eriquel Florence.
By the looks of it, Evan Goodman is getting closer to recovering from whatever injury he has (ankle/hamstring). Last week he spent most of his time at Muscle Beach working on conditioning but today he spent the morning going through various offensive lineman drills with a trainer off to the side, which is a good sign.
Former Sun Devils Chris Coyle and George Bell stopped by for a little bit to watch practice.
1st team offense: Mike Bercovici (QB), Kalen Ballage (RB), D.J. Foster (WR), Gary Chambers (WR), Eric Lauderdale (WR), Kody Kohl (TE), Sam Jones (LT), Stephon McCray (LG), Nick Kelly (C), Devin Goodman (RG), Billy McGehee (RT).
2nd team offense: Brady White (QB), Jacom Brimhall (RB), Ellis Jefferson (WR), Tyler Whiley (WR), Jalen Harvey (WR), Dan Vear (TE), Steve Miller (LT), Jack Powers 9LG), Tyler McClure (C), Devin Goodman (RG), and Quinn Bailey (RT).
Like I said earlier, not much went the offense's way this morning.
None of the quarterbacks had much luck moving the ball downfield. Brady White threw his first INT of the Spring when he tried to sail a pass over the defense to Ellis Jefferson but left it a little short as Ronald Lewis came up with the pick.
Manny Wilkins threw a 25 yard touchdown to Fred Gammage but it looked like that was more due to a defensive miscue as the corner and linebacker messed up on the coverage call. Wilkins also fumbled a snap inside the five but was able to recover it without the turnover.
There was a lot of mixing and matching along the two-deep. Ellis Jefferson took first team reps. Fred Gammage took both first and second team reps. Ballage, Richard and Hayes all shared carries and the offense even used a Ballage/Hayes backfield a couple of times.
There was even a two tight end look with Vear and Kohl and then of course Demetrius Cherry served as a tight end/offensive lineman and a couple short distance runs.
The guy who really stood out was Ballage though. Like I said, he had three of the six explosive plays for the offense and all three were sort of improvised by the sophomore running back. Once, he juked Antonio Longino after a short catch before cutting back inside for a near 20 yard gain. Later he beat a couple of the linebackers to the outside on a run play before heading up the sideline for 15 yards. He's just so big and fast that when he gets any momentum going, he's a load for anyone to tackle.
Something else that stood out, and we've mentioned it before, was Manny Wilkins' eagerness to block downfield. Manny is 6-2, 180, but he loves to throw his body around to try springing a guy free. Two or three times today he was leading the charge downfield, putting a helmet on guys on run plays for Richard or Brimhall. It's fun to see but I wonder how much Norvell enjoys seeing it.
Brady White had a 60 or so yard TD run late in the session on what appeared to be a missed assignment by Ismael Murphy-Richardson. Like, a badly missed assignment.
The QB's overall appeared to spend more time working from under center this morning than in previous practices.
Zane Gonzalez was 2-3 on the day.
Matt Haack brought his good leg to practice. The guy was booming the heck out of everything.
Coach Slocum had the defense practicing punt blocks with volleyballs and rather than just knocking the balls down, he was instructing players to catch the ball to better control their bodies and avoid roughing penalties.
That's kind of it for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
