Offensive report by Caleb
First Group:
LT Bram Walden
LG Sean Na’a
C Leif Fautanu
RG Joey Ramos
RT Max Iheanachor
QB Trenton Bourguet
RB Kyson Brown
WR Gio Sanders
WR Elijhah Badger
WR Xavier Guillory
WR Jalin Conyers
Tight ends Messiah Swinson and Bryce Pierre would rotate at tight end with the first group. Ben Coleman would rotate with the first group as the rest of line would .
Second Group:
LT Bram Walden
LG Sean Na’a
C Ben Bray
RG Kyle Scott
RT Ben Coleman
QB Jacob Conover
RB Javen Jacobs/Tevin White
WR Melquan Stovall
WR Shawn Charles
WR Andre Johnson
TE Bryce Pierre/Messiah Swinson
WR Troy Omeire rotated with the first- and second-second group based on personnel. WR Kaleb Black also rotated heavily with the second team.
Tuesday’s practice was a cooler day as the Sun Devils shifted the preparation to Colorado. Today’s practice theme was finishing and explosiveness, something head coach Kenny Dillingham mentioned in his Monday presser. The practice moved forward in the stretch lines as some faces were seen practicing today in full pads with the rest of the team.
Noticed in stretch lines, right tackle Max Iheanachor was dressed and ended up being a full participant. Running back DeCarlos Brooks was dressed for the first time in three weeks and participated with the running backs today. Cal transfer Ben Coleman has participated in drills in recent weeks but, starting today did see team repetitions. Nonetheless, head coach Kenny Dillingham doesn't believe that he can play this seaosn as Coleman rehabs from a lower leg injury suffered in the off-season.
Moving on, after the stretch lines, the field goal team went out for placekicker Dario Longhetto to get going. Longhetto was 4-7 to start practice, as in games this year, he is 5-5. That said, Longhetto was good from about 35, 45, and 50 yards, but also missing one from each distance.
The offense went into individual drills. Looking at the offensive line, position coach Saga Tuitele made his way back to the field after missing the last two games and the week of practice in between them due to medical reasons. Tuitele did not skip a beat in his first day back as he was very vocal right away. The offensive line worked on the timing of their steps on the stationary sled as Tuitele came back to quite the challenge on the front five injury-wise.
As the team tuned to the tempo team period, it was clear tempo was a little bit more enforced today. Dillingham called plays with QB Trenton Bourguet leading. The team started fast running to the line for the next play. QB Jacob Conover saw little to no time today as Bourguet found WR Gio Sanders and WR Melquan Stovall multiple times for completions. Stovall having a great practice today.
Moving back to individual drills, the tight ends were the first observation. After a quick look, where was Jalin Conyers? He was with the receivers. Nonetheless, the tight ends worked on their stability under a big hurdle and blocking. It seems that Bryce Pierre or Messiah Swinson will have to step up.
In terms of the Conyers move, this may be the first drastic example of Dillingham’s mindset along the lines of playing to players' strengths. Dillingham mentioned Elijhah Badger and his ability in space, but in this case, Conyers is a receiving tight end as, with his size, could be a mismatch nightmare lined up on the outside.
Looking over at the receivers now, the players were doing a drill working on blocking on scout team defenders. It is safe to say the pads were popping. Receivers like Stovall and Badger shined, while others may need to work on the blocking explosiveness.
While the receivers with assistant coach Ra’Shaad Samples did their thing, balls were zipped from Conover and Bourguet to the tight ends. Pierre did take the lead, as when balls were caught, it was very important to finish. Assistant coach Jason Mohns continuously yelled to finish. Players were urged all day to turn up and burst to end a play.
It was the receivers' turn with the quarterbacks as the energy stayed the same. The routes looked good as Samples and other assistants created a sense of urgency. Here, again, Samples and others would call players back if they felt something was wrong, or the energy was not matched.
Taking a gander at the running backs, an interesting thing to witness was Cam Skattebos's role as a teacher today. This was seen not only in the individual drills but also in the huddle during team periods.
An interesting storyline in the special team’s department has been the punting struggles. Today, usual punter Josh Carlson did not take any punts today, as Dillingham stated that Carlson has been bothered by a foot injury. Walk-on kicker Ian Hershey and walk-on punter Race Mahlum took turns punting, as it did look a lot more consistent today. There were a lot more punts able to be fielded while there were punts just going farther. It will be interesting who does the punting come Saturday.
In the following team vs. scout period, it was a mix of walk-through assignments with the usual running of plays. Bourguet delivered great balls today, especially to Omeire. It seemed like the over-the-shoulder connection was a go-to today.
This continued into the 1v1 period as Omeire had another nice over-the-shoulder catch for another touchdown. Stovall’s routes were great today as Kaleb Black is also making strides in making the most of his reps. Another highlight was Andre Johnson extending for a catch in the end zone. The offensive skill players took another step in the right direction.
The team segments and practice, for the most part, ended in the last team segment. Bourguet looks to be the man in control as his connection with Gio Sanders starting to flourish. RB Kyson Brown got involved with running backs Javen Jacobs and Tevin White. On one of the last plays, Bourguet threw a nice ball to Johnson deep.
As the team was brought up to end practice, they were disbursed for one field goal and a punt. Lonhetto made his kick from about 40 yards out, and Hershey’s punt on air was downed inside the 10-yard line. A good end as the team prepared for a talented Colorado.
Defensive report by Sammy
First Team:
EDGE Prince Dorbah/Clayton Smith
DT Dashaun Mallory
DT Anthonie Cooper
EDGE BJ Green
LB Caleb McCullough/James Djonkam
LB Tate Romney
CB Ro Torrence
CB Ed Woods
NICKEL RJ Regan
S Shamari Simmons
S Chris Edmonds
Second Team:
EDGE Michael Matus
DT Tristan Monday
DT CJ Fite
EDGE Elijah O’Neal
LB K’Vion Thunderbird
LB Krew Jackson
CB Ed Woods
CB Keith Abney
NICKEL Damon Williamson
S Adama Fall
S Alphonso Taylor
Due to the injuries to Jordan Clark and Macen Williams at NICKEL, Damon Williamson shifted from safety to second-team NICKEL.
____
The ASU defense got back to practice on Tuesday with a few changes around the two deep. With graduate linebacker Tre Brown out due to injury and linebacker Will Shaffer entering the transfer portal and using his redshirt, the team’s linebacker depth is going to be tested in their upcoming game against Colorado.
Coming off of his best game of the year, junior linebacker Caleb McCullough was elevated to the first team alongside Tate Romney. On the second team, sophomore Krew Jackson and senior Zach Bowers were taken off of the scout team, and both featured in second-team reps alongside freshman K’Vion Thunderbird.
Thunderbird featured in one of the most interesting parts of practice on Tuesday. Dressed in shorts and his jersey, the injured Brown wanted to stay involved on the field and decided to coach Thunderbird all around the field. Brown was one of the loudest people on the field. During 11-on-11s against the scout team, Brown was standing behind the defense or on the sideline, calling out his checks and observations like he was still in the middle of the play.
Every time the true freshman Thunderbird came off of the field, Brown pulled him aside and gave him tips on what he saw on the play and what he thought Thunderbird could adjust. Whether it was pre-snap adjustments or post-snap adjustments, Brown would make sure that Thunderbird learned something on every play. Brown said to Thunderbird, “Know whatever your assignment is, pass or rush.”
With the skill players that Colorado has, the linebackers are going to be a very important piece of the game on Saturday, so Thunderbird, as the third or fourth linebacker, could see some important minutes.
Earlier in the practice, the team broke out into the individual defense portion of the practice. With the defensive ends, Charlie Ragle ran them through multiple drills focused on the RPO game. One funny moment occurred when Ragle took the ball for himself and caught BJ Green crashing on the running back a little too hard. Ragle pointed at him and shouted, “Ahh, got you.”
The defensive tackles were working with defensive line coach Vince Amey, and they were working on multiple different sleds. Amey was preaching his usual ‘be violent’ message as each player attacked the dummy during their rep.
When the whole line came together during the special teams portion of the practice, Amey set up four different tackle dummies in a square and had his lineman put a different pass-rush move on each one of them. Sophomore EDGE Clayton Smith looked like he was fully returned from injury as he was the standout player in the drill. He was fast and aggressive, moving through the four dummies more efficiently than everyone else.
The rest of the practice was mostly the team working through their different installs to get ready for the Buffs this weekend.
First Group:
LT Bram Walden
LG Sean Na’a
C Leif Fautanu
RG Joey Ramos
RT Max Iheanachor
QB Trenton Bourguet
RB Kyson Brown
WR Gio Sanders
WR Elijhah Badger
WR Xavier Guillory
WR Jalin Conyers
Tight ends Messiah Swinson and Bryce Pierre would rotate at tight end with the first group. Ben Coleman would rotate with the first group as the rest of line would .
Second Group:
LT Bram Walden
LG Sean Na’a
C Ben Bray
RG Kyle Scott
RT Ben Coleman
QB Jacob Conover
RB Javen Jacobs/Tevin White
WR Melquan Stovall
WR Shawn Charles
WR Andre Johnson
TE Bryce Pierre/Messiah Swinson
WR Troy Omeire rotated with the first- and second-second group based on personnel. WR Kaleb Black also rotated heavily with the second team.
Tuesday’s practice was a cooler day as the Sun Devils shifted the preparation to Colorado. Today’s practice theme was finishing and explosiveness, something head coach Kenny Dillingham mentioned in his Monday presser. The practice moved forward in the stretch lines as some faces were seen practicing today in full pads with the rest of the team.
Noticed in stretch lines, right tackle Max Iheanachor was dressed and ended up being a full participant. Running back DeCarlos Brooks was dressed for the first time in three weeks and participated with the running backs today. Cal transfer Ben Coleman has participated in drills in recent weeks but, starting today did see team repetitions. Nonetheless, head coach Kenny Dillingham doesn't believe that he can play this seaosn as Coleman rehabs from a lower leg injury suffered in the off-season.
Moving on, after the stretch lines, the field goal team went out for placekicker Dario Longhetto to get going. Longhetto was 4-7 to start practice, as in games this year, he is 5-5. That said, Longhetto was good from about 35, 45, and 50 yards, but also missing one from each distance.
The offense went into individual drills. Looking at the offensive line, position coach Saga Tuitele made his way back to the field after missing the last two games and the week of practice in between them due to medical reasons. Tuitele did not skip a beat in his first day back as he was very vocal right away. The offensive line worked on the timing of their steps on the stationary sled as Tuitele came back to quite the challenge on the front five injury-wise.
As the team tuned to the tempo team period, it was clear tempo was a little bit more enforced today. Dillingham called plays with QB Trenton Bourguet leading. The team started fast running to the line for the next play. QB Jacob Conover saw little to no time today as Bourguet found WR Gio Sanders and WR Melquan Stovall multiple times for completions. Stovall having a great practice today.
Moving back to individual drills, the tight ends were the first observation. After a quick look, where was Jalin Conyers? He was with the receivers. Nonetheless, the tight ends worked on their stability under a big hurdle and blocking. It seems that Bryce Pierre or Messiah Swinson will have to step up.
In terms of the Conyers move, this may be the first drastic example of Dillingham’s mindset along the lines of playing to players' strengths. Dillingham mentioned Elijhah Badger and his ability in space, but in this case, Conyers is a receiving tight end as, with his size, could be a mismatch nightmare lined up on the outside.
Looking over at the receivers now, the players were doing a drill working on blocking on scout team defenders. It is safe to say the pads were popping. Receivers like Stovall and Badger shined, while others may need to work on the blocking explosiveness.
While the receivers with assistant coach Ra’Shaad Samples did their thing, balls were zipped from Conover and Bourguet to the tight ends. Pierre did take the lead, as when balls were caught, it was very important to finish. Assistant coach Jason Mohns continuously yelled to finish. Players were urged all day to turn up and burst to end a play.
It was the receivers' turn with the quarterbacks as the energy stayed the same. The routes looked good as Samples and other assistants created a sense of urgency. Here, again, Samples and others would call players back if they felt something was wrong, or the energy was not matched.
Taking a gander at the running backs, an interesting thing to witness was Cam Skattebos's role as a teacher today. This was seen not only in the individual drills but also in the huddle during team periods.
An interesting storyline in the special team’s department has been the punting struggles. Today, usual punter Josh Carlson did not take any punts today, as Dillingham stated that Carlson has been bothered by a foot injury. Walk-on kicker Ian Hershey and walk-on punter Race Mahlum took turns punting, as it did look a lot more consistent today. There were a lot more punts able to be fielded while there were punts just going farther. It will be interesting who does the punting come Saturday.
In the following team vs. scout period, it was a mix of walk-through assignments with the usual running of plays. Bourguet delivered great balls today, especially to Omeire. It seemed like the over-the-shoulder connection was a go-to today.
This continued into the 1v1 period as Omeire had another nice over-the-shoulder catch for another touchdown. Stovall’s routes were great today as Kaleb Black is also making strides in making the most of his reps. Another highlight was Andre Johnson extending for a catch in the end zone. The offensive skill players took another step in the right direction.
The team segments and practice, for the most part, ended in the last team segment. Bourguet looks to be the man in control as his connection with Gio Sanders starting to flourish. RB Kyson Brown got involved with running backs Javen Jacobs and Tevin White. On one of the last plays, Bourguet threw a nice ball to Johnson deep.
As the team was brought up to end practice, they were disbursed for one field goal and a punt. Lonhetto made his kick from about 40 yards out, and Hershey’s punt on air was downed inside the 10-yard line. A good end as the team prepared for a talented Colorado.
Defensive report by Sammy
First Team:
EDGE Prince Dorbah/Clayton Smith
DT Dashaun Mallory
DT Anthonie Cooper
EDGE BJ Green
LB Caleb McCullough/James Djonkam
LB Tate Romney
CB Ro Torrence
CB Ed Woods
NICKEL RJ Regan
S Shamari Simmons
S Chris Edmonds
Second Team:
EDGE Michael Matus
DT Tristan Monday
DT CJ Fite
EDGE Elijah O’Neal
LB K’Vion Thunderbird
LB Krew Jackson
CB Ed Woods
CB Keith Abney
NICKEL Damon Williamson
S Adama Fall
S Alphonso Taylor
Due to the injuries to Jordan Clark and Macen Williams at NICKEL, Damon Williamson shifted from safety to second-team NICKEL.
____
The ASU defense got back to practice on Tuesday with a few changes around the two deep. With graduate linebacker Tre Brown out due to injury and linebacker Will Shaffer entering the transfer portal and using his redshirt, the team’s linebacker depth is going to be tested in their upcoming game against Colorado.
Coming off of his best game of the year, junior linebacker Caleb McCullough was elevated to the first team alongside Tate Romney. On the second team, sophomore Krew Jackson and senior Zach Bowers were taken off of the scout team, and both featured in second-team reps alongside freshman K’Vion Thunderbird.
Thunderbird featured in one of the most interesting parts of practice on Tuesday. Dressed in shorts and his jersey, the injured Brown wanted to stay involved on the field and decided to coach Thunderbird all around the field. Brown was one of the loudest people on the field. During 11-on-11s against the scout team, Brown was standing behind the defense or on the sideline, calling out his checks and observations like he was still in the middle of the play.
Every time the true freshman Thunderbird came off of the field, Brown pulled him aside and gave him tips on what he saw on the play and what he thought Thunderbird could adjust. Whether it was pre-snap adjustments or post-snap adjustments, Brown would make sure that Thunderbird learned something on every play. Brown said to Thunderbird, “Know whatever your assignment is, pass or rush.”
With the skill players that Colorado has, the linebackers are going to be a very important piece of the game on Saturday, so Thunderbird, as the third or fourth linebacker, could see some important minutes.
Earlier in the practice, the team broke out into the individual defense portion of the practice. With the defensive ends, Charlie Ragle ran them through multiple drills focused on the RPO game. One funny moment occurred when Ragle took the ball for himself and caught BJ Green crashing on the running back a little too hard. Ragle pointed at him and shouted, “Ahh, got you.”
The defensive tackles were working with defensive line coach Vince Amey, and they were working on multiple different sleds. Amey was preaching his usual ‘be violent’ message as each player attacked the dummy during their rep.
When the whole line came together during the special teams portion of the practice, Amey set up four different tackle dummies in a square and had his lineman put a different pass-rush move on each one of them. Sophomore EDGE Clayton Smith looked like he was fully returned from injury as he was the standout player in the drill. He was fast and aggressive, moving through the four dummies more efficiently than everyone else.
The rest of the practice was mostly the team working through their different installs to get ready for the Buffs this weekend.
