Coach Erickson like the progress of his ASU Sun Devils. The defense looks great, and he has settled on a starting quarterback. Nothing to do except sit back and wait for the season to start, right coach? From statepress.com
Although nerves are typically common during the first game of the year, the Sun Devils are shrugging off questions on their mental state heading into the opener against Portland State. “We’ve been waiting a long time,” Erickson said. “Ever since that Arizona game and now we’ve made a commitment to get this program going in the right direction and so all the talk is gone now, we got to out and start playing every week.” Threet made an interesting comparison while describing his outlook on the season opener. “Football is a game I love, anytime you’re playing on Saturday you get excited and try and go out and make plays and put points on the board,” Threet said. “It’s football. People that go shopping all the time don’t get nervous shopping. We’ve been running the plays [during practice] and now we have to go out and execute them.”
I am happy Steven Threet is excited to get in the game and show Sun Devil fans what he’s got. Threet sounds a little more mature than Brock Osweiler, he’s older and been through a little bit more in his career. From arizonastate.rivals.com
After a year of sitting on the sidelines watching, followed by a heated quarterback battle that lasted the better part of six months, Steven Threet breathed a sigh of relief this week. Addressing the media for the first time since being named Arizona State’s starting quarterback, Threet said Tuesday that he appreciates the payoff for the work he’s put in since arriving in Tempe. But the junior, playing at his third school, is clearly aware his work is far from over, especially with a capable backup in sophomore Brock Osweiler still pushing to start. “I was definitely excited,” Threet said of being told he’d won the job. “It was something I’ve been working hard for, but that’s just an announcement. You’ve got to go out on the field and win football games now.”
So now we got the QB question answered, what about the O line? This was the question last year as well. Does it matter who the quarterback is, if he is on his back all the time? From statepress.com
Erickson said that he would have the starting line decided on Thursday, but even that won’t matter a whole lot. He plans to get a look at a lot of his linemen during the course of the game. “We will probably play eight or nine guys on Saturday,” Erickson said. “I don’t know (who will start for sure); we are going to talk about it tomorrow.” It seems as if junior Dan Knapp will get the start at the left tackle position and junior Garth Gerhart will be the starting center. After that, little is known.
It seems like I have been talking about quarterbacks all summer. The Cardinals made their choice in Derek Anderson. Now the Sun Devils have settled on Steven Threet. Threet a transfer from Michigan, showed a lot of potential last season, he just couldn’t play. He has opportunity to shine this season. From fanster.com
So Threet, a transfer from Michigan, wins the hotly contested battle between himself and sophomore Brock Osweiler that started all the way back in the spring. But that doesn’t leave Osweiler completely out in the cold. He’ll get some playing time against the Vikings. “In our decision making it was just that basically he (Threet) was the most consistent through all of Fall camp, although Brock had a great camp too,” Erickson said. “The biggest thing is I saw great improvement from both of them.” Threet played as a redshirt freshman at Michigan under then-new head coach Rich Rodriguez in 2008, starting 8 games while going 2-6 as the starter. He completed 51% of his passes for 1,105 yards and 8 touchdowns and ran for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns. He sat out last season after transferring from Ann Arbor.
I have not been to pleased with the news coming out of ASU’s training camp concerning the QB position. It looks like the competition is down to Brock Osweiler and Steven Threet. Neither one of these guys is instilling confidence in coach Dennis Erickson. From houseofsparky.com
Neither Steven Threet nor Brock Osweiler were too impressive. “Like I told them today, we’re still missing too many things,” [Erickson] said. “We’re going to miss throws; that’s a natural thing. But we’re missing too many reads right now that we need to get better at.”
At least the rest of the team is fired up. I think that might have something to do with being picked to finish 9th. The team seems focused. Gotta love being the underdog. Right? From arizonastate.rivals.com
With heated competition at virtually every position on the field, players realize they aren’t afforded the opportunity to take plays off. If it isn’t the three quarterbacks vying for the starting position cranking up the energy barometer, it’s a deep pool of receivers scratching and clawing to impress coaches and earn more reps. “We’ve had the energy level out here pretty good the whole camp,” Erickson said. “Very seldom in the however-many days we’ve been out here have we had a bad energy level on either side of the football.”
I know the questions surrounding the starting QB position have left Arizona State fans a little apprehensive about the upcoming season. I would just like to say the rest of team seems to be improving. Take the receivers for instance. This group is looking to step it up after a lack luster 2009. From arizonastate.scout.com
One of the biggest improvements seen since spring practice has been in a group that took much criticism last season – the wide receivers. Under their position coach Steve Broussard, this unit has dedicated their focus to the notion that blocking is essential. “That’s the biggest improvement I’ve seen maybe on this whole football team is how well they’re blocking out there and how committed they are to doing it,” Erickson said. “Coach Broussard makes it a must because you’re not going to play if you don’t block that’s just his philosophy and our philosophy in what we’re doing offensively, you got to with all those things we throw out there and then improvement, as you guys can tell between night and day. “Our routes are a little bit different and there’s some difference, there’s more reading coverage’s and underneath stuff and crossing stuff and obviously we’re throwing a lot more to the back when we can get it to them and that makes a little difference too.”
Kicker Thomas Weber is coming back. I really think this guy could have made a difference in some of those losses last season. Weber is a solid kicker and if we are going improve we need this guy in close games. From seattletimes.nwsource.com
The Sun Devils finished 4-8 in 2009, marking the first time in Dennis Erickson’s 20-year tenure as a college coach he has had back-to-back losing seasons. ASU had four losses of five or fewer points, so it can be argued that the absence of 2007 Groza Award winner Thomas Weber for much of the season with a groin injury had a serious impact not only on the Sun Devils’ fate, but how they might be perceived for 2010. “It shows you what happens when you don’t have a kicker,” says Erickson. “You don’t realize how valuable they are until you don’t have one.” Weber is back for his senior year, and if he’s anything like he was early in his career, ASU has that part of its game buttoned up. He made 24 of 25 field-goal attempts in 2007 as a redshirt freshman.
Practice. Practice. Practice. Keep working on it Devils. Practice is going good and the Offense is starting to make some improvements. Again, there is no where to go but up. And Steven Threet has been leading that climb up the ladder. From arizonastate.rivals.com
During Saturday’s scrimmage, the first of fall camp, coach Dennis Erickson believes the Sun Devils answered the bell. “Since I’ve been here it was probably the best overall [first fall] scrimmage that we’ve had,” Erickson said. While the offense still lacked consistency against a defense aiming to be among the nation’s best, offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone‘s new quick-strike scheme illustrated creativity that kept its counterparts guessing during several stretches, testing the defense more than an in the recent past. Threet followed up his best practice of fall camp with a solid performance in the team’s opening scrimmage and was singled out by Erickson as the signal-caller who had the best day. Threet was, unofficially, 7-of-11 for 93 yards and and one touchdown, which came on a 15-yard strike on the run to junior tight end Trevor Kohl. “We did a good job of picking the tempo up,” Threet said. “[The offense was] just having positive plays and picking up first downs.”
I don’t want to give our awesome high powered offense all the credit, the defense showed up on Saturday as well. Like they always do, the defense was hustle’n. How could our offense Not improve after playing against these guys every day. From fanster.com
The defense, especially the front four, put pressure on ASU quarterbacks all day. Defensive end Jamarr Robinson wreaked havoc in the backfield, but Erickson pointed out afterward that a lot of that came against freshman reserve left tackle Jamil Douglas, who is inexperienced and undersized at this point. Currently, redshirt freshman Evan Finkenberg is starting at left tackle. Burfict was limited once again on Saturday with an ankle injury that has slowed him since early in Fall camp. Gerald Munns, the senior who’s competing with Burfict for playing time at the mike linebacker position did have an interception of Szakacsy during the scrimmage.
Everybody just wants to forget about the last two seasons, nothing but bad memories. That means there is a lot of pressure on Coach Dennis Erickson to perform well and get us North of .500 and into a bowl game. And it looks like that is going to be a steep hill to climb. From azcentral.com
“It’s not my first time (on the hot seat),” Erickson said. “I’ve been on the hot seat a lot. I don’t pay any attention to that. If I’m a fan, and I’ve seen two seasons of what we’ve had, I wouldn’t be very happy with me, either. I’d put something on my seat, for sure. I’m not sure what.” Erickson never has been cut from Joe Paterno cloth, and the high-risk, quick-fix approach seems to play to his strength. The ongoing drama with Vontaze Burfict, who landed in some kind of doghouse during the off-season, gives the program a combustible persona. The team feels like the kind of horse Erickson likes to ride: volatile, fast, disrespected and destined for a lot of 15-yard penalties.
Adding to that task is the loss of left-guard Matt Hustad, depleting the offensive line yet again. From azcentral.com
“It’s a sad thing for him,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “(We) had a long conversation and he just felt that coming in he was going to see how it was, and then it swelled up on him and was too painful to play. The game’s hard enough. He’s done a lot. He’ll always be a Sun Devil. I feel bad for him because he could’ve contributed and helped us but that’s how it goes.” The loss is the latest blow for a line that has battled injuries the past two seasons. In the spring, ASU lost three-year starter Jon Hargis to an ACL injury, although Hargis could return later this season. Zach Schlink, talented enough to play as a true freshman, decided to end his career before camp because of knee issues. With Hustad out, the Sun Devils changed their line Tuesday, moving 6-foot-7, 345-pound junior Brice Schwab to right guard. Junior Adam Tello was at left guard Wednesday, with junior Dan Knapp and red-shirt freshman Evan Finkenberg at the tackles. If that line stays in tact, ASU’s front will open the season with just 14 career starts, 10 coming from center Garth Gerhart.
Yes, starting the training camp focused as opposed to clueless is a good thing. I guess we need to take the upcoming campaign serious since we haven’t had a winning season in like two years. From azcentral.com
“I don’t know if it’s just me going into my senior season, but I really do sense something different,” defensive tackle Saia Falahola said. “Were a tight-knit team. We know each other more on a personal level. Guys are starting to get each other’s back. They’re starting to push each other.”
Redemption should be on the minds of these Sun Devils! Give us something to be proud of fellas. This team needs to be fired up as much as Junior cornerback Omar Bolden. From statepress.com
“I’m so excited to start and get rolling,” said junior cornerback Omar Bolden, who missed most of last season with a knee injury he suffered during a practice. “I’m ready to get back out there again.”
Bolden has taken charge as one of the team’s vocal leaders — a role he occupied even as he spent most of his time on the sideline last season — but the California native said he’s elated for an opportunity to lead on the field again, adding he’s “eager and hungry” after so much time away from the game.
Yes the defense is going to be strong again. Maybe even better. What about that offensive line? It’s been nothing to write home about. There needs to be some improvement on that end to avoid another cluster-fuck of a season. From azcentral.com
Then there’s the line, a trouble spot for the past two seasons, a main reason ASU hasn’t played in a bowl game since the 2007 season. It’s already beat up. Left guard Jon Hargis, the team’s most-seasoned lineman, tore a knee ligament during spring drills and likely won’t return. Still, Erickson is encouraged. “We finally got some depth on the offensive front,” he said. “Guys that had to play as freshmen and sophomores are bigger and have more experience.”
I like this. Cardinals up North in camp, Devils in their futuristic blow-up dome in Tempe. Football is just around the corner baby. I am excited to see the Sun Devil defense take the field. The defense is expected to be even better than last season’s. At the heart of that defense is Vontaze Burfict. The middle linebacker had a great season as a true freshman. But his temper got the best of him more than a few times last year. To be honest, I am glad someone out there was showing some emotion. That losing record was depressing and I am glad Burfict didn’t take it lying down. Coach Erickson expects a more mature Burfict this season. From azcentral.com
“He’s a heck of a football player,” said Erickson, adding that Burfict’s intensity doesn’t just affect the defense, but the entire program. Last season Burfict had 69 tackles, second on the team. He also posted seven tackles for loss, two sacks and two forced fumbles. His energy was noticeable nearly every time he walked onto the field. Even on special teams, Burfict made his mark. But the main topic last week wasn’t so much Burfict’s talent or potential, but rather his style, which at times was reckless. “He’s young,” Erickson said during lunch. “We’ve all seen him play but we forget in that body is an 18-year-old. People forget that. There’s some immaturity issues with all young players, and that’s kind of what happened with him last year. He’s worked his rear end off this summer and has done a good job. He’s maturing.”
What about the offense? Man, we don’t even know who the starting quarterback is going to be. Hopefully this new system run by Noel Mazzone is going to help the offense improve. That won’t be to hard. There is now where to go but up. From arizonastate.rivals.com
Quarterbacks Steven Threet and Brock Osweiler began a competition to replace last year’s primary starter Danny Sullivan, with fellow signal caller Samson Szakacsy unable to practice fully as he recovered from surgery to address arm troubles which have persisted for several years. As a true freshman last season, Osweiler played in six games with one start and completed 24-of-55 attempts for 249 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. There were moments which hinted at potential greatness, but even more moments which demonstrated an underdeveloped understanding of how to play the position successfully at the highest college level. Threet, a well put together 6-foot-5 pro-style passer, has earned rave reviews for his year-round work ethic and football IQ. But the junior signal caller was relatively hit-or-miss in the spring, displaying a tendency at times to throw balls into too much traffic and force the issue with his primary target. Erickson said at Pac-10 Media Day Thursday that he’d like to have a quarterback in place by the season opener but that it’s possible one could be declared the starter as soon as a week into camp. Our guess is that won’t happen, especially if Szakacsy is able to squeeze into the middle of the picture.
This really is the first complete look fans and the media get of the ASU football team. A lot of work has to be done to get the finished product so the game is really a measuring stick. And the offense didn’t measure up. From azcentral.com:
“The offense had made so much progress over 14 spring practices, and in the grand finale, the Sun Devils sputtered, particularly quarterbacks Brock Osweiler and Steven Threet. It was an opportunity for one of them to emerge and neither one of them emerged,” Erickson said. “Over four quarters, the offense scored only one touchdown, a 5-yard pass from Osweiler to George Bell. Thomas Weber rebounded from a miserable scrimmage last week to kick field goals of 41, 47 and 45 yards. Otherwise, the offense struggled.”
I heard from a fan who was in attendance that Osweiler was the better of the two. Osweiler went 17 of 33 for 151 yards, while Steven Threet was 9 of 27 for 117 yards and 3 interceptions. So the offense needs some work. We knew that going into this season, so thats not news. I had hoped we would have made a little more progress up till this point. We still got some time. And the defense? Another thing we knew, was that the defense was going to be awesome. From fanster.com:
“But this day was really all about the defense. That side of the ball produced five turnovers, all on interceptions, including one returned 39 yards for a touchdown by junior safety Clint Floyd. Anthony Jones, Eddie Elder, Ronald Kennedy and Mike Callaghan also had picks for ASU. The Sun Devil ‘D’ also produced five quarterback sacks. Defensive lineman Toa Tuitea, Bo Moos, William Sutton and Lawrence Guy along with linebacker Jamarr Robinson each got to the quarterback. Erickson singled out the performance of his secondary. “Our corners played well but I thought our safeties played really well. They’ve done that all spring. They’ve emerged. They’re playing the run good. I couldn’t be happier with [the defensive backs].”
This weather is amazing 71 degrees right now, it doesn’t get any better than this. Great weather for Saturday when the ASU football team will be playing at Sun Devil Stadium, signaling the end of Spring Ball. It will give us a chance to see what progress this team has made and what needs to be addressed. Fromstatepress.com;
“Erickson said he was pleased with the progress of his team at the end of spring practice, for the most part. “I like where we’re at,” Erickson said. “You don’t know until the fall, but I feel good with where we’re at. We’ve got a lot of improvement to make, there’s no question about it. Saturday is fun [and] we’ll see where we’re at in a game-type situation and where we’ve improved offensively and defensively.” “All this is preparation to be better than what people think we are going to be,” Erickson said. “We’re not picked to be very good — I think we’re going be a little bit better than what people think.”
I hope we are a lot better than what people think. I mean, we have a lot to improve on. It will be interesting to see sophomore Brock Osweiler and junior Steven Threet share snaps. Aaron Pflugrad, a junior receiver, should prosper in our short passing game. Fromazcentral.com;
“Redshirt junior receiver Aaron Pflugrad, who transferred from Oregon after the 2008 season and served on the Sun Devils’ scout team throughout last year, is being counted on to produce in new offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone’s system. Pflugrad will be on the field Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium for the annual spring game. “We’re throwing it around quite a bit, so that’s fun for me,” he said. “It’s similar to what I was doing at Oregon (with) the spread. . . . The only difference (schematically), I think, is (at Oregon) there’s more running with the quarterback, and (at ASU) it’s more passing to wideouts.”
Who wants to remember that horrible 2009 football season? The defense was great at the beginning of the season then lost steam in the end. The offense was embarrassing all season. But did you know that the offensive and defensive teams weren’t getting along? Fromespn.go.com;
“Kicker Thomas Weber cited “a snowball effect”: “It was one thing after another, and I think we could have reacted a lot better to certain things that happened, to losing those close games, instead of getting down on certain guys and stuff like that.” Weber saw the locker room fracture between one of the nation’s best defenses — 13th in the nation in total defense — and the woeful offense. “You could definitely see it happening like that,” he said. “We weren’t being accountable on both sides of the ball. I think that was one of our weaknesses last year — that we did start to do stuff like that. Guys on the defensive side started to get on offensive side, instead of pushing them and supporting them. It was more like ridicule, coming down hard on them when some of the things they couldn’t control.”
Hmmm. That sounds pretty bad. I think the Defense is going to be better than last year. The offense should be better but by how much I have no idea. Ok. Enough about the past, lets talk about the present and that means the current #1 ranked ASU baseball team. The Sun Devils got a 5-3 victory over the Trojans at Packard Stadium. Fromazcentral.com;
“National wins leader Merrill Kelly pitched 6 1/3 innings and improved to 8-0 as No. 1 ASU (30-3, 8-3 Pac-10) remained a game ahead of California in the conference standings and improved to 21-0 at home. Mitchell Lambson pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief then, like on Friday, Jordan Swagerty came in for the final out and got his 10th save.”
And the winner is, Noel Mazzone. Coach Dennis Erickson and Mazzone go way back to 2002 when Mazzone was Erickson’s running back and special teams coach at Oregon State. This guy has his work cut out for him. the Sun Devil offense was one of the worst in the nation. From statepress.com; “Noel possesses a dynamic personality, a smart, creative mind, and brings a wealth of knowledge to our staff at ASU,” Erickson said in a release. “What set him apart from a tremendous pool of candidates was a wealth of knowledge, a variety of experiences and the fact that he coached quarterbacks at almost every stop.” When your at the bottom, there is no where to go but up. Now that we are talking about ASU football we can start planning our road trip to upper mexico Tucson for the Territorial Cup and a little bit of revenge. From azcentral.com; “The Sun Devils will host UCLA on Friday, Nov. 26 with time and network to be decided. Then the Territorial Cup against Arizona will be played at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2 in Tucson with coverage on ESPN.” A nighttime game. Thank god, nobody wants to see that stadium in the daylight.
Oh yeah, congratulations BSU, next time more cowbell please.
I am easing myself into this. That loss still stings. I haven’t been blogging because I have been licking my wounds. First the good news. ASU senior linebacker MIke Nixon has been named a First Team Academic All-District VIII selection by ESPN The Magazine. He is a bad ass linebacker and he has brains. From phoenixnewtimes.com; ”Nixon — who starred in three sports at Sunnyslope High School and played baseball in the Dodgers organization before attending ASU – is a far cry from the stereotypical dumb jock. He’s a political science major and has a 4.07 GPA.” Nice. I was a political science major, look where that got me. Congratulations Mike.
Now for the… Well I guess some more good news. Arizona State has fired offensive coordinator Rich Olson. Because the offense was just that. Offensive. The offense was incredibly vanilla with lack luster play calling. From azcentral.com; ”It really has nothing to do with what he (Olson) did or didn’t do,” Erickson said. “It’s more about change and trying to get some new ideas. Rich Olson is a good coach, always has been and always will be. I needed to make a change. Our failings offensively had more to do with everybody involved, not just one person by any means.” What evs. Lets get some new blood in there ASAP!
So who is going to be the starting QB for the Sun Devils this week vs UCLA on Saturday? Does it even matter? Everybody seems banged up, Danny Sullivan with a bicep injury, Brock Osweiler has a hurt shoulder (non-throwing arm) and Samson Szakacsy has had a bad elbow all year. Szakacsy did a pretty Ok job in the loss to Oregon. From houseofsparky.com; ”It wasn’t ALL bad, however. Samson Szakacsy played well given the circumstances, and it is nice to get him playing time in a loud environment such as Autzen Stadium. He ended up going 13/22 with a TD pass, and he also ran for 9 yards on 5 attempts.” As a fan I don’t know what to expect from these guys anymore and my expectations are low. It looks like Szakacsy is going to get the start for better or worse. From ktar.com; ”With all of those factors in play Erickson is not going to rush to make a decision about who will be the signal caller when the Sun Devils travel to UCLA on Saturday. “We’ll just wait and see, I haven’t decided what we are going to do yet,” Erickson said. Erickson does expect Sullivan and Osweiler to be back and available but will need to see how practice goes throughout the week. In practice Szakacsy is expected to take most of the snaps with the first team this week. If Szakacsy would start on Saturday if would be his first career start.”
