The Arizona State Sun Devils were at it again at Kajikawa Practice Field Thursday, but they did practice in shorts.
Last practice: Tuesday, March 27
Next Practice: Friday, March 30 (6:35 a.m.)
Music
Plug Walk (Rich the Kid)
Injury update
Ryan Newsome, Ryan Jenkins, Jeremy Smith, Mason Walter, DeMonte King, Ceejhay French-Love, Koron Crump and Deion Guignard each entered the bubble early, missing the remainder of practice.
Also, we did not see running back Trelon Smith out there, and Abe Thompson said that Smith was sick.
New backfield duties?
ASU’s running back room was already small. Only four guys manned the unit, and then, according to Abe Thompson, Trelon Smith was out sick and Mark “Goose” Cosgrove wasn’t feeling to great himself.
So instead of running Eno Benjamin almost solely out of the backfield, the ASU coaches called on Thompson, a former running back in high school and at NAU in 2015.
“It was a lot of fun. It felt like old times again,” Thompson said. “They asked if I wanted to come over and I said, ‘heck yeah.”
Thompson seemed elated to be back playing offense again, a move that Thompson says he doesn’t think will last but could possibly be a stepping stone into a two-way role — something he has been asking for.
“I’ve been messing with them a lot,” Thompson said. “Since I got here, I was like, ‘when are you going to let me play offense? When are you going to let me play offense?’ And I didn’t do too bad, so I might stay there for a little while longer, maybe even the remainder of spring ball, who knows?”
Before Thursday, Thompson wasn’t even cracking the second team linebacking unit, partly because, as he says, he was out sick for a while and fell behind on the defensive side.
Tennis balls
Tennis balls have made themselves one of the key fixtures of ASU’s spring ball thus far, but usually it’s linebacker’s coach Antonio Pierce and his unit using them to simulate a loose ball, but with a smaller ball, the difficulty bumps up a level.
Thursday was the first time we saw the defensive line work with them, and coach Shaun Nua used them in a very unique way.
We have a new tennis ball drill pic.twitter.com/adwqU61Vsw
— House of Sparky (@HouseOfSparky) March 29, 2018
Then, after each player went through the two hoops individually, picking up the ball in the middle, two guys lined up and raced through one hoop — again with the tennis ball in the middle — and waited for a coach to shout out who won.
D-linemen are racing around the black hoop and have to pick the ball up in the middle. Coaches then yell out who wins pic.twitter.com/3SwIUwL0ut
— House of Sparky (@HouseOfSparky) March 29, 2018
Best matchup on the field
When Chase Lucas and N’Keal Harry were teammates at Chandler High School, they usually were playing on the same side of the ball. Lucas was mainly a running back then and was more part of a 1-2 punch with Harry.
Now, with Lucas as the Devils No. 1 corner, the two get to face each other every practice. Each time, the intensity increases — you would think it was the fourth quarter of the National Championship instead of just another spring practice.
“Me going against N’Keal, it’s been like, “Ok, you bring your best and I’m going to bring my best,” Lucas said. “And after the play, ‘good play. Good ball. Good catch.’”
The battles usually start off each one-on-one period and seem to illicit an emotion from both the winner and the loser.
Lucas won this rep on Thursday:
N’Keal is not happy that Chase Lucas jarred this ball loose pic.twitter.com/DMgHAA4GpX
— Jordan Kaye (@jordankaye_23) March 27, 2018
And Harry won this one Thursday:
Today’s scorebook:
— Jordan Kaye (@jordankaye_23) March 29, 2018
N’Keal Harry- 1
Chase Lucas- 0 pic.twitter.com/FOcanj2K5s
Loaf count
For those wondering, today’s loaf count was 26
— House of Sparky (@HouseOfSparky) March 29, 2018
Herm Edwards quote of the day
We have two today:
Herm talking to RB Eno Benjamin: “Who won the Super Bowl?”
— Jordan Kaye (@jordankaye_23) March 29, 2018
Eno, who is from Texas,: .......
Herm: “The team I played for did. And they beat up on them Cowboys.”
Jay Jay Wilson just tipped a pass in the back of the end zone and TE Tommy Hudson caught it for a touchdown.
— Jordan Kaye (@jordankaye_23) March 29, 2018
Herm: “I’m going back to TV.”
DC Danny Gonzales: “Take me with you.”
First-team offense
QB: Manny Wilkins
RB: Eno Benjamin
WR: N’Keal Harry, Kyle Williams, Frank Darby
TE: Tommy Hudson
OL: Tyson Rising (LT), Alex Losoya (LG), Cohl Cabral (C), Cade Cote (RG), Quinn Bailey(RT)
Second-team offense
QB: Blake Barnett
RB: Mark “Goose” Cosgrove, Abe Thompson
WR:Curtis Hodges, Terrell Chatman, Trevor Russell
TE: Jared Bubak
OL: Mason Schell (LT), Jesse Cozens (LG), Jonathan Sanchez (C), Corey Stephens (RG), Kyle Breed (RT)
First-team defense
DL: Shannon Forman, Renell Wren, Jalen Bates
LB: Khaylan Thomas, Jay Jay Wilson, Malik Lawal
CB: Kobe Williams, Chase Lucas
Tillman: Evan Fields
S: Langston Frederick, Jalen Harvey
Second-team defense
DL: Dougladson Subtly, D.J. Davidson, Jamie Diaz
LB: Parker Higgins, Kyle Soelle, Nick Ralston
Tillman: Tyler Whiley
CB: Terin Adams, Darien Cornay
S: Caleb McShanag, Dominique Harrison (Dasmond Tautalatasi took a few reps in Harrison’s place)
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For other updates and videos from Tuesday’s practice, follow @jdestinsports and @jordan_kaye23 on Twitter.