ASU Football: Fall practice No. 6

ASU head coach Herm Edwards described the final practice prior to Saturday’s scrimmage as “sloppy.” But, the Sun Devils do have plenty of positives to look at.

Last practice: Thursday, August 9

Next practice: Saturday, August 11 (full-team scrimmage 7:20 pm.)

Music

Jazzy version of Summer Breeze & Here I Go (Mystikal)

Injury Update

Koron Crump’s status hasn’t changed as the team continues to bring him back slowly from his ACL injury.

Defensive lineman Darius Slade rolled his ankle during a walk through, per Edwards. His left foot was in a walking boot and didn’t participate Friday. Edwards believes that it won’t be a lingering injury, and Slade should be ready to return at the start of next week.

Linebacker Jay Jay Wilson was limited as the coaching staff wanted to give him some rest prior to the Saturday scrimmage.

Wide receivers Frank Darby and Terrell Chatman stretched with the team prior to practice, but spent the majority of the drills and action inside the bubble. Offensive tackle Tyson Rising also spent practice inside the bubble.

Tight end Tommy Hudson and running back Brock Sturges both remained out for the second consecutive day.

Drills

The running backs worked on playing through contact and ball security by running through this machine:

The offensive line worked the sleds as they’ve done for the majority of the drills during the fall practice slate. Offensive line coach Dave Chrestensen implored the linemen to keep their head up when working the sleds and holding up their necks as they worked in pass and run blocking.

Edwards once again worked with both the secondary, as well as the special teams. When instructing the kick returners, Edwards compared the drill to a baseball outfielder getting behind a fly ball in order to throw the baseball back into the infield, saying the kick returners must be square to the ball and ready to run once the catch was completed.

On the defensive side the team worked on closing in on the ball and tackling. The entire defense would rush to the side of the field the football would be thrown, slide head first to emulate a tackle and then run the opposite direction to work on agility. Malik Lawal dropped an interception in defensive back drills, and Dougldson Subtyl misjudged two snap counts during defensive line work.

What went on?

The defense had their way with the ASU offense on Friday night.

Manny Wilkins fumbled a ball to himself that ended up being a touchdown on a direct run that ended up working out. Coach Edwards yelled very quickly to his defense to not touch the quarterback, even though Wilkins dove into the end zone as it was a real game. Herm then emphasized the importance of ball security in the red zone.

Jay Jay Wilson recovered a fumble in the backfield on a botched exchange between Dillon Sterling-Cole and Trelon Smith. This mistake irked offensive coordinator Rob Likens.

Tyler Whiley and Chase Lucas each made nice plays when covering N’Keal Harry knocking the ball out of the hands of the talented receiver. Both players received praise from Edwards for their efforts.

Curtis Hodges appears to be healed from his injury as he caught consecutive touchdown passes from Dillon Sterling-Cole during red zone work. Hodges first caught a fade and then followed that by scoring on a slant.

First-team offense

QB: Manny Wilkins

RB: Eno Benjamin, Isaiah Floyd, Trelon Smith

WR: N’Keal Harry, Kyle Williams, Brandon Aiyuk

TE: Ceejhay French-Love

OL: Casey Tucker (LT), Alex Loyosa (LG), Cohl Cabral (C), Steven Miller (RG), Quinn Bailey (RT)

Second-team offense

QB: Dillon-Sterling Cole

RB: Trelon Smith, A.J. Carter

WR: Ryan Newsome, Curtis Hodges, Angel Ruiz

TE: Jared Bubank, Mark Walton (both received first-team reps)

OL: Zach Robertson (LT), Roy Hemsley (LG), Cade Cote (C), Jarrett Bell (RG), (RT) Spencer Lovell

First-team defense

DL: Shannon Forman, Renell Wren / George Lea, Jalen Bates

LB: Merlin Robertson, Nick Ralston, Malik Lawal

CB: Chase Lucas, Kobe Williams

Tillman: Tyler Whiley

S: Demonte King, Langston Frederick

Second-team defense

DL: Jermayne Lole / Dougladson Subtyl, D.J. Davidson, Jordan Hoyt

LB: Kyle Soelle, Darien Butler, Jay Jay Wilson

CB: Terin Adams, Darien Cornay

Tillman: Dasmond Tautalatasi

S: Joey Bryant, Aashari Crosswell

For other updates and videos from Friday’s practice, follow @Alec_Henden on Twitter.