ASU Football: Fall practice notebook No. 1

“We practice at night because I know you guys don’t like to put sun tan oil during the day,” head coach Herm Edwards smiled at the group of media around him.

And things are back to normal in Tempe. It’s hot, Edwards is cracking jokes and practice is back in force at the Kajikawa practice fields. With only 29 days remaining till the Sun Devils first game, they moved into another portion of Herm Edwards’ first year.

Last Practice: Friday, April 13 (Spring Game)

Next practice: Saturday, August 4 (7:20 p.m.)

Music

Plug Walk (Rich The Kid), Nice For What (Drake), Gucci Gang (Lil Pump)

Injury Update

It was all maroon, white and grey jerseys. Although, dressed in white defensive end Koron Crump did not participate in any of the full speed team portions. Crump, still attempting to get to full speed after recovering from a tore ACL in Week 3 last year.

“He was fine. He hadn’t played in awhile, we’re going to bring him along slow. We’re going to use him in a way we can knock the quarterback down,” Edwards said.

Edwards also announced that redshirt freshman Ryan Kelley is still not throwing a football yet since having surgery on his throwing arm back in April.

What went on?

A lot of group work occurred during the beginning part of practice. Linebacker coach Antonio Pierce worked with the front six of the new 3-3-5 defense. Calling out different motions and having his linebackers do the same for their lineman. All in all, it got loud on that side of the field.

The O-Line got their reps in as well. It became the first sight of the two new transfers in maroon and gold. Casey Tucker, the Stanford Grad transfer, worked with the first team at left tackle. The USC transfer in Roy Hemsley, debuted wearing 63 and worked at left guard with the second team.

There was also a bit of rust everywhere and Edwards spoke on that.

“We have to clean up the errors. We talked about errors, talked about mental errors. It starts with alignment and knowing what to do,” he said “That’s the teaching part of it. Thought there was good energy.”

It wouldn’t be an ASU practice without a little noise from the constant duel of N’Keal Harry and Chase Lucas. The first throw of red zone work had Harry reeling in a fade route for a touchdown. With a playful bit of angry coming from Lucas, who put his hands on his head as he jogged back.

There also was different matchup on the field between wide receivers. Terrell Chatman and Frank Darby have battled since the spring for the spot left behind by the injured John Humphrey. Chatman won a difficult jump ball in 1-on-1 drills that earned him a high five from Manny Wilkins, who ran all the way to him. Darby then took a slant route the distance in 11-on-11, and after scoring turned back to the field saying, ‘it’s easy.’

Edwards spent some time with Oregon State transfer defensive back Paul Lucas after he got lost on a route in 1-on-1s. But he wasn’t the only one getting to spend a short tutoring session with the former NFL defensive back. Even Lucas, the foreseeable star of the secondary warranted a few words with Herm after a drill.

First-team offense

QB: Manny Wilkins

RB: Eno Benjamin

WR: N’Keal Harry, Kyle Williams, Terrell Chatman

TE: Ceejhay French-Love

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

Second-team offense

QB: Dillion Sterling-Cole

RB: Trelon Smith

WR: Curtis Hodges, Frank Darby, Ryan Newsome

TE: Tommy Hudson, Jared Bubank

TOL: Tyson Rising (LT), Roy Hemsley (LG), Cade Cote (C), Jarrett Bell (RG), Zach Robertson (RT)

First-team defense

DL: Darius Slade, Renell Wren, Jalen Bates

LB: Jay Jay Wilson, Malik Lawal, Nick Ralston

CB: Kobe Williams, Chase Lucas

Tillman: Evan Fields

S: Langston Frederick, Dominique Harrison

Second-team defense

DL: Dougladson Subtyl, Jordan Hoyt, George Lea

LB: Merlin Robertson,, Kyle Soelle, Khaylan Thomas,

Tillman: Tyler Whiley

CB: Terin Adams, Darien Cornay

S: Demonte King, Joey Bryant

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