(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Playing freshman is not a novel concept for head coach Herm Edwards and the Arizona State Sun Devils. In Thursday night’s opening-night win over Kent State, Edwards and the Arizona State coaching staff trotted out 25 different freshman – 15 of them being true, the other 10 of the redshirt variety.
Two of the newcomers along the offensive line, Dohnovan West and Jarrett Bell, started at center and right guard in the absences of Cade Cote and Zach Robertson. Cote suffered a broken foot and Robertson remains away from the team due to personal matters. Given how close to game action Cote’s injury came, the Sun Devils offensive line struggled at times Thursday night, allowing freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels to be sacked five times and flushed from the pocket on multiple occasions.
West said playing in the game was surreal, and that prior to Cote’s injury he and the coaching staff had discussed using 2019 as a redshirt year. Not only was West getting a start in his first collegiate game, he said part of the adjustment was acclimating himself to the environment at Sun Devil Stadium.
“When I first went to the stadium it was pretty crazy because I had never been to an ASU game before,” West said. “So it was really just taking everything in for the first time.”
On Monday, both offensive coordinator Rob Likens and Daniels spoke highly of the Sun Devils’ freshman center, with Likens noting that after evaluating film he saw more positives than he had originally thought.
“Sometimes you don’t get the proper picture. You think something’s going on that’s really not. During the game I had thought that [West] was getting beat in certain things and he wasn’t,” Likens said. “I watched the film and thought for a freshman and for his situation of what he did, we couldn’t have asked for anything better than what he did.
“I now have so much faith in that kid. I don’t look at him as a liability or anything like that at all. I look at him as a plus and I look at him as a future all-conference center.”
Senior left tackle Cohl Cabral said the ability of the Sun Devils to keep the pressure off West and Bell is important in determining the success of them and the offensive line as a unit.
“We don’t want to have to put a whole lot on them just because they are younger and they haven’t seen a whole lot of football,” Cabral said. “Being able to in a way take something off their shoulders and put a little bit more on me and [redshirt senior right tackle Steven Miller] in making calls was a great way of keeping them without having to think so much and just letting them go out and play and do what they’re supposed to do.”
With Edwards calling West the Sun Devils’ future at center, ASU appears to be optimistic with what they have. Whether that optimism surrounding West is warranted or not, the importance of Arizona State’s ability to have good offensive line play cannot be understated. With Daniels listed at 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, Edwards and the Sun Devils would like to do whatever possible to avoid the frail freshman from taking hits.
“I’m fine,” Daniels told reporters when asked if he was okay after taking five sacks Thursday night. “A couple [of sacks] I ate but there were some where I should’ve gotten rid of the ball.”
West, Cabral and the rest of the offensive line will get another opportunity to gel on Friday as Sacramento State comes to Tempe to take on the Sun Devils. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
