(Photo via Kaiden Fesler/WCSN)
Chemistry is the backbone of most successful football programs. Talent is futile if the team members don’t have that unconscious instinct to know where one player is or is about to do, and for Arizona State football, Fall training camp is where they start that journey.
ASU finished its first week of fall practices, building those connections with one another. No other position relies on chemistry more than a quarterback to his wide receivers, which is still a question mark for the Sun Devils. Redshirt junior wide receiver Andre Johnson said on Friday it has been a delicate process.
“You have to know who you’re going up with,” Johnson said. “Knowing what the quarterback’s tendencies are and anything. Just trying to play their game because every quarterback has a different type of ball they want to throw, different where they want to throw it type [of] stuff.”
Johnson estimated that the feeling out process could take a “couple of weeks.” However, his timeline could be extended without certainty about who is the Sun Devil’s starting quarterback. ASU offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas still isn’t confident enough to name a starter but continues to preach it’ll happen sooner than later.
“You have to be over-conscientious as a coach, as far as scripting, to have these guys to get these certain reps,” Thomas said. “With the ‘ones’ [or] with the ‘twos,’ we’re over-conscientious of the guys that we have in there with certain schemes to try and accelerate that process.”
The three-person quarterback race, headed by the three redshirt juniors, Emory Jones, Trenton Bourget, and Paul Tyson, remains at a perfect balance like lady justice. Still, Thomas hopes that the scale will soon tilt one way or the other so ASU can move further into learning the new scheme. Until then, he is more focused on starting slowly to build a strong base for the offense.
“We’ve only gotten to basically two installs, really trying to create the foundation of the offense, particularly for all the new guys coming in,” Thomas said. “Once we really start building the next few days, they have a foundation of what we’re trying to do.”
The foundation last year for ASU was sometimes shaky, lacking consistency with dreadful dead-time penalties. Thomas highlighted how the first three practices had the Sun Devils commit no false starts, which was a positive sign until the fourth practice on Saturday saw the team commit two in 11-on-11s, showing that the cracks from last year are not all the way cemented.
The Sun Devils offense has been under construction the entire offseason, with a new scheme and multiple skill positions departing from the program in 2021. Wide receiver was added to the long laundry list of obstacles to overcome the loss of last year’s leading receiver in former Sun Devil Ricky Pearsall to the transfer portal this past Spring.
Johnson is the top returning receiver from last year, catching 12 passes for 186 yards, but emphasized that the new guys have made some noise early into camp. Senior wide receiver Charles Hall IV and junior wide receiver Zeek Freeman have showcased what they can bring to the team in 2022.
“Zeek is like a shorter, more shifty guy who can get out of his breaks a lot cleaner than a lot of us,” Johnson said. “Charles, he’s more of a speed guy. Honestly, he might be one of the fastest on the team now that I think about it. He brings a lot of speed to the table and separates himself from DBs down the field.”
ASU looks to be trying to beat opponents with their speed and route running. New receivers like Hall and Freeman can help add to that, joining returning guys who have been impressive early in camp with their ability to create separation between themselves and the defense.
The competition between the receivers has brought out great energy between the offensive players that were lacking during Friday’s practice on the defensive side of the ball. ASU defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson was visibly upset because of the lack of effort on the field.
“When I start raising my volume, my voice, [they] hear the message,” Henderson said. “[Fixing the energy] got to be today, not later.”
Henderson wants to knit the lackadaisical play in the butt before it becomes a habit. Heading into camp, the former NFL coach wanted to see “attitude” and “effort” from the Sun Devils but was disappointed by the unusual lapse of poor play for a defense that has the potential to be tremendous, headlined by the talent down in the trenches.
ASU’s defensive line has been one of the most impressive groups in fall camp because of the depth of the position, which didn’t happen by luck. Returning Sun Devils, like defensive linemen redshirt sophomore Omarr Norman-Lott and sophomore defensive linemen BJ Green II, all summer have been up bright and early on their days off to excel when it matters most.
“They were here six, seven o’clock in the morning, and it’s amazing. They’re out there working on the sleds,” Henderson said. “Those are good signs. Sometimes you expect them to do it, but you don’t expect them to do it. You know you sit there and say, ‘Ah, I wish they would do it, uh they ain’t going to do it,’ with those types of kids, the lights come on, so to speak. I’m proud of them.”
Henderson admires Green and Norman-Lott’s determination from a reserve role last year to fighting and earning a starting position heading into 2022. Norman-Lott was one of the few players who entered the transfer portal and returned to the program. The California native wanted to explore his options, but when visiting other schools, the decision was obvious.
“I found out that ASU was the best for me,” Norman-Lott said. “Just talking to other coaches around, position coaches prominently, I was able to articulate myself better to them than they were to me. I just found value in [Defensive Lineman coach Robert Rodiguez] that whatever little NIL deal that was on the table, I found more value in coach [Rodiguez].”
Entering his third year at ASU, Rodiguez has made a considerable impact from top to bottom on the Sun Devils’ defensive line that has made Norman-Lott soar in his young career. Norman-Lott credits Rodiguez’s ability to “keep it real with you,” and with their group being the closest to the media during practice, it’s present front and center.
Rodriguez effortlessly connects to all his players, whether upperclassmen or with freshman defensive linemen Robby Harrison, who has struggled early on with his explosiveness. The former Vikings assistant has taken on the challenge of singling Harrison out but still uplifting him by praising his strength, keeping his self-esteem high.
There is no hierarchy, which has helped all players take on that leadership role of taking their peers aside and giving them pointers. Norman-Lott says that is why the depth for the defensive line is as rich as it is, because of Rodriguez’s infectious coaching style.
“I just think it’s because we’re all hungry,” Norman-Lott said. “Everybody has that starter potential. That’s what [Rodridguez] says, ‘nobodies a one, nobodies a two, three,’ everybody wants to have that flow, where we have waves of people coming in.”
The ASU defense has a common theme of holding players accountable but treating them respectfully. From Henderson to Rodriguez, the Sun Devils’ coaching has a sense of pride that they believe they must uphold every practice. The pridefulness isn’t absent from the players as hometown player redshirt junior defensive back Alijah Gammage, who has been with ASU since 2018, was finally rewarded for his loyalty to the program with a scholarship last week.
Gammage is the second in his family to participate in the program, as his brother Frederick Gammage played wide receiver for ASU from 2012-2016. Those times hanging at the practice field with his brother have helped prepare him for his time as a Sun Devil and taught him about one crucial thing in the process: Patience.
“I just watched how he continuously climbed the ladder,” Gammage said. “[The] patience, he took his time, just like I had to. That’s what he mainly told me in the morning. The conversation I had with him before the day [the scholarship] happened was patience. It’s the biggest thing.”
Henderson, who served as the defensive backs coach last year before being promoted to defensive coordinator in February, said the decision on Gammage was easy.
“He’s been here five years. He’s done everything he’s supposed to do, good in the classroom. He’s good on the football field,” Henderson said. “We have established in the program that deserves to be on scholarship. You don’t get it because you’re here. You do all the right things, which he has done since he’s been here.”
Gammage was one of the five walk-ons to get scholarships in the past year, another notable mention being fellow defensive player in Green this past May. However, being from Tempe, Gammage cherishes the honor of being able to represent the city that he has tattooed onto himself, consisting of the city’s skyline on his neck with the words, “blame the city; I’m a product of it.”
“When I was talking earlier, it gave me goosebumps,” Gammage said. “I have the tattoo on the back of my neck for a reason. It’s my city, I was born and raised here, and it’s just a beautiful thing to let my city know that the hard work paid off.”
While not every Sun Devil is a hometown hero, Gammage is just one of many who share the same pride in protecting the legacy at ASU. While chemistry and schemes are still a work in progress in Fall camps, the Sun Devils hope to sustain the past glories the program has seen in 2022.
