(Photo: Reece Andrews/WCSN)
At the conclusion of Arizona State Football’s 2021 season, starting junior quarterback Jayden Daniels announced to some fans’ excitement and others’ dismay that he would be returning to Tempe for his senior season rather than entering the 2022 NFL Draft.
However, after a slew of firings and resignations as a result of the NCAA’s investigation into ASU’s program, Daniels entered the transfer portal and landed at LSU. With Daniels gone, the question of who will fill his role as the signal-caller became the Sun Devils’ biggest concern as far as on-field personnel.
Although many turned their eyes toward redshirt junior Trenton Bourguet, it wasn’t long before a challenger emerged: redshirt junior and Alabama transfer Paul Tyson.
The battle for control of the offense has been going on since the start of spring practices and with just three left to go before the annual spring game, the flames of the competition are still red hot.
According to Bourguet, he, Tyson and the other quarterbacks on the roster are focusing on improving their game, while pushing their teammates to be better as well.
“Personally, [I’m] just trying to be the best quarterback I can be [and] not worry about the other quarterbacks in the room [and] try to get better each and every day,” Bourguet said. “If I have a mistake one day, [I] make sure to not do it again. Really, we’re just all pushing each other to be the best quarterback, and obviously, we all want to win.”
While the competition is a battle of physical ability, it’s also a mental one, as all of the quarterbacks are trying to adjust to a new system with new offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas replacing Zak Hill.
“[Thomas is] a lot different,” Bourguet said. “He uses the tight ends as well like Coach Hill [did], so I think there’s some similarity in that. We try to keep some things the same, but a lot of new, different verbage and stuff like that so it’s going to take some time, but I think over spring ball it’s gotten a lot smoother.”
Coming from another school, Tyson arguably has even more of a challenge due to the fact that he has had to adjust to a new city and new teammates along with a new offense, but after Friday’s practice he conveyed to reporters that he’s already fallen in love with the city and is doing just fine.
“Tempe’s fantastic,” Tyson said. “I mean it’s great weather. I’m really excited, I love it here. Food’s phenomenal. I didn’t expect the food to be as good as it is, but it’s great. Just hilarious, awesome, great people. Just love Tempe. It’s really great.”
According to the newcomer himself, Tyson’s time at Alabama will help keep him in close contention for the starting job due to the rigor and high expectations of the program.
“I think especially with the offensive coordinators that I was under, coming in with [Mike] Locksley and then with Coach [Steve] Sarkisian along with Bill O’Brien, they were extremely helpful in helping me grow with knowledge of the defenses, knowledge of just the game itself, and things that I didn’t even know before coming into college with like mic points and changing protections and things like that,” Tyson said. “I think it definitely helped a ton and really just the standard that Alabama has helped me come here and just know what it takes.”
Bourguet and redshirt sophomore Daylin McLemore also touched on the knowledge Tyson brings in from Tuscaloosa, and shared how they’ve learned from him in just their short time together.
Bourguet and McLemore weren’t the only players from the quarterback room to express positive thoughts about Tyson. Freshman and fellow Alabama native Bennett Meredith spoke about the rapport the two have built as a result of their shared Birmingham experience.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Meredith said. “Our schools in high school, they were both rivals, so I joke with him. We beat them twice this year.
“It’s kind of cool to have another Birmingham guy. He’s grown up where I’ve grown up. We kind of have similar personalities, we grew up in the same town, so it’s kind of cool to have someone else here from the same place. It shouldn’t give us a little way to be closer than everyone else, but it does almost.”
It’s clear that coming in, Tyson has already earned the respect of fellow quarterbacks and teammates and he’s looking to take his role even further. Tyson wants to show his worth in Tempe on and off the field.
“I think that’s a huge, huge deal at quarterback especially,” Tyson said. “I think leadership is something that we can’t take lightly and I believe a lot of it is earned on the field, actually. I think that’s when you get your respect and you build the relationships with your players where they trust you and when you can reach that point, that’s when you can really make a difference and be the leader that you want to be.”
At the same time, Bourguet is working on the same thing and trying to prove to his teammates that he is deserving of the trust they’ve put in him.
“Growing up, I’m the oldest of six kids in my family so I’ve always kind of had that leadership role,” Bourguet said. “Since Jayden entered the portal, I kind of took that role to make sure everybody’s on the same page. Personally, it felt good to know my teammates believe in me. I have guys coming up to me all the time, but I don’t take it for granted to have their trust and to have their belief in me.”
As it stands now, Bourguet spends most of his time taking reps with the first team, but with five months left to go before the Sun Devils’ first game, the race for the starting position is still seemingly wide open.
