(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
TEMPE – ASU football’s spring season is almost at a close, yet some position groups are still finding their stride. After losing four of their five starting defensive backs from 2023, the Sun Devils brought in a handful of Power Five transfers to help fill those gaps.
While it may be difficult for most incoming players to adjust to their new systems, redshirt sophomore Javan Robinson hasn’t quite had the same learning curve. Coming to Tempe from Washington State, Robinson played under current ASU defensive coordinator Brian Ward in 2022 in Pullman. The familiarity has made the transition a lot smoother for Robinson.
“It’s been good. It’s been just like rekindling an old flame,” Robinson said. “As I said before, me and Coach Ward have a great connection, and I understand the defense pretty well, so I’m adjusting pretty well.”
By getting a head start on knowing the defense, Robinson has been able to focus on other things, like his technique, throughout this spring period. His ability to adjust quickly already has him practicing with the hypothetical starters on the defensive end.
Where Robinson also adds value for ASU is in leadership. He joins a position group that also includes 10 freshmen after losing much of its veteran depth in the offseason. Robinson, entering his third year of college football is able to step up and help guide the young group.
“The room is good,” Robinson said. “I feel like we’ve got a lot of younger players, and me being one of the older guys, just taking those guys under my wing and showing them and like letting them know what’s going on. … What excites me most is we’re all ready. We’re all ready to play, and we have a lot of young talent, and I feel like everybody’s getting better.”
One of the other players joining Robinson in the defensive back room is junior defensive back transfer Laterrence Welch from LSU. Welch was a top-100 recruit at his position before playing 22 games over two seasons with the Tigers.
Now in Tempe, he’s also started to work his way up the depth chart in just his first spring with the Sun Devils. Even though he hasn’t hit the same heights as Robinson, Welch is still reaching his own standards and is more focused on the team’s performance this preseason in addition to his own.
“I don’t look at it as competing,” Welch said. “I look at it as we’re all just getting the work in really, and I feel like, as me, taking that motivation … I look at it like well, the group is getting better together. Every day we’ve been getting better. (Defensive backs coach Bryan Carrington and) we have a standard for this group, and we’re going to meet that standard every time we step on the field.”
For Robinson and Welch, it’s about adjusting to more than just the on-field work. The new environment comes with heat that neither is used to despite being Florida and Louisiana natives respectfully. It’s also a different environment packed with more people at practice than normal with a host of potential recruits, alumni and young kids lining the sidelines.
“Having more people in the practice, just having younger kids that look up to you, I feel like that’s motivation to us just to show them like work hard no matter who’s watching,” Welch said. “And so, basically just them coming out here, it’s a motivation to us, so we just work harder for them.”
Welch and Robinson are just two of the new Power Five defensive back transfers. ASU also added redshirt sophomore safety Kamari Wilson from Florida and sophomore defensive back Cole Martin from Oregon.
Martin played for the Ducks in every game as a true freshman in 2023. His arrival in Tempe marks his return to the Valley where he was a state champion and made a name for himself as a top recruit.
In addition to the new additions this season, graduate safety Shamari Simmons is looking to top last season’s breakout campaign after transferring from Austin Peay. This spring has also seen the return of redshirt junior defensive back Xavion Alford who was ruled ineligible last fall due to the NCAA’s two-time transfer rules. Now returning to the field, he’s continued to prove himself as an asset.
There’s much to be excited about with the ASU secondary. Multiple players, old and new have shown that they are capable of filling a top two spot on the depth chart, even at just this early point in the spring
“I mean I think our secondary is, I think we’re fairly talented,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “I think it’s really good competition which is great. It challenges the guys every day. The newcomers, Javan’s done a great job, Cole, (junior defensive back Myles Rowser from Campbell) … and that’s not even counting Alford’s technically back. … They’re good football players, not including the other three guys that we brought into the room, so that room is deep and it’s competitive.”
