ASU Football: Camp notes from practice 8/8

Shoulder pads were an addition late last week, and if the energy brought to the Kajikawa Fields in just shells was high, full-contact practices should be fun to watch. The pads cracked, and tensions rose for a productive first day of week two.

Similar looks on the offensive line

Offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh’s group continues to evolve day-by-day. Most recently, ASU snagged juco transfer Danny Valenzuela, a 20-year-old center who adds his name to the competition with Ben Scott and Joey Ramos.

Des Holmes looks to be locking up the right tackle spot, even more so with an impressive day Monday. Holmes continues to practice with the first-team, and in linemen one-on-ones, he stalled Merlin Robertson multiple times. He made a drill tailored to the defender look easy as an offensive lineman.

Emmit Bohle also remains the implied top-choice at left tackle over Isaia Glass based on reps. For the second-team look, Ramos played center while Thomas La Boucher took snaps at right tackle.

LaDarius Henderson is a shoe-in at left guard, and Chris Martinez is taking snaps at right guard.

“There’s going to be more than five guys,” Edwards said. “You got to have at least a solid seven-or-eight guys playing, and we’ve done that here in the past. We don’t just play five guys. We play sometimes seven. (We) might play eight this year depending on who they are, but what’s great about them.”

Bumps and bruises from week one, plus a hard fall that is worrisome

Cornerback Timarcus Davis walked around practice in his jersey, but did not participate. Edwards cited knee soreness for Davis, while also mentioning soreness as the reason why tight end Messiah Swinson practiced in a green non-contact jersey (Swinson participated in seven-on-seven drills).

Freshman tight end Jacob Newell rolled his ankle and went down hard during tight end drills, just seconds after receiving pointers from tight ends coach Juston Wood. Edwards said Newell will get X-Rays.

With Swinson limited and Newell injured early in practice, 6-foot-5, 240 pound junior Bryce Pierre joined Jalin Conyers on the first-team offense in two-tight end looks.

Obligatory quarterback talk

Edwards said after practice Monday that he has a good idea on who the starting quarterback will be and the public will likely know by the end of the week. That likely sways the needle in Emory Jones’s favor, but to the naked eye, there is not a whole lot separating the quarterbacks.

Jones has poise and is methodical. He is not afraid to hit his check down, and we all know is the best runner of the quarterbacks. Credit it to his late arrival, but Jones is noticeably cautious with his arm.

Every practice is one day that is part of a bigger picture, but Jones was unimpressive Monday. He went 2-for-8 in seven-on-seven drills, granted three of the incompletions were drops. In team drills, he threw a bad interception in the flat to sophomore cornerback Ed Woods.

“Mainly it all comes down to me and everyone locking in, focusing and doing their job,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, Paul Tyson ripped off a couple strings of solid throws, albeit without any pressure, during offensive one-on-ones and seven-on-seven. After airmailing his first throw in the sevens period, he completed three straight passes, two of which he threw his receiver open by locating brilliant back-shoulder balls to Cam Johnson and Andre Johnson. Tyson finished 3-for-4, while Trenton Bourguet went 1-for-4.

Kicking woes

It is early, but the field goal portion of Monday’s practice was ugly. House of Sparky unofficially tracked the group going 3-for-8 with at least one make coming from freshman Carter Brown.

View of the drill was semi-restrictive, but the message came across clearly: there is work to do on field goals.

Extra, Extra!

• Defensive end Travez Moore took first-team reps and has impressed early-on. My ears are still ringing from when Moore and fullback Case Hatch met in the hole during inside-run drills. Moore’s return is highly anticipated following his season-ending knee injury at BYU last year. He joined Joe Moore at first-team defensive end. Senior Michael Matus played with the twos.
• Speaking of inside-run, Jalin Conyers did not shy away from contact as a blocker. This segment, along with linemen one-on-ones, produced some of the tensest moments of practice. Coaches had to stop players from throwing their opponent to the ground post-whistle.
• Edwards applauded the fans who came to the Open House Saturday. He said they were encouraging, and “there will always be a kid that sees your number and it will be a big deal.”