The Arizona State Sun Devils looked much more prepared for yesterday’s scrimmage held at Mountain America Stadium.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!It was the team’s final practice of fall camp, as they now have off today and tomorrow, and the Sun Devils’ second and final scrimmage before their first game against Southern Utah on Aug. 31.
WATCH: ASU Football Interviews after Second Scrimmage of Fall Camp
We tracked all of the plays from yesterday’s practice. Here’s what we gathered.
Note: We can’t go into detailed play design or report any injuries unless specifically mentioned by Dillingham.
Scoring Plays and Turnovers
Here are the TDs and turnovers we logged:
2-point conversion drill before scrimmage (throws only)
- Trenton Bourguet TD pass to Bryce Pierre
- Bourget TD pass on fade route to Troy Omeire
- Bourguet TD pass to Messiah Swinson who made a one-handed grab on the goal line
- (Rashada went 0/3 in this drill while Bourguet went 3/6)
Full 11-on-11 scrimmage (not every drive, only scoring and takeaway drives)
- MISSED FG: Dario Longhetto misses 53-yard FG on first drive led by Bourguet
- Longhetto FG (1): Longhetto 30-yard FG good on first drive led by Rashada
- Rashada TD (1): Rashada throws 50+ yard TD to Elijhah Badger on second drive he’s in (play of the day)
- Conover TD (1): Jacob Conover (third-team) throws 50+ yard TD to Shawn Charles on a slant-and-go in his first series. Charles bobbled the ball at first but eventually secured it and ran it into end zone untouched.
- Bourguet INT (1): Macen Williams picked off Bourguet on his third series in. It was a very bad throw by Bourguet off his back foot to the middle of the field on a second down from around midfield.
- Bourguet TD (1): Bourguet makes up for his sloppy drive the next time he’s in. He completed three to four passes in a row to drive down the field before finding Swinson in the end zone for a TD. When Bourguet gets in a rhythm, he’s almost impossible to stop.
- Rashada TD (2): On Rashada’s second-to-last drive of the day, he had a wide receiver wide open deep and threw a nice ball. However, Keontez Bradley made a nice play and came out of nowhere to break up the pass at the last second. Rashada made up for it on the next drive, as he checked the ball down to RB George Hart III on a third-and-short from near midfield and Hart took it all the way to the house for six.
- Conover TD (2): Conover wrapped up the scrimmage running with the third team. After just overthrowing WR Kaleb Black on a deep ball a two plays before, Meredith connected with the wide receiver on a post route from around 30 yards out to close out the scrimmage
Totals
- Total TDs: 5 (Bourguet 1, Rashada 2, Conover 2)
- Total takeaways: 1 (INT by Macen Williams on Bourguet)
- Total FGs: 1
QB Stats
Two-point conversion drill (passing only)
- Bourguet 3/6 (all three TDs)
- Rashada 0/3
Full 11-on-11 scrimmage
- Bourguet: 6/15, 1 TD, 1 INT (four drives total)
- Rashada: 6/17, 2 TDs (six drives total, includes one he re-did after a 3-and-out)
- Jacob Conover (third string): 5/15, 2 TDs (three drives total)
QB Battle
I would honestly say that the QB battle between Bourguet and Rashada is 50/50 right now, which is why Dillingham hasn’t made decision.
Outside of one drive, Bourguet did not have that good of a scrimmage, as he was pretty inaccurate all day and only found a rhythm on that one drive.
He will have to start picking up his play and not just expect that he will get the starting job by the time next Thursday rolls around (when Dillingham said he will make a decision).
Rashada looked very comfortable playing with the first team, as his reps with the first stringers has increased significantly following Drew Pyne’s injury.
His big play ability and mobility are his biggest strengths right now, as both of his touchdowns came from near midfield after he had a 40-yard bomb to Shawn Charles in the Camp T scrimmage on Saturday.
Dillingham talked extensively about Rashada after practice.
“He’s just gotten better and better and better every day,” Dillingham said. “When he’s on the field explosive plays happen. Now is there a learning curve with him? Yeah, he didn’t really get many reps in spring ball, because he showed up the day before. (When) he started, he didn’t earn the right to be with the ones or twos to start full camp. So he started with the threes, but over a period of time, he’s grown and gotten better and better and better. And he’s earned the reps to be with the ones, he’s earned the reps to be with the twos.
Dillingham continued: “It’s a matter of watching the tape and seeing: Are his positives and explosives, do they outweigh the young moments that you’re going to have as a young quarterback? And can us as a staff control those young moments enough to where we can showcase his talents, which is you saw throwing the ball 50-60 yards down the field. There was almost another one that would have been a 75-80 yard walk off, (but) the DB tipped it. So those plays are obviously different when he’s in the game.”
What will transpire in the next week is to be determined, but Rashada is making a very strong case for himself.
Strong Running Back Play
Yesterday was our first time getting a good look at the running back group. Previously, they had been marked down when touched, but yesterday they had to be a full tackled.
Cameron Skattebo continued to get first-team reps and looks to have the starting job on lock.
However, Cal transfer DeCarlos Brooks ripped off two really impressive long runs and broke a lot of tackles all day.
As previously mentioned, George Hart III had a 50-plus yard touchdown from Rashada off of a check down pass.
Overall, the group performed very well and the Sun Devils look like they have a lot of options to mix in. The back-up spot could be a competition to watch for the next week.
First-Team Defense Looks to be Ready for a Game
It looks like defensive coordinator Brian Ward has the first-team defense ready for a game already in my opinion. The defense has been ultra-consistent and the veteran leaders have the team playing up to speed.
“Our (first-team) defense continued to stop people,” Dillingham said after the scrimmage.
However, he added: “We’re about two and a half weeks away from being ready to play. That’s about right, we got a long way to go still. And it’s not just the scheme, it’s just the overall response. And we’re getting better and we’re starting to buy into it.”
The biggest problem the defense that Dillingham has said the defense had was its complaining. He loved the passion they playedwith, but said they had not been responding well to adversity.
However, on Tuesday and Wednesday, he was happy with the way they were responding.
“I don’t know if I heard three people complain today,” Dillingham said. “I don’t know if I saw the body language. I don’t know if I heard it, which take that two weeks ago when we were in this stadium and it was a complaint fest, take the Camp T and we were complaining. So it shows that the guys are starting to buy in to just do your job, go to the next play and compete.”
The defense looks locked in and bought in to what Ward and Dillingham want from them, and there seems to be no glaring holes with the first team.
I think this is most evidenced by them being excited when the young players perform well because they know their spots aren’t in jeopardy (and wouldn’t care if they were), so they are willing to put the team first before how they should perform.
The Sun Devil defense could surprise a lot of people this season, and they just need to hone in on some little things for the next two weeks to be fully prepared.
First-Team Defense Prediction
Here’s how I think the first-team defense will look as of now from what I have seen and who played what and performed well yesterday:
EDGE: B.J. Green (left), Clayton Smith (right)
DT: Anthoine Cooper, Dashaun Mallory
CB: Ro Torrence (outside), Jordan Clark (nickel), Dee Ford (outside)
- Ed Woods will get a lot of playing time as well. He actually played over Torrence in the scrimmage, but think this was just a nod to how well he’s been performing in camp lately after Dillingham talked about him on Tuesday
LB: Travion Brown, Will Shaffer
- Shaffer’s spot is up for grabs still with Tate Romney and Caleb McCullough in strong contention
S: Chris Edmonds, Xavion Alford (if eligible)/Shamari Simmons
First-Team Offense Prediction
QB: Trenton Bourguet/Jaden Rashada
RB: Cameron Skattebo
WR: Elijhah Badger (outside), Xavier Guillory (outside), Gio Sanders/Melquan Stovall (most likely will split time in slot)
TE: Jalin Conyers
- If running two-TE sets Bryce Pierre and Messiah Swinson likely 50/50 split
OL: Isaia Glass (LT), Sione Finau (LG), Leif Fautanu (C), Cade Briggs (RG), Emmit Bohle (RT)
- Bram Walden proving capable sliding in at LT and LG spots
First-Team Special Teams Prediction
K: Dario Longhetto
P: Josh Carlson
LS: Slater Zellers
KR/PR: Javen Jacobs or Elijhah Badger
Other Players Dillingham Highlighted (from previous article)
Some other players that Dillingham highlighted today were junior WR Troy Omeire, junior Jake Smith, who Dillingham said is back with the team, Michigan State grad transfer DL Dashaun Mallory, UNLV junior transfer center Leif Fautanu and Washington State grad transfer LB Travion Brown. The last two guys, Dillingham said, have stepped up and become apart of the team’s leadership council, even though they are newcomers.
Observations from Monday’s and Tuesday’s Practices
In-depth analysis and observations of last two ASU practices
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Brendan Mau is a college sports insider and general assignment reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
