20 Sep, 2012
by Jeff Metcalfe - Sept. 19, 2012 08:05 PM
azcentral sports
Arizona State's wide receivers are catching more heat than passes in this still-young season.
The message that they must be more productive -- whether it's coming from coach Todd Graham, position coach DelVaughn Alexander or even from fans spoiled by ASU being in the top 15 nationally passing in the previous two seasons -- is being received loud and clear.
"I feel there's a lot of pressure on us right now," senior Jamal Miles said. "They're starting to say we're one of the lowest positions on the team. I don't take that lightly. I feel like we've got to go out and prove ourselves every time we go out on the field. I'm just going to try to make everything out of every opportunity I get."
Miles is the top returning receiver -- 30 catches for 361 yards and six touchdowns in 2011 -- at a position group that lost Gerell Robinson (77 catches, 1,397 yards, seven touchdowns), Aaron Pflugrad (44 catches, 665 yards, five touchdowns) and Mike Willie (36 catches, 566 yards, three touchdowns).
Mix in new quarterbacks replacing Brock Osweiler and a new coaching staff that is willing to play to ASU's rushing strength, and the steep learning curve for the passing game at this point is understandable.
H-back Chris Coyle has almost as many receiving yards (239) as the wide receivers total (277) through three games. Coyle and three running backs have a total of 473 receiving yards, 63 percent of the passing-offense production.
"The standards are high, the talent is high, but as far as our production goes, it's been average," Alexander said. "There's got to be a sense of buying in and urgency. There's got to be a consistency out of me as a coach letting those guys know I trust in the techniques I'm teaching. We've got to bridge that gap from the practice field to the game field real fast."
Miles, who sat out the season opener because of a suspension, entered the season with 24 career starts. No one else on the receiving depth chart had more than three. Quarterbacks Taylor Kelly and Michael Eubank are in their first playing season.
"It's going to take time because we've got a lot of inexperienced players," Miles said. "Eventually, we're going to come around and be a strong part of this team. It's just chemistry. We're got to make the quarterback feel comfortable out there and have him trust in us. Once we get all that together, it'll be a special deal."
Or maybe Graham needs more recruiting time to rebuild the receiver corps, and ASU simply will have to make do with what they have in his first season.
"I think they're going to make progress one way or another," Graham said. "Rick Smith is a young guy getting better every day. We feel Alonzo (Agwuenu) has had his best week. (Rashad) Ross and Miles are working hard. We've challenged Kevin Ozier to not just be a journeyman, step up and get better, don't just stay the same."
Ross, with track sprinting speed, is the outside receiver expected to stretch the field. But he had more drops (at least two) than catches (one for 16 yards) last week against Missouri, leading to some soul searching.
"I worried about it all weekend," Ross said. "When you drop your first pass and you drop your second pass, it's going to be pretty hard to catch your third pass because all you're thinking about is 'I've got to catch the ball, I've got to catch the ball.' It's like when you try too hard, it's not going to happen."
20 Sep, 2012
by Doug Haller - Sept. 19, 2012 07:02 PM
azcentral sports
Four weeks into the season, who would've guessed injuries would be such a popular discussion point in the Pac-12? (OK, Arizona's quick start and Stanford's upset of USC might be better topics.)
Still, the injury debate -- or rather the reporting of injuries -- has conference Commissioner Larry Scott thinking it's time that the Pac-12 looks into establishing a conference-wide injury report, similar to the one the NFL releases every week.
He told reporters last week that he plans to put the topic on the agenda of a Pac-12 athletic directors' meeting in October, just to see whether the Pac-12 should let schools dictate their own injury policies or if the conference should set standard guidelines.
Two incidents have put this on the front burner: Recently, USC banned a Los Angeles Daily News reporter for two weeks after he reported that a player had undergone surgery. USC has a policy that prohibits reporters from reporting injuries that are suffered during practice, but the Daily News reporter discovered the news through outside sources. (The ban later was lifted.)
Not much later, Washington coach Steve Sarkisian announced that coaches and players no longer would discuss injuries because he felt if others weren't doing so, why should the Huskies?
Todd Graham isn't a big fan of an injury report.
"This isn't professional football," the Arizona State coach told reporters Wednesday.
Two issues here: Federal privacy law often restricts schools from disclosing health issues of student-athletes. And not to be overlooked, many coaches feel that disclosing injuries could give opponents a competitive advantage. In fact, Oregon State coach Mike Riley disclosed on this week's Pac-12 teleconference that the Beavers have a graduate assistant monitor news reports for injury news.
Don't think Oregon State is alone.
Since his hire in December, Graham has been extremely open with media. Asking him about injuries, however, makes him hesitate. When senior running back Cameron Marshall didn't participate during preseason camp, he initially told reporters Marshall was simply fatigued. Later, Graham revealed that Marshall had a hamstring issue. (In fairness, Graham almost always has announced when a player is lost for the season due to injury.)
There's an element of gamesmanship to this. Before a trip to Sun Devil Stadium on Sept. 8, Illinois coach Tim Beckman listed quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase as a game-time decision because of an ankle injury. Was he deceiving the Sun Devils, forcing them to prepare for a player who wouldn't play? It's hard to say for sure, but Scheelhaase not only missed the ASU contest, he missed the Illini's contest against Charleston Southern the next week, too.
"I try to be as forthright as I can on those things," Graham said of discussing injuries. "The media coming to practice, you can see if a guy is dressed out or not dressed out. ... But being specific about a guy (who) has a beat-up shoulder and he's my quarterback? Oh, Coach, nobody would go after that shoulder would they?"
The rest of the Pac-12 is split on a possible injury report. Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez already issues a weekly report, something he did during his coaching days at Michigan.
"It just made it a lot easier," Rodriguez said.
"We didn't have to (answer) questions all week about it. The (Big Ten) has been doing it for a long time, and it seems like it's been a pretty effective way to do it, so we kind of adopted that policy."
Stanford's David Shaw is against an injury report.
"It's a need-to-know basis, and I don't believe people need to know every single bump and bruise that happens on a football team," he said.
Washington State coach Mike Leach's opinion? He simply thinks reporters need to worry about other issues.
"It's journalism at its most pitiful level," he said of injury reporting.
Reach The Heat Index at 602-444-4949 or at doug.haller@arizonarepublic.com.
20 Sep, 2012
by Jeff Metcalfe - Sept. 18, 2012 10:36 PM
azcentral sports
Then: 1996 Arizona high school track champion in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter at Tempe Marcos de Niza High. Played football and ran track at Wyoming (1996-98) before transferring to Arizona State. Set ASU 100 school record (10.10 seconds) in 1999 and is former NCAA indoor 60 record holder (6.46). He was Pac-10 Male Track Athlete of the Year in 2001. Ran 100 personal record 9.99 during his professional career in 2006.
Now: Head trainer at Athletic Republic in Tempe and coach with AR Stars youth-track team. Will be inducted into the ASU Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Age: 34.
Question: What's your reaction to being named to the ASU Sports Hall of Fame?
A: I wasn't expecting that at all. Not to say that I don't think that I deserved it. It was the last thing of my mind. I remember being a little kid and my dad taking me up there to look at the athletes in the Hall of Fame and just never really thought that I'd be one.
I'm starting to see how big an honor it really is. I always knew it was, but when it's you sometimes you really don't see the vastness of it until people around you start to encourage you and tell you what it's really about. It's taking it to a whole different level. I just look at the other athletes already in that Hall of Fame. To be mentioned with them is mind blowing.
Q: Are you surprised to still be ASU's 60 and 100 record holder?
A: That 60-meter record I knew would stay around for awhile because at one point it was the collegiate record. The 100, just given the talent of athletes that's come through there after me, for that to still be standing is amazing. I've talked to some of those athletes, and I always let them know I thought they were going to break it. I know they've got that guy (Ryan) Milus over there now, and that's what I've been telling him, just go ahead and shatter all those records. That's what they're made for.
The (100) record I broke was Ron Brown's, and everybody knows what kind of athlete he was. I remember growing up watching him play in the NFL. That was a major accomplishment just to break that record. I remember when I did it I was in shock. What's even crazier is how fast the time goes by. I still remember setting it. I work with kids now and they let me know how old I am all the time. But it's fun to see the new generation come up. They really don't have limitations with their idol being Usain BoltCQ and he's running 9.5 video game times. The sky is really the limit now.
Q: It seems that someone like Bolt always comes along to inspire.
A: I was a football/track athlete and in 1996 when I saw Michael JohnsonCQ set that 200-meter record that's when my whole focus shifted. That's what I want to do with my life. When he ran that 19.32, it expanded our mind to what was possible and produced a whole lot of track athletes. Bolt wasn't as big a surprise. No one saw that type of speed (for Johnson). He just pulled something out of his hat. That's just the nature of the Olympics. It brings the best out of you. I got a chance to run with Michael Johnson his last year in the game (on a relay). I was in seventh heaven.
Q: How do you look at your pro career?
A: I would have loved to make the Olympics, but I was always batting this injury or that injury. The hamstrings really hamstrung my career. But I was still able to accomplish a whole lot and made my name on the European circuit. I was fortunate enough to travel to places I never thought I'd be able to go to. I got to No. 4 in the world after coaching myself. I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to, but I'm proud and happy of what I did accomplish.
Q: Injuries held you back trying to qualify for the 2008 Olympics?
A: I sustained some injuries early that indoor season that threw off my fitness. I was still kind of scrambling trying to get ready for the Olympics Trials. I left a lot on the table because I wasn't in the best shape of my life going into that meet. I retired after the 2009 season. I got to a point where I wasn't motivated like I needed to be to compete on an international level and was ready to do something different. That's when I moved toward training the next generation of athletes. It's the perfect transition for me because it gives me an avenue to teach kids everything I've learned, good and bad. I'm there not to just show them how to run properly but to get their mind right in what kind of things to expect as they progress from level to level. That's my biggest contribution, not just technique enhancement.
Q: Is your football career still important to you?
A: I'm still friends with pretty much all the people still up there (at Wyoming) that I was friends with at the time. That's an important part and proud part of my life. I was part of that national team where we made it to the Las Vegas Bowl and took me from the small high school level to the national scene. I had an opportunity to play behind (wide receiver) Marcus Harris.CQ He gave me a lot of food for thought for what I carried over to the track.
Q: Did you transfer to ASU simply to concentrate on track?
A: I wanted to be a track athlete coming out of high school but didn't have any offers. It was like not go to school or go to school where somebody said they wanted to give you a scholarship. It was kind of financial decision really. I always had plans to run track, and that was my main goal. The success I had running track at Wyoming kind of brought ASU around to the table. The timing worked out perfectly. That was right when my dad got diagnosed with cancer so it was a good time to come back home. I was able to spend the last couple of years with him.
Q: What's it like working with youth?
A: One of the athletes (Simon Whitefield) I train won the state 100 for his division. That was pretty much like me winning the championship how excited I was. I never thought it would be like that. It was good to share it with him.
19 Sep, 2012
by Doug Haller - Sept. 18, 2012 05:44 PM
azcentral sports
Arizona State coach Todd Graham admits: The Sun Devils need Mike Pennel.
The junior defensive tackle, who stands 6-feet-5 and 355 pounds, gives ASU much-needed size on the defensive front.
Through three games, the Sun Devils have started no one taller than 6-1. But Pennel's adjustment from Scottsdale Community College has been slow.
He played in the opener, splitting time with the first and second teams, but he missed the Illinois contest because of a team suspension. Tweeted Pennel: "I want to (apologize) to the sundevil fans and my family for letting them down this week. I will be back next week and this won't happen again."
Pennel returned in Saturday's loss at Missouri, playing a key role in ASU's four-man front. He finished with two tackles and had a quarterback hurry. Graham said he was proud of Pennel for both his performance and his approach.
"At the end of the day, there's only one way we're going to do things and for some people it comes easier than others," Graham said. "In a very short period of time, we've had a lot of newness. I'm new. We brought in a lot of new players that are playing. It's been quicker for some and not as quick for others.
"Probably the reason he hasn't played as much is I'm not going to change one single thing. We're going to have one vision as a program. Kids need that kind of structure. That's what will pay off for us down the road."
ASU offensive coordinator Mike Norvell on Tuesday talked with reporters for the first time since Saturday's loss.
He addressed his rotation of quarterbacks Taylor Kelly and Michael Eubank and where it failed in the Missouri loss. A portion of the exchange:
How difficult is it to determine when you put another quarterback into the game?
"I don't want the first time we work on something (to be) when we step on that field. We have a specific plan of what we want to do. We go with what we work on. That's something that didn't work out the way we wanted Saturday night. We did have a miscommunication on one of the plays in the red zone, which is totally unacceptable and we have to get that corrected as coaches. But I look back at it, the first two weeks, everything worked smoothly. The third week we come up about an inch short. It's something we need to definitely improve on."
How do your judge your performance as an offensive coordinator?
"Whether we win or we lose ... I'm extremely hard on myself, making sure I'm giving these guys the best opportunity to be successful. Obviously, when you lose there are a lot more plays you look back at (and think), 'Boy, I'd like to have this one back, I'd like to have that one,' but we got to trust what we do. Each week that we go in and work, we do a great job, I got a great staff on offense putting together a game plan for us to be successful. ... One of the biggest disappointments in (Saturday's game) is that we started off slow. We turned the ball over, the punt, the interception, those things really set us back. And then it was 17-0 and I think our guys just started to press a little too much. They missed a couple progressions, missed going through their reads. Those are things that we can't have."
If a quarterback is in a good rhythm, how does that factor into your decision making?
"It's a feel. As we're rolling down the field, there are certain times that I've had in my mind that I wanted to put Eubank in, and I decided not to because Taylor was rolling. There's been times in the earlier games that I wanted to start off with Eubank and then get Taylor in during the middle of the series. But if Eubank gets rolling, I try to leave those guys so they can do that. The situation in the game the other night, we were moving the ball down the field and we got inside the 3, and we had a set plan that we wanted to do what we had worked on (in practice). It came up a few inches short."
Change could be coming among ASU's starting receivers.
Freshman Richard Smith and junior Kyle Middlebrooks had first-team reps, long with junior Kevin Ozier, for the portion of practice that media were allowed to observe. (About three plays.) Two we haven't seen much of this season: juniors Alonzo Agwuenu and J.J. Holliday. At times in preseason camp, both ran with the first-team. For the first two weeks of camp, Holliday drew praise from both Graham and receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander. Both players were on the field late in Saturday's loss at Missouri, the through three weeks, they have have a combined one catch.
Tuesday, Graham was asked what they need to to do get on the field. His response: "One of the big things I try to tell them is that they're going to run 3.2 miles in practice every day. You can run it full speed and get better. Our guys have never seen that, so they don't know that they're not where they need to be in practicing. They look at me sometimes like, 'What are you talking about?' But the reason why we have trouble with some of the timing of our passes -- and this is not something that happened last week, this was in Week 1. On Game Days, we're running a different speed. You can't do that. You have to practice a timing offense full speed every day. And that's something we have not mastered yet. That's something they have to understand. ... Our rhythm passing game is the least to catch hold right now. It's been all run, play-action pass and those types of things. We need to get that going."
ASU is looking at changes on special teams, too.
Graham said senior Charles Beatty may join the kick-off cover unit and walk-on Andy Garcia likely will see more action. Don't know Garcia? That's because he just joined the team two weeks ago when the roster expanded. A 2009 graduate of Nogales High, Garcia was an all-state running back as a junior and an all-state receiver as a sophomore. After spending time at Pima Community College, he transferred to ASU. In Saturday's loss, Garcia not only traveled, which is rare for a walk-on, he also played as a gunner on the kick-off team. He practiced there again Tuesday.
"He showed some good things," Graham said. Junior linebacker Grandville Taylor, sophomore Marcus Washington, junior linebacker Brandon Johnson, and junior receiver Kyle Middlebrooks also could have bigger special-teams roles.
Offensive line coach Bob Connelly's assessment of the line in Saturday's loss: "We didn't do good enough. We didn't control the line of scrimmage. We let the noise get to us. The silent count got us. We were late off the ball. Our eyes weren't where they needed to be because of the anticipation of the snap count. We had five off-sides penalties, which obviously is not acceptable, period. And we didn't run the ball like we needed to."
The reserve offensive lineman who's shown improvement: sophomore tackle Tyler Sulka."He's the guy that's probably improved the most since fall camp," Connelly said. The offensive-line coach said sophomore guard Sil Ajawara also has earned more playing time.
Senior linebacker Brandon Magee pointed out that last Saturday marked the first time he has played every defensive snap since the Arizona game in 2010. "I was a little tired after (the Missouri game)," said Magee, who missed last season with an Achilles injury. He didn't play much in Week 1 because of the lobsided score and missed the Illinois win because of a concussion.
Follow me at Twitter.com/DougHaller.
19 Sep, 2012
by Doug Haller - Sept. 17, 2012 07:02 PM
azcentral sports
For the first time, Arizona State's two-quarterback system backfired last Saturday, but it doesn't sound as if the Sun Devils are ready to make changes. Sophomore Taylor Kelly will start Saturday against Utah and redshirt-freshman Michael Eubank is expected to be used in certain packages, as usual.
"We're using the system," coach Todd Graham said. "It's been very effective, so we're not questioning the things we're doing. Taylor's our quarterback. I got a great deal of confidence in him. I got a great deal of confidence in Michael Eubank. If we'll continue to play him, it will pay off for us big-time because he's going to be a big-time player."
With last Saturday's game against Missouri on the line, offensive coordinator Mike Norvell sent in Eubank after Kelly had driven the Sun Devils to the 1-yard line, a move that worked well through two weeks. Eubank tried to run on the next two plays and was stuffed. (Graham later said ASU was supposed to hand-off to junior Marion Grice on third down, but the play call never got to Grice.) On fourth down, Kelly re-entered and threw incomplete in the end zone, and the Sun Devils lost a golden chance to take the lead.
One thing that's certain: Kelly has impressed Graham. The first-year quarterback started slowly against Missouri, but made huge third-down plays in the second half to keep drives alive. On two, Graham said he was screaming for Kelly to throw away the ball, only to watch him complete passes.
"He made mistakes," Graham said. "There's no question about it. But I'm telling you this: We have a real quarterback. There's no doubt in my mind about that. That guy's a winner. How he carries himself, how he conducts himself. He's just got that 'it' factor. You could look him in the eye on Game Day and see it. You look at how he brought (us) back. He made some spectacular plays."
During games, Graham said he runs special teams with special-teams coordinator Joe Lorig and that he's also "very, very involved" in ASU's defense. When ASU has the ball, Graham said he talks with Norvell, but the conversations usually focus on what the opponent is doing defensively. Norvell calls the plays. And Graham again emphasized that he trusts all his coordinators and prefers to let them do their jobs.
"Obviously, you're going to call plays and when they work everybody thinks you're a genius," Graham said. "Last week, everybody was talking about what a genius we are on offense and then this week they're wondering why you called what you called or why you did what you did. We're going to do the things we believe in."
Senior tailback Cameron Marshall -- on the preseason watch list for the Doak Walker Award, which is given to the nation's best running back -- got just four carries against Missouri. He produced 15 yards. Graham said ASU has to get him more involved, but suggested it won't be easy.
"(Marshall) missed a lot of practice in preseason camp," Graham said. "He had a hamstring that was bothering him, and it kind of slowed the development a little bit, but he's a guy we want to get the ball to. (But) we have other guys, too, that we want to get the ball to. We want to get the ball to (senior receiver) Jamal (Miles), we want to get the ball to (freshman running back) D.J. Foster, we want to get the ball to Marion Grice, we want to get the ball to (junior tight end) Chris Coyle. We want to get the ball to whoever we got to get it to to win games, but we no doubt want to get (Marshall) more involved in what we're doing."
Marshall's four carries were his fewest since running four times in the 2010 opener against Portland State. Entering Week 4, he has rushed for just 81 yards, averaging 3.3 yards per carry.
About two hours before last Saturday's game, Graham asked sophomore Deantre Lewis, "Do you have any idea what you're doing?" According to Graham, Lewis, moved from running back to defense just six days earlier, said he did and so he started as a nickel cornerback.
"He was playing in two different packages," Graham said. "... He did a good job. He really did. He's a great athlete. He wants to play and his role, as he learns, will continue to increase."
Moving forward, Graham said Lewis will continue to practice on defense, although he didn't rule out the former running back getting used on offense. Graham praised Lewis' unselfishness. "There's very few running backs that I have known throughout the years that would be willing to do that," he said.
ASU lined up with four down linemen on defense against Missouri, but don't read much into it. Graham said the Sun Devils' scheme will depend on the opponent and could change from week to week.
On starting Pac-12 play Saturday against Utah: "Our guys know they start counting this week," Graham said. "Our goal and our focus is conference play and winning championships, and it starts this week."
18 Sep, 2012
by Doug Haller - Sept. 16, 2012 08:08 PM
azcentral sports
Todd Graham didn't hesitate. The thing that irritated him most in Saturday's 24-20 loss at Missouri:
"Special teams," the Arizona State coach said Sunday. "Absolutely."
Since his hire, Graham has made special teams a top priority. The Sun Devils (2-1) spend most of the first hour of each practice on special teams. Experienced starters such as senior running back Cameron Marshall are involved. And yet, Saturday's effort was a disaster, an area that will need to be cleaned up heading into Saturday's Pac-12 opener against Utah.
Graham rattled off the mistakes:
-On the game's opening kickoff, sophomore Alex Garoutte kicked to the wrong area, an error that led to a 42-yard Missouri return.
-Senior Jamal Miles lost a fumble on a punt return, giving the Tigers possession on their 18-yard line. They scored four plays later for a 10-0 lead.
-The punt-return unit gave up 72 yards on three punts.
-In the third quarter, senior Josh Hubner mishandled a high snap, resulting in an 11-yard punt, which Graham pretty much counted as a turnover. Missouri, taking over at its 33, scored six plays later for a 24-7 lead.
-And in the fourth quarter, just after Marion Grice scored to pull the Sun Devils to within 24-20, junior holder Ryan Woods mishandled the extra-point snap and was tackled. This one proved costly near the end of the game. On two final drives, both of which failed, ASU could have kicked a field goal and hoped for overtime. Because of the botched extra point, the Sun Devils didn't have that option.
"That's the one thing every week we got to win," Graham said of special teams. "We got to do a better job coaching than what we're doing there. ... We can't have games like that."
Another area that requires evaluation: The quarterback rotation. Through two games, offensive coordinator Mike Norvell handled the situation almost flawlessly. Sophomore Taylor Kelly started and set the tone. Then redshirt freshman Mike Eubank came in situationally.
But late in Saturday's game, with Kelly rallying the Sun Devils to within 24-20, Norvell sent in Eubank during his normal package near the goal line. On second and goal from the 1, Eubank was stopped for no gain. On third down, Graham said the play was supposed to go to Grice, but the play never got communicated properly and Eubank was stopped for a 2-yard loss. A play later, with Kelly back at quarterback, ASU turned the ball over on downs.
"We should've called a time out and we didn't," Graham said of the third-down play.
Eubank rushed six times against Missouri. Only one attempt produced positive yardage. Graham said the quarterback rotation would be evaluated.
"There are certain groupings that we've been (bringing in Eubank) that have been very successful," Graham said. "How much of the (quarterback switch) had to do with the (third-down) miscommunication, I don't know. But it's a concern. You also got to look at the rhythm of things. This is a new adventure for us. We haven't done it as much. With all the crowd noise, the procedure penalties, it's something we got to re-evaluate."
Still, despite the sloppiness, Graham left Missouri proud. He watched junior safety Alden Darby and junior defensive tackle Will Sutton repeatedly tell the offense that they would get the ball back for them. He watched the Sun Devils continue to fight.
"It's a great learning experience for us," Graham said. "You put it behind you. We start conference play now. We got a heck of a defense coming in here in Utah. But I came out of this proud of our guys. We have heart, and when you have heart, you have a chance."
17 Sep, 2012
