Arizona State Sun Devils

Head Coach

Dennis Erickson	2nd year
07-08	10-3
PAC-10	6-2
FCR	17

Previous Season Wins

Arizona St Preview by Carl Wood

Head Coach - As Dennis Erickson enters his second as the Arizona State head football coach and he’ll be looking to improve on a last season when Arizona St went 10-3 overall and 7-2 in PAC-10 play. With a share of PAC-10 title and a trip to the Holiday Bowl in his 1st season Dennis Erickson and the Sun Devils have high expectations coming into the 2008-2009 season.

Quarterback - Rudy Carpenter has improved in almost every category from his sophomore to junior season, Carpenter will be looking to improve on his numbers again as he comes back to ASU for his final season and has been named to the Maxwell Award Watch List. Last season Carpenter put up 3,200 + passing yards, completed nearly 62% of his passes and threw for 25 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. The biggest problem, keeping Carpenter off his back has hopefully for the Sun Devils been addressed in the off-season. Carpenter was sacked 55 times last season compared to 58 in his previous two seasons as quarterback. Carpenter will be backed up by Junior Danny Sullivan who has shown good things in his time under center last season.

Running Backs - Senior running back Keegan Herring is ASU’s leading rusher from last season, Herring became the premier back after Ryan Torian went down with an ankle injury. Keegan Herring rushed for 815 yards and scored 5 times and he also caught 10 passes for 88 yards, Dimitri Nance only had 21 less carries then Herring and rushed for 500 yards and 7 touchdowns, in addition he caught 13 passes for 120 yards. Two juniors, Jerell Woods and Shaun DeWitty, will be fighting for the third spot on the depth chart; Woods was out most of last season due to an injury and has had a successful off season.

Receivers - The leading receiver for ASU is Chris McGaha, he lead the team with 61 receptions and 830 receiving yards but only managed to cross the goal line one time last season. McGaha always seems to be in the right place when Carpenter needed him the most and will be looking to improve on last season’s numbers. Mike Jones who averaged close to 17 yards a catch had 46 catches for 769 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, he’s got great hands, speed and great jumping ability. Kyle Williams will be looking to get a lot more action this season, he’s got great potential, and last year Williams had 6 touchdowns on 29 receptions for 360 yards. Kerry Taylor, Nate Kimbrough and Brandon Smith will all be looking to get into the action as ASU plans to go into more four-wide receiver sets and spread the defense out more then last season. The tight end position is now up for grabs between Stanley Malayalam, Andrew Pettes and Jovon Williams, a few of the incoming recruits could also figure in the mix.

Offensive Line - The offensive line needs to make noise early and show that they will not be pushed around and let their quarterback be pushed over. Giving up 55 sacks last season ASU has three new offensive linemen who are ready to show that they can protect Rudy Carpenter in the pocket. Senior Paul Fanaika will be returning to right guard for the third straight year, he was PAC-10 honorable mention the last two seasons. The left guard spot will be filled by Shawn Lauvao who has experience at the position but the biggest shoes to fill will be at the center, junior Thomas Altieri looks to be the starter as he has a slight edge over redshirt freshman Garth Gerhart. At right tackle will be experienced junior Richard Tuitu’u and converted defensive tackle, sophomore Jon Hargis will be taking the helm at left tackle.

Defensive Line - Leading the defensive surge upfront will be the junior Dexter Davis. Davis had 10.5 sacks last season and was selected as 2nd team All-PAC 10. Davis Has started every game for the Sun Devils the past two years. In his two years, Davis has 73 tackles, 24 for loss and 6 forced fumbles. Erickson has mentioned that Davis is working hard in the weight room and putting on muscle. Luis Vasquez spent the early part of his first season with ASU plagued by injuries. Vasquez will try to make sure that Davis isn’t the only DE for ASU getting attention. Last season Vasquez had 43 tackles, 11.5 for loss, 4.5 sacks and being named as PAC-10 honorable mention. Defensive tackles will be lead by the senior with 37 games of experience, David Smith. Smith will be joined at DT with sophomore Jonathan English. English has 13 games of experience coming into the 2008 season.

Linebackers - Junior Travis Goethel will be the strong ide linebacker for the Sun Devils this season, Goethel started all 13 games last season and ended the year with 71 tackles, 3.5 tackles-for-loss, three forced fumbles and one sack. Junior Gerald Munns will be in the middle, Munns has managed to get his name to the top of the depth chart with a great spring. Converted safety, junior Ryan McFoy, will be starting on the weakside, McFoy moved to LB before the 07’ season and played well. Mike Nixon, Oliver Aaron and Morris Wooten will all be looking to get on the field at linebacker this season as well.

Defensive Backs - At free safety senior Troy Nolan has been named to Bednarik award watch list, he was 2nd team All- PAC-10 and had 6 interceptions last season and returned two of them for touchdowns. Sophomore cornerback Omar Bolden won Pac-10 all American honors last season and is looking to have another outstanding season. Bolden played in all 13 games last season for the Sun Devils, so experience will not be an issue. With Josh Barrett and Justin Tryon gone ASU will be looking to senior Rodney Cox and junior Terrell Carr to fill their shoes. Travis Smith, Jeremy Payton and Max Tabac will all be looking for playing time at DB as well.

Special Teams - Thomas Weber will be back to kicking field goals for the Sun Devils. Last season Weber was the winner of the Lou Groza Award converting 24 of his 25 field goal attempts with a 53 yard long. Weber set a number of Sun Devil records in just his freshman season. Weber is also battling to continue handling the punting with redshirt freshman Zach Richards, Weber averaged only 39 yards on his punts and the Sun Devils would be best served with someone else handling the duties. In Keegan Herring, Chris McGaha and Kyle Williams the Sun Devils have players capable of delivering the big returns. .

Schedule - The Sun Devils start with NAU, Stanford and UNLV to get their feet wet before probable preseason #1 Georgia comes to Tempe for a showdown of national significance. After a week off the Devils then travel to take on California and USC. Then they will be in Tempe for Oregon, Oregon State and Washington. The Devils will then make their way to Washington State, back at home for UCLA and then take on their rival, Arizona in Tucson. They’ll be in the hunt for the conference title but will need to defend their home turf and beat either Cal or USC early if they expect to get a BCS bid this season, look for ASU to win 10+ games this fall.