Much has been made about the front seven of the ASU football team’s defense.

And given the results through three games, the hype seems warranted.

But the Sun Devils’ secondary, despite yielding a few big plays to Georgia senior quarterback Joe Cox and the unstoppable sophomore wide receiver A.J. Green, is beginning to make its mark.

Going into their matchup with Oregon State on Saturday, the Sun Devils rank seventh in the country in pass defense, allowing less than 140 yards a game.

Against UGA, the Sun Devils changed the game in the second half with two interceptions and a fumble recovery from senior Jarrell Holman.

“Everybody talks about the front seven, and the [defensive backs] get knocked down a little bit,” redshirt freshman safety Keelan Jonhson said. “We kind of took that to heart. If you want to have a great defense, all 11 guys have to be great.”

Going up against a player who could be a future top-10 pick in the NFL draft, a quarterback who was coming off a five-touchdown performance and slippery field conditions, the Sun Devils more than held their own.

The Sun Devils, who are fourth in the country in interceptions despite playing one less game than most teams, are not looking back.

“[The UGA game] will help us carry over, and we can play with some of the best,” Holman said. “We feel like we are the best.”

The growth of the ASU secondary can be greatly attributed to two factors.

One is the competition at safety, where Holman, Johnson and converted linebacker and senior safety Ryan McFoy have won out most of the playing time.

“I may be on the [coach’s] bad side one weekend and lose my spot, but I have to compete every day, and that makes all of us better,” Holman said.

There has also been competition at on the corners, where Singfield and senior Terell Carr have battled the last two years on the other side of junior Omar Bolden.

“T-Carr and Omar, they know their stuff,” Singfield said. “It’s kind of a three-headed monster.”

Singfield, who has played significant time with “T-Cool” Carr, as he’s been coined by his teammates, made a key deflection in the end zone against Green.

The second factor that has positively affected the safeties’ games has been the knowledge they gleaned from current Houston Texan safety and former ASU star Troy Nolan.

“Troy taught me [about] positioning, reading receivers splits and understanding how receivers run routes and how they broke routes,” Holman said. “Troy really helped me because he was a ball-hawk, and everywhere the ball was, he would run into at full speed.

“He wanted to be around the ball, get fumbles and take it to the house.”
Johnson also claimed Nolan was instrumental in helping him learn the position.

“I watched a lot of film and tried to base my game off of Troy Nolan,” Johnson said.

Holman, who used to be a running back in high school, not only showed off his skills with the ball, but the knowledge he gained from Nolan with his three-turnover performance against UGA.

His dizzying jaunt to the end zone is something other ASU defense backs want to emulate.

“Everybody’s dream is to return one to the house,” Johnson said.

Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.