At this point last year, ASU football had just one returning starter on the offensive line from the previous group — left tackle Evan Goodman, who has since graduated from ASU.
Now, four of the five likely starters on the offensive line have some level of starting experience from last year.
Redshirt junior Quinn Bailey started all 12 games last season and redshirt junior Sam Jones started seven games before suffering a season-ending injury. Both Bailey and Jones were week one starters in 2016.
Senior A.J. McCollum started seven games at center and redshirt sophomore Steven Miller started three games as well.
Through fall camp, those four have taken most of the reps with the first team, with sophomore Cohl Cabral rounding out the group, usually placed at left tackle.
And for those players, it helps to have some experience among their fellow linemen.
“You know we’ve been through a lot. As a group, almost everybody in the starting lineup has played games," Miller said. "Cohl played, he didn’t start at any position, but he played in the Sparky package and stuff like that, so he knows what’s going on. We have that experience coming back, we know what it’s like to lose and we don’t like that feeling.”
The Sun Devils were no strangers to the loss column last season, and the offensive line play was one of the many reasons the team finished 5-7.
Only Goodman and Bailey started every game for ASU, meaning the rest of the lineup was in flux. With linemen suffering season-ending injuries, as was the case for Jones and then-senior Stephon McCray, the line wasn't always at its best.
The low point had to be against Utah, when the Sun Devils gave up 11 sacks in a 49-26 loss.
But this year, ASU seems to have more depth in the trenches to overcome injuries.
"We have a lot of guys that have seen the field that aren’t starting right now," Jones said. "It’s really a good thing because it’s a long season, somebody’s going to go down, somebody’s going to have something happen, and we’re not going to have the same five in there all year most likely."
"We’ve got to have guys that are able to step up and we do have that.”
The Sun Devils still have redshirt sophomores Zach Robertson and Mason Walter, who both had playing time in 2016, and redshirt senior Tyler McClure, who started three games a year ago. If injuries were to arise, the Sun Devils would have viable options.
“I think we’ve got good depth, some guys in the twos that can go in and play winning football for us," ASU offensive line coach Rob Sale said.
ASU hopes none of the current starters get injured, in part because the likely starting group of Cabral-Jones-McCollum-Miller-Bailey has been practicing together for most of fall camp and thus has established effective communication skills.
“Obviously communication is huge for an offensive line," Jones said. "You can’t execute plays if you aren’t all on the same page. And even if you are all on the same page and you’re all doing the wrong thing, it's still going to work out better than half the people doing the right thing."
Sometimes, verbal communication isn't even necessary and they know what to do.
“There’s times where I don’t even need to say anything to Quinn," Miller said. "We see something so many times in film and we just go out on the field and we see it again and we don’t even have to say anything because we know what’s going on.”
In stark contrast to the 2016 lineup, the Sun Devils have various returners on their offensive line this upcoming season, which could yield better results for the team in the long run.
Reach the reporter at mpharri7@asu.edu or follow @Harris_Mark7 on Twitter.
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