After injuries, the death of a former player and 15 spring practices, the ASU football team has at least one constant.
The Sun Devils will only go as far as junior quarterback Sam Keller takes them.
Keller completed 18 of 27 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown Saturday afternoon in ASU's annual spring game at Sun Devil Stadium. He threw one interception.
"It was decent, but it could have been a lot better," Keller said. "I made a lot of good plays and did some good things, but I also did some things I shouldn't have as far as decision making. That has always been my thing. I just have to keep getting better at it."
Keller's touchdown pass went to junior wide receiver Terry Richardson. It was a 16-yard strike to the corner of the end zone.
Later in the controlled scrimmage, sophomore cornerback Littrele Jones intercepted Keller in the end zone. ASU coach Dirk Koetter contends that Keller is a work in progress.
"Sam had a nice spring," Koetter said. "It's just that the bar has been set pretty high by him and by Andrew [Walter]. Sam needs to be more consistent with the ball. He did some nice things, but he can't throw a pick down there from the 10-yard line."
Keller wasn't the only Sun Devil who turned heads in the scrimmage.
Senior quarterback-turned-wide receiver Chad Christensen caught three passes for 91 yards. Senior wide receiver Derek Hagan had four catches for 49 yards. Junior tight end Jamaal Lewis caught two touchdowns, both from redshirt freshman quarterback Rudy Carpenter.
Several tailbacks also stated their case heading into summer workouts.
Sophomore Aaron Lafitte, a transfer from Wabash College in Indiana who will have to sit out next season, led all rushers with 54 yards on seven carries. Sophomore Rudy Burgess rushed for 30 yards on six carries. Redshirt freshman Price Wilks rushed for a pair of touchdowns.
Burgess said the offense has made great strides the past couple weeks.
"We had a pretty slow start at the beginning of the spring," Burgess said. "But as the spring went on, we started to get better, we started to get more rhythm and we started to pull together a lot."
Junior defensive tackle Jordan Hill said adjustments still have to be made.
"We've got a lot of things we did this spring that we can build on and take into the season," Hill said. "We've got a lot of guys that moved into roles that need to step up more. A lot of guys stood up to that challenge and kind of took it upon themselves to get better and improve our defense as a whole."
Reach the reporter at jeremy.a.cluff@asu.edu.
