With just a few days remaining before ASU football’s season opener against Portland State, coach Dennis Erickson is still undecided as to how exactly his starting offensive line will look come kickoff.
Erickson said that he would have the starting line decided on Thursday, but even that won’t matter a whole lot. He plans to get a look at a lot of his linemen during the course of the game.
“We will probably play eight or nine guys on Saturday,” Erickson said. “I don’t know (who will start for sure); we are going to talk about it tomorrow.”
It seems as if junior Dan Knapp will get the start at the left tackle position and junior Garth Gerhart will be the starting center. After that, little is known.
Redshirt freshman Evan Finkenberg and junior Brice Schwab have both seen time at tackle and guard, while sophomores Andrew Sampson and Adam Tello have also seen time at guard.
Erickson brought another name into the mix after practice on Wednesday in junior Mike Marcisz. It appears that Marcisz is the favorite to start at right guard, with Schwab starting at right tackle.
“Marcisz has been playing pretty good at right guard,” Erickson said. “He’s been a very pleasant surprise the last two weeks. We’re going to screw around with him at right guard and then we’ll get Finkenberg in there.”
If there would be an injury to Gerhart, Sampson would shift over to center. Redshirt freshman Kody Koebensky could also play center.
Contrary to what Erickson said Tuesday, redshirt junior offensive lineman Aderious Simmons has actually not been cleared by the NCAA. It appears that it is a done deal and he will be cleared, but it is not official yet. The team hopes it will happen before Saturday.
Burfict Comes On Strong
After an up and down start to the camp and a nagging ankle injury, sophomore linebacker Vontaze Burfict has come on strong during the final two weeks of camp.
Burfict is the type of player that shines when the lights come on, so naturally his practices progressed as game day drew near.
“Like all of us during camp, it gets a little old,” Erickson said. “I think he has worked hard and got a lot better during the last two weeks. As it gets closer to games, we all get a little bit better because it gets a little tedious and he is not a tedious type guy.”
According to Erickson, Burfict’s ankle is still not fully healed, but it is getting closer to 100 percent.
Running Backs to Display Depth
With the new offense debuting on Saturday, Erickson is excited to see the speedsters and playmakers in the new system.
One of the positions set to display that ability is the running backs. Erickson expects to play four or five different backs on Saturday.
“We’ll start with (Cameron) Marshall,” Erickson said. “We’ll use them in different situations but obviously Jamal (Miles) will be in there. Deantre (Lewis) will get a lot of carries. Middlebrooks is back there and he’ll play a little bit too.”
Erickson is excited about the depth at the position to start the season.
“To say the least, we’ve got a bit of depth back there,” Erickson said. “We’ve got some speed and I think we have the opportunity to break some long runs this year.”
Playmaking ability is something that this offense has lacked in the past few years, something that home run threats at the running backs position can fix in a hurry.
“If you’re trying to move the football you need to have at least two twenty plus runs or passes on a drive,” Erickson said. “If you’re only moving it 3 or 4 yards, it’s not enough.”
Making noise
There was some added noise to the Verde Dickey Dome on Wednesday and it wasn't the normal players chirping or the coaches yelling out instructions.
There was music.
ASU set up speakers inside the bubble and blasted rap music during two different parts of practice to simulate game noise. The music played at the beginning of practice and then again near the conclusion.
At the end of practice, ASU ran its offense while the music played. After a while, Erickson called for the music to be turned off for the final part of the practice.
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
