ASU has seen its fair share of great quarterbacks score touchdowns on Frank Kush field.
Unfortunately this hasn’t been the case since 2008, but a new face showed his potential Saturday afternoon.
Steven Threet is next in line.
If he continues to show the poise and composure he displayed against Wisconsin his name could soon enter the realm of top ASU quarterbacks.
Danny White, Andrew Walter and Jake Plummer are tough names to follow. Toss in the recent Rudy Carpenter and Sun Devil fans deserve to have high expectations.
Threet looks like he could meet them.
The man is a leader. He knows when to yell, he knows when to console and he knows when to motivate.
After scoring the fourth quarter touchdown against the Badgers Saturday, Threet wasn’t even watching the extra point. He was too busy motivating the defense to get him the ball back.
He knew he was going to lead this team to another score, whether the extra point was blocked or not.
He knew it.
And soon Sun Devil fans will want him to have the ball.
Three games into the year doesn’t provide much background information as to why this team won’t finish 4-8 again, but some statistics jump out of the box scores.
The one that stands out is Threet’s completion percentage at 66 percent. A solid percent even with a high number of dropped balls from the ASU receivers.
Carpenter’s completion percentage was 62 percent during his best season at ASU, and Walter never completed more than 60 percent of his passes.
Both rank at the top of most of ASU’s passing records.
Threet did struggle at Michigan, leading them to only two wins during his time as the starter, but that second win, a comeback against Wisconsin, started to show his poise.
Two games from now he will have surpassed most of his career highs he set with the Wolverines.
After so much worry whether this quarterback who just couldn’t find a home was going to make it at ASU, the man can relax.
Now I wish he could stay longer.
But of course, it has only been three games, and two of those came against FCS programs.
Nevertheless, the late-game drive against Wisconsin showed a short glimpse of excitement on the offensive side of the ball — something that hasn’t often been seen in recent years.
Now ASU has possibly its toughest test of the season in No. 5 Oregon.
Thought the Sun Devils were fast against Wisconsin? Well, Oregon is going to be faster.
ASU’s defense has its hands full with a team that has scored 72, 48 and 69 points in each of its first three games.
But thankfully this time around the offense can step in and keep the team in the game.
Two or three touchdowns by the Ducks won’t automatically mean defeat; it only means a new challenge.
The leadership ability of Threet makes a victory seem like a legitimate possibility.
It’s his team now, and that is a good thing.
Reach the reporter at nathan.meacham@asu.edu
