It’s hard to get a bead on ASU freshman defensive end Junior Onyeali.
Whether it’s an opposing offensive tackle getting his feet crossed trying to block him on third down, or his head coach getting his tongue tied trying to pronounce his name in the post-game press conference.
The 5-foot-11-inch, 233-pound defensive end made his first career start last week against Washington, contributing one and a half tackles for loss and numerous pressures on UW senior quarterback Jake Locker.
Onyeali, who ASU coach Dennis Erickson called Junior “Olala” after ASU’s victory Saturday, has heard his fair share of short jokes in his short, or rather brief, career as a Sun Devil defensive end.
If Saturday was Onyeali’s turn to play, Tuesday was his time to talk.
“I call (my defensive line teammates) a bunch of ogres who can’t move,” Onyeali said.
Onyeali’s first name is actually “Nduka,” which means “life is more important than money.”
ASU has struggled generating a pass rush all season and may have gotten more out of Onyeali off the edge on Saturday than any other player on its front all season.
He said he felt like “he wasn’t moving in the first half” before eventually getting “his feet underneath him” in the second half.
Coaches were impressed.
“He played great,” Erickson said. “He makes some mistakes, but he is so active and plays so hard. Their tackles had a hard time blocking him because he is different. You are talking about a pure speed rusher that gets up the field and plays tenacious.”
Onyeali said he prefers defensive end over outside linebacker despite playing linebacker in high school.
It’s not his only adjustment at the college level. Onyeali is learning communication and control.
Earlier in the year he got into a fight with an offensive lineman. After the incident, Onyeali walked out of the Dickey Dome practice facility during the middle of practice.
“When something like that happens, I like to get back out there and prove myself again instead of just letting it happen,” Onyeali said. “It was just a misunderstanding between me and [defensive line coach Grady Stretz]. He was just trying to calm me down.”
Onyeali said he was used to being able to speak directly to his coaches and called the walk out incident a learning experience on how to communicate with them.
Bye Week Notes
Naturally, coach Erickson and redshirt junior quarterback Steven Threet talked about the mending opportunities the bye week provides.
“For me, mechanically, I try to make some improvements and sound up and try to focus on (myself) and not the opponent so much,” Threet said. “It’s a good chance to ease up a little bit, not take as many hits throughout the week and definitely getting a weekend off will be big.”
On Tuesday, Erickson began an experiment with redshirt junior tackle Dan Knapp at right tackle instead of left—where Knapp had started before suffering a knee strain against Oregon.
Knapp took snaps with the second team at right tackle Tuesday.
Erickson indicated that he would stick with freshman Kyle Middlebrooks at running back after Middlebrooks led the team in rushing with 58 yards Saturday.
Graduate student and guard Jon Hargis participated in practice Tuesday and could play against Washington State on October 30th in the team’s homecoming game.
Sophomore running back Cameron Marshall, who is second in rushing for ASU with 357 yards, was held out of practice with the flu.
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu
