They may not be the most publicized players on the ASU football team.
But there’s little doubt that junior Jamal Miles and sophomore Kyle Middlebrooks are the most versatile Sun Devils.
Over their careers in Tempe, they have a combined three rushing touchdowns, six receiving touchdowns, two kick return touchdowns and one passing touchdown.
That’s every possible way an offensive player can score aside from placekicking.
“Those guys are so talented,” ASU junior quarterback Brock Osweiler said. “Physically and mentally they do a lot of things you can’t really coach them to do. And then you find that flat out other guys can’t do what they do. They are two tremendous athletes and I’m glad they are on our side.”
The Sun Devils don’t have any two-way players on the team, but Miles and Middlebrooks are the closest thing to it.
They want to be on the field, with the ball, in whatever position they need to lineup.
Miles played running back at Peoria High School and was rated as the No. 27 halfback in the nation by Rivals.com after rushing for 2,168 yards and 29 touchdowns in his career.
In his first two seasons in Tempe, Miles played running back while catching balls out of the backfield and returning kicks.
This year his official depth chart position is wide receiver.
And although he only caught three passes in his senior season at Peoria, Miles has seven catches in 2011 already for 55 yards and two touchdowns, to go along with a 35 yard touchdown pass to ASU senior wide receiver Aaron Pflugrad against Missouri.
“The transition hasn’t been too tough,” he said. “Growing up in Pop Warner I played receiver and my dad was a receiver. It’s not harder, it’s just different. When you’re at running back, it’s more instinct. But at receiver you have to run assigned routes.”
Miles will still get carries out of the backfield this season, especially if junior running back Cameron Marshall continues to fight the injury bug, but it’s more about getting him the ball and getting him into open space.
“We’re working him more at the running game now because he does have a lot of ability there,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “He’s been playing all over but we think he can really add something.”
As for Middlebrooks, he’s averaging 4.5 yards per carry this season while returning a team-high five kickoffs for 107 yards.
“I take a lot of pride in special teams,” he said. “We really get into it because we’re trying to get down the blocking schemes and trying to know where the holes will be. We try to be the best guys in the nation at what we do.”
In 2010, the Sun Devils ranked No. 2 in the nation in yards per kickoff return at 27.54, only trailing Central Florida by 0.24 yards.
This season, Miles and Middlebrooks are aiming to claim the top spot.
And they’re using each other for motivation.
“When one of us does good, the other person has to follow up,” Middlebrooks said. “It hypes me up. We’re working hard to get to number one.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
