Common thought dictates every play begins with the quarterback.
But before ASU junior signal-caller Brock Osweiler gets the ball, the center must snap it and block an oncoming lineman in front of him.
The ASU football team lost redshirt senior center Garth Gerhart Saturday to an ankle injury.
The team captain left the game early and couldn’t come back.
In his absence, sophomore Kody Koebensky came in and performed admirably against Oregon State.
“I thought there might be a difference in communication but he stepped in and played a tremendous game,” Osweiler said. “That’s not easy to replace a guy like Garth, so for Kody to step in and not make any errors in pointing out the right guys, he played a great game.”
ASU coach Dennis Erickson had words of praise as well.
“That position is the hardest position to play in football and to me, it’s almost like losing a quarterback,” he said. “(Koebensky) will get better this week just because he’s played under fire. But I thought he came in and did a commendable job.”
The Sun Devil offense is notorious for its up-tempo motor, so for someone to be thrust into action is difficult.
“We slowed down a little bit but then he got a few series under his belt and he played lights out from there on,” Osweiler said. “Garth is pretty quick with getting his calls to the rest of the linemen and pointing out what he has to do. Kody, when he first came in was a little slower but he still made the right calls.”
Erickson originally said Gerhart most likely wouldn’t play this weekend at Utah, but Monday he reported some more encouraging news.
“There’s a chance he might play,” Erickson said. “We’ll see as time goes on. Obviously, he was pretty sore yesterday when I last saw him. He’ll get treatment though and there’s a possibility that he might play.”
Even with the optimism, Gerhart probably won’t much practice this week, meaning Koebensky will get the first-team snaps.
ASU junior offensive lineman Andrew Sampson will become the backup if Gerhart is unable to go Saturday.
“Andrew has played center — he was our backup last year so it’s not like it’s a hard move for him,” Erickson said. “We have some moves that we can make up front.”
Osweiler turnovers
The ASU quarterback had four turnovers Saturday against OSU, three interceptions and one fumble.
But not all of them Osweiler considered poor decisions.
In fact, only one of the picks he said was bad.
“I always take the blame; I’m never going to put it on anybody else but the only real bad turnover I had was the one in the third quarter when I threw into quadruple coverage,” he said. “It seemed like half of the (OSU) team was over there. I have that image of the defense in my head and next time I see it, I’ll move on.”
The first two interceptions were the result of good coverage from Beaver corner Jordan Poyer.
“He made two really great plays,” Erickson said. “The first one, the out route, we didn’t get any separation and the guy closed on it. He made a great play. The same thing on the slant route that they intercepted.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
