The breakout performances of ASU football’s newest wide receivers during the first week of fall camp has put a lot of pressure on the Sun Devils’ returning wide receivers for their spots on the depth chart.
But sophomore wide receiver Richard Smith has no plans to concede to his new teammates.
Coach Todd Graham praised Smith’s performance after Saturday’s practice and the 5-foot-9-inch Smith responded with more stellar play Sunday shining against ASU’s first-team defense on 11-on-11s.
In one play, Smith burned redshirt junior defensive back Lloyd Carrington and redshirt freshman safety Viliami Moeakiola on a fly route for a long touchdown. A few minutes later, Smith scored again on another deep route against redshirt senior defensive back Osahon Irabor.
“Rick Smith is really impressing me,” Graham said. “He’s running away from people and you can tell he’s matured quite a bit.”
Smith knows the starting position is at stake and he said that the coaches are pushing him every day and expecting a lot from him.
“I’ve just been really focusing in a lot more as the season’s coming in,” Smith said. “I’ve been really taking each step from last year to this year. I know I’m starting so I want to be a big role this year and a big time receiver.”
Despite the competition, Smith has much respect for the new receivers and expects them to succeed as well.
“You don’t want your spot to get taken by an incomer, but they’re not incomers anymore,” he said. “They’re here. We’re all together now. We’re one team, one receiving group. It’s motivating us.”
Graham happy with Sulka and Foster
At Friday's practice, redshirt junior offensive lineman Jamil Douglas switched from right tackle to left guard, giving redshirt junior Tyler Sulka a chance to move up at Douglas's previous spot.
The two linemen haven't switched positions since, and Graham has been pleased with Sulka's performance as of late.
"He's had two outstanding days," Graham said. "Yesterday and the day before, really been doing well and that allows us to put Jamil back with (redshirt senior Evan Finkenberg) and that whole left side is in sync."
Graham also cited sophomore running back D.J. Foster as another recent standout. Foster gained 20 pounds over the offseason and has shown his versatility in a number of ways, including practicing as a slot receiver.
"Man, he is fast," Graham said. "Not anything like he was last year. He really has a chance to be dynamic."
Mo Latu seeing more action on defense
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Mo Latu didn’t practice much with the defensive line the first week of fall camp and spent a lot of time on the sideline conditioning because of a knee injury.
He practiced Friday without a green no-contact jersey since the beginning of camp and immediately made an impact.
Latu first lined up with the second team at nose tackle but a solid performance earned him reps with the first team.
Latu gained 42 pounds since he was measured in the spring and now weighs 380 pounds. ASU is looking for different ways to improve its run defense and co-defensive coordinator Paul Randolph thinks Latu’s size alone can help.
“When a man’s that big, he helps that run defense because he takes up a lot of space,” Randolph said. “He really made his presence felt for the time in there. He did a really good job of holding point and holding down the middle of the defense.”
Now that Latu has found his way back onto the field, Graham said his next challenge is getting in shape — both physically and mentally.
“He’s got to mature and be mentally tough,” Graham said. “The only one that could stop Mo is Mo.”
Other notes:
- Four wide receivers — redshirt senior Kevin Ozier, freshman Cameron Smith, senior Kyle Middlebrooks and junior Joe Morris — wore green no-contact jerseys and all were limited throughout practice. Redshirt sophomore Jaelen Strong practiced in pads for the first time and lined up with the first-team offense with Richard Smith in Ozier’s place.
- Other notables starting with the first team were Moeakiola at field safety and redshirt freshman Carlos Mendoza at the Spur linebacker spot. Graham said those positions are two of the team’s biggest competitions on the depth chart.
- Redshirt senior defensive tackle Will Sutton arrived at practice with the offense and participated at the tight ends’ station for five minutes before regrouping with the defensive line. Graham hinted Sutton could appear on offense this season, most likely blocking at fullback in goal-line situations.
- Redshirt junior tight end De’Marieya Nelson spent a lot of time at practice working on blocking. He often lined up inside the tackle box at the H-back position.
- Foster, senior running back Marion Grice and all four ASU quarterbacks wore gold practice jerseys, which serve as a similar purpose to the green jerseys for minimizing contact.
- Dasmond Tautalatsi, a safety from De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., attended Sunday’s practice as he has committed to ASU. Rivals.com rates him as a three-star safety prospect.
- ASU originally had another practice scheduled for Sunday evening but announced after its morning practice that it cancelled the evening session. The team has one more practice Monday at Sun Devil Stadium before it leaves for Camp Tontozona in the afternoon.
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
