ARIZONA, USA — Arizona State football fell short of many high expectations last season and is looking ahead to the upcoming season for a fresh start. While this year's team might not generate the buzz it did last year, the players actually prefer the quiet.
“We’re one of the teams that everybody looks at and thinks we’re going to have an off-year,” tight end Jalin Conyers said. “I really think we’re going to shock a lot of people. I’m excited and a lot of us have that underdog mentality going into the season.”
A season that brings a lot of new faces and a new-look offense. An offense led by quarterback Jayden Daniels that averaged just north of 16 points per game in their five losses. With Daniels entering the transfer portal and out of the picture, the quarterback competition is wide open to both (last year's backup) Trenton Bourguet and Alabama transfer Paul Tyson.
A man who has the closest seat to this competition is new offensive coordinator, Glenn Thomas. Thomas is the program's third coordinator in five seasons and is hopeful he can help make a positive change while finding the best quarterback for the team.
"A couple of the guys, you have to minimize their reps just to try and get everybody a look, so when you’re in there, you got to make the most of it," Bridges said. "You can tell pretty quick who knows it, who’s studying it, who’s on top of the playbook because when they’re in there, they already kind of have some conviction, some confidence in what’s going on.”
But for this program to take meaningful strides in the season ahead, it is more about just the man under center. Thomas said the entire offensive philosophy is set to have somewhat of a makeover in 2022.
“We want to have the versatility to do a little bit of everything," Thomas said. "The more that you can introduce and expose to the defense as far as game plan and their recognition, we’ll have hopefully a little bit of everything available to give the defense a different look.”
Spring practice has just started and there are still a handful of question marks at several positions and it will take some time to find those answers. The next chance for the public to get a look at ASU football in action will be on April 9, inside Sun Devil Stadium.
Sports
Watch more of the latest sports videos on the 12 News YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe!
