ASU Football: Defense shines at Camp Tontozona scrimmage

ASU football concluded its annual stay at Camp Tontozona Saturday with an inter-squad scrimmage.

So far throughout this ASU quarterback competition, fans have been waiting to see either Manny Wilkins or Blake Barnett vault themselves ahead of the other and cement themselves as the week one starter.

And after Saturday’s scrimmage, they’re going to have to wait another day.

Overthrows and near-interceptions seemed to be a constant as first-team starter Wilkins, unofficially, went 8-20 with 114 yards, one touchdowns, no interceptions while being sacked just once.

Barnett, after Wilkins underwhelming performance, didn’t take full advantage of his opportunity. He didn’t have much help from is line though, getting sacked six times while going 8-18 with 81 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

That interception landed in the hands of linebacker Khaylan Thomas and after a few broken tackles, he was in the endzone for six.

It was the highlight of phenomenal defensive performance that included eight sacks and zero penalties, showing the 3,042 fans in attendance what the unit is capable of.

A unit that was second to last in total defense last season judges itself on other things things this season.

“It’s not total yards any more. It’s yards per snap, points per possession,” defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said. “That’s the game because everyone is playing so fast. How many times can you get your offense the ball, come takeaways, come fourth down, come anything?”

The front seven, headlined by Tashon Smallwood, Christian Sam and D.J. Calhoun, had no trouble stopping the run and getting to the quarterbacks. The trio combined for 16 tackles, four sacks and four tackles for loss.

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“They just did a lot better executing what they’ve been working on,” Barnett said. “They had a lot of different disguises today that were similar to the ones that they’ve been doing, but they just executed a lot better which makes a big difference.

“And as you can see, that’s why there was so many sacks today because the defense was really doing their job, and they were doing it well.”

The pressure was evident and the secondary may have been the biggest benefactor. While working without defensive backs Dasmond Tautalatasi (injury) and Langston Frederick (left field early Saturday with apparent head injury), they excelled.

Although receivers beat them down field on occasion, they failed to allow for a deep connection down the sideline, keeping the receptions in front of them.

Aside from Thomas’ interception, freshman Alex Perry nearly had two more and Chad Adams, while stepping back into his own endzone, lost it on his way to the ground.

The missed interceptions were missed opportunities that could have ultimately resulted in “game-changing” plays, but unlike in their 2016 campaign, they put themselves in the right position for that opportunity.

“I was so disappointed for Chad,” Bennett said. “He had that, how big is that in the endzone, but the thing before, he might not have been there, I thought he was in good position.”

They didn’t commit a single penalty, they didn’t give up big completions behind them, they did however change.

A defense that didn’t seem to be on the same page a year ago has taken head coach Todd Graham’s “hard-core discipline, hard-core toughness” montra head on.

“I told them last night, one word – focus. I thought we had focus,” Bennett said. “We had an hour and a half walk-through and when I walked in I told coach Patterson, I said ‘that’s the best attention span I’ve ever seen our kids have.’ I mean there was no joking, no BS, it was on.”

That focus translated from a walk-through to a scrimmage and if it can translate from the scrimmage to a game, then the Sun Devil defense can do big things in 2017.

Next: ASU Football: Final practice report before Camp Tontozona

“I told them, ‘we have a chance,'” Bennett said.