Devils in Detail
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ASU Football: Who’s the heir apparent to Manny Wilkins at QB?

By Sam Ficarro

PALO ALTO, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: Manny Wilkins #5 of the Arizona State Sun Devils in action against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on September 30, 2017 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: Manny Wilkins #5 of the Arizona State Sun Devils in action against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on September 30, 2017 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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No position on the ASU football team has had more turnover than the quarterbacks. With Manny Wilkins heading into his senior year, who’s next in line at QB?

Arizona State heads into the 2018 season with a lot of question marks of how the team will perform under first-year head coach Herm Edwards.

One position that isn’t a concern is quarterback with Manny Wilkins slated to be the starter for the third consecutive season.

With 2018 being Wilkins’ final season as a Sun Devil, there’s questions of who will be the starter in 2019 and beyond.

The quarterback depth, which was a strength last season with four starting-quarterback-caliber players, has dwindled in half for this season after the transfers of Brady White and Blake Barnett.

The Barnett transfer was not a shock as he was destined to be a backup this season and having not played much in three years, he opted for another change in scenery going to South Florida.

White’s transfer caught most people off guard considering as he was going to be the favorite to win the starting quarterback job next season.

After suffering a broken right foot in his first and only career start against UCLA in 2016, White sat out all of last season. With Todd Graham being fired as head coach, he transferred to Memphis coached by the man who recruited him, former ASU offensive coordinator Mike Norvell.

This was a big blow for Arizona State as they now head to 2018 with Wilkins and Dillon Sterling-Cole as the only two quarterbacks who has played meaningful snaps.

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So who will take over for Wilkins after this season?

Sterling-Cole will be a senior next season and is the only player on the roster with starts under his belt as he made two in 2016 after injuries Wilkins and White sustained.

In action over four career games, Sterling-Cole completed 28 of 55 passes for 388 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions.

Behind Sterling-Cole features an abundance of young and inexperienced quarterbacks. On the roster currently is redshirt freshman Ryan Kelley. Kelley was a highly-touted four-star commit coming out of Basha High School combining for 9,564 total yards and 84 total touchdowns.

Kelley has the highest ceiling among the quarterbacks on the roster as he was one of the most decorated players in the state coming out of high school.

After the departures of White and Barnett, Edwards and the coaching staff made it clear that recruiting quarterbacks was their primary objective in the 2019 recruiting class.

Over the last week, the Sun Devils have received two quarterback commits in Joey Yellen and Ethan Long.

Long is a three-star quarterback from West Linn High School in Oregon throwing for 3,102 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a junior last season. He was rated by 247 Sports as the highest-rated quarterback from Oregon.

Also committing to the Sun Devils is Yellen from Mission Viejo High School in California and is rated as a four-star prospect according to 247 Sports.

Yellen threw for 2,439 yards, 29 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season completing 54.5 percent of his passes.

Next: ASU Football: Manny Wilkins must save this transitional phase

While ASU’s quarterback depth could get tested this season if Wilkins were to get injured, the future looks bright at the position for Arizona State with Kelley likely the favorite to lead the Sun Devils once Wilkins graduates.

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