Devils in Detail
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ASU Football: Realistic expectations for this season

By Sam Ficarro

TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 14: Wide receiver N'Keal Harry #1 of the Arizona State Sun Devils runs with the football after a reception past defensive back Jordan Miller #23 and linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven #25 of the Washington Huskies during the first half of the college football game at Sun Devil Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 14: Wide receiver N'Keal Harry #1 of the Arizona State Sun Devils runs with the football after a reception past defensive back Jordan Miller #23 and linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven #25 of the Washington Huskies during the first half of the college football game at Sun Devil Stadium on October 14, 2017 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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The dust has settled after the initial shock of Herm Edwards being named ASU football‘s next head coach. What are the expectations in his first year?

We are less than three months away from the start of the 2018 college football season.

Arizona State begins the Herm Edwards era this year as he looks to fulfill athletic director Ray Anderson’s goal of the Sun Devils being a top-15 team in the nation and contending for Pac-12 championships.

His first season could be a bit bumpy for the Sun Devils particularly because of Edwards’ inexperience of coaching at the college level and a tough schedule.

Despite some of the pessimism of the Sun Devils’ Leadership Model, Arizona State are bringing back most of their contributors on the offensive side of the ball and some of their defensive starters.

On the offensive side, Manny Wilkins remains under center for the Sun Devils for his senior year but he will have a new tailback group behind him.

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Sophomore Eno Benjamin, who rushed for 142 yards and one touchdown last season, will be the starter with sophomore Trelon Smith likely to be plugged in as the backup.

Wide receiver N’Keal Harry leads the pass catcher group for Arizona State as this could be his last season in Tempe before declaring for the 2019 NFL Draft as he’s been projected to be a first round pick.

There are some questions on the defensive side of the ball as they lost some key pass rushers in Tashon Smallwood, D.J. Calhoun, Christian Sam and JoJo Wicker.

Back for the Sun Devils, however, is linebacker Koron Crump who’s back for a fifth season after earning a medical redshirt after suffering a season-ending injury in Week 3 against Texas Tech last season.

Crump has posted 13 career sacks in 15 games and had four sacks in three games last season before suffering the injury against the Red Raiders. He has said that his goal is to earn two sacks in each game he plays in.

Defensive back Chase Lucas will look to anchor the secondary looking to build off his first season of action as the Sun Devils’ No. 1 corner.

Despite the spine of the team returning, Arizona State might have difficulty reaching a bowl game in Edwards’ first season.

Arizona State has one of the toughest schedules in the Pac-12 as they’ll host a likely-ranked Michigan State team in Week 2, a road game at San Diego State and play the top teams in the Pac-12 in Washington, Stanford, USC and Oregon.

It’s highly likely that ASU only wins four or five games, and with the Pac-12 passing a rule last week saying that you must have six wins to be bowl eligible, the Sun Devils might be shut out of a postseason game.

Next: ASU Football: Who’s the heir apparent to Manny Wilkins at QB?

We’ll see how Arizona State performs next season as the negative chatter around the team has gone down over the past few months.

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