ASU Football: Who’s awaiting in the wings should Manny Wilkins be out?

Manny Wilkins will be definitely be the starter for ASU football this season, but should he miss time, the quarterback depth would be tested.

The start of the college football season is less than two months away as Arizona State will kick off the Herm Edwards era on Sept. 1 against UTSA.

Manny Wilkins will be the starting quarterback for the third straight season after a career-year of 3,552 total yards and 27 total touchdowns last season helping the Sun Devils qualify for a bowl game.

Last season, Arizona State arguably had the deepest quarterback room in the country having Blake Barnett, Dillon Sterling-Cole, Brady White on standby if Wilkins couldn’t play.

Of that group, only Sterling-Cole is back after Barnett transferred to South Florida and White transferred to Memphis to reunite with former ASU offensive coordinator Mike Norvell.

With Wilkins atop the quarterback depth chart, there’s a considerable drop from him to the rest of the quarterbacks.

Behind Wilkins is Sterling-Cole, who is the only other quarterback on the roster with game experience having played in a couple of games in 2016 when Wilkins was sidelined with an injury.

Sterling-Cole started one game two years ago in Autzen Stadium against Oregon where he finished 21-of-38 passing for 302 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions as the Ducks won the game 54-35.

While Sterling-Cole is the only quarterback behind Wilkins with experience, some will say that redshirt freshman Ryan Kelley is the second-most talented quarterback on the roster.

The Basha High School product was one of the most highly sought-after quarterbacks in the country ranked in the top-20 of national recruiting rankings and the best quarterback in the state of Arizona.

Kelley was a three-year starter on the Basha varsity team and was a four-star prospect opting to stay home and go to Arizona State.

He will battle Sterling-Cole for the backup quarterback position and if Wilkins were to miss time with an injury, it would be interesting to see if Edwards would go with experience or who has the higher upside.

Next: ASU Football: Who’s the toughest opponents on the schedule?

Arizona State will have one of the best quarterbacks in the Pac-12 in Wilkins. With a talented running back group and a projected first-round pick of the NFL Draft in wide receiver N’Keal Harry, the Sun Devil offense should be one of the best in the conference.