Yesterday's countdown series installment highlighted Mitchell Fraboni, whose ability to cleanly snap the ball helped anchor some great special teams units over the years. Today, with 62 days left until Sun Devil football returns, we look at someone else whose snapping ability will be closely watched this year: Ben Coleman.
A California native, Coleman was a standout two-way player in high school. With over 120 tackles and 15 sacks in his high school career, Coleman was rated as a top 60 defensive tackle prospect by ESPN, but he was also rated as a top 35 guard prospect.
Coleman was a highly graded recruit, finishing right on the cusp between 3 and 4 stars, but he chose to commit to California in Berkeley. In his second season, Coleman earned the starting left guard job, and was named an All-Pac 12 honorable mention for his performance.
Over the next two years, Coleman would show off his versatility, making 9 starts at left tackle and 16 starts at left guard. He helped power an electric run game led by Jaydn Ott, but a mini mass exodus after the 2022 season led to Coleman entering the transfer portal, where he chose Arizona State.
Coleman's first year in Tempe didn't go so well. After suffering an injury in spring practices, he ended up missing the entire season, though he did earn a medical redshirt for it.
That led to Coleman emerging as the starting left guard for the Sun Devils this past season, where he was the highest graded offensive lineman on the team and did not allow a single sack on the year. Despite that, Coleman was not selected to any All-Big 12 teams.
One Arizona State lineman who was selected, and the only other Sun Devil to yield zero sacks last year, was center Leif Fautanu. We profiled Fautanu for this series earlier as he embarks on his NFL journey, but he's left a sizable hole in the center of the offensive line.
That's where Coleman comes in.
Despite having never played center before, Coleman is sliding over and taking on the most important interior offensive line spot, replacing Fautanu. In spring practices, Coleman started off with some inconsistencies in snapping the ball. However, he seemed to get a better handle on it by the end of spring ball, offering optimism in the move.
Coleman has been a model of consistency at both Cal and Arizona State, but a successful move to center could cement his legacy and catapult him to the NFL. And in just 62 days, we'll get our first real look at how Coleman anchors this offensive line.