Four Tontozona takeaways as Arizona State football returns to Tempe

The Tontozona experience served its purpose. As Arizona State packed up for the 97-mile return trip back to Tempe, the Sun Devils felt good about what they had accomplished during their week-long stay among the pines.

“I felt like we got a lot out of it,” sophomore quarterback Blake Barnett said. “Not just on the football field, but off the field, too. You really get to bond and know people more than you would just going to school every day and practicing and lifting. I mean, you’re living with these guys for almost a week straight. People are talking bunk-to-bunk before bed. There were a lot of real conversations out here.”

“Best fall camp I’ve been a part of,” senior center A.J. McCollum said.

At the same time, ASU has much to do. The Sun Devils have 25 days before the season kicks off against New Mexico State. Four takeaways from Camp Tontozona:

Finalize the front five

The offensive line actually had some nice moments at Tontozona. Offensive line coach Rob Sale admitted that while coaches never are satisfied with depth, ASU’s sixth, seventh and eighth linemen had started to emerge.

At the same time, Sale’s experimentation bit the Sun Devils during Saturday’s scrimmage. Four players – McCollum, junior Sam Jones, sophomore Cade Cote and sophomore Cohl Cabral – took first-team reps at center last week. As a result, ASU had several poor snaps in the scrimmage. Not all were on the centers – a few the quarterbacks simply mishandled – but even one is too many.

“I wouldn’t even call it an issue,” Barnett said. “It was more of a mishap. There are a substantial number of guys working at center and with that you get a different snap, different speed, different location every time, so it’s kind of foreign to us.”

The sooner ASU can finalize its front, however, the sooner the Sun Devils can start building chemistry.

“It’s never as good as you think it is, and it’s never as bad as you think it is,” Jones said. “We’ll get a lot of those things figured out.”

Keep building defensive confidence

Perhaps the most satisfied coach leaving Tontozona: defensive coordinator Phil Bennett. The Sun Devils were surprisingly solid in Saturday’s scrimmage. They pressured the quarterback and were strong in pass coverage.

“We were able to pressure without being stupid,” Bennett said. “We’re doing something that we call ‘replaced blitzing,’ trying to break the protections down, and I think that’s helped us. I told them: ‘I’ll be the most disappointed guy in the world if we don’t make drastic improvement.’ ”

Not long after the Tontozona scrimmage, senior linebacker DJ Calhoun tweeted: “Our defense will shock a lot of people this year … just wait on it.”

After last year’s dismal performance, any improvement – no matter how big or small – would be welcomed among the fan base. Saturday’s scrimmage was an encouraging step, but it can’t be the last.

“We’ve got everything implemented,” Bennett said. “Now instead of just running it, we got to be exceptional in how we do it.”

Elevate quarterback play

As fans walked to their cars after Saturday’s scrimmage, many grumbled about ASU’s quarterback play. Both junior Manny Wilkins and Barnett failed to impress.

Wilkins last week took at least 80 percent of ASU’s first-team snaps, suggesting this remains his job to lose. While Wilkins at times looked sharp in practice, he never found much of a rhythm Saturday. Put simply, he has to be better. And he realizes as much.

“They’re both maturing as players,” Napier said. “They’re both getting more comfortable within the system. They’ve both had good days and bad days, but I like where we’re at. Once we narrow down who’s going to play, we’ll start developing a little better chemistry. Our execution level will increase, but we definitely need to improve our chemistry and our timing.”

Find a spot for No. 6

In most cases, true freshmen who play their first seasons don’t have significant roles. They’re good enough to help on special teams or back up starters, getting experience in limited duty.

Eno Benjamin can do more.

The freshman running back was a star of Tontozona week. On his first touch in Saturday’s scrimmage, he gashed ASU’s first-team defense for 32 yards. The way it looks, he simply won’t back up seniors Kalen Ballage and Demario Richard, he’ll play alongside them.

“You can see he’s very productive,” Napier said. “One of the things I’ve always believed about running backs: You put on that high school film, if a guy can run the ball, sometimes it’s a natural deal. He certainly has instincts and natural ability with the ball. We need to continue to work on his ball security, but I think overall he’s one of the players we’ll try to get the ball to.”

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Contact Doug Haller at 602-444-4949 or at [email protected]. Follow him at Twitter.com/DougHaller. Download and subscribe to the ASU Pick Six Podcast, available on iTunes.