What teams will be able to up their game and take that proverbial "next step"? There is a team out here in the desert that will have the talent on both sides of the ball that could be a sleeper team in terms of possibly getting to the college football playoff. That team is the Arizona State Sun Devils. Some of you might be saying "what?", yes the Sun Devils are certainly poised to make a move in the Pac-12 South division, the whole Pac-12, and maybe, just maybe the college football playoff. Lets delve into the possibilities here.
First of all, to win at any level you need direction. The Devils have plenty of that with their Head Coach Todd Graham. Coach Graham has slowly restored a lot of the discipline that was missing in the program under Dennis Erickson, who as we all know doesn't really instill to much personal discipline with his players. Ever since Graham stepped onto the grounds of ASU, he has taken a very disciplined approach with his staff and his players. The players know where they stand and what the consequences are when they are late to practice/meeting, they miss a class or miss an assignment on the field. When Coach Graham first came to the desert, I was very skeptical of him and his coaching abilities because of the way he came here. I was thinking he was using this job as "spring board" to another, bigger job. However, he has proved me wrong. He has awakened what is thought of as "sleeping giant" in Arizona State. He has got a lot talent to come to Tempe to play football and he has coached that talent up to perform at a high level on the field. He was one victory away from getting his team to the Pac-12 Championship game against the Oregon Ducks. He has plenty of talent returning for 2015 season and will be looking to that talent to make the next big step in terms of winning the Pac-12 Championship and maybe more.
Another thing that will help the Devils take that step to a championship is that they will have a great defense coming back in 2015. They will have nine guys returning on defense, and it'll be a still growing and meshing defense. All the game experience that they got last season will go a long way in helping them get that crucial stop that they needed in the Territorial Cup or against a team like the Oregon State Beavers, who ruined their playoff hopes with that huge upset win. The defense got much better after being humiliated by UCLA at home. The Bruins put 60 on the scoreboard against them and left many people wondering what the coaches were going to do after that Bruin game. What they did was turn a defense that was playing on it's heels, to a team that was playing aggressive, flying around to the ball and making things very difficult for the opposing offense. If the players can keep up the hard nosed attitude towards playing defense, things will turn up very well for the Sun Devils and their fans.
On the offensive side of the ball, they will be just as solid as they return eight guys. When a team has an experienced quarterback in college they will be in a great position to win every game that they play. ASU is no different. When Taylor Kelly went down, in steps Mike Bercovici and the wins keep coming. Now, as the Devils enjoyed how Kelly could run around, they won't get that from Bercovici because he's not a runner, but in my opinion, he is a more polished quarterback. He has a much better arm than his predecessor, better footwork, and has performed well on a big stage. DJ Foster will be coming back as well to give Bercovici a great weapon out of the backfield. He will also have a three returning offensive linemen coming back as well. They will have to replace two offensive tackles, so the depth of the team will be tested there. A quarterbacks best friend is always a good tight end. They have Kody Kohl coming back and he's a junior. On the outside you have Cameron Smith coming back to provide some leadership after the departure of Jaelen Strong to the NFL. Smith is also a junior, so his experience as a starter will be invaluable to the coaches and the offense.
All in all, for fans NOT to be excited about next fall, would be a crime. The Sun Devils have 17 returning starters on offense and defense. When you combine that with the leadership of Coach Graham things will be very exciting around Sun Devil Stadium. Forks Up!
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