ASU Football: Scouting Report, Colorado Buffaloes
With the football season officially upon us, it is time to scout out what sort of competition ASU football will see this Saturday in the Colorado Buffaloes.
The 5-1 Sun Devils will look to take the momentum of beating UCLA, and roll with it. In order to improve to 6-1 on the season ASU will have to face, possibly, their biggest challenge yet in the Buffaloes.
In order to make sure that the Sun Devils don’t lose sight of how big this game is, they will need to make sure they keep an eye on a couple of players on the Buffaloes that have the potential to be the stars of the game if they aren’t properly attended to.
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1. Wide Receiver Shay Fields
Fields has been an absolute beast for the Buffs so far this season. Through six games Fields is averaging 82 yards a game and already has 5 touchdowns on the season. Fields is very similar to Chad Hansen for Cal. A reliable and explosive receiver that is going to tear you up if he isn’t held in check.
Fields has something that Hansen didn’t have, pure speed. Fields is the type of receiver that will turn a 5 yard catch into a 20 yard gain just because of his speed when he has the ball in his hands. Dealing with a wide receiver with speed is hard, especially when you have a hard time tackling like the ASU secondary does. If they don’t keep Fields in check, he could have him self a record-setting night.
2. Linebacker Jimmie Gilbert
Gilbert has been the star of the Buffaloes defense this season. While he only has 21 tackles on the season, five of those tackles have been for losses. He has four sacks on the season, and averages 12 loss-yards per sack. If that isn’t enough, he also four forced fumbles on the season. Simply put, this man knows how to play defense.
Whoever is at quarterback for the Sun Devils will need to be aware of where Gilbert is on the field at all times. They will need to alert their offensive line of where he is at too, because as a linebacker he thrives on shooting through gaps created by the D-line in front of him. If the Sun Devils don’t pay attention to where he is at, then we might see Arizona State go down to their fourth string quarterback by the end of the night.
These two men have the ability to change the game. They both have insane amounts of talent and they will definitely be on the top of the Sun Devils’ watch list for Saturday’s game.
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