TEMPE, Ariz. -- De'Chavon 'Gump' Hayes blurred past the ASU secondary on the first snap from scrimmage Friday night and a perfectly-thrown, 40-plus-yard pass by Mike Bercovici dropped right into his mitts. And out.
That summed up Arizona State's spring game in a nutshell. It wasn't the only drop in a game in which the offense somehow won 37-17 -- the point system might need a review -- but such an outcome is far from the reality. The fan-friendly event held at three-fourths of Sun Devil Stadium was nowhere near as clean as spring practices were, and coach Todd Graham knows it served its purpose.
ASU used 70 yards of the field with the south end zone gutted. Construction workers looked on as the Sun Devils ran south-to-north, series after series, most of which ended in stops by the defense.
"Some kids were confused," Graham said of the limited field. "I was confused some, but I acted like I knew what I was doing. It's awesome to come under the lights, see the construction, see the progress, see where we're headed, see the huge commitment we have here to build a national power. That's what tonight was all about."
Some oberservations from the spring game:
Sure, the defense got lucky with a few dropped balls from ASU's receivers. But it overwhelmed freshman third-string quarterback Brady White, and can feel good about holding down Bercovici and the run game -- though it ran a vanilla offense to not give anything away so early in the year. Bercovici did, however, connect with D.J. Foster on a 50-yard pass similar to Hayes' drop and later found Ellis Jefferson for a long score over the top.
Yeah, this DJ Foster at WR thing will work out just fine. (Also, VINTAGE @MikeBerco). #ASUSpring pic.twitter.com/d5HMoTrY2o
— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) April 11, 2015
"I really feel we improved every week defensively," Graham said, noting senior corner Lloyd Carrington as an example. "You can take a step back with nine returning starters if you don't work with a sense of urgency."
Sophomore defensive back DeAndre Scott exemplified the advantage the defense had in a scrimmage where no tricky play-cards were used. He read a receiver screen and picked Bercovici on a quick-hit pass, but the interception was rescinded because of defensive holding.
Early enrollee George Lea earned praise from Graham, while corner Lloyd Carrington was called the most improved player this spring. He's covered Foster well.
"He's continuously making me better," Foster said of Carrington. "He's definitely getting me better being at a new position (at receiver)."
The quarterback making the most out of the plays the defense sniffed out was Manny Wilkins. He showed off his legs several times, once juking a defender out of his shoes. The second-teamer began the scrimmage wearing a Go-Pro video camera attached to the top of his helmet but lost it after he was tackled by the face mask early in the scrimmage.
There weren't as many red zone trips as ASU might've liked, but when it did get there the offense did a good job punching the ball in. Offensive coordinator Mike Norvell used heavy sets such as freshman Nick Ralston playing fullback in front of Demario Richard, or going with tight ends Kody Kohl, Dan Vear and Raymond Epps.
"Are you OK? You took a shot right in the kidney ... wow. That made me bend over." -- Todd Graham to student reporter Elaine Wilson, who took a Brady White incompletion in the gut.
The Sun Devils practice on Sunday and Tuesday to close their spring, and Graham said he'll turn the attention to heavier special teams work. They will also take a peek at Texas A&M, their first opponent of 2015, along with USC and UCLA, which are the third and fourth games on the schedule that open ASU's Pac-12 play.
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