The defense dominated Arizona State football practice on Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some good news for the quarterbacks.
Each of the quarterbacks struggled when it came to team segments, but were able to move the ball in the two-minute drill.
Coach Kenny Dillingham praised the performance.
“The defense dominated every half until the second minute and then the offense got 95 yards in a row in the two-minute drill, so really good work for us as far as being able to protect the quarterback’s runs in the two-minute drill and being able to catch up and tackle,” Dillingham said. “Really good job by the defense until the second minute and then really good execution by the offense.”
Some time was spent on red zone plays, but the best part of the day were the long drives, one by redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt, the leading candidate for the starting spot, and the other by graduate transfer Jeff Sims, who had a poor performance in Saturday’s practice game.
“The quarterbacks dominated the field pretty solidly at the end,” Dillingham said. “I was mad at Sam. Sam is smart, so he tries to coach sometimes, and I’m a firm believer that as a quarterback, you coach like a game and you don’t force anything you don’t want to try. Right. That’s what you can do when you’re a three- or two-year veteran. You have to get perfect habits in place now. What I really liked was today I tackled Sam and kicked him off the field. I went at him, and then he came back to me and said, ‘Let’s go.’ He didn’t even get rattled. Then Jeff jumped in. Jeff had a good day. After a bad start, the quarterbacks’ response was better today.”
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The best play of the day was when Leavitt threw the ball into the corner of the end zone, where Melquan Stovall leapt and caught it one-handed despite the presence of safety Xavion Alford, the team’s best defender. The play resulted in a two-point conversion after a touchdown pass from Leavitt to Malik McClain.
Sims had the next series, which ended with Troy Omeire making a diving catch in the end zone and then adding another for a two-point conversion. A key play in that drive was a third-down completion from Sims to tight end Markeston Douglas that went 25 yards.
The team will return to the practice field on Wednesday, but will train at night under floodlights at Mountain America Stadium.
