Sun Devils wrap up week at Tontozona

PAYSON — The Sun Devils wrapped up their Camp Tontozona trip on Saturday under sunny skies, practicing for an hour and 20 minutes, ending about 40 minutes early.

Players ran through some drills but there was also work on the twominute offense and red-zone offense.

Afterward, players and coaches remained on the field, posing for pictures and signing autographs. The crowd was estimated at about 2,500.

When asked if he would consider extending his team's stay in Payson longer than a week, head coach Herm Edwards replied, "I'm not going to say no but I'm definitely not going to say yes either."

The Sun Devils are off on Sunday but return to Tempe with practice resuming on Monday night. They are open to the public.

Leading off

"We got a lot of things accomplished. We didn't have any injuries. You're always nervous when you have some live drills and I thought we got to look at a lot of young guys. There is a lot of competition on this team. I think when we get home we'll hone in on offense, defense and special teams and figure out the rotations."

– ASU coach Herm Edwards Starting temperature: 84. Ending temperature: 88.

Attire: Full pads.

Media viewing: Entire practice.

Briefly

❚ Edwards said once again he plans to announce a starting quarterback on Monday and is also in the process of finalizing a depth chart for the offense and defense.

❚ True freshman Jayden Daniels was the first quarterback working with the first team in both the twominute drill and red-zone work. Joey Yellen, also a true freshman, was second. Junior Dillon Sterling-Cole, the backup last year, came out for one series in the two-minute drill but did not came back out after that. Edwards had said Friday that SterlingCole was dealing with a bit of a sore shoulder.

❚ Sixth-year senior Tyler Whiley had a couple of stellar moments and is still working his way back after missing practice time this week because he was sick. The ailment was serious enough that he was isolated from the rest of the team so others did not get sick.

Whiley had an interception of a pass by Yellen that was intended for tight end Nolan Matthews. He also had a nice defensive play, knocking away a pass during the red-zone work.

One of the key position battles has been at safety with Whiley the leading candidate. He was the likely starter at that position before sustaining a season-ending injury last August.

Junior Evan Fields has been challenging for that spot. Fields did have a scary moment when he leaped high in the air to break up a pass and landed awkwardly. He was down for a few minutes but got up and walked off and was able to return on the next set of drills.

❚ There were several players who remained out with injuries, including wide receivers Geordon Porter (hamstring) and John Humphrey (hamstring), defensive lineman Jermayne Lole (stinger) and linebackers Tyler Johnson (shoulder) and Khaylan Kearse-Thomas (soreness).

Kearse-Thomas and Lole are expected back next week with Johnson likely able to start stepping up his participation. Johnson is the team's best pass rusher so getting him back as soon as possible is a priority.

❚ Among the others singled out Saturday by defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales was sophomore linebacker Kyle Soelle.

Up next

Sunday: No practice. Monday: 7-9:10 p.m. Tuesday: 7-9:10 p.m. Wednesday: 7-9:10 p.m. Thursday: 7-9:10 p.m. Friday: 7-9 p.m.