Special teams again a strength for Devils
As the 2020 football season approaches we continue our Arizona State position-by-position series.
Today: Special teams
Overview
This was an area in which the Sun Devils excelled last season, showing marked improvement in all areas. That trend is likely to continue this season with the majority of the contributing parties returning to the fold.
Both specialists are back in punter Michael Turk and place kicker Cristian Zendejas, both juniors.
Turk had 67 kicks for and average of 46 yards which ranked him 11th among all Division I FBS punters. He also had 23 punts of 50 or more yards with a best of 75 yards and landed 26 inside the 20.
His return is most surprising because he declared for the NFL Draft, went to the combine and hired an agent, only to go undrafted. The school applied for an exemption, citing the coronavirus as an extenuating circumstance with Turk not being able to increase his stock through private workouts. Turk had his eligibility reinstated, which is believed to be the first time an athlete went through the entire draft process and was reinstated.
Zendejas, a product of Chandler Perry High School, started the season as a walk-on backup to Brandon Ruiz. But when Ruiz was injured, then opted to leave the program (he is now at Mississippi State), Zendejas assumed the role. He does not boast the length that Ruiz did but was stellar, making 23 of 27 field goal tries, which included an 18-for-19 on tries of 39 yards or shorter. He was also 29-for-30 on extra point kicks.
The Sun Devils used three different players on kickoffs — Zendejas (now on scholarship), Josh Plaster and Kevin Macias. All three were in the mix for the job this season as well but it went, at least for now, to Logan Tyler, a graduate transfer from Florida State.
The Sun Devils were also sound in the return game, with eventual firstround draft pick Brandon Aiyuk averaging 31.86 yards on 14 kick returns and 16.14 on 14 punt returns. While he has departed the Sun Devils have several candidates who could fill in. The depth chart released by the school this week has newcomers Rachaad White and Daniyel Nagata as the top two return men with Jack Jones and Ricky Pearsall listed on punt return.
The coverage teams also excelled. In fact, sophomore Case Hatch was named a first-team All Pac-12 selection just for his showing on special teams coverages.
Senior Erik Dickerson, a graduate of Scottsdale Chaparral High School, has been reliable as long snapper and he too returns.
Three questions to be answered
1. Who is likely to emerge as the heir to Aiyuk? Last season Aiyuk was primary returner on both kickoffs and punts. This year, the Sun Devils are going to have a lot of options and it might be a few games before they decide on one, if they even do. The best kickoff-return option among the returning players is speedy sophomore Geordon Porter, who looked like he would fill the role last year but sustained a severe hamstring pull that resulted him missing summer conditioning as well as the nonconference games.
By the time he was healthy Aiyuk had established himself. White and Ngata are listed on the depth chart as the kick returners but the Sun Devils have a lot of options.
2. Who will be the X-factor on special teams? The wild card in ASU’s plans is graduate transfer Logan Tyler, who came over from Florida State and was brought in to take Turk’s place. When Turk was reinstated by the NCAA, ASU informed Tyler of that fact but he still wanted to come to Tempe and is expected to battle for playing time. He is going to handle kickoff duties but can handle longer field goals because he has a stronger leg than Zendejas. Tyler’s versatility means ASU will have great depth in all facets of special teams.
3. Where can ASU use the most improvement? Distance. The Sun Devils were solid when it came to shorter field goals but they would benefit by being able to count on some longer ones as well. Last season the longest for Zendejas was 43 yards which doesn’t quite measure up to the range of most top schools. Special teams coach Shawn Slocum says Zendejas has expanded his range about five yards and improved his consistency as well and the addition of Tyler means the Sun Devils are better off in that regard this season with Tyler able to handle longer attempts.
About the coach
Slocum is the longest-tenured member of the ASU staff, heading into his sixth year. He was on staff for the final three years of previous coach Todd Graham’s tenure, serving as associate head coach and special teams coordinator. With the departure of Rob Likens and Donnie Yantis, Slocum is now the only holdover from the previous regime.
Slocum worked for the Green Bay Packers from 2006-10 with that run highlighted by a Super Bowl win in 2010. He worked with special teams in his time there as well.
Shawn’s father, R.C. Slocum, was head coach for Texas A&M from 19892002 and is the winningest coach in Texas A&M football history.
From the coach
“Every job is open. We’re going to be evaluating our personnel and whatever makes the team the strongest is what we’ll do. We have a lot of players that we’ll be looking at and we’re confident in all of them. It’s good problem to have. It’s about who is going to be consistent.”