Blogging with the Devils

Coach Dennis Erickson and quarterback Rudy Carpenter represented Arizona State at Pac-10 football media day in Los Angeles on Thursday, and here is what was said during their time at the podium.

The laugh tracks are not included.

OPENING STATEMENT (ERICKSON): Again, it’s a pleasure to be here and represent Arizona State, along with a guy who has been at Arizona State for a long time. I guess if you talk about a Sun Devil, you talk about Rudy Carpenter. You can talk about that football-wise, but if you’ve ever been to basketball or women’s softball games, about any game, he’s there. It’s great to have him here. He’s had a good summer. For me, it’s just great to be anywhere.

As far as our football team is concerned, when I signed a contract two years ago, they didn’t show me this year’s schedule. They showed me last year’s, when we played all of those games at home. I thought that was pretty good. I saw this year’s schedule, and it’s a little different than last year’s. We played those games at home that got us off to a good start. This year, we play Stanford in the second game, and Georgia, and USC and California on the road. It’s different than I anticipated, but that’s how it is.

We’re excited about this year. I look at our team, and the strength is Rudy at quarterback, but we have a lot of wide receivers back. We lost three starters on the offensive front. We have to replace those guys, and that’s an area we obviously have to get better. Our running back situation, with Keegan Herring coming back — he played extremely well — and Dimitri Nance, so that’s a strength for us.

Defensively, we have a lot of strength coming back. We lost Michael Marquardt at tackle, but we have both of our ends, Dexter Davis and Luis Vasquez, back. We lost Robert James at linebacker but have the others back. A key to our defense is a guy by the name of Troy Nolan, who started at safety last year and is a huge leader on our team. I look for great things from him. Omar Bolden is at corner.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Thomas Weber, a Lou Groza Award winner who missed only one field goal a year ago. I usually don’t coach kickers, but I did last year. When you have a weapon like that, you can do a lot of good things, so we are fortunate to have that. I’ll open it up for questions for Rudy or myself.

QUESTION: Your offensive line, obviously there were some struggles …

ERICKSON: Next question.

QUESTION: Give us an update on where that stands and how can it improve this year.

ERICKSON: We lost a great center in Mike Pollak. He will be difficult to replace. We will be young but athletic. I’m not a coach that’s convinced that you have to do this or that; you look at the strengths of your team and your players on offense. We’re going to throw the ball and get it off quicker and be in a little more four wideouts, things I’ve done over the years. I think I’ve run just about every offense. You try to take a little pressure off the offensive front, a little pressure of Rudy by doing that.

I think a lot of the sacks we had last year, a lot of it was play-action passes, so we were taking seven-step drops. We didn’t protect well up front, we didn’t protect well (with the backs). We didn’t get it off as quick as we should have, and Rudy will be the first to admit that. To me, it’s a temporary problem that I think can be solved. Getting rid of the ball in a quicker passing game should help.

One of my ex-quarterbacks is sitting here today, a guy who ran that stuff, Steve Clarkson. He played quarterback for me at San Jose State and now runs a quarterback camp. Everything he teaches, I taught him. So, thanks, Steve.

CLARKSON: I’ll send you the check.

ERICKSON: Please.

QUESTION: You tied for the conference championship last year. Could you talk about the race this year?

ERICKSON: You don’t pay attention to that. One thing about how they rate you — it’s over in about a week, because practice starts. Our league is so competitive. USC has set a high standard, and that’s the reality of it. Everyone in our league can beat anybody, and it’s been proven, year in and year out. That’s why it’s such a great league. To pick who will be second would be difficult. I guess we’ll find out starting next week.

QUESTION: I’m Steve Clarkson, a former pupil.

ERICKSON: You were pretty average, actually.

QUESTION: I’ll take that as a compliment.

ERICKSON: That is a compliment.

QUESTION: I have a question. You’ve worked with major universities, won national championships, and coached Heisman Trophy winners. Working with Rudy Carpenter, who is a senior and going into a tough conference where quarterback play is dominant, how does recruiting differ from being at Miami or the Pac-10? What are some of the tactics you use, and how do you portray that Arizona State will be here a long time?

ERICKSON: How many parts was that question? Wow. I’ll talk about Rudy, and the thing about him is that he has played a lot of football games and spends a lot of time in my office studying the game. He loves the game, and that separates him from a lot of quarterbacks. He understands the game and what is going on. You have a good quarterback, you have a chance to be successful.

As far as recruiting quarterbacks, that depends on how successful you are. When they watch Rudy on TV, if he’s successful, they will want to come and be part of the system.

QUESTION: Rudy, you guys had a great season last year and played in an emotional game on Thanksgiving. Even though you didn’t win, what did your team take away from that experience that can help you this season?

CARPENTER: It was a big-game atmosphere. We got a chance to play against USC on national TV and played them pretty well for a half. I think we’ll take that experience into this season and hopefully carry it over into the big games we’ll have against them and other teams this year. We have a tough schedule, so we’ll need that experience.

QUESTION: Georgia has not left the state to play a non-conference game in 40 years or something like that. What do you think of playing a big game like that, even though you have some games before that? What’s the challenge?

ERICKSON: Teams in the Pac-10 are starting to play games like that to get national prominence. If we want to get that prominence — USC has it, obviously — we have to do that. Oregon State is playing Penn State, we’re playing Georgia, UCLA is playing Tennessee. There are a lot of games like that. It’s great. I would like to play a game like that once a year — all of them at home, preferably. It puts you on a national stage against another great conference.

Obviously, (Georgia) is one of the better teams in the country. They are going to be ranked No. 1 or 2 with USC. It’s a huge game. We play Stanford the second game of the year, and that is a huge game because it is a league game. That’s a big game to me right now. But the opportunity to play a Southeastern Conference team is exciting, and it will be big for the people in Tempe.

The results of the Pac-10’s preseason football poll awaited reporters arriving at media day in Los Angeles on Thursday. Here they are, with — no surprise — six-time defending conference champion Southern California a near-unanimous choice:

1. USC (38), 389 points
2. Arizona State, 330
3. Oregon, 295
4. California (1), 274
5. UCLA, 204
6. Oregon State, 192
7. Arizona, 185
8. Washington, 139
9. Stanford, 76
10. Washington State, 61

No, the non-conformist who gave a first-place vote to California was not me. In fact, my crystal ball is very much in tune with the overall results — just flip UCLA and Oregon State, and you have my ballot.

The No. 2 slot is ASU’s highest preseason placement since the Sun Devils were picked second in 2003.

The preseason poll has correctly forecasted the Pac-10 champion in 25 of 47 years, including the last eight in a row. For those who think that the Trojans’ six straight years atop the preseason poll is getting old, consider that USC had an 18-year run in first place from 1965-82.

A resourceful Virtual Earth user has compiled a tour of Pac-10 football stadiums:

Pac-10 football media day is on Thursday in Los Angeles. I will be there to provide coverage in the Tribune as well as blog when warranted.

The schedule of coaches and players at the podium, which — as usual — is based on reverse order of the previous year’s final conference standings:

9:35 a.m. — Washington: Tyrone Willingham; quarterback Jake Locker
9:50 a.m. — Stanford: Jim Harbaugh; center Alex Fletcher
10:05 a.m. — Washington State: Paul Wulff; wide receiver Brandon Gibson
10:20 a.m. — California: Jeff Tedford; center Alex Mack
10:35 a.m. — Arizona: Mike Stoops; quarterback Willie Tuitama
10:50 a.m. — Oregon: Mike Bellotti; defensive back Patrick Chung
11:05 a.m. — Break
11:15 a.m. — UCLA: Rick Neuheisel; defensive tackle Brigham Harwell
11:30 a.m. — Oregon State: Mike Riley; defensive back Brandon Hughes
11:45 a.m. — Arizona State: Dennis Erickson; quarterback Rudy Carpenter
Noon — Southern California: Pete Carroll; linebacker Brian Cushing

Texas and Southern California played a classic contest in the 2006 Rose Bowl, and the Pac-10 once had designs on the two schools being conference rivals. The Pac-10 figures to have no such aspirations now.

Judging from some of the talk surrounding Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen’s impending retirement, the conference is evidently about to be released from the shackles of the one-man prison holding it back.

Prime television contracts! Better bowl slots! Expansion!

I believe that the Pac-10’s pathway to better TV exposure — whatever that means — and bigger bowls is not as easy as Hansen’s detractors think.

I know, however, that expansion will not occur unless some sweet-deal schools emerge for the Pac-10. And unless Texas and Colorado secede from the Big 12 and belatedly reciprocate the interest the Pac-10 showed during the 1990s, that is not happening.

As Hansen told me two years ago and reiterated last year: “Not only is (expansion) not on the back burner, it’s not on the stove.”

Tom Hansen

Hansen did not come to this conclusion unilaterally. He works for 10 school presidents.

Brigham Young? Utah? Boise State? Sorry, adding any of those schools would not be a net gain for the Pac-10.

The conference resides in four of the top 14 TV markets in the country, with Los Angeles second, San Francisco/San Jose sixth, Phoenix 12th and Seattle 14th. As a result, the Pac-10 has few options to increase its average market size, thus raising the TV revenue take-home for each school — the biggest motivation a conference has to expand.

Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth, No. 5 TV market) and Colorado (Denver, No. 18) were ideal expansion candidates. Schools in the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences — probably the only choices available to the Pac-10 — do not fit that bill.

Yes, Texas Christian of the Mountain West resides in Dallas/Fort Worth. However, in that market, the Horned Frogs are behind Texas (and perhaps Texas A&M) on the fan-base totem pole.

Also, a school’s reputation as a research institution has traditionally been important among conference presidents. That is a reason that San Diego State, which in the early 1990s made no secret of its desire to join the Pac-10, has not been seriously considered for an invitation.

Lastly, from a competition standpoint, why does the Pac-10 need to expand?

The football coaches seem to like the nine-game, round-robin Pac-10 schedule that decides a champion on the field, with no need for a conference championship game. Every school wants to play in the Los Angeles area at least once a year for recruiting purposes, and that would not be possible under a 12-team, two-division format.

As the Atlantic Coast Conference — and the sea of empty seats in Jacksonville, Fla., the last two years — have shown, a football championship game is no guarantee to be a smashing ticket-sales success.

Said Hansen, two years ago: “Our presidents have indicated that the conference is confident with who we are. Absent some very severe realignments elsewhere in Division I-A — which I don’t see at all on the horizon — we are pretty well settled in.”

I seriously doubt that has changed.

And it probably will not under a new commissioner.

Here’s CNNSI.com writer Stewart Mandel’s take on the Pac-10 football prowess, and how Arizona State could narrow the gap (a little) on Southern California.

But, in explaining why ASU could be a contender, brings back that old academic argument, which, yet again, might raise the ire of Sun Devil followers:

“But to me, the Pac-10’s sleeping giant — as it’s been for more than 30 years — is Arizona State. It’s never ceased to amaze me how the Sun Devils aren’t a more formidable program. You would think selling a 17-year-old male on Tempe would be as easy as convincing a 5-year-old to eat a Happy Meal.”

“First of all, most recruits take their official visits in December and January. Have you ever been to Arizona in December or January? And have you ever seen that campus? Two words: The Library. And while Arizona coach Mike Stoops took heat last winter for referring to ASU as a “junior college” … let’s be honest: He wasn’t that far off. Academic restrictions aren’t one of the program’s bigger obstacles.”

The Terry Richardson punt return against Arizona in 2005 will conclude 10 hours of Arizona and Arizona State football footage on Saturday. (Darryl Webb/Tribune)

Can’t get enough of the Arizona upset of Oregon? Want to see the Terry Richardson key third-down reception and punt return in the comeback against Arizona one more time?

Then set your TiVo or DVR. Or turn off the phones and plant yourself on the couch for, oh, about 10 hours.

Fox Sports Net Arizona will air a “Rewind” marathon on Saturday, starting with 2½ hours of footage from Arizona’s big wins last fall (Northera Arizona, Washington State, Washington, UCLA and Oregon) beginning at 1 p.m.

Then, it’s Arizona State’s turn, with four hours of recapping Colorado, San Diego State, Oregon State, Washington State, Washington, California, UCLA and the Wildcats beginning at 3:30 p.m.

At 7:30 p.m. is a replay of the 2005 Territorial Cup, which ASU fans won’t forget and UA fans won’t want to remember.

His senior season at Arizona State was derailed by injury, Ryan Torain has a chance to earn some valuable playing time in Denver come training camp. (Jennifer Grimes/Tribune)

All has been quiet on the Arizona State front since the football team announced it will stay in its new bubble in Tempe and go to Camp Tontozona for one scrimmage in August.

It’s a polarizing issue between upholding tradition, and the sights and sounds of  Camp T, and competing in the college football arms race which comes with the Sun Devils’ new indoor facility. Many of you weighed into us with your thoughts from this news, which we always encourage and welcome.

But here’s a less controversial nugget. NFL training camps begin at the end of the month, so I wanted to pass along this story about Ryan Torain, who feels like he’s found a pot of gold by being picked in the fifth round by Denver, a haven for unheralded running backs under coach Mike Shanahan.

Most fifth-rounders rarely see the field, except in Denver, where Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, Selvin Young and even former University of Arizona star Mike Bell thrived (for at least a while) after being second-day draftees.

Torain may be fourth on the depth chart heading into camp, but that, too, rarely seems to matter in the Mile High City.

Shamefully, Devon Kennard could suffer a wrath from ASU’s overzealous if he dares to make a leap and play elsewhere. (Ahwatukee Foothills News photo)

There was Phoenix Desert Vista senior-to-be Devon Kennard decked out in a blinding red suit on Sunday night, talking high school recruiting with Ross Shimabuku on Ch. 3.

Before Kennard revealed his top five schools of choice (Southern California, Arizona State, Texas, California and UCLA, in no particular order), Shimabuku listed his top five schools for Kennard, all of which were ASU logos.

This blog is normally a fan of Shimabuku, but he upstaged an already over-the-top premise of some baited-breath TV announcement, not even for a school of choice, but five schools of choice.

A top-five announcement-turned-TV-event is bad enough, but a top five of ways to force ASU down a kid’s throat was beyond homerish and pandering. It was embarrassing.

Kennard is a freak athlete, clearly the best in the past few years to come out of Arizona. He’s also an intelligent (academically and otherwise), grounded kid. His father, former Arizona Cardinal Derek Kennard, and older brother, Derek Jr., make sure of that.

ASU has more than a viable shot at him, which they wouldn’t have had a short time ago, and the fan base should be delighted.

But if Kennard chooses — gasp! — a school other than ASU, he’ll be villified by the desert masses, and a group of Sun Devil zealots might build a wall to keep him out.

Traitor for life!

It’s out there; a scary, but very real sentiment. It’s considered blasphemous for a local prep star to find his own way, without the jeers, behind-his-back jeers from local cronies and snide comments of “disgracing” the hometown ‘U.’

Is Shimabuku one of those? Doubtful, but the charade reinforced a sad state of affairs: Kennard, and other big-time East Valley recruits, will learn the hard way should they dare don a visitor jersey.

Michael Jones gets a high-five from ASU teammate Ike Davis after hitting a home run against Oklahoma during the 2008 NCAA tournament. (Darryl Webb/Tribune)

Arizona State football coach Dennis Erickson does not relish the thought of his most experienced wide receiver playing minor-league baseball, but he will allow Michael Jones to pursue his diamond dreams.

Jones, an outfielder, was drafted in the 29th round by the New York Yankees earlier this month. He recently told PinstripesPlus.com that he “hopes to get started right away and get into the Yankees’ organization.”

An NFL prospect, Jones can still play college football if he signs a pro baseball contract.

“We’ve talked about it,” Erickson said. “Obviously, there is a chance for him to make a little money. We should know something in the next week or so.”

Since his arrival as coach in December 2006, Erickson has been fine with Jones playing baseball for the Sun Devils. In three years, Jones has played in 94 games (34 starts), batting .225 (21-for-93) with a home run and 11 RBIs.

Erickson, however, is not as enthusiastic about Jones living the minor-league life, far away from Tempe, with a football season looming.

“But you have to let him do what he feels is best for him and his future,” Erickson said.

In 2007, playing minor-league baseball during the summer did not affect Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon once the season started. He was the Heisman Trophy front-runner and had the Ducks on the brink of the Bowl Championship Series title contest until suffering a season-ending knee injury in the 10th game.

The 6-foot-4, 203-pound Jones has 70 receptions for 1,109 yards and 13 touchdowns in three football seasons at ASU.

In other football matters, Erickson has been pleased with the progress of quarterback Rudy Carpenter, who had surgery on his right (throwing) thumb after spring practice.

“He’s close to 100 percent, a lot better than he was at the end of the year,” Erickson said. “He’s got more mobility, and he told me that he’s throwing the ball really well. He’ll only get better as the summer goes on.”

Many players are currently taking part in on-field, non-pads workouts that, per NCAA rules, cannot be attended by coaches.

Erickson is not concerned about the tight end position after the departure of projected starter Dane Guthrie, believed to be due to academics, and backup Lance Evbuomwan.

The training-camp competition figures to be wide open, with returnees Andrew Pettes, Jovon Williams and Dan Knapp and junior-college transfer Stanley Malamala leading the pursuit. ASU also signed incoming freshmen Steven Figueroa and Toa Tuitea (who might play defensive end).

In 2007, Pettes and Williams had one catch each, and Knapp redshirted.

“I still like what we have,” Erickson said. “Jovon, Pettes and Knapp have shown what they can do, and we brought Stanley in because we think he adds something for us. We kind of expected the thing with Guthrie might happen, so we weren’t off-guard.”

The Sun Devils plan to utilize more four- and five-receiver packages in the fall, meaning that a tight end will not be on the field as much.

There have been no position changes since the end of spring drills.

The Oct. 5, 2013, game between ASU and Notre Dame at the Dallas Cowboys’ new facility in Arlington, Texas, will be broadcast nationally and in prime time.

As part of the contract extension through 2015 reached between NBC and Notre Dame on Thursday, the Fighting Irish’s annual off-site home game (beginning in 2009) will kick off at night, presumably at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The ASU game is one of three off-site dates confirmed; Notre Dame plays Washington State in San Antonio in ’09 and Army in Chicago in ’10.

The Arizona State football team getting down to the 85 scholarship players allowed by the NCAA before the start of the 2008 season has been a hot topic since December. Here is a look at how the issue has evolved:

A check of the roster after the Holiday Bowl revealed 64 scholarship players with eligibility remaining. One of those 64 was defensive lineman Tranell Morant, who at that time was expected to petition the NCAA for a sixth season of eligibility. He did not, reducing the number to 63.

Twenty-seven players were signed in February, and another recruit, junior college tight end Stanley Malamala, came in later. Wide receiver Jarrell Barbour is not going to qualify academically, keeping the incoming number at 27, for 90 total.

Three reserves — wide receiver Rodney Glass, defensive lineman Zach Niusulu and linebacker Antone Saulsberry — have since left the program. And on Thursday, it was learned that backup tight end Lance Evbuomwan is departing.

As a result, the Sun Devils are believed to be at 86 scholarship players, barring any other academic casualties among the current roster and recruits scheduled to arrive in the fall.

If a player has to catch up during summer school, his eligibility status might not be known until after ASU begins fall practice on Aug. 4. Summer classes end on Aug. 8, with final grades due four days later.