(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Arizona State has four games left, and a whole crop of young defensive lineman waiting for their chance to break into the lineup.
At the season’s beginning, a trio of upperclassmen claimed all three starting places, and most of the snaps, along the Sun Devils’ defensive front. But injuries both within the group and at other spots in the defense have cleared space at the top of the depth chart.
Defensive line coach Michael Slater has no shortage of combinations to test.
“The position that they play is a physical position,” he said. “Injuries occur and the next man has to step up. Those guys are the guys that are down the line that would be the ones to step up.”
Renell Wren was the first reserve lineman to make a splash this fall, turning in a breakout performance against Washington last month in his first extending appearance of the season. The sophomore had quickly racked up 2.5 tackles for loss on the year, but suffered an injury of his own in the last week’s loss to USC, jeopardizing his availability for this Saturday’s meeting with Colorado.
“I think Wren will play,” defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said on Wednesday. “He practiced today. I just talked to him and he said, ‘Coach, I’ll be ready’ and Michael (Slater) has done a good job getting him back in the mix.”
But a limited Wren could force ASU’s hand against the Buffaloes and it looking down the bench for players to plug in at the heart of the defense. There will be options aplenty.
“I know it’s going to be a good rotation because everybody is nicked up and banged up,” freshman defensive lineman Shannon Forman said. “But at the same, we are still going to play.”
Forman, a true freshman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had seen little of the field for the season’s first seven games. But, after Wren’s injury-induced exit last Saturday, Forman was inserted into the game. Behind-the-scenes, he had been preparing himself for his entrance.
“Getting strong. Learning about film more and taking it serious,” he said. “Being in high school, a lot of people don’t take film serious. They take it serious when they do highlights but they don’t take it serious preparing. I’ll watch film 30 minutes a day, just to get myself ready for the opportunity to play, like USC, and it happened.”
Back in training camp, Forman impressed after senior defensive tackle Alani Latu missed time with an arm injury. Though Latu recovered for the start of the season, he was moved off the line and out to the devil-linebacker position in the wake of Koron Crump’s season-ending injury.
Thanks to the patchwork done by Bennett and company, the final month of 2017 will give the unsung – and unseen – workers of ASU’s defensive line a long-awaited opportunity.
In addition to Forman, the Sun Devils have George Lea (redshirt sophomore), Jordan Hoyt (redshirt junior transfer), D.J. Davidson (freshman), and Jalen Bates (redshirt sophomore) as options. The whole pack of them have had to keep themselves sharp while being patient backups.
“Because they are not with the ones, they don’t get many physical reps,” Slater said. “So it’s important they get a lot of mental reps watching what the other guys are doing in front of them because the opportunities to get reps are going to be far more limited.”
The work hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“It’s been great seeing guys like Shannon, D.J., Renell, George, all those guys get better over the course of the weeks,” senior defensive lineman Tashon Smallwood said. “As a defense we have great confidence in them.”
Leaders like Smallwood, Latu and junior JoJo Wicker have played important roles in the growth of the soon-to-be relied upon players.
“Being behind a four-year starter helps you out a lot,” Forman said, speaking of Smallwood specifically. “Some days, you don’t know how to do [something], but he knows how; you just learn it from him. It builds up and helps you out.”
As a graduating senior, Smallwood’s teaching efforts will pay off not only now, but also when he departs campus at this season’s end. He wants to make sure his successor is ready by being a leader.
“[I] help them when I can,” he said. “Help them with different scheme things, things they don’t understand.”
But while the elder Sun Devils players have provided positive encouragement, the message from ASU’s seasoned coaching staff has been much more direct.
The young group needs to be ready. No excuses.
“It’s very intense. They are going to push you; they are going to love you, but they are going to push you,” Forman said of the defensive staff. “They want you to do it right, they want you to do it their way. You can’t do it your way because you don’t know a lot about what they do. They know a lot…You have to learn their way.”
When it comes to developing players, the staff has no reservations about pushing the backups to their limits.
“They bring in a good intensity that builds up. If one person ain’t going, they are going to make him go. They are going to push him to the limit and they aren’t going to stop.”
Head coach Todd Graham dubbed November as a time for champions. But on ASU’s defensive line, it might be a time to prove: Prove their worth on the roster; prove their ability in the trenches. Prove they can be the future of the defense.
Smallwood, Wicker and Latu won’t be in Tempe much longer. The next generation of Sun Devil lineman are on the verge of breaking through.
“You just have to go out there and produce what you can do and everything is going to lay out for yourself,” Forman said.
The competition is thick, but the reward in priceless.
And whoever does receive the coveted playing-time will have earned it. There is no special strategy to win favor; no politicking for places on the field.
Says Forman: “There is no kiss-butt. You just do what they say.”
