Too many 'knuckleheaded' Sun Devils?

My late Tribune colleague, Bob Moran, always would use the same word to describe college athletes who got into trouble:

knuckleheads.

ASU cornerback Carr arrested

Well, in honor of Bob, a question: Does Arizona State have too many knuckleheads on its football team?

The indefinite suspension of cornerback Terell Carr, who was arrested on three misdemeanor offenses Tuesday, makes, by my count, 12 players who have been suspended since the start of the season.

Generally, it's not a good thing when a team has three times as many suspensions as victories.

The knee-jerk reaction is simple: Dennis Erickson has a bunch of thugs on his roster.

But that's far too easy of a generalization. Nine of the 12 suspensions came in the first game of the season and were academically related. That doesn't make the players any less culpable, but cheating on a test isn't exactly uncommon among college-age kids.

It also must be acknowledged that Erickson, acting in concert with ASU's student code of conduct, swiftly and decisively dealt with the more serious transgressions. Defensive end James Brooks was suspended the first three games, and there's a good chance Carr and tailback Ryan Bass - who is expected to transfer after the season - have put on the Sun Devil uniform for the last time.

In some cases, Erickson tacked on longer suspensions than the student code of conduct mandated.

"I wanted to get my point across," he said.

In that regard, Erickson can't be accused of mollycoddling. As far as we know - there's always a bit of unknown because the specific nature of the violations are not specified - the discipline he's handed out has been proportionate to the wrongdoing.

Still, the inordinate number of suspensions is troubling. So, too, is the fact that 11 of the 12 players - Carr is the exception - are Erickson recruits. That prompts the question: Is Erickson recruiting the wrong kind of kid to begin with, or are the players losing a sense of discipline once they get to ASU?

"It happens all over the country, unfortunately," Erickson said. "I'm not defending anything. Hopefully we can get guys in here that don't let it happen, but they're kids and they make mistakes."

Erickson said he's not overly concerned due to the fact that nine of the 12 suspensions were for a one-time academic matter: Kerry Taylor, James Morrison, Jonathan English, Steven Figueroa, Shelly Lyons, LeQuan Lewis, Kyle Johnson, Clint Floyd and Oliver Aaron sat for the season opener against Idaho State.

"To me, if I had 12 players suspended for a number of different things, that would be one thing," he said. "But that's not the case."

The suspensions can't directly be tied to ASU's 4-5 record. That has more to do with the Sun Devils' inability to get the ball in the end zone. But it would be naive to think they're unrelated, either. The Sun Devils rank 118th in the country in penalties per game (9.22), a statistic that reflects a lack of focus and discipline.

Erickson's history has to be considered here, as well. His teams at the University of Miami and Oregon State were plagued with discipline issues, leaving one to wonder whether ASU is going down the same road.

"Our players know what they can and can't do," Erickson said. "We talk to them all the time about it. If they do the wrong thing, they're going to get punished."

The suspensions can't be sitting well with athletic director Lisa Love. Fans already have expressed their discontent by staying away from Sun Devil Stadium. Now they're reading about three misdemeanor counts against a senior cornerback?

Yeah, that'll help sell the program.

One last thing: Terell, if you're going to get arrested, you might want to take the Sun Devil sweatshirt off for your mug shot.

It's not quite what ASU has in mind in terms of marketing.