ASU gets defensive in scrimmage

CAMP TONTOZONA - Conventional college football wisdom dictates that the defense is ahead of the offense early in training camp, and Arizona State’s intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday served as affirmation.

See a slideshow of ASU's scrimmage.

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The Sun Devil defenders got the better of the offense, allowing just two touchdowns. A first-string offense that was hampered by penalties and missed assignments reached the end zone just once.

However, with three weeks to get things right before the regular season begins, coach Dennis Erickson could afford to shrug.

“I thought we played good defensively; I’m happy to see that,” Erickson said. “That’s not how it was the last few days of camp. It was good to see the defense step up. Offensively, we’ll move the football. I’m not that worried about what happened (Saturday). We’ll move the football.”

There will be reason to be concerned, however, if ASU’s defense continues to contain the offense as camp goes on. That happened last year — a harbinger of what was to come in the regular season, when the offense was sporadic.

Quarterback Rudy Carpenter completed 8 of 17 passes for 116 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

“The offense has had a good camp so far,” Carpenter said. “It was good to see the defense do well in the first live scrimmage situation in camp. We need that to take the pressure off the offense.”

Early in the scrimmage, a Carpenter touchdown pass to receiver Kyle Williams was negated by a penalty, and the Sun Devils dropped four passes. Another drive ended with a weird interception — defensive tackle Jonathan English tipped a Carpenter pass, and it fell into the lap of the other defensive tackle, Jon Hargis, who had fallen to the ground.

Later, however, reserve running back Keegan Herring electrified a crowd of about 4,000 with a 36-yard run in which he bounced off tackles and cut across the field. That gave the offense a jolt, and the next possession by the first team was an eight-play, 70-yard march that culminated in Carpenter’s 14-yard scoring toss to tight end Brent Miller.

“The second half of the scrimmage was a lot better for us,” said Herring, who had eight carries for 50 yards. “That was the real ASU.”

Among the defensive standouts were true freshman rush end James Brooks, who joined the second-team unit after Tranell Morant suffered a knee injury. On back-to-back plays against the third-team offense, Brooks batted down a pass and engulfed running back Jarrell Woods for a loss.

The 6-foot-4, 271-pound Brooks displayed impressive speed in chasing down Carpenter on a run to the sidelines.

“He’s got a lot of talent,” first-team defensive end Luis Vasquez said of Brooks. “When he first got here, we saw him as a project, a lot of raw potential. Once he gets low, fires off and (learns technique), he is going to be a hell of a player.”

Vasquez and defensive tackle Michael Marquardt got early pressure on Carpenter. The junior quarterback planned to work on receiver check-offs on Saturday but was unable to because of the pass-rush heat.

“I’m a little disappointed in the mental aspect,” Erickson said. “We’ll score points, but for us to compete week in and week out, we have to become a good defensive program.”