Big plays again highlight ASU practice
Aug 17, 2012, 9:16 PM | Updated: 11:36 pm
CAMP TONTOZONA — If you like your football to feature big plays, you might want to get up to Camp Tontozona to check out what Arizona State’s offense is up to.
Thursday’s practice featured a 99-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Kelly to Rashad Ross.
There weren’t any plays that long on Friday, but there were plenty of offensive fireworks.
On the first play of the morning’s session, redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Eubank aired out a pass down the left seam to Ross that covered 80 yards.
Not to be left out of the mix, a few plays later Kelly found J.J. Holliday on an 80-yard strike.
And then, wouldn’t you know it, third-string QB Mike Bercovici then uncorked an 80-yard scoring strike to JC transfer Alonzo Agwuenu.
Obviously, the early offensive onslaught left head coach Todd Graham pleased.
“I thought the guys did a great job — the offense coming on like gangbusters, they had about ten explosives today,” he said. “Rashad Ross, Alonzo [Agwuenu], Eubank, I think Taylor hit one big one, so that was very impressive today.”
But of course, in practice when your offense does well, it’s performing at the expense of the defense, which Graham acknowledged.
“On the other side of it, we’ve got to do a better job of not giving up cheap touchdowns on defense,” the first-year head coach said.
Kelly, who continues to hold down the number one quarterback spot although no official announcement on the starting job has been made, was also pleased with the offensive firepower the Sun Devils showed Friday.
“We came out with a lot of energy at the beginning of practice,” Kelly said. “It’s our last practice out here, so we decided to come out and take some shots on the defense. We hit some big plays — thanks to the o-line for the good blocking and the receivers making the big catches.”
Kelly should see first team reps during Saturday’s scrimmage, which will wrap up the Sun Devils’ stay at Camp Tontozona.
