ASU DC Gonzales wonders: Are young players ‘going to freak out’ Saturday?

PHOENIX — Danny Gonzales hasn’t been getting much sleep lately with his first game as Arizona State’s defensive coordinator approaching.

With all the fresh faces and new coaches on the ASU defense, it’s a wonder that he sleeps at all.

“I haven’t slept much the last two nights because I don’t know what’s going to happen on Saturday,” said Gonzales, whose Sun Devils host University of Texas San Antonio. “They’re so young. Are they going to freak out when the lights come on?”

The Sun Devils haven’t ranked among the top 100 NCAA Division I teams in total defense since 2014. They were 108th last season and came close to rock bottom in 2016 when ASU was 127th out of 128 teams, yielding 521 yards per game, according to NCAASports.com.

Gonzales was brought in by new head coach Herm Edwards to fix all of that, but he is depending on a youthful cast of characters to turn the defense around.

“We’ve got a bunch of talented guys that haven’t played a lot,” Gonzales said.

Many of those players are at the heart of the Sun Devil defense in the linebacking corps.

“It’s funny, right now, the guys you watch out there practicing, (Malik Lawal) is the veteran with about 12 snaps under his belt,” Gonzales said of the redshirt junior at outside linebacker. “So, I mean, that goes to tell you a little about our depth at linebacker.”

But the team isn’t only young there. The secondary is largely untested as well.

“Inside at the safety position, we’re just like we are at linebacker — not a whole lot of depth as far as guys that are experienced,” Gonzales said.

One of the few returning players from last season’s defense is redshirt sophomore cornerback Chase Lucas, the team’s leading tackler among the veterans.

“I’m going to lead by example,” Lucas said. “I’m not a talker. … I’m going to uplift you and bring you to a place that you haven’t been. It’s going to be a big role for me.”

There is a big difference in experience for the Sun Devils on the offensive side with proven players like redshirt senior quarterback Manny Wilkins and junior wideout N’Keal Harry.

“They’ve been doing this now for three seasons together,” offensive coordinator Rob Likens said.

Many of the defensive players haven’t even played a game, much less any together.

“The fact that we have four guys who have played Division I football on defense, that’s a scary thought,” Gonzales said. “We have seven of them that have never really played. That’s very concerning.”

Despite the youth of his defense, Gonzales said he is anxious to see what his new group can do against the Roadrunners Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium.

“I’m excited for them to play, but I’m nervous to see what they do,” Gonzales said.