ASU offense leaves Herm Edwards smiling after Saturday’s mock game

With 12 days left until Arizona State’s kickoff against USC, head coach Herm Edwards is smiling.

Edwards was impressed with his young roster of players after a mock football game the team held on Saturday.

“I thought the offense did some things that were kind of fun to watch. I’ll leave it at that,” Edwards told reporters over Zoom on Monday. “It was interesting to watch them.”

“This offense is brand new and I think this Saturday, you saw signs of things to come, hopefully. … It was pretty competitive, but I saw some things offensively that kind of made me smile.”

ASU is deploying a whole new offense this year, with new offensive coordinator Zak Hill leading the charge of a largely underclassmen group.

Half of the Sun Devils’ full roster is freshmen — true and redshirt — and the team boasts just one senior wide receiver and zero senior running backs.

However, Edwards isn’t worried.

“The process of what we take them through prepares them. It’s nothing like game day, obviously, until they play, but I think for the most part it won’t be too big for them,” he said of the young offense. “I think these young people today are more aware of competition. They’ve been on big stages.”

The mock game wasn’t only good for getting players back in the mindset of taking the field, but prepping coaches and staff for their work when game day comes.

Edwards said the team ran through 80 plays, even calling timeouts to give trainers practice running on the field and coaches time to talk with players.

The head coach himself is even getting used to being back on the field, and having different sideline demeanors with his new coordinators.

“All the dramatics and dynamics of this have to unfold and you would hate to figure that out the first time you play,” he said. “For the most part, I thought it went well.”

Edwards says he’ll be targeting efficiency as the team continues to ready themselves for the season.

“We have to be more efficient and more detailed, and it will be. … (We have to) run it in a way where it’s more efficient. There’s a lot of things that need to be tied up,” Edwards said.

“In time out usage, in score clock, all those little things are important and we need to do a little more of that.”

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