Arizona State offense not clicking as season opener approaches

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The Arizona State offense was not clicking in a practice session Monday morning. It was the 10th fall practice leading to the Aug. 31 season opener against Wyoming.

As has been the case for the balance of fall drills, redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt took first-team reps while Nebraska grad transfer Jeff Sims manned the second team. Returning veteran Trenton Bourguet had two series with the third team.

Second-year head coach Kenny Dillingham addressed the quarterback play after the team wrapped up its two-hour, 30-minute practice session. He wasn't putting all the blame on his signal callers, however.

"Today was the worst day of quarterback play that we've had," Dillingham said. "Missed too many throws. Held the ball in the pocket. We did a logo shot period and we took sacks in a series from the logo and you can't take sacks from the logo. The logo is four down mode. If you're taking sacks, we're not in a fourth down mode, you can't be aggressive when second-and-15 completely changes the entire dynamic of the drive. When it's first-and-10 in a four-down situation on the field and you make it second-and-long, call the shot down and distance, it better be second-and-10 or less and that's a learning experience and, obviously, I have to coach it better because it happened with multiple guys. Any time it happens with multiple guys it's a me problem, not a them problem."

One of the players making life tough on the quarterbacks was freshman defensive end Albert Smith III who had three sacks and several disruptions, playing with the second-team defense opposite Sims.

Leavitt and Sims each ran two series during the first 11-on-11 period with Bourguet directing one. The longest play of the session was a 25-yard gain off a screen pass from Leavitt to DeCarlos Brooks.

The Sun Devils took drills inside the Verde Dickey Dome for the last 90 minutes of practice where they ran both 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 periods. The highlight of the day was a 50-yard completion for a touchdown from Sims to walk-on wide receiver Derek Eusebio, who has had a stellar fall camp.

That came right after a drive led by Leavitt featured back-to-back completions to Penn State transfer Malik McClain.

The Sun Devils are back on the practice field Tuesday morning. They will hold a night practice on Wednesday inside Mountain America Stadium.

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