#23 Arizona State Sun Devils Season Preview

Arizona State is led by Middle Linebacker and potential 2012 top 10 pick Vontaze Burfict

Offensive Outlook: Arizona State has Brock Osweiler starting for the Arizona State Sun Devils this season.  Osweiler is 6 foot 8 235 pounds.  Osweiler will be a junior redshirt for Arizona State this season.

Brock saw brief glimpses of action as the Sun Devils starting quarterback last season with two key wins over the UCLA Bruins and the Arizona Wildcats.  Osweiler managed to throw for 647 passing yards along with 5 passing touchdowns during those final 2 contests against UCLA and Arizona for Arizona State.

Brock Osweiler has a very good understanding of the shotgun spread offense he plays in.  Its safe to say that Arizona State offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone has done an outstanding job in coaching Osweiler up to this point.

Center Garth Gerhart is one of the top seniors returning to the Arizona State offensive line.  He will anchor the Sun Devils offensive line.  Gerhart has experience snapping the football to Brock Osweiler.  Gerhart can pass block and run block making him a very effective center for the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Arizona State will have one of the more balanced offenses in the country despite running a gimmick shotgun spread offense.  The reason their offense will be so balanced is because Brock Osweiler can hand the football off to Cameron Marshall.  Cameron Marshall is a physical power back with the size and speed that coaches look for.  Giving Marshall the football makes this offense harder to stop because of the balanced attack.  If Marshall fatigues as an inside runner he will wear down defenses in the process.  This will allow Deantre Lewis Arizona’s #2 rusher to step in.  Deantre Lewis is more an elusive runner who runs to the outside of the running lanes while Marshall is the power back who takes a majority of his carries to the inside.

Deantre Lewis rushed for 539 yards as a freshman last season.  Lewis has a chance to be the lightning to the to the thunder and lightning tandem of Cameron Marshall and Deantre Lewis.

Defensive Outlook: Arizona has a 5th round NFL prospect at defensive end in James White who can play right end or left end in the 4-3 scheme.  White has the 6 foot 5 270 pound size for a true 4-3 defensive end.  White is a run stuffer who recorded 7.5 tackles for a loss and 4 sacks in 2010.

The main talent for Arizona State is at the linebacker position.  Arizona State’s linebacking core is led  by Vontaze Burfict who was a 5 star recruit and the #1 overall linebacker prospect in the country coming out of high school.  Burfict had 69 tackles as a freshman and 90 tackles as a sophomore.  Burfict has a history of committing a few hard hits that cause him to be a personal foul machine, but Arizona State’s coaching staff believes Burfict has matured from a physical and mental stanpoint.

Burfict is Arizona State’s best pass rusher at linebacker.  Weak side linebacker Brandon Magee is best used as a coverage linebacker playing a zone coverage cover 2 scheme as a WILL linebacker.

Every NFL Mock Draft I’ve seen has Burfict in the top 20 and some people believe he could go in the top 10.  He has more of a skill set than Rolando McClain did at this point in his career.  McClain went 8th overall to the Oakland Raiders in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Brandon Magee is going to be the weak side linebacker playing the WILL that compliments Burfict.  Magee can pass rush and stuff the run effective even though dropping back in coverage is Magee’s strong suit.

Shelly Lyons, Colin Parker, and Oliver Aaron will all battle it out for the SAM linebacker spot on Arizona State’s linebacking core.  Regardless of who starts the SAM linebacker for Arizona State will get underestimated by coaches due to the talent that Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Magee bring to the table.

Omar Bolden got a medical redshirt request granted for his injury in 2009.  Bolden was a mid round draft prospect in 2011.  Bolden has a history of being injury prone with durability issues.  When Bolden is healthy is a #1 shutdown corner who can also play special teams with his speed.

Bolden is out until September  possibly longer.  Omar Bolden keeps Arizona State’s secondary in check.  Bolden has to recover by September 24th.  On September 24th the USC Trojans travel to Arizona State to face the Sun Devils.  Without Omar Bolden on the field, USC quarterback and potential 2012 top 5 pick Matt Barkley will end up having a field day with the Sun Devils secondary.

Until Bolden recovers this Arizona State secondary is suspect.  With Bolden, the Sun Devils have a top 5 secondary in the Pac 12.

Projected Record 11-2 (PAC 12 South Champions) : Look at their schedule week by week and its pretty easy.  UC Davis, Missouri, @ Illinois, USC, Oregon State, @ Utah, @ Oregon, Colorado, @ UCLA, @ Washington State, Arizona, and California.

Besides the October 15th matchup against the Oregon Ducks where they travel to Autzen Stadium playing in Eugene, Oregon, every game the Sun Devils play in appears winnable on paper.

I believe Arizona State will go 11-1 and win the PAC 12 South.  The Sun Devils are the only team in the PAC 12 South with a fighting chance to defeat the PAC 12 North juggernauts Stanford and Oregon.

Stanford scored a minimum of 31 points in 12 of their 13 games only losing to Oregon during the regular season last season.  Arizona State was the only team to keep Stanford from scoring less than 31 points playing impressive defense even keeping the Cardinal offense led by Andrew Luck under 20 points.  The Sun Devils led 13 to 10 against Stanford heading into the 4th quarter before Owen Marcenic a Stanford fullback now pro ended up scoring a game winning touchdown for the Cardinal.  Stanford would win in a landslide type fashion winning 17 to 13.

Arizona State was also the only team that kept Andrew Luck the top quarterback in college football from throwing a passing touchdown for 60 minutes.  That is a testament to their defense.  If they can play like that again while getting an offensive showcase from quarterback Brock Osweiler who knows what Arizona State could accomplish?

In the End, I am predicting an 11-2 record where Arizona State makes it to the Pac 12 Championship before losing to Stanford or Oregon.