The pressure was on the ASU offense to improve upon a performance that coach Dennis Erickson called “unacceptable” just a week prior.
Early on Saturday, it looked like Erickson was going to be equally displeased.
The offense came sputtering out of the gates, firing multiple interceptions. Then something clicked and the offense put together its best showing of the three spring scrimmages to date.
Junior quarterback Brock Osweiler blamed the slow start on the early day, but he ultimately took the blame for the slow start. The team helped with Pat’s Run and was at the stadium at 6:30 a.m.
“Anytime an offense starts slow, I put the blame right on myself for that,” Osweiler said. “I’m the head of the offense and if we don’t move, that’s my problem.”
While the offenses’ performance certainly improved, it was far from perfect.
But right now, Erickson was just looking for improvement.
“Overall, it was the best on both sides of the football that we’ve looked,” Erickson said. “We caught the ball a little bit better. We started slow offensively but then we got better and better.
“We have to run the ball better. It really has to be a point of emphasis for us. We missed some throws too.”
Bercovici shows off big arm
Enrolled in school early, freshman quarterback Mike Bercovici has the arm strength to make every throw at this level, despite being 17 years old.
On Saturday, Bercovici proved just that, firing rockets into tight windows to hit receivers. However, sometimes his rocket of an arm can be his biggest weakness.
Erickson used a baseball analogy to describe it.
“He has to learn to throw a curve or a changeup or something,” Erickson said. “That high heater all the time is not all that good when you are five feet away. That’s what he has to learn.”
The young signal caller agreed with his head coach.
“Sometimes I have to throw a more catchable ball,” Bercovici said. “Sometimes I get excited and see an open receiver and try to put it through his facemask instead of hitting his chest.”
Even though he has lots to learn, Bercovici has turned heads during spring practice, at least enough to make the backup quarterback race between himself and redshirt freshman Taylor Kelly too close to call, Erickson said.
“Taylor is one of my really good friends,” Bercovici said. “We are really competitive. We watch film all the time. We are competitive in a way in which we get better together, we really do.”
Erickson likely won’t make a decision on that race until the fall.
New chant
ASU didn’t have a standard chant for breakdowns of team huddles last season.
It varied, according to Osweiler, with “Pac-10 Champs” being the most used one.
This year, there is a standard one and it may surprise some people.
Since January, “National Champs” is how each team huddle is broken down.
“A lot of people talk about the Rose Bowl, but we talk about the Sugar Bowl this year,” Osweiler said. “This year we have our sights set on bigger targets.”
Final week of practice
ASU wraps up spring practice this week, with the final two spring practices coming on Tuesday and Thursday, leading up to the annual spring game on Saturday.
Both practices run from 4-6:10 p.m. at the Kajikawa Practice Fields.
The spring game gets underway at 10 a.m. Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium. Both of the practices and the spring game are free and open to the public.
As the spring winds down, Osweiler is looking for ASU to finish strong in practice.
“Consistency in how we practice,” he said. “To be a championship team, you have to practice at a very high level that not a lot of people know how to do. Last week we did that.”
Injury updates
TJ Simpson and Omar Bolden both had successful surgery to repair their torn anterior cruciate ligaments last Thursday.
Wide receivers Aaron Pflugrad and Gerell Robinson returned to practice last week and participated in the scrimmage.
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
