Offensive coordinator Zak Hill will bring a unique approach to his team's offense in his first season with ASU.
Last season, former ASU offensive coordinator Rob Likens would call plays from the booth. But, with Likens now at the University of Miami, Hill will be coordinating ASU's offense from the sidelines in 2020.
Hill, who came to ASU from Boise State, was able to test this new coaching technique in a mock game held by the team last Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium.
During the scrimmage, ASU head coach Herm Edwards created an opportunity for his staff to go through the mechanics of a game. By throwing his new staff into this environment, Edwards had the offensive and defensive units on opposite sidelines to better simulate substitution patterns.
“This was the first chance we got as a coaching staff to hear what’s coming out of the booth, to the sideline, getting that coordinated with the players and the personnel,” Edwards said. “It was very important that we got that in because you hate to not have a dress rehearsal before you play a real football game.”
Although Hill said he could always head up to the booth for a birds-eye view of the game, he enjoyed being on the sideline during the scrimmage and would prefer to stay there during games.
“I think it’s going to be a good opportunity for me to connect with Jayden (Daniels) and the offense, just kind of being a resource for all those guys down there,” Hill said about being on the sideline. “You’re kind of isolated up in the box. It's easier to think, but you're not as well connected.”
Although sophomore quarterback Jayden Daniels was satisfied with the offense's performance during the mock game, he noted the unit still had room for improvement.
“I think we did a decent job of transitioning from practice to a game-like setting," Daniels said. "I think we needed to do that to clean up some operational things. Just getting back into that mode of, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to be getting ourselves into in a couple weeks.’”
Daniels said having Hill next to him in between series during games will improve how they "game plan on the fly," and it will boost the "communication level and trust factor" between the two.
The sophomore noted that last season, there were miscommunications between him and Likens because Likens would be "seeing something different than what I'm seeing on the field." But this year, Daniels believes that the ability to "talk to coach Hill right after the series" on the sideline will limit the potential number of mistakes made during a game.
The team looks to improve upon an offense that ranked just 95th in total yards per game and 96th in points per game last year.
Edwards noted the defense was “a little upset” due to the success that the offense had throughout the game.
“The offense did some things that were kind of fun to watch,” Edwards said. “This offense is brand new, and I think this Saturday you saw signs of things to come. It was kind of one of those deals where I smiled.”
ASU is set to travel to play the No. 20 USC Trojans in the Pac-12 season opener on Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at cfahrend@asu.edu and follow @chris_drop_ on Twitter.
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