Heading into the 2021 season, many wondered if an ASU wide receiver would make an immediate impact on the team. Seven of the eight wide receivers on ASU’s depth chart are returners this season, none of whom had more than 11 receptions during last year’s four-game season, which was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the Sun Devils' season-opening 41-14 week one win over Southern Utah University, there was no definitive answer within the statistics, but some individual plays gave glimmers of hope for a potential breakout wide receiver.
Redshirt sophomore Andre Johnson's reception totals doubled after one game this season versus last season. Johnson appeared to be an early target for junior quarterback Jayden Daniels and finished the game with two receptions for 37 yards.
After an illegal motion penalty on the first play of their second drive of the game, Daniels pump-faked an in-route to junior slot receiver Ricky Pearsall. Once he saw the lone Southern Utah safety drop, he aired out a deep ball to Johnson who was in 1-on-1 coverage. He leaped over his defender, securing a 31-yard completion.
Four plays later, Daniels found a gap through Southern Utah’s zone defense, finding Pearsall for a 22-yard completion on a corner route.
The receptions were pivotal to the Sun Devils' second scoring drive of the game that saw them lead 13-0 with 8:42 left in the first quarter.
Daniels said the chemistry between both Johnson and Pearsall was something they’ve developed in the offseason.
“We were in a rhythm early. Andre made a great catch on a deep ball early, and then another deep ball to Ricky,” Daniels said. “Work during spring ball helped develop chemistry with those guys.”
But after those two passes, Daniels totaled just 79 passing yards on eight completions. A large part came on behalf of the ground game, which accounted for all six ASU touchdowns.
“The receivers made a couple big catches,” Daniels said. "But our run game was so dominant. Since we were up by so many points, the coaches made a business decision to keep the clock running. (They wanted to) get everybody out of the game healthy for next week.”
Daniels went to the locker room with 4:51 left in the third quarter with leg cramps. He came back onto the sidelines early in the fourth quarter, but did not return to play. He finished 10-of-12 with 132 passing yards, and six rushes for 40 yards.
The Sun Devils accumulated 13 penalties for 135 yards; the most since head coach Herm Edwards took over the program in 2018. Edwards added that some penalties may have been the result of some players being too antsy playing in front of ASU fans for the first time, but were ultimately unacceptable.
“Some (guys) were emotional,” Edwards said. "Some guys were blocking, and with some of them, it’s like, ‘Why? You don’t have to do that.' Some of those plays were big gains or big plays that came back.”
Aside from the penalties, time of possession wasn’t in ASU’s favor. Despite leading 28-7 at halftime, the Sun Devils only had six offensive drives.
“We weren’t in situations to call a lot of plays that we had in the game plan arsenal,” offensive coordinator Zak Hill said. “It was a lot of long yardage situations and we couldn’t go through the (play calling) sheet as you want to.”
Redshirt freshman LV Bunkley-Shelton led the team in with three receptions, all of which came in the second half. In total, eight different ASU receivers had at least one reception.
ASU football will play UNLV next on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. MST in Tempe. UNLV comes off a 35-33 week one, double overtime loss versus Eastern Washington.
Reach the reporter at slynch20@asu.edu and follow @seanlynch845 on Twitter.
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