Arizona State football finished the 2022 season with a disappointing 3-9 record. The team missed a bowl and earned wins against Northern Arizona, Washington and UCLA and fired its head coach midseason. The final straw came after a 30-21 loss to Eastern Michigan during non-conference play. With changes everywhere, Arizona State will hope to show improvement in Year 2.
DraftKings Sportsbook has the Sun Devil’s win total at 5.0 with the under juiced to -160. Arizona State also is +12000 to win the Pac-12, which ranks only ahead of Colorado and Stanford. With that said, let’s dive into Arizona State’s season preview.
2023 Arizona State Football Predictions & Season Preview
2023 Arizona State Football Season Preview: Coaching Staff
Arizona State finally fired Herm Edwards last year after accepting below-average play for an extended period of time. To replace him, it brought in former Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham, who has already made strides on the recruiting trail.
Dillingham hired Beau Baldwin as his offensive coordinator. Baldwin previously coached Cal Poly from 2020 to 2022. Dillingham also hired Brian Ward as defensive coordinator, who occupied the same role with Washington State last year. Even with new faces, this coaching staff should be lightyears ahead of whatever Edwards was trying to do.
2023 Arizona State Football Season Preview: Offense
Quarterback
The Sun Devils have a few options at quarterback this year after letting Emory Jones walk. They return three-year player Trenton Bourguet, who completed 145 of his 203 attempts last year (71.4% completion percentage) for 1,490 yards (7.3 yards per attempt), 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. Bourguet does not appear to have great mobility. He only rushed for 10 yards on 24 carries.
However, he played injured for part of last year and took seven sacks. Despite Bourguet returning, Arizona State went out and added competition.
Drew Pyne comes over from Notre Dame after a mediocre 2022 season. Pyne completed 164 of his 254 es (64.6%) for 2,021 yards, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions. Pyne also is not the best mobility with 108 rushing yards on 47 attempts last year. Pyne did take 15 sacks and at least appears a little more mobile than Bourguet.
Finally, Arizona State added 4-star recruit and top-100 player Jaden Rashada. While he may not be ready to start immediately in 2023, there is a decent chance Rashada sees the field sometime this season. Arizona State dealt with average quarterback play, so there is a chance for it to be better. However, this looks like one of the more volatile positions on the roster.
Running Back
The Sun Devils lost their leading rusher Xazavian Valladay this off season. They also lost change-of-pace back Daniyel Ngata. With so much production gone, Arizona State turned to the transfer portal, bringing in DeCarlos Brooks (Cal) and Cameron Skattebo (Sacramento State).
Skattebo might not be a household name, but he is 5-foot-10, 222 pounds, and won Big Sky offensive player of the year after rushing for 1,382 yards and catching 31 es last year. He was also third team all-Big Sky in 2021. Brooks is 5-foot-10, 210 pounds, and rushed 59 times for 250 yards and one touchdown last year. He also caught eight es for 18 yards without a drop. Both backs have been hyper efficient throughout their careers, averaging over 4.0 yards after per attempt.
From there, Arizona State returns third leading rusher Tevin White, but he ed for just 14 carries and 67 yards. White is 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, and came to Arizona State as a 4-star recruit in the 2022 cycle. Valladay ed for over 1,000 yards last year, but his efficiency metrics were middling. It is possible there is not much of a drop off here.
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