Aug. 23, 2026, 9:00 a.m. MT
The Sept. 5 season opener against Morgan State is fast approaching. Coach Kenny Dillingham’s Arizona State Sun Devils scrimmaged at Mountain America Stadium on Aug. 22.
“You could see the last 30 minutes, the offense went on really, really good drives running the football, so I thought that was a positive,” Dillingham said afterward. “Defense had an unbelievable interception early in the scrimmage, and that was an unbelievable play. So that was good to see. Still only one takeaway.
“I’d like to see more takeaways created by the defense, but kudos to the offense. It was like the first scrimmage, very, very similar again. Offense moves the ball. Defense doesn’t allow big plays. The difference tonight was the offense hit a couple of big plays.”
Here are some takeaways from the nearly two-hour session.
Special teams were solid
The Sun Devils have two kickers and two punters competing for jobs. When it comes to placekicking, both Carson Smith and Carston Kieffer made 52-yard field goals. Although Kieffer’s just barely cleared, Smith’s made it with a few yards to spare. Smith also made a 38-yarder late in the scrimmage.
Junior incumbent Kanyon Floyd and senior Nick McLarty, a 6-foot-7 transfer from Ohio State, are battling for the punter spot. The two combined for five kicks, all of which went for between 42 and 50 yards and landed inside the 20. Floyd got particularly good hang time on his kicks.
Wide receiver Jaren Hamilton was the primary return man.
“Our special teams battles have been awesome,” Dillingham said. “Both of our guys are punting better. We’re consistently getting 44- to 48-yard punts and 4.4 or more hang, which is what you want, so that has shown up.”
Defenders pressured the passers
ASU’s edge rushers appear to be a strong suit this season.
Joshua Shanklin and Emar’rion Winston each had two sacks. Roman Pitre and Tristan Bacon each had one. Most of those came with the defenders getting the better of the offensive tackles.
“We have to get better at pass protection stuff so we can throw the football,” Dillingham said. “Right now that’s not good, but that’s part of the way we play defense. There’s some back-and-forth with that. We’ve got some depth at edge. That shows up in the pass rush.”
Tight ends struggled again
This is a position Dillingham called out earlier in the week. He was so disappointed with the effort in practice that he moved defensive end Clayton Smith there to create some competition.
The showing wasn’t much better. Tight ends especially struggled with blocking assignments, which allowed the defensive ends to get into the pocket, pressure the quarterbacks and contain the running backs.
Of course, the Sun Devils’ best tight end, Khamari Anderson, is still working his way back from a broken leg.
Running backs were solid
Much has been made of the balance and depth ASU has in the backfield, and it was on full display. Some of the players who appear to be further down the depth chart had some solid runs, most notably Jason Brown and Demarius “Man Man” Robinson. True freshman Cardae Mack also had some runs that moved a pile of defenders.
Running backs were also involved in the passing game.
Another back lower on the depth chart, sophomore Grayson Rigdon, hauled in an 80-yard scoring pass from Mikey Keene, which was the longest play of the night.
Other notes
Dillingham announced sophomore defensive back Nigel Pringle will be out with a season-ending injury sustained in the scrimmage at Camp Tontozona a week ago. He is a transfer from Arkansas in his first year in the program. He is the second player to sustain a season-ending injury, the other being lineman My’Keil Gardner, who tore an Achilles.
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