Herm Edwards, Glenn Thomas Discuss Arizona State's QB Battle
TEMPE -- Arizona State's spring showcase is in the books, and as expected, ASU's quarterback competition was a heavy topic of discussion for coaches following the spring period.
Head coach Herm Edwards initially opened camp by welcoming all five quarterbacks as competitors for the starting job, being careful to not shut any doors on any potential passer pushing their name to the front of the list.
However, Trenton Bourguet and Paul Tyson have (unsurprisingly) emerged as the two front-runners for the job. Edwards spoke about the offense following the spring showcase before discussing the quarterback room.
"It's been a good spring for us trying to put in a new offense and do some things defensively that we had done last year to be more consistent of what we've done defensively, and we're pretty good on defense. We were No. 1 in a lot of statistics in our conference," said Edwards.
"But the offense now, as you know, we're battling at quarterback. That's still a battle, it will still continue until we get into the summer. But I thought tonight there were some signs. We were very simple. We were gonna keep it simple. We didn't create a lot of formations, didn't do a lot of things on offense, had one running play basically. Zone right, zone left, a couple passes and that was it."
It was difficult to properly assess how each quarterback performed given the circumstances (we did our best anyway, which you can read here).
When asked if he was comfortable with the Sun Devils quarterback room, Edwards gave an interesting answer:
“Yeah, because it’s the guys (we have). As you know, it’s a competition in that room. We’ll just see where it goes. You guys know how I am. We compete around here, and then you make decisions and try to get better. That’s where we’re at," said Edwards.
Those comments came just weeks following Edwards' opening press conference at spring practice where he suggested the possibility of Arizona State adding another quarterback via the transfer portal.
As for offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas, there wasn't much to evaluate from ASU's spring showcase that barely mimicked a true game setting.
He said, "This was a little bit (of a) unique situation in the fact that it wasn't necessarily a true scrimmage, it was scripted right? So you get a 15-yard gain and all of a sudden it's third-and-eight still. So the rhythm of a true scrimmage, you didn't feel that but it was good to get those guys more reps and more tape under their belt."
Thomas was adamant while insisting no particular names stuck out at Sun Devil Stadium.
"No, it's hard to say in the context of what it was. I wouldn't want to say any particular names but it was good that they all got reps and we're able to evaluate more film moving forward," said Thomas before diving into how impressed he's been with Tyson.
"I think really good (how Tyson has transitioned to ASU), I've been impressed with him not only on the field, but I think he's meshed within the team. I think you'd get very good feedback within the team as far as what he is as a teammate. So I've been impressed with that as much as anything, not only on the field but in the locker room."
When asked if he felt if it was safe to assume the quarterback battle was between Bourguet and Tyson, he concurred but also pointed to another passer who had an impressive outing.
"Yeah, and again, that's been very fluid (as far as the quarterback situation). Daylin McLemore got in today and made some good throws. He's been fantastic for us. So I think it's very fluid. I wouldn't want to say any particular names but we've been trying to be as consistent as we can getting all those guys through there," Thomas said.
For Arizona State, the next time their players officially take the field will be in the summer for preseason camp.
As for when the quarterback battle will come full circle? Nobody knows. Yet Edwards and Thomas are keeping their hands off on crowning a winner for the time being.
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