Arizona State football: Herm Edwards experiment has arrived

Offense

The good news here starts at the most important position: quarterback. Manny Wilkins is back for his senior season, and he was one of the best in the conference last year. He’s efficient and capable of leading an offense. His ceiling isn’t super high, but improvements in completion percentage and throwing fewer interceptions could make him a near-elite passer in 2018.

Wilkins is also a very capable runner. That may be needed this year. Running backs Kalen Ballage and Demario Richard are both gone, and there’s nothing but potential behind them. Eno Benjamin will likely get the first crack, and he was awesome on limited carries last year. No one behind him has playing experience, and he has very little under his own belt. There’s talent at the position, but it’ll probably take a step back, unless Benjamin is really, really good.

The receivers are the strength of the roster. N’Keal Harry leads a group that returns just about everyone. Kyle Williams, Frank Darby, Curtis Hodges and Ryan Newsome will all contribute as well. Receiver is just about the only place this roster has considerable depth. The passing game will be heavily leaned on, and these guys all being solid is crucial.

The line is a different story. It was awful last year, and probably won’t be much better this year. Four starters are back, but that’s really not that big of a deal. Experience only matters when the players are already decent. This line was not last year.

So which linemen will start?

The group isn’t too tough to predict. Casey Tucker will take over at left tackle, moving Cohl Cabral to center. Cade Cote, Steve Miller and Zach Robertson round out the group.

The experience is nice. Being one of the oldest groups in the country is nice. None of it will mean anything if there’s no improvement across the board. Wilkins will need time, and Benjamin will need running lanes. If this line can do that, ASU will be in a great place offensively.