Can Arizona State football contend in the Pac-12 in 2022?

Can newly promoted Donnie Henderson take this unit to the next level?

Unfortunately for Arizona State football, the offense wasn’t the only side of the field impacted by coaching changes, with both the team’s defensive coordinator, Antonio Pierce, and secondary coach, Chris Hawkins, ultimately departing the program as well. Leaving interim secondary coach, Donnie Henderson, to step up as the lead signal caller on defense.

The good news is that Henderson is a well-respected individual with nearly four decades of coaching experience, including as the secondary coach for ASU’s 1996 Rose Bowl team. So, he feels well equipped to take over responsibility on this side of the ball.

It’s also worth noting that while Arizona State football was a bit of a mixed bag on offense last season, their defense was incredibly sound. It led the Pac-12 in total defense and scoring defense. Plus, the transfer portal didn’t hit this group nearly as hard as it hit the offense.

As with last year, the front seven appears to be the strength of this unit once again. While they did lose a few key pieces, primarily on the defensive line, they more than made up for these losses with the players they obtained through the transfer portal. Including Mississippi State linebacker Rodney Groce, and nose tackle Nesta Jade Silvera from Miami.

The team also has sixth-year senior linebackers Kyle Soelle and Merlin Robertson returning for next season, as well as defensive lineman BJ Green, who led the team in sacks a year ago. Although, secondary is where things start to get tricky.

Even though ASU reeled in the highly-touted Hawaii safety in Khoury Bethley via the transfer portal as well as the ball-hawking Samford transfer Chris Edmonds.

The team still needs to replace four starters from a year ago, including cornerbacks Chase Lucas and Jack Jones, who were major players in a unit that was responsible for picking off 16 passes in 2021.