Monday, August 4, 2008

Monday Notes

Devils lose Offensive and Defensive Linemen

Arizona State offensive tackle Richard Tuitu'u, who finished spring practices No. 1 on the depth chart, has quit the team. The Sun Devils offensive line lost three starters from a unit that gave up 55 sacks a year ago, and the position is a huge concern as preseason practices start Monday. Tuitu'u was the only returning lineman with experience at tackle. He played in 19 games in two seasons, with one start.
Redshirt freshman Adam Tello, listed at 283 pounds, now moves up on the depth chart. Coach Dennis Erickson called Tello a good pass blocker.
Arizona State could use some help on the defensive line, but it's probably not going to come from talented but troubled Eugene Germany. Germany hasn't sufficiently fulfilled requirements set forth by coach Dennis Erickson and the school to join the team, according to an athletic department official. Germany signed with USC in 2004 out of Pomona (Calif.) High School but ended up at Michigan, where he played in eight games as a redshirt freshman in 2006. When things went sour there, he bolted for Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., where he had 9.5 sacks last season. He joined the Sun Devils recruiting class in the winter, but his status has been in question since the spring.

McGaha was named one of the Pac-10's six current "clutch" performers. Ted Miller of ESPN had this to say about the Devils' receiver.
McGaha is the guy QB Rudy Carpenter turns to when he needs to move the chains. We know this because 48 of McGaha's 61 receptions in 2007 went for first downs. That's a conversion rate of 79 percent.

Jake Plummer was one of the Pac-10's clutch performers of all time, making the list of ten, Jake "The Snake" was the swashbuckling face of the 1996 Sun Devils. He led them to a double-overtime victory over USC and accounted for three TDs in the final eight minutes in a comeback win over UCLA. He nearly led ASU to a perfect season, falling victim to a late Ohio State TD in the Rose Bowl.

In other college football news, Georgia has suspended its fifth player for the first game of the season. The Bulldogs have encountered a plethora of off-season problems with players.

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