Rudy Speaks to Petros and Money

On Friday, Rudy Carpenter was on the Petros and Money Show on 570 AM KLAC in Los Angeles.

Petros actually makes fun of Rudy for being pale. Has he seen Danny Sullivan? And as always, Petros has to build up SC, talking about Rey Maualuga's crushing hit from Thanksgiving.

Dude, Petros, we all know you played fullback for USC, but that was during the Paul Hackett years when the team was a freaking joke. Get a new act.

Rudy takes it in stride. Click here to listen.

(Photo Credit: Dean Hare/AP)

Carpenter on Bleacher Report's "QB's that Teams Can't Afford to Lose" List

Ah yes. I guess I have to address football this week since I don't want to beat the dead horse about the epic ASU baseball meltdown anymore (for today at least). The Bleacher Report has compiled a list of QB's teams can't afford to lose. Rudy Carpenter is a name on that list.

One of the surprise teams of 2007 was the Arizona State Sun Devils. It was
a big joke around the college football world when former coach Dirk Koetter
listened to his players and named Rudy Carpenter the quarterback in 2006.
Koetter got fired after the season, but Carpenter continued to shine. In
2007, Rudy threw for 3,200 yards and 25 touchdowns for an Arizona State team
that went 10-3.

Look, Rudy is a great college QB, but I think we have enough veteran weapons at wide receiver and running back that Danny Sullivan or Samson Szakacsy could step in and produce. Rudy is a very valuable piece of the puzzle, but Danny Sullivan at 100% is just as good as a Rudy Carpenter at 70% as we saw in the Holiday Bowl (even though I'm pretty sure Sullivan was going against the 3rd string D). At the same time, if Rudy goes down and we're back to playing in a bowl game in Hawaii, it'll be a case of "be careful what you wish for."

Now Matt Stafford, that is a QB a team can't afford to lose.

ESPN: Top 10 Most Improved Players includes Rudy Carpenter

Bruce Feldman released a list of the 10 most improved players in college football this season. At #9 on that list is a familiar name.

From the Worldwide Leader:

9. Rudy Carpenter, Arizona State, QB: The arrival of Dennis Erickson and his well-worn crew of assistants has meshed nicely for Carpenter to have a big bounce-back year. In 2006, Carpenter's stats were OK, as he completed 55 percent of his passes with 23 TDs and 14 picks. This season, the accurate QB from California has regained his 2005 form, completing 65 percent of his passes for 17 TDs and 1,949 yards with 7 INTs. Carpenter's improved decision-making and command of the offense has enabled ASU to lead the Pac-10 in red-zone offense with 31 scores in 34 trips (91 percent).

Hopefully Carpenter can continue that efficiency even with a thumb injury. Jeff Metcalfe of the Arizona Republic is reporting that Rudy wore a brace on his hand to the presser today. Nothing is going to stop him from playing in a game of this magnitude. As long as he's not underthrowing receivers like other Pac-10 QB's Nate Longshore and Mark Sanchez did last week, this team should have every chance to come away from Autzen Stadium with a W.

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Update #1: Carpenter and Dixon have both shown up on the Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist list for best quarterback in the nation. Last year's winner was Troy Smith of The Ohio State University.

Apparently, Mark Schlabach loves former ASU Quarterbacks

Today's lead story in the college football section of ESPN.com included a "What's Hot and What's Not" article by NCAA pigskin columnist Mark Schlabach. And apparently, while Arizona State will be involved in one of his "grudge matches to look forward to," he also seems to be infatuated with recent quarterbacks that have transferred from ASU elsewhere, and takes a bit of a shot at current starter Rudy Carpenter.

What's Hot: Grudge matches. Several coaches will meet their former teams in much-anticipated contests this season. LSU vs. Nick Saban's Alabama. Boston College vs. Tom O'Brien's NC State. Rice vs. Todd Graham's Tulsa. Miami vs. Butch Davis' North Carolina. Oregon State vs. Dennis Erickson's Arizona State.

What's Hot: Transfer quarterbacks. Several teams have transfer players in the mix at quarterback: Nebraska's Sam Keller (from Arizona State), Cincinnati's Ben Mauk (Wake Forest), Baylor's Michael Machen (Kent State), BYU's Max Hall (Arizona State), Maryland's Josh Portis (Florida), Houston's Al Pena (Oklahoma State) and Wisconsin's Allan Evridge (Kansas State).

What's Not: Struggling quarterbacks. These quarterbacks are hoping to turn around their careers after largely struggling in 2006: Virginia Tech's Sean Glennon, Miami's Kyle Wright, Florida State's Drew Weatherford and Xavier Lee, Arizona State's Rudy Carpenter, Oregon's Dennis Dixon, Ole Miss' Brent Schaeffer, Auburn's Brandon Cox, Iowa State's Bret Meyer, and South Carolina's Blake Mitchell.

For the rest of Schlabach's article, check it out here.

This one is for all the ladies out there....

Arizona State is now selling pink jerseys for women to wear to games through the online store. I just hope these aren't our alternate jerseys.





These jerseys sell for $70, which is $5 more than the men's jerseys.

Looking over the ASU football jerseys for sale.

Looking over the Sun Devils team store, it looks like they're only offering the same jerseys they offered last season, #12 (Carpenter) in maroon , #24 (Herring) in maroon and white, and #3 (Burgess) maroon jerseys in adult, youth and toddler sizes. The team store on the Pac-10 website sells a #26 (Torain) maroon youth jersey. I would probably buy a #26 maroon adult size jersey if they had it, so I guess I'll still be wearing my white #86 that I bought two seasons ago, which is now worn by freshman wide reciever T.J. Simpson. Here's to Simpson being a freshman All-American.

Pac-10 Media Day Quotes

Head Coach Dennis Erickson - "I was looking at the press guide before I came in, reading my biography and it started to look like an obituary. As I was thinking about who I wanted to bring to media day I realized the strength of our football team is our offensive front and I decided to bring Mike Pollak. We have five offensive lineman out of six that have already graduated, it's unbelievable. When you talk about a football team and you talk about the strengths, the biggest part of it is the offensive front and I feel pretty good about it. Mike is a heck of a football player. Our running game is strong too. For us to be successful we must be able to run the football and obviously that starts up front. We have some wide outs that have potential, but they are unproven. Defensively it is more of a question mark. You can not win without being good on defense. We have some good athletes, but we need to get better, play on the edge and have a strong mindset. Our weakness there is depth. Our corners have to step up. I'm very excited to be at ASU. The thing that has changed a little bit since I was at Oregon State is that everybody is even. Everyone can beat everyone. It'll be fun. I know two fight songs and I'm about to learn a third here."

Center Mike Pollak - On the shotgun formation: "It hasn't taken me that long to get used to the shotgun, but Rudy [Carpenter] loves it. He did it in high school so if that helps him I'm all for it."

On having eight home games:"As a senior I am looking forward to being at home. You get that advantage of not having to travel, playing in front of your home crowd and playing in the heat which we are used too."

ARIZONA Head Coach Mike Stoops
General Remarks: "We are very excited for this day and for our football team. When you look at the entirety of last season, to win six games shows constant growth in our program. To win some of the games we won, after what our kids went through and then to win our last three road games was good for us. But we didn't finish the way we had liked too. The loss against Arizona State cost us a lot, including a bowl game. Hopefully that will have an impact. Our expectations are much different going into this season. The way we persevered last season, winning against top teams, I think that gives us some legitimate confidence and our work habits really match those expectations. Our attitude matches our expectations. We are healthy, we have great experience coming back, it is by far and away our most experienced and talented football team."

On the new spread offense: "We are going to implement the whole system. Our biggest challenge will be in utilizing the personnel we have on our team. Whether we go four wides, three wides, we'll have to see. I think the system gives us a unique protection of our quarterback. If we keep Willie [Tuitama] healthy our chance of winning goes up dramatically. All of those things are important to our success."

Quotes from coaches and star players of every Pac-10 team can be found at The Pac-10's official website.

Football Position Preview Part I: Quarterback and Receiving Corps

by Justin Karp, Host of Sun Devil Power Hour on The Fan AM 1060.

Arguably, the 2006 season for Arizona State was over before it began.

You could plausibly say that on the night former head coach Dirk Koetter told the assembled media at the Kajikawa Practice Field that he was reversing course. He was going with junior Rudy Carpenter over senior Sam Keller as the starting quarterback, exactly 48 hours after declaring Keller the starter.

All of a sudden, ASU had gone from having the top quarterback tandem in the nation to having their offense descend into disarray. The offense never fully clicked last year thanks to miscommunication, questionable play calling and a slough of injuries and off-field issues. By the end of the season at the Hawaii Bowl, the Sun Devils top two receiving targets were true freshmen.

This season’s offense will be a little different than what Sun Devil fans are used to, including more two tight end sets, quick passing and the shotgun.

In this edition of the 2007 Preview, we’ll take a look at the quarterback and receiving corps.

Quarterbacks

With no quarterback controversy in sight, the incumbent starter is red-shirt junior Rudy Carpenter. Carpenter, who took over and kept the starting job after Sam Keller was injured in a 2005 home loss to Oregon, was the nation’s most efficient passer that season. He completed 68% of his passes and held an outstanding 8.5/1 touchdown-to-interception ratio (17 touchdowns to 2 interceptions).

However, Rudy took a step back in 2006, throwing 14 interceptions, four of those coming in a season-changing loss at California. He also had a disastrous and confidence shattering performance against Oregon the next week, throwing for just 33 yards. Rudy didn’t seem to be his gun-slinging self over the final weeks of the season, going up and down in effectiveness on a week-by-week basis. He seemed to be missing receivers both wide and high when things weren’t going his way; a sign of frustration. It didn’t help, either, that his offensive line was decimated, leaving him to run for his life at points.

Despite his struggles last season, 2007 can and should be a big year out for Carpenter. Rudy will be encouraged to scramble and move out of the pocket more, a perk that ASU hasn’t really had since Jake Plummer led the 1996 team to the Rose Bowl. He’s also got his top target, Rudy Burgess, back on offense this season. The young receivers around him have a year under their belts and he worked very well with them during Spring ball.

In terms of depth, there are three QB’s under Carpenter that merit mentioning. Last year, Danny Sullivan was expected to redshirt and learn the college game behind the Keller/Carpenter tandem. With Keller’s demotion and subsequent transfer to Nebraska, Sullivan was thrust into the backup role as a true freshman. Sullivan didn’t get any meaningful playing time, only throwing the ball 15 times.

Head coach Dennis Erickson also signed two notable prep quarterbacks to his first recruiting class in Tempe. 6’4 freshman Samson Szakacsy is described as having one of the strongest and most accurate arms in California and was ranked as the #24 prep quarterback in the nation by SuperPrep. Mobile and quick on his feet, Szakacsy is considered to be a better fit in Erickson’s offense than his other major QB recruit, Chasen Stangel. Stangel, a Cal-Hi Sports All-State first team selection, has better pocket presence and field vision than Szakaczy. Expect at least one of them to be redshrited.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

It’s widely said that a quarterback is only as good as the guys who are catching his passes. Last year, Rudy Carpenter didn’t have much help in that department. ASU’s leading receiver in 2006 only had 484 yards, and he will provide no help to the Sun Devils this season, seeing as that he’s now helping the Oakland Raiders cause.

On paper, ASU’s losses in this group look strong, but in reality, both Terry Richardson and Jamaal Lewis made little to no contribution to the team on the field last year, both running into injury and, in Lewis’ case, legal problems. Zach Miller’s departure is a major blow, but there is more than enough young talent left in Tempe that can develop into a fast and dangerous staff.

At points last year, all of ASU’s top three returning wide receivers were out with significant injuries. Mike Jones, Nate Kimbrough and Rudy Burgess all missed time, leaving players such as Chris McGaha and Brandon Smith to pick up the slack. Even Kyle Williams, a highly touted and quick receiver/kick returner, had his redshirt taken off before a game at Oregon State because there was simply no one left to play the position.

This year, Rudy Burgess is back on offense full time after a stint at cornerback. The team needs Burgess to come through in a big way this year, especially after having time to concentrate on being a top wideout. Don’t forget that Burgess spent the majority of 2005 as the team’s featured running back and, as mentioned earlier, he was injured and used on defense last season. This year, he’s going to be a receiver all year and will be Carpenter’s main target.

Returning from last season will be Mike Jones, a solid pass-catcher, Chris McGaha, who’s big and agile but suffered from a case of the dropsies all year, and Nate Kimbrough, who missed the majority of the second half of last season due to a non-contact ACL tear in the Oregon State game but showed flashes of brilliance during the non-conference season. Look for Kyle Williams to see some spot duty at WR but more time as a kick returner and Brandon Smith in five-wide and spread sets.

The Devils are left without a marquee tight end after Zach Miller’s departure, but his brother Brent is still around and figures to step into the 1^st string tight end role. He’s a better pass blocker than his little brother but not as good of a route runner or pass catcher. However, he did prove midway through last season that he can catch in the clutch, as proved by his performance against Washington. If Miller cannot pick up the slack, look for Florida junior transfer Dane Guthrie to step in.