At the beginning of the year, Arizona State looked to have one of the deeper QB rooms in the country. Now, they'll turn to that depth after six games.
Between eventual starter and Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley, Fresno State veteran Mikey Keene, and a pair of 4-star recruits in Cam Dyer and Jake Fette, there were plenty of options for Kenny Dillingham to comb through in the offseason.
Now, six weeks in, the decision to go with Boley has been second-guessed, and Mikey Keene will reportedly get the start against Kansas State on Saturday. How has changing QBs midseason gone for the Sun Devils in the past?
Injuries About
Overall, this will be the 10th time since 2009 that Arizona State has had multiple Quarterbacks start games in a single season, and the fourth out of four seasons under Dilliingham. However, the majority of those have come via the injury bug to the most critical position.
Just last year, Arizona State had to turn to veteran Jeff Sims in relief of Sam Leavitt, who went down the week of the Utah game, and then again ahead of the Iowa State matchup due to an ankle injury that sidelined him for the season. The same happened in the infamous 2024 championship season, where one of the team's two regular-season losses came with Sims at the helm in Cincinnati.
In Dillingham's inaugural season, the position was ravaged by injuries, as both Jaden Rashada and Drew Pyne came out of a matchup against Fresno State(coincidentally, quarterbacked by Mikey Keene at the time) with injuries that left them sidelined. Trenton Bourguet started games, along with multiple who started no true QB. In 2014 and 2016, respectively, Taylor Kelly and Manny Wilkins both suffered multi-week injuries as well.
Performance Based
The real bread and butter is in the few times that it's been kept entirely on the field. Most recently, it happened in 2022, in an already chaotic year. After Herm Edwards was fired just three games into the season, Emory Jones was benched after eight games. Trenton Bourguet entered, and in his first career start, lit up Colorado on the road for 435 yards and three TDs in a 42-34 victory. It still holds the record for most passing yards in a Sun Devil's first start. He subsequently had two more 300+ yard passing games in his final five games, as he finished out the season under center.
In 2009, Danny Sullivan began the season as the lead man for Arizona State, but was benched in favor of Samson Szakacsy and a young, true Freshman named Brock Osweiler, who would eventually take over the reins years later and go on to be a second-round pick by the Denver Broncos.
What To Expect?
In two brief looks at the past, the Sun Devils can see a way out of a tough situation at Quarterback this season. Turning to the veteran backup, as they have with Mikey Keene this week, can produce big numbers, as it did with Bourguet for multiple games. There's also the young QB route, which Arizona State still has in their back pocket. Jake Fette is one of the highest-ranked QB recruits the Sun Devils have ever signed, and Cam Dyer is still looking for his first real shot, a high-level prospect in his own right. Is ASU sitting on the next Brock Osweiler in the midst of a spiraling season? Dillingham will hold the cards, but what he elects to do could be very interesting for the program's future.
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