TEMPE, Ariz. -- Taylor Kelly has a unique view on the Sun Devils' looming quarterback battle between underclassmen Manny Wilkins, Brady White and Bryce Perkins. Kelly won a similar three-way battle of underclassmen in 2012, Todd Graham's first year as ASU's coach.
"I know what's going through their heads," Kelly said. "This is the chance they've all been waiting for and they have to be able to block all the distractions."
The battle to replace Mike Bercovici begins in earnest when Sun Devils' spring practice opens on March 14 at the Kajikawa Practice Facility. Each of the three players will have a chance to gain a leg up on their competition in the 15 practices before spring ball concludes on April 16, but Graham won't necessarily know who his starter is before training camp begins late this summer.
"In 2012 we didn’t have one," Graham said a recent luncheon with select media members. "Even if we knew who it was, we wouldn’t tell you."
Graham did not know in 2012 when he was still trying to learn his personnel, teach them entirely new systems and ingrain a new culture. When spring ball ended that year, Kelly's prospects weren't looking good.
"In 2012, we came out of spring ball and I met with Taylor Kelly and told him, 'You’re the third-team quarterback,'" Graham said. "He said, 'Coach, I appreciate that, but I will be your quarterback.'"
Kelly remembers the moment well. He felt he was off to a good start in spring ball but he suffered an AC joint sprain in his shoulder that limited his ability to throw and dropped him behind Bercovici and Michael Eubank.
"After that spring evaluation when he told me where I was at, I just told myself 'I need to make the most of the rest of summer,'" said Kelly, who listened to the advice of former Sun Devil great and fellow Idaho native Jake Plummer.
"Jake told me all the stuff that he did on his own like going out to the field with no one around and taking a bunch of air drops where you just work on your footwork with three-step drops, deeper drops and that kind of stuff," Kelly said.
"I did 100 reps of that every single day so it became muscle memory. When you do that, your body and your mind have been in those positions so much that it's nothing new and it's one less thing you have to think about when guys are rushing you and things break down and you have to improvise."
Kelly also watched hours and hours of film -- not only to get an understanding of Graham's offense, but also to gain a better grasp of the language and methods of communication Graham and former offensive coordinator Mike Norvell used.
"These three guys are way ahead of where I was because they have all been in the system for at least a year," Kelly said. "They have been able to see the offense perform on the field. They have sat in meetings. They have heard the terminology.
"For us it was all completely new. We didn't know what the coaches were going to be like, what they were looking for or what to do in all those different situations that come up in a game. People say ASU is in the same situation this year but I think these guys will be way ahead of where I was because they know what's expected."
Kelly was an offensive assistant for the Sun Devils last season, but he recently took a job tutoring quarterbacks in southern California with well-known coaches Tom House, Adam Dedeaux and former BYU and NFL QB John Beck.
Kelly hopes to work with all three Sun Devil QBs again between April and August, but he already has positive impressions of the trio.
"They're all different in the way they lead and the way they play, but they don't need to modify themselves to be like anybody else. They're all great human beings. They need to be themselves. That's going to be the whole key to being successful," Kelly said. "Whichever one can get all those elements together and get his teammates to follow him and have respect for him is the one that will win out."
At this early stage, Graham said there is no separation between the three.
"Everybody's even," he said. "It's a process we will go through that is very simple. We have to find the guy that separates himself and elevates everybody else on the field."
Graham said that choice might become clear to the staff and the team long before it becomes public knowledge.
"When you have one, everybody (on the team) knows already," he said. "All you're waiting to do is tell the media."