By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Chip Lindsey chuckles at the idea that he is ready to unleash his offense after eight months of on-the-job training.
"That sounds exciting," he said, "but it's not really the case."
On the one hand, Lindsey's early arrival in December as ASU's offensive coordinator before the Sun Devils' Cactus Bowl appearance against West Virginia gave him a solid block of practice time and one game situation in which to view and evaluate his personnel. On the other hand, a fair amount of that personnel has departed, leaving ASU's first-year offensive coordinator with four new starters on the offensive line, a new quarterback and a returning receiver (Cameron Smith) who missed all of last season with a knee injury.
"When you're trying to play with tempo and you're trying to play fast, but you've got some inexperience at offensive line and some inexperience at quarterback, you can put yourself in a bad position if you try to give those guys too many things to think about," Lindsey said. "We want to be simple, we want to be efficient, we want to be physical and play with some tempo. Whether or not we're going really fast or not is not the point; just the fact that we can think fast and play fast when the ball is snapped is what is. If you have less to think about, you can do that."
Numerous players have insisted throughout spring ball and training camp that there isn't much different between Lindsey's offense and that of former offensive coordinator Mike Norvell, but offensive line coach Chris Thomsen sees beneficial differences.
"Coach Lindsey is a little bit different in his approach in that he doesn't carry quite as much volume -- in the run game especially (compared to) what coach Norvell did," Thomsen said. "Having some guys who haven't played as much transitioning into an offense that doesn't do quite as much -- the timing is pretty good on that and I think will help us."
That doesn't mean Lindsey has handed out an unsophisticated offensive playbook to his linemen, skill positions and quarterbacks Manny Wilkins and Brady White, who are vying for the starting spot.
"It's not really just simplifying it; it's not dumbing it down or making it for a less knowledgeable player," Wilkins said. "It's really just catering to the quarterback that is out on the field and doing the plays that that quarterback is comfortable with. We're all capable of doing anything the coaches throw at us."
That understanding, said Lindsey, was the greatest benefit of arriving four months before spring ball started.
"I think the most important thing to remember is don't paint yourself into a corner of who you are offensively when your personnel doesn't fit that," he said. "The benefit of me getting here early for bowl practice was getting to know our quarterbacks, getting to know our two good running backs who we need to keep healthy and learning who our playmakers are that I can build around; guys like Tim White.
"There is a definite core philosophy of how we like to play offense. We like to play with tempo and be able to run the football. We were able to have a good offense at Southern Miss because of our run game. We had two 1,000-yard rushers and that helped us throw the ball down the field so I think it's important to be balanced, but you'd hate to say you're a triple option team and then when opponents play cover zero every snap you can't throw the ball. That's not any fun."
Lindsey isn't anxious to give away state secrets. He won't offer details on how he'll use talented running backs Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage in the same backfield, how he'll utilize a deep crop of tight ends, or how he'll exploit the speed of White and Smith, but he insists there are plans for all in place.
As for what else lies deep within his bag of tricks, Sun Devil fans may have to wait a year or two before he chooses to unveil those plays.
"I don't know when that will be yet," he said. "It's going to be really fun to watch these guys evolve. We have a young team so when you look at who we have coming back for the next year or two, I think the future is really bright.
"The more we play and the more experience our guys get, the more we will want to expand what we do, but you'd better be good at something, so find your core plays, find your base and get good at those plays and then you can tweak those things, you can alter an existing base of knowledge so even when you do, you're working on things you already know well."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Chip Lindsey chuckles at the idea that he is ready to unleash his offense after eight months of on-the-job training.
"That sounds exciting," he said, "but it's not really the case."
On the one hand, Lindsey's early arrival in December as ASU's offensive coordinator before the Sun Devils' Cactus Bowl appearance against West Virginia gave him a solid block of practice time and one game situation in which to view and evaluate his personnel. On the other hand, a fair amount of that personnel has departed, leaving ASU's first-year offensive coordinator with four new starters on the offensive line, a new quarterback and a returning receiver (Cameron Smith) who missed all of last season with a knee injury.
"When you're trying to play with tempo and you're trying to play fast, but you've got some inexperience at offensive line and some inexperience at quarterback, you can put yourself in a bad position if you try to give those guys too many things to think about," Lindsey said. "We want to be simple, we want to be efficient, we want to be physical and play with some tempo. Whether or not we're going really fast or not is not the point; just the fact that we can think fast and play fast when the ball is snapped is what is. If you have less to think about, you can do that."
Numerous players have insisted throughout spring ball and training camp that there isn't much different between Lindsey's offense and that of former offensive coordinator Mike Norvell, but offensive line coach Chris Thomsen sees beneficial differences.
"Coach Lindsey is a little bit different in his approach in that he doesn't carry quite as much volume -- in the run game especially (compared to) what coach Norvell did," Thomsen said. "Having some guys who haven't played as much transitioning into an offense that doesn't do quite as much -- the timing is pretty good on that and I think will help us."
That doesn't mean Lindsey has handed out an unsophisticated offensive playbook to his linemen, skill positions and quarterbacks Manny Wilkins and Brady White, who are vying for the starting spot.
"It's not really just simplifying it; it's not dumbing it down or making it for a less knowledgeable player," Wilkins said. "It's really just catering to the quarterback that is out on the field and doing the plays that that quarterback is comfortable with. We're all capable of doing anything the coaches throw at us."
That understanding, said Lindsey, was the greatest benefit of arriving four months before spring ball started.
"I think the most important thing to remember is don't paint yourself into a corner of who you are offensively when your personnel doesn't fit that," he said. "The benefit of me getting here early for bowl practice was getting to know our quarterbacks, getting to know our two good running backs who we need to keep healthy and learning who our playmakers are that I can build around; guys like Tim White.
"There is a definite core philosophy of how we like to play offense. We like to play with tempo and be able to run the football. We were able to have a good offense at Southern Miss because of our run game. We had two 1,000-yard rushers and that helped us throw the ball down the field so I think it's important to be balanced, but you'd hate to say you're a triple option team and then when opponents play cover zero every snap you can't throw the ball. That's not any fun."
Lindsey isn't anxious to give away state secrets. He won't offer details on how he'll use talented running backs Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage in the same backfield, how he'll utilize a deep crop of tight ends, or how he'll exploit the speed of White and Smith, but he insists there are plans for all in place.
As for what else lies deep within his bag of tricks, Sun Devil fans may have to wait a year or two before he chooses to unveil those plays.
"I don't know when that will be yet," he said. "It's going to be really fun to watch these guys evolve. We have a young team so when you look at who we have coming back for the next year or two, I think the future is really bright.
"The more we play and the more experience our guys get, the more we will want to expand what we do, but you'd better be good at something, so find your core plays, find your base and get good at those plays and then you can tweak those things, you can alter an existing base of knowledge so even when you do, you're working on things you already know well."