Arizona State University football coach Dennis Erickson has been around the NCAA block a few times. He coached at the University of Miami from 1989-94 and won two national titles with the Hurricanes but was also wrapped up in a scandal from his time in Florida. Miami, of course, is now deep in the middle of scandal involving a booster and improper benefits given to players. Some think this one is bad enough to earn Miami the "death penalty".
After the Sun Devils afternoon practice on Wednesday, Erickson took questions about the situation at UM and the overall state of the NCAA.
"I've been away from there 18 years, I haven't really paid much attention to be honest with you," Erickson said, but then later he did talk about the matter.
"A lot of times it's difficult to see what boosters are doing. It's hard. We haven't had any issues here, but at some of those places it's difficult. Sometimes you don't know. It's not just Miami, it's all the other things that have happened at other places."
Erickson pointed out the NCAA, in his opinion, is doing what it can to get control of the situation and that 95 percent of the programs were "doing very, very well."
Other practice notes
- A practice scheduled to run until 6:30 ended a little after 5:00 pm. Many players sat out parts of the light practice which was held without pads.
- Thursday's practice will be in pads and be a bit more intense and then on Saturday the team will hold a final scrimmage of fall camp before moving into normal season preparation for their first game (UC Davis) on September 1.
- The battle for the backup quarterback position between Taylor Kelly and Mike Bercovici is coming down to the wire. "There really isn't much separation. If we knew, we'd make a decision right now," Erickson said.
- With a couple of practices and one scrimmage left, someone will emerge and be named to the job early next week so game preparation can begin and the number two QB can share snaps with Brock Osweiler.
- Running back Cameron Marshall (ankle) practiced Wednesday afternoon while receiver Gerell Robinson (knee) did not.