The numbers tell the story for Arizona State’s offensive line: 146 sacks in the last four seasons. The good thing is that there could be some new blood, combined with senior leadership up front for the Sun Devils.
The face of the offensive line in 2009 undoubtedly will be senior Shawn Lauvao. The Honolulu product has played both guard spots in his career, and now has the most skilled and technically sound big man. Dennis Erickson and his staff decided to solidify the left tackle spot.
Danny Sullivan will not need to worry about his blind side with the 6’3”, 310-pound former “Mr. Teen Hawaii Strong Man”
winner, who has continued to put up outstanding weight room numbers. His offseason 6:00 am lineman workouts have produced a 500-pound bench press and 675-pound squat.
The question is: Will the weight room numbers translate to the gridiron in the fall? During spring workouts, Lauvao was solid at his new position going up against Dexter Davis and company on a daily basis.
At left guard is junior John Hargis. Hargis, a local product out of Mesa Red Mountain high school, started all 12 games at left tackle in 2008. The blue-collar lineman also appeared in all 13 games for ASU in 2007 as a defensive tackle.
Hargis is a former All-Mayday selection by ESPN’s Mark May—which is labeled as a collection of the toughest of the tough in college football and is selected by ESPN's Mark May—as he injured his shoulder early in a game in Pasadena, but returned shortly after to help ASU defeat the Bruins.
The toughness is there with this group of guys, as Hargis exemplifies. The combination of experience and strength on the left side, is paired with youth and inexperience on the right side, as well as the center position.
The Sun Devils have an interesting battle at center. Sophomore Garth Gerhart finished the 2008 campaign with three straight starts. However, those starts were at the guard position due to injuries.
In his time on the field, Gerhart, the brother of Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, impressed offensive line coach Gregg Smith enough that he was the primary starter at center all spring.
Gerhart, the 6’1”, 302-pound Norco, CA product, will continue to battle senior Thomas Altieri during fall camp.
Altieri, the 2008 starter at center, never really met expectations of coaches following the 2007 graduation of current Indianapolis Colts guard, and former Sun Devil, Mike Pollack. Inconsistency was the word used to describe Altieri’s play in the fall as well as this past spring. It is going to take a herculean effort for Altieri to unseat Gerhart at center in the fall.
