The Arizona State Sun Devils are without starting safety Lyrik Rawls “for the near future,” head coach Kenny Dillingham told reporters on Wednesday.
Hosting Hawaii on Saturday, the Sun Devils (2-2) must look to junior Kyan McDonald, a third-year returner at the position, and freshman Zeth Thues to fill the void left by Rawls in the secondary. Rawls (11 tackles, 1 interception, 0.5 tackles-for-loss) went down with a knee injury during a 55-19 defeat against Baylor last week in Tempe.
Following the Baylor loss, the ASU defense, in its fourth season under coordinator Brian Ward, is allowing 24.9 points and 360 yards per game through four outings. Dillingham said it’s up to the next men in waiting to take over the small safety spot in the weeks ahead.
“The guys are stepping up to replace him, they have a really good mindset,” Dillingham said.
Rawls, beginning his career at Oklahoma State, transferred to ASU from Kansas this offseason after distinguishing himself with 73 combined tackles (57 solo) during his time as a Jayhawk.
This week, the Sun Devils have a non-conference opponent in Hawaii, now two losses deep following a 20-16 home loss to San Jose State and a 27-10 road loss at Wyoming. Hawaii sophomore quarterback Micah Alejado flirted with his season-high passing mark with 341 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions last week vs. San Jose State.
Hawaii’s pass-heavy attack hasn’t exactly resulted in wins, though. Alejado has three interceptions through his five starts; His best start (73% passing for 346 yards in a 29-19 win vs. New Mexico State) didn’t feature a single touchdown pass. Despite a 1-4 start, Hawaii’s managed to force itself into fourth-quarter contests where it simply hasn’t persevered with its bevy of talented receivers.
ASU is a 20.5-point favorite entering Saturday’s matchup with an over/under of 50.5 points.
