Ben Coleman Discusses Position Switch Heading Into 2025

Ben Coleman is the most recognizable of the Arizona State offensive line members - on a unit that returns four of five starting players from a season ago.

Coleman's play last season earned him a placement on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team as well, which in turn resulted in an appearance at Big 12 Media Days last week - along with interactions with local media.

Damon Allred of Arizona Sports broke down the interview Coleman had on the 'Burns and Gambo' show on Friday, July 11 - where the returning star discussed his position change to center after playing left guard in 2024.

First, Coleman talked about Jordyn Tyson's consistent hard-lined approach on him when it comes to snapping the ball and protecting Leavitt.

“I feel like sometimes JT (Tyson) is hard about on the snaps ’cause he knows like ‘you getting that ball to me.’ But he’s always the one that’s like, ‘You’re promising me no more bad snaps, no bad snaps, no bad snaps,'”

Coleman then proceeded to discuss how his dynamic with Leavitt has changed and how much responsibility he feels to keep the dynamic passer protected.

“We’ve had to have conversations that maybe we didn’t have to have (because) it wasn’t a necessity last year."

“But it’s been great, man. I love Sam to death. I got his back, and I think it’s something important with the offensive line to have that relationship, because we’re not just blocking to block, man. That’s really our guy."

“So when you think about am I going to get my guy hit or not? That’s one of my best friends, so of course I’m not going to get my guy hit.”

Leavitt was well protected for the vast majority of last season, although an unfortunate rib injury forced the then redshirt freshman to miss one game - and the might of Texas defensive line forced him to improvize even more than usual in the Peach Bowl loss on January 1.

Coleman is key to the Arizona State offense holding together this season, and he is fully capable of doing so.

Read more on projecting the 10 best players on Arizona State's roster going into the new season here, and on Leavitt being selected as the Big-12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year here.

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