---

Ben Scott had no idea how much he missed the roar of the crowd. 

The Arizona State redshirt sophomore offensive lineman was reminded of just that last week in his team's season-opening 41-14 win over Southern Utah, which was played before a crowd of 44,456 spectators at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.

"It was amazing," said Scott, a 2019 graduate of Saint Louis from Honolulu. "My (first) year was a redshirt year and that was in front of a crowd, too, but playing in front of that crowd is so much different. Having everyone there cheering your name and all that, I really felt the presence there that you didn't feel during that COVID year."

The Sun Devils rushed for 228 of their 427 yards of total offense. They averaged 5.7 yards per carry and ran in all six of their touchdowns in the rout of the FCS-level Thunderbirds. 

It marked the fifth consecutive start at right tackle for the 6-foot-5, 305-pound Scott. 

"I feel like our o-line right now is one of the best in the country, in my opinion. I feel like we could really rush for 300 yards if we wanted to, but we wouldn't want to run the ball the whole game because it would be easy for defenses to key on that, but it's a lot of pride to rush for that much and just keep shoving the ball down the defense's throat," he said. 

Scott finds a certain irony in his embrace of Arizona State's run-heavy offense.

"It's kind of weird coming from Saint Louis, (where) we didn't really run the ball at all and then I come to ASU and it's almost the opposite," he pointed out. 

The Sun Devils went 2-2 during the COVID-affected 2020 Pac-12 season last fall. They narrowly lost to USC, 28-27, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but saw their next three games against California, Colorado and Utah canceled due to virus protocols. 

Nearly a month after the USC game, ASU fell to UCLA, 25-18, at home, but completed the year with back-to-back road wins over Arizona, 70-7, and Oregon State, 46-33. 

"It was hard having that four-game season with a bunch of canceled games and trying to do classes online, trying to do all this stuff with COVID going on, it wasn't very fun," Scott expressed. "Especially after we had that season, I went back home and we had like a two-and-a-half-week break and I had to quarantine almost the whole time."

In the rout of the Wildcats, the Sun Devils amassed 259 rushing yards and seven rush TDs. They posted 375 yards and six scores by their rushing attack in the win over the Beavers. 

"We just want to keep building off of what we've been doing. I feel like that four-game season't wasn't too much so that we could get into a groove better and now it's just bringing everything together and doing what we gotta do," Scott said. 

Arizona State was selected to finish fourth or fifth in the Pac-12 Conference standings by a number of media outlets' preseason polls. It is of little consequence to Scott and his teammates, however. 

"We don't pay much attention to that because there's a lot of different sources bringing up preseason rankings, but I feel like our team has changed so much in these past couple years, especially this season. We're bringing back almost all of our starters — there's only two or three who weren't starters last year — and we have some transfers coming in who will play a lot and I feel like we have a good chance at taking that first spot in the Pac," Scott prognosticated. 

The season opener against Southern Utah was a good first step, Scott said. The Sun Devils averaged a healthy 7.4 yards per play on offense and held the Thunderbirds to only 224 yards of total offense on the day. 

"I think it went really well. We were still just kind of bringing things together for that game. It's hard to go from practice and trying to do things for so long, then to go do it in the game, but we watched a lot of film and figured our what they're doing scheme-wise and just getting back into things," Scott remarked. 

So far, Scott has enjoyed his three years in Tempe. 

"It's been great. I feel like everything over here has been good," he said. "ASU is a great place to be, the weather is nice, it gets real hot during the summer and early fall, but everything is going pretty well."

Scott is majoring in biological sciences with a minor in business and expects to graduate in May of 2023. 

"I'm not really sure, but I think I want to become a radiologist," he said. "I've gotta explore my options a little bit more."

Following the game against Southern Utah, Scott was able to re-connect with several Hawaii locals during postgame handshakes, including Noah Alejado (Saint Louis '17), his former high school teammate, as well as Akili Gray (Kamehameha '16 of Kailua) and Laakea Kahoohanohano-Davis (Baldwin '16 of Kahului). 

"I talked to them after the game and we said, ‘what's up,' and we took a photo. It was nice to be able to talk story with some guys from Hawaii," said Scott, who is one of two from the 808 on the Arizona State roster. 

The other Hawaii product, Sione Veikoso (Kailua '18), is also on the offensive line for the Sun Devils and is working his way up the depth chart after a two-year church mission to Brazil. 

"Sione, he's super cool. I love having him over here," Scott said. "It's kind of weird because he's kind of a freshman in a way, but he's older than me, so it's kind of weird in that sense, but he came in and he's working his butt off. He's getting reps at right tackle, the position that I play, so it's always good to help him out and I feel like he could be a good player."

Another local product can be found on the coaching staff in Jack-Eli Tufono (Punahou '17), a first-year offensive graduate assistant for the Sun Devils. 

Scott's position coach is Mike Cavanaugh, a former University of Hawaii assistant under June Jones, who joined ASU this year after coming over from Syracuse. 

Of course, Scott's high school coaches at Saint Louis, brothers Cal and Ron Lee were also on the UH coaching staff at that time. The head coach of the Sun Devils is Herm Edwards, who spent eight years as an NFL head coach for the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs. 

"It's great playing for those guys," Scott expressed. "Herm is a real energetic guy. He's always around there joking around with us, but when it comes down to business, he's real serious. Being that he is mainly a defensive guy, he gives us on offense tips on what to read, what to look for."

There have been a number of coaches who have played a large role in Scott's development over the years. 

"I mean, there's a lot of people out there. My first coach was Todd Cabral back in little kid football days and then at Saint Louis I had Rob Crowell and James Hall as my o-line coaches and I feel like they were a big part of my football career, that's where I started getting recruited," said Scott, whose offensive line coach during the 2020 season was former Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen.

"I feel like they all have a big part in my football career," added Scott, who was All-Interscholastic League of Honolulu honorable mention as a junior in 2017. The following year, he was named All-ILH first team, in addition to All-Hawaii first team. 

The Crusaders went 33-1 during Scott's three varsity seasons and captured the HHSAA's Open Division state crown each year. 

Scott reflects upon his time at Kalaepohaku fondly. 

"I feel like it's harder to come out of Hawaii to a D1 program, unlike other guys from California and Texas, and just making it out and putting that on your back means a lot, because there's not many of us, but to go to these other schools and see these Hawaii boys, it's like, ‘dang, we're really here and doing this,' so it's a lot of pride seeing yourself out there," Scott said. 

It was during his days at Saint Louis that Scott learned an important lesson. 

"I feel like the most important thing I learned is to trust in yourself and having confidence and playing with your heart on the line out there," he expressed. "If you go out there and you don't trust yourself and you don't trust what you've been working for and how hard you've been working, then you're not gonna go anywhere."

Scott and the Sun Devils (1-0), who moved up two spots to No. 23 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll, will host UNLV (0-1) at 4:30 p.m. Hawaii time Saturday. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.