As expected, Arizona State head coach Dennis Erickson started his first weekly press conference by addressing his quarterback position, naming junior Steven Threet as the starter for the Sun Devils in their season opener Saturday against Portland State.

So Threet, a transfer from Michigan, wins the hotly contested battle between himself and sophomore Brock Osweiler that started all the way back in the spring. But that doesn’t leave Osweiler completely out in the cold. He’ll get some playing time against the Vikings.

“In our decision making it was just that basically he (Threet) was the most consistent through all of Fall camp, although Brock had a great camp too,” Erickson said. “The biggest thing is I saw great improvement from both of them.”

Threet played as a redshirt freshman at Michigan under then-new head coach Rich Rodriguez in 2008, starting 8 games while going 2-6 as the starter. He completed 51% of his passes for 1,105 yards and 8 touchdowns and ran for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns. He sat out last season after transferring from Ann Arbor.

Erickson did mention that of course Threet was excited and Osweiler was disappointed, but that everybody is still on board with turning the ASU football program around. “All they want to do is win football games,” he said. “I’ve been in these situations before and their attitudes towards what they want to get done and what they want to accomplish in this program was special.”

So where does that leave Samson Szakacsy in the mix? The junior, who started two games in 2009 is running with the third team after struggling with elbow injuries in the spring and during fall camp. “He just fell behind in terms of knowing what we’re doing,” Erickson said, but added that due to Szakacsy’s unique skill set, he could be used situationally during the course of the season.

Erickson also commented on his team’s health heading into the opener, pointing out only some issues at the defensive tackle position. Corey Adams and Joita Te’i are out against Portland State and Jamarr Jarrett has been moved from defensive end to the tackle position and will back up Lawrence Guy. The Sun Devils were dealt a blow at the defensive tackle spot late last week when sophomore William Sutton was ruled academically ineligible for the season.