ASU Football: Media day notebook

Three practices into fall camp, ASU football held its Media Day Saturday as players talked about goals, coaches and roles for the upcoming season.

ASU football held their Media Day Saturday with the freshmen aiming to play big roles this season. Here’s that and some other takeaways from Media Day.

Putting on weight

Cornerback Chase Lucas came to ASU as an exciting four-star prospect from just down the road at Chandler High School.

That excitement was put on hold in 2016 as Lucas was redshirted and didn’t play in a single game.

So far in fall camp, the redshirt-freshman has been taking most of his snaps with the first-team defense, a drastic improvement from a year ago.

On his journey to become a starter, Lucas has gained significant weight, already going from 156 pounds last year to 178 pounds this season.

“I had to get my body right, Lucas said. “But then my mental maturing. I just need to keep letting coach [Phil] Bennett scream at me, even if I get an interception, I want him to blast me, just keep pounding at me in my head.

“I feel like when I redshirted to getting first-string reps, I felt like I was more humbled in the redshirting, so I felt like I needed to come out with a full head of steam and that’s exactly what I did.”

Average Joe?

New defensive coordinator Phil Bennett is a noticeably intense and very vocal coach, often shouting or getting on his players during practice.

So when senior linebacker Koron Crump was asked what the worst thing Bennett has said to him, I expected a four-letter word to come out of Crump’s mouth.

Instead, it was simply “an Average Joe.”

The ‘insult’ came during a recent practice after Crump made a mistake.

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“It was just technique-wise,” Crump said. “I didn’t get the assignment done, so it was like, he wants more out of me, so I was like ‘OK, I got it.’”

Crump doesn’t take Bennett’s outlashes to heart, knowing there is a reason behind each one, intended on making him better.

“I don’t take nothing personal from coach Bennett – It got me fired up. But coach Bennett, he’s old school so it’s like he expects more from me and I appreciate his coaching.”

Crump doesn’t plan on being average in 2017 though, setting his goals very high.

“Sacks? I want two a game,” Crump said. “So you all can do the math on that one. And if I just get one sack, I’m going to make up for it in the next game and get three.”

That math comes out to 24 sacks this season. A number that would tie an ASU school record held by Terrell Suggs and get Crump some national notoriety.

Is the grass greener in Alabama?

Everyone seems to have a fascination will Alabama football. What is Nick Saban really like? How do they win so much?

Included in on the curiosity about the Crimson Tide are the ASU players.

That curiosity was sparked when Alabama transfer quarterback Blake Barnett came to Tempe, getting a lot of questions from his new teammates, but not about Saban or the winning.

“If like something changes in our schedule, Barnett said. “Or in our practices and it’s kind of more than they would have done before they ask, is this what they [Alabama] do? Is this what they do? Is this what they do? And I’m like, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but it’s kind of funny to hear that side of things and give my opinion on that.”

And as for what he did with all of his Tide gear.

“I gave it to all of my friends at school there, Barnett said. “I gave it to my teammates, some of the walk-ons that I was friends with at Alabama. It’s a lot of gear you get, so it’s not really needed in my closet anymore — I kept some of the shoes though.”

Big time for a freshman.

Evan Fields is part of the quartet of four-star freshman DBs along with Alex Perry, K.J. Jarrell and Langston Frederick that came to Tempe this fall.

They will try to eventually become the answer to the Sun Devils recent secondary woes and even in their freshman year, Fields has high hopes for the group.

“All four of us, we don’t play the same position I don’t think,” Fields said. “We each play different so there’s a chance that we could all four be on the field at the same time and that would be awesome.”

If it could happen this year, they may start getting the nickname of the “Fab Four,” a comparison to the 1991 “Fab Five” Michigan basketball team that started five freshmen.

So far though, Fields has been drawing the most talk and praise.

“Evan Fields,” Todd Graham said Friday. “I think he’s got a lot of promise there as the down safety.”

He acknowledged that he’s been rotating with the ones and twos in practice, saying he was listed as the No. 2 down safety on a depth chart they showed him before a fall practice.

Through just three practices, he feels like he’ll have a major role in the secondary.

Next: ASU Football: Friday practice report

When asked how much playing time he thinks he will get this season, Fields’ response was “a lot,” and when it was narrowed down to how many snaps he thinks he’s going to get, he quickly answered, “most of them.”

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