ASU Football: Five things we saw at Pac-12 Media Day

5. This team is confident

Despite the Sun Devils being picked to finish sixth in the Pac-12 South, the team wasn’t short of any confidence on Wednesday.

The skepticism for this year’s team has been largely driven by the addition of Edwards, who last coached in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008. This year will be Edwards’ first time coaching college football, a move that some experts have felt will become a disaster for the Sun Devils.

But when Edwards spoke to the media, he said that the move motivated him to return and that football was never too far off his radar.

"I had an inkling I was going to go back. I had opportunities before, never mentioned them. It needed to be the right place. In life, I think that I live by this motto to have a successful life, the first thing you have to realize is what is your purpose in life? Then from there, be committed to reaching your full potential at that purpose. Then once you find it, help others succeed. When you think about football, you’re able to do that, really able to do that as a coach. I’ve never had a job. I’ve always been involved in football — playing football, coaching football, talk about football. That’s what I’ve done. That’s what I do. It’s not like it’s something new to me."

When asked about finishing sixth in the polls, Edwards said that he’s confident in the talent on the roster and that they’ll remained focused on their goal of winning a Pac-12 championship.

“I’m going to talk [only] about our expectations, and N’Keal [Harry] and the rest of these guys know it,” Edwards told Pac-12 Networks.  “It’s about us. It’s never about anybody else. When I took this job, I was quite forthright and said we’re trying to win a Pac-12 Championship. That is our goal.”

Edwards also alluded to his belief in his offense’s capabilities, stating that they could be even better than they were last season.

“When you think about our football team, I was very fortunate to come in and to have a guy like N’Keal, Manny Wilkins, where we have a veteran presence on offense,” Edwards added. “This offense scored 33 points a game– I look at them scoring even more than that this year. And with that being said, I like our football team, especially on offense.”

Edwards’ confidence has quickly made an impression on his players. While talking about the change from Todd Graham to Edwards, Wilkins said he’s learned several new aspects as an all-around player that will help him this season.

“I think probably the biggest thing I’ve learned from him is leadership things,” Wilkins told Pac-12 Networks. “Obviously, he’s been around the game for so long. The biggest things I’ve learned from is a lot of leadership qualities, things on how to handle different people, how to handle different situations. And then football-wise, really situational things that you can’t really know unless you’ve been there before. And as simple as that is, he’s been there, he’s done it, he’s seen it all, so to be able to learn these things from him has been remarkable.”

As the 2018 season inches closer, it’s a promising sight to see that two of ASU’s best players seemed to have bought in to their head coach’s philosophies. With expectations that couldn’t get much lower, an opportunity to grow close as a unit is clearly on the horizon.

We’ll see how the Sun Devils look on the field when they open the season on Sept. 1 versus the University of Texas at San Antonio.