Here is what the Sun Devils are saying after their chaotic week that saw them lose to Houston and special teams coach Charlie Ragle temporarily leave the program.
Head coach Kenny Dillingham on Ragle taking a leave of absence: “Coach Ragle, my high school head coach, came in and said he needs to take a medical leave of absence, just get himself right. He's been dealing with some things for quite a few years now, and it's just kind of come to a head where he's got to get right and get healthy. I told him, however long that is, and whether it's 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 1 week, a month, a year, 6 weeks, whenever you feel ready again. So thoughts and prayers with him and his family as well as he, you know, tries to get back on track and start to feel better.”
Special teams coordinator Jack Nudo on Ragle: “My immediate reaction was sadness and shock. I've known Coach Ragle since I was a kid. I almost went to Chaparral (High school) because of Coach Ragle, although I tell him I didn't go because of him. He's a great man that loves this place and, more importantly, loves these players. Obviously, just for him to get right is going to be the most important thing. He's a family man. He talks about his kids all the time and his wife. For him to just be there for his family is going to be the most important thing for him. Obviously, I was sad and not the way I wanted to get this role by any means, but it's not about me. It's about these players and getting these guys in the best position to be successful.”
Dillingham on coach Ragle: “Obviously, coach Ragle’s not replaceable. He's one of the best coaches the state's ever seen. He's, you know, one of the best mentors you could ever have, so he's not a replaceable person, but I think with that, Jack's done a phenomenal job stepping in and being himself. He's not trying to replace Coach Ragle because, like I said, he's an irreplaceable person. He's stepping in and being himself. The guys are responding to Jack being himself and the knowledge that he has. So, I've been really pleased with how he's done so far.”
Dillingham on Nudo taking over the role: “In terms of how we're going to move forward, Jack Nudo is going to kind of take the lead there. I'm going to be involved. I was way more involved last week. Coach Ragle was an instrumental part in taking a program that was on life support and bringing them to the highest it's been in decades. And sometimes people don't take that, you know, into account the things that he did to get us to that point.”
Nudo on coaching at Arizona State: “It meant the world to be able to get home. This is my dream job to be at ASU. My family is all here. My fiance's here. To be able to be home and experience this, it's been the world, and when I got that call, man, I was actually in a high school recruiting and had to step out, and I yelled in the hallway. So, it was good. It was awesome.”
Dillingham on managing injuries: “I think about the best interest of the player. When Sam got up in the first quarter, like he got up, he's like, ‘I'm going back in.’ I'm like, ‘No, you're not. You're going to the locker room right now.’ Because that's what Sam wanted. Sam was like, ‘No, I'm fine. I got my adrenaline. I'm going back.’ And no, you're going to the locker room, right? You're going to go get checked out. We're going to go get X-rays. We're going to go do whatever we can do to make sure that we've done everything we can, not just going off your emotions.”
Dillingham on Tyson’s injury: “We'll reassess him probably on Thursday or Friday. So I would say questionable, but still not practicing for us.”
Dillingham on key injuries: “We took six guys in media days. Four of them aren't playing right now. That's kind of crazy to think about it like that, but it is fun to see that those guys are still engaged and they’re building and they still want to be a part of it. They want to be out here. It's not what you want, but when you're in this situation and you have those guys still, you know, involved at that level, it gives you a lot of confidence in what we're doing. It gives our staff a lot of confidence in the relationships that we're building.”
Offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo on quarterback Sam Leavitt’s role while being injured: “He understands that that role doesn't ever go away. Once you're a leader or you're the guy who's going to make help make things go, or you're a catalyst in a program, or you're just a piece, whether you're in sports or business or your family, you don't just disappear, you got to be able to help guys out and be able to still learn. He can still get a ton of mental reps. We're in there watching film. We're breaking down film. He's taking notes. Whether he's playing or not, he's still asked to do what he's asked to be able to grow both on and off the field.”
Wide receiver coach Hines Ward on Tyson’s role while he’s injured: “Oh, he's been more of a leader. You see him with a script in his hand and helping guys come to the sideline. That's encouraging. I mean, he's one of our leaders on the team. So, just to see him in that role, I kind of take back and I'm smiling because, I don't know if last year's JT was doing that. So this year, man, it’s eating him up not to be out there. He's working his tail off to try to get on the football field, but when he's not able, he's out there trying to encourage and help his teammates. And that's the side of JT that kind of like a lot of people don't give him recognition for that. But he's gotten better as far as being a great teammate, a great pro.”
Ward on the receivers development: “Yeah, they're coming along. It's a process. Those guys, all they've done is stuck their head down and just put in the work and just keep grinding on a day-to-day basis, opportunity to be there with JT being out, I thought those guys made some plays, but, we didn't do enough to win games, I thought we left some plays out on the field, but the way we respond, all I know to do is just get back to work and get back to chopping wood and, understanding that, we get another opportunity to showcase our talent. So, just been pushing those guys every day, just working on their craft or getting better each and every day they step out here.”
Redshirt senior wide receiver Malik McClain on seeing all the receivers have breakout games: “I remember when we were in Camp T, and we was hurting, our bodies was hurting, and I was looking at them guys, and you can see the pain like you know it's hot. We just ran 15 plays in a row like and just to see them come out here and you see it day in day out like the work they put in like and for them to get their opportunity man it's just like let's go like I knew you can do it like it's show the world time.”
Ward on the receivers drops: “Way too many drops last week. We had five drops collectively as a group, and just today I'm harping. We got to be elite pass catchers. We catch those five balls, maybe that game's a different outcome. I'm a stickler on it, man. Five drops in total as a group is not good enough. It's below average for me, below our standard. Just having a pro mindset, just the vision of just keep getting better each and every day. The progress that I've seen from Malik and Jaren and all of our guys, man, it got a big smile on my face ‘cause when they first started and to who they become today, they're not only better football players, but they're better men.”
Ward on redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jaren Hamilton’s nickname “Turbo”: “He's got like alter egos. He's turbo one minute, and then he's Jaren the next minute. But, listen, you guys call him Turbo. I want everybody to know who he is behind the name, ‘cause I think the nickname is cool, but I want everybody to know who Jaren Hamilton really is. Who he is as a person. Who he is as a football player. So, I'm going to call him by his government name.”
Redshirt senior quarterback Jeff Sims on what brought him back for his last year: “It was really Dilly and Arroyo. I like being around them. They're smart coaches. I've learned a lot from them since I've been here. I'm a faith-driven man. My family and I talked about it. We prayed about it. We just felt like this is the best place to stay.”
Sims on freshman quarterback Cameron Dyer: “That's little bro. Cam prepares every week like he's a starter. Even when he was not clear, when he was hurt, he's just that type of guy. He's the same person every day. He comes to work, and I'm not really worried about anything. If anything was to happen and he had to go in the game, I wouldn't be worried. Not one bit.”
Nudo on the special teams: “We have a talented special teams group. I know we haven't performed to the ability that we can. We're not going to be able to make just a bunch of a million different changes with the specialists right now. Focusing on one thing at a time, every single practice having one thing. That way you're not trying to change a bunch of things at one time because you're not going to perform well if that's the case.”
Nudo on the relationship with his dad: “The funny thing, my dad's out here every Tuesday and Wednesday. He never pushed me to play football, to coach football. He's supportive in anything that I did. Obviously, being around that my whole life, that's what made me fall in love with it. I think he is the ultimate relationship builder, more so than the X's and O's. His ability to create relationships at every level that he's coached has influenced me to do this. And for me, it's always been about the players and always will be.”