The Sun Devils are on a stretch where five of six games are against teams from Texas. They are coming off a win versus Texas State and are travelling to Baylor so they have a lot to say.
Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham on Baylor: “They're a good football team. They're well coached. Coach Aranda is known to be one of the best defensive minds. They do a really good job putting pressure on you on both sides of the ball. They're stout up front on the defensive line. They're big, they're strong, they bring all their simulated pressures where you have no clue where it's coming from. I think the greatest challenge is putting our guys in the best position to be successful and play fast, because I think their coaches do a nice job.”
Dillingham on the focus on Baylor: “That's 100% the focus, and whoever we play after Baylor, we'll play them and then so be it. But we are 100% focused on Baylor, the current team. This is a good football team. It's a team that has battled back from a 14-point deficit versus a ranked opponent and beat them on the road. So this is a good football team. They're probably the hottest team in our conference last year to end last season. They returned a lot of people, returned the starting quarterback, returned the coordinators. We got to stay focused on one game at a time.”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt on playing in the Big 12: “It's a conference of margins. You got to win the details. We talk a lot about the middle eight taking care of the ball, and then just playing our game, and the games come down to the clutch, and we had five games last year that was last-second either touchdown or stopped by the defense. So we understand what it takes now, and just good for us to go into that with that under our belt and knowing what it takes.”
Leavitt on his performance against Texas State: “It was the first time I felt like I was really playing ball again, having fun out there, not thinking too much, and just kind of playing, and that I feel like that's when we play the best. We're a really creative team that plays within the system. Coach Arroyo did a great job. We met a lot last week, and so we're going to continue to do that every single week going forward. We're seeing the same things in the game. So, understanding that, the difference between week one and two and last week was exponential because of the work that we put in together earlier in the week, so that was really good to see.”
Dillingham on Baylor head coach Dave Aranda’s defensive style and personnel: “He wants big dudes up front, and he wants to be able to bring pressure from all over. He wants to be able to act like he's rushing five, act like he's rushing six, and only rush four because he drops out an end or drops out a defensive tackle. So, everything is to simulate pressure without bringing it to confuse the quarterback. He gets to dictate what he want what he wants you to do by making really small changes every week.”
Offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo on redshirt junior running back Raleek Brown: “He's showed us what we've hoped to see. He's an explosive player. He's very dynamic. He can run the ball. I think the thing that has been the best is his durability. I mean, he's running between the tackles. He's running in the a-gaps and gap plays and big boy ball and being able to explode. He's taking care of the football. To see the early stages of him be able to blossom and being able to take the pass game, the run game, the protection plan, and can and like step out and get to it right away. It's been awesome.”
Tyson on the crazy catches he makes: “Continually working in the summer, working throughout the spring, just and then just being live. We're finally live against another opponent. So ball's live, everybody's gunning for each other. So just being competitive. That's what I do. Just compete.”
Redshirt senior tight end Chamon Metayer on Tyson opening up the rest of the field: “When you need two, three guys to take away one person, everybody's one-on-one now. Can you cover me? Can you cover the Maleek (McClains)? Can you cover the Jaren Hamiltons, the Cameron Harpoles, the Khamari Andersons, the Raleek Browns, the Kanye Udohs, like can you stop us one-on-one? You really got to have a heart-to-heart with yourself. Can you really do that?”
Redshirt junior Jordyn Tyson on the mentorship from wide receivers coach Hines Ward: “He's played my position 14 years in the league, four more in college. So, he's been playing the position a long time. He knows what to do. He coached in the NFL. He knows what it's like to be a pro. So, he just teaches me everything he can he knows about the game, and he's trying to instill it before I go to that place.”
Dillingham on running two tight end formations: “It's been good putting the tight ends on the field and getting into surfaces to run the football, and those guys are versatile enough. Kamari (Anderson) hit 20 miles per hour in the game, so he's versatile enough to be out there. Chamon (Metayer’s) versatile enough to get the ball. So same with (Cameron) Harpole. So, I think the versatility those guys have just allow you to create more formations with the same group. It's been kind of just good for us in general.”
Metayer on the tight end room: “We got the best tight end room in the country. They got the best tight end and the country in the room. I'm out here leaving by example, and they do a great job following up and matching the energy intensity, letting people know on the team that it's just the standard of Sun Devil football. Physicality is something that we harp on.”
Dillingham on Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson: “Yeah, I actually recruited him out of high school. Didn't get him. He's a heck of a player. He's accurate. He's tall, big, so he can see over the line, make throws over the middle of the field really well, which is obviously a strength of a taller quarterback. Super intelligent, better athlete than people give him credit for. It's going to be a good challenge for us.”
Defensive coordinator Brian Ward on the Baylor offense: “They present a lot of challenges not only with their scheme and what they do and how their coordinator calls the game. They got great talent at all their skill positions. Their running backs are horses. (Bryson) Washington is a very physical back, and he's just been very productive throughout the course of his career. The receiver receiving is really a complete core. They all play really well together. They're running a lot more like five-out schemes in terms of like true air raid principle like concepts.”
Dillingham on the ASU defense: “Yeah, they've done an awesome job, savvy football players. We got a lot of savvy guys out there. We've got a lot of guys with high play recognition, high IQ, and I think that just translates to usually is getting better throughout the season, so I think all those guys, how much football they've played, they've learned from those snaps, and they get better every single game, and that's always the mission.”
Ward on Crook winning the Big 12 defensive player of the week: “I'm not going to lie. It's what we've expected out of Crook to put that kind of complete game together. That was really the most complete game that he's put together, and that's what we expect out of him; that's what we've seen at camp. We've seen those flashes of greatness from him, and he cares a lot. He's ready for whatever, whenever. He's that guy you want to call at 2 o'clock in the morning if you need help. He's all about this program, all about football.”
Dillingham on senior linebacker Keyshaun Elliott: “Yeah, he's just steady Eddie, man. Every single day, he shows up, and you know what you're going to get from Keyshaun. He's going to work hard. He's going to be one of the first people in the building. He's going to eat right. He's going to stretch. He's going to truly treat this like he's a professional. He so consistent in his work. He's intelligent. He's instinctful. I think that's the easiest way to describe Keyshaun is you can trust him with anything and have a lot of faith. If he says he's going to do something, he's going to do it.”
Dillingham on redshirt sophomore safety Adrian “Boogie” Wilson on replacing redshirt senior defensive back Xavion Alford: “Yeah, I don't think you can ever replace Xavion. He's first team all Big 12. He's one of the leaders of our football team. Boogie went in there, and he did an awesome job. We found out he was going to start Saturday morning, and he went in there. We have a lot of faith in Boogie. He flew downhill. He made some nice tackles. He had some good ball disruption. So I was really happy with how he played.”
Dillingham on the equipment staff: “Yeah, they do an unbelievable job. It's a thankless job sometimes, but they're a big part of the team. We need them to be successful. They deal with our players every single day. They're in here in the mornings when I get here. They do an unbelievable job getting our guys ready.”
Dillingham on if he pays attention to the AP Poll: “No.”
Dillingham on why he does not pay attention to the AP Poll: “I don't care. You worry about that a little bit at the end of the season, but when they're picking where you go play and stuff like that after the final game, but you can't control it. Why should we worry about something we can't control?”