Kalen Ballage Media Availability (9/13/16)
On why he brought the offensive line to the podium postgame
"There's 10 other guys on the field beside me. I just happen to have the ball, but there's 10 other guys working. I believe that we had eight touchdowns, not just necessarily me."
On what family and friends from Colorado said after his performance
"I grew up around a lot of solid people, so I had a lot of people congratulating me and my team. They realize that I didn't do this on my own and my offensive line did a good job blocking. Demario Richard did a great job blocking, so it was a team effort."
On the media attention since Saturday
"It's been a little hectic for sure, but I'm taking it all in stride. The night of and the next day after was pretty wild, just my phone being blown up with text messages and notifications, but it's calmed down a little bit. It's one step at a time from here on out."
On potentially higher expectations for him going forward
"Definitely. I think my teammates depend on me and I depend on them. I've heard a lot of other people outside this team expecting me to perform, but I'm not going to do anything different than what I've always done. I'll go out and practice hard and play hard on Saturday like I have been for my whole life."
On anyone notable who has reached out to congratulate him
"I spoke with James Harden and Vontaze Burfict, Jaelen Strong, just a lot of ASU alums and people who have played here previously. That's kind of a cool thing for me."
On why he was unstoppable against Texas Tech
"The offensive line blocked for me correctly and we just had the mindset that until they stop us, we're going to keep running it."
On what James Harden said to him
"He just said 'Shoutout to Kalen Ballage doing his thing over at ASU'. That was just cool coming from someone who's so successful."
On improvements week-to-week
"From NAU to Texas Tech, we took a huge step, especially offensively. Our special teams did a great job as well. All aspects of this football team are growing rapidly and I think those are the kinds of improvements we want to see."
On his relationship with the offensive line
"It's amazing, Sam Jones is another guy from Colorado so we have that in common. I've tried as hard as I can since I've been here to build a relationship with each and every one of these guys separately and then together, we combine all of that. There's a lot of love so when you go out on the field, I run extremely hard for them and they block extremely hard for me."
On keeping the right mindset to win this week
"A lot of the guys on this football team have been playing football since they were very little, so we already have that type of mindset. You just go out and play. We practice these things every single day – repetition, repetition, repetition – so that on game day, you don't have to do anything different than you've already done. The game against Texas Tech is over, there's nothing we can do about that game now. We feel like we played solid and we've moved on."
On hitting the road for the first time this season
"It's just a different atmosphere and different experience, playing somewhere that's not Sun Devil Stadium. Our fans that we're used to seeing and our surroundings, just being in a different place, we're going to have to adjust and play our brand of football."
On what he knows about UTSA
"They're a very solid football team. They're known to give people a run for their money and they have great athletes. We just have to play like we would any other week, play extremely hard."
On if anyone's given him a nickname yet
"No, everyone just calls me KB."
On if 'The Business Man' sounds like a suitable nickname
"Whatever you guys want (laughs)."
On why he brought the offensive line to the podium postgame
"There's 10 other guys on the field beside me. I just happen to have the ball, but there's 10 other guys working. I believe that we had eight touchdowns, not just necessarily me."
On what family and friends from Colorado said after his performance
"I grew up around a lot of solid people, so I had a lot of people congratulating me and my team. They realize that I didn't do this on my own and my offensive line did a good job blocking. Demario Richard did a great job blocking, so it was a team effort."
On the media attention since Saturday
"It's been a little hectic for sure, but I'm taking it all in stride. The night of and the next day after was pretty wild, just my phone being blown up with text messages and notifications, but it's calmed down a little bit. It's one step at a time from here on out."
On potentially higher expectations for him going forward
"Definitely. I think my teammates depend on me and I depend on them. I've heard a lot of other people outside this team expecting me to perform, but I'm not going to do anything different than what I've always done. I'll go out and practice hard and play hard on Saturday like I have been for my whole life."
On anyone notable who has reached out to congratulate him
"I spoke with James Harden and Vontaze Burfict, Jaelen Strong, just a lot of ASU alums and people who have played here previously. That's kind of a cool thing for me."
On why he was unstoppable against Texas Tech
"The offensive line blocked for me correctly and we just had the mindset that until they stop us, we're going to keep running it."
On what James Harden said to him
"He just said 'Shoutout to Kalen Ballage doing his thing over at ASU'. That was just cool coming from someone who's so successful."
On improvements week-to-week
"From NAU to Texas Tech, we took a huge step, especially offensively. Our special teams did a great job as well. All aspects of this football team are growing rapidly and I think those are the kinds of improvements we want to see."
On his relationship with the offensive line
"It's amazing, Sam Jones is another guy from Colorado so we have that in common. I've tried as hard as I can since I've been here to build a relationship with each and every one of these guys separately and then together, we combine all of that. There's a lot of love so when you go out on the field, I run extremely hard for them and they block extremely hard for me."
On keeping the right mindset to win this week
"A lot of the guys on this football team have been playing football since they were very little, so we already have that type of mindset. You just go out and play. We practice these things every single day – repetition, repetition, repetition – so that on game day, you don't have to do anything different than you've already done. The game against Texas Tech is over, there's nothing we can do about that game now. We feel like we played solid and we've moved on."
On hitting the road for the first time this season
"It's just a different atmosphere and different experience, playing somewhere that's not Sun Devil Stadium. Our fans that we're used to seeing and our surroundings, just being in a different place, we're going to have to adjust and play our brand of football."
On what he knows about UTSA
"They're a very solid football team. They're known to give people a run for their money and they have great athletes. We just have to play like we would any other week, play extremely hard."
On if anyone's given him a nickname yet
"No, everyone just calls me KB."
On if 'The Business Man' sounds like a suitable nickname
"Whatever you guys want (laughs)."