Head Coach Kenny Dillingham's Monday Weekly Press Conference Previewing Southern Utah:
On the quarterback rotation after QB Jaden Rashada:
“I have no clue. I’m hoping that we win the football game. Bottom line, whatever comes next, I couldn’t even begin to tell you.”
On if there are any strategic changes after the bowl ban:
“No, it's the same process. The seniors deserve for us to try to win every game. I firmly believe that it doesn’t change anything. I firmly believe that the seniors deserve the right to win every football game. At this point, that’s all I can say. If there’s a senior that feels differently and wants to use a red-shirt year to come back, we’ll cross that bridge and I’ll be open to that. I’m open to it for them if that’s what they want because it’s their decision as a senior. I think at the end of the day it's whatever we can do to win football games for our seniors to make this season worth it and something they remember for the rest of their lives.”
On developing younger players in games because they won’t have bowl practices:
“Unfortunately not, We want to try to win football games, bottom line. I couldn't even begin to process going into a game with the full intent of putting everything we have to win the game. I couldn't process that. So, no. That part does suck though, and that’s part of it. Our guys had the best practice today that they may have had in two weeks. Phenomenal practice because they are resilient and that's what we're about. We’re about responding to adversity and being successful and being the very best we can be every single day and in everything we do. At the end of the day, nothing that happened yesterday affected those two things. The mission is still the mission; be the best you can be every single day.”
On reactions over the past 24 hours and people reaching out:
“There has been a lot of people who have been supportive of the football program. To be honest, I think there is a lot of people, I mean you can debate how people handle situations and stuff like that. I think – I think Ray has gotten the short end of the stick here to be honest. I mean I think he is kind of in the middle of all this and Ray has been really good to me since I got here, and I don’t know what happened in the past here but Ray has been really good to me since I have got here.”
On if his emotions have soaked in before his first game coaching:
“No. It is football. The dream job is all the other stuff, right. The being home, the going home, the – seeing family, all the other stuff. The coming into the office and seeing the campus, I mean it is football time. When we walk on the field, there’s 22 people that are going to take the field, it’s 120 yards, 53 and a third yards wide and Its go time.”
On if he will get there super early or do anything before to soak in the moment:
“No, this is not about me. I mean, my players joked – we had a mock game the other day and they were like “get up in front, run out – you have got to run out first, you are the head coach” and I’m like no no, I do not play. You guys play. You guys run out, and I’ll just run out randomly so I can get ready to coach. And you guys go get ready to play a football game. This is not about me. It is about the players. It is always about the players. Everything I will ever do is about the players.”
On how different it will be on the sidelines and not at the booth:
“It’s going to be more like a practice, that’s funny my wife asked me the same question she’s like how's it gonna be on the sidelines, I’m like well you know I practiced from the sidelines, you know so I’ve had more experience on the sidelines than I have had in the box just not on game day, so i'm used to being on the sidelines at practice, I guess the difference will be in-between series not necessarily going over the offensive all of the time right in-between series watching the defensive and being able to give input while still give input to the offensive and balancing the time, spent while I'm on the sidelines, but other than that I am used to the sidelines for practice so I don't think there will be a bigger difference. I’m interested to see how loud we can get, I think that will be fun, see how loud we can make this thing on Thursday, let's see how many fans, every season ticket holder got two extra tickets, bring a friend, bring a friend who has a son or daughter so we can make a lifelong Sun Devil fan, out of them, and get loud.”
On what he wants Jaden to bring to Thursday’s Game:
“Confidence, I want to see him take the field confident that’s it, take the field confident, he has a high talent, a high IQ, high work ethic, if he’s confident in what he does and does it with confidence, he knows what he sees and he trusts his eyes, he is gonna have a lot of success.”
On WR Elijhah Badger playing with the second offensive group during practice:
“He’s out the first half of the game. So we have to practice with the guys that are gonna be playing in the first half of the football game. No it was Arizona from last year the second half of last year him and Will Shaffer both committed personal fouls, which got them ejected from the games, so they will be out the first half and then they will be back. Oh y'all didn't know that? I’m just kidding, I just learned about it a week and a half ago so it’s all good.”
On how impressive it is for Jaden Rashada to earn the starting QB as a freshman:
“It’s super impressive. It’s a testament to the human he is, the person he is and the work ethic he put in. The resilience he has. All those things, the intelligence. That’s a guy who’s he’s learned every day. It sounds so cliche. Just get better every day, that’s not realistic. Nobody is going to say that, ‘Oh I got better today’, no one is actually going to get better every day. There’s going to be a day where you fail and you don't think you grow, but the next day you got twice as good because you learned from it. It may not be the product was better, but the growth was better. Those are two different things. I think he turned every day that he failed, into growth and every day that he succeeded into growth. And he stacked those days.
On what type of leader QB Jaden Rashada is:
“I think right now he is a lead through the work. Everybody sees the work and the want. I think older guys can rally behind a young guy who’s passionate, and has the character factor. I think through his knowledge and through the work he’s putting in. He’s slowly getting more comfortable and you saw him today go up to two different guys and tell them ‘hey I think you should do it like this.’ That’s the next step but he can’t force it. He can’t force it until he knows it so well that he’s right. You can’t lead that way unless you’re always right. That goes back to the confidence. He’s slowly putting himself in a position to know the offense good enough to lead in that next way. It’s not going to happen overnight but it’s going to happen organically. You saw it organically happen at practice two times at practice today.”
On if the team responded well at today’s practice after yesterday’s news:
“One-hundred percent, it was probably our best practice we’ve had in two weeks. It may’ve been our best practice we’ve had in Fall camp, other then one that was mixed in there. A phenomenal day, it just tells you the character of the people that we have. I think somebody put it on social media like our kids didn’t refuse to speak to anybody yesterday because they needed too air it out, and they’ve moved on. It is what it is, life is about how you respond and we’re going to try to do everything we can to be successful every single day. I think those guys brought it today to lean into one another. And let’s go be the best we can be every single day.”
On the offensive line being established for the year:
“It is, but we want to be able to play five to eight guys in that role. So, I mean, yes— who takes the field, yes—are they a starter? Yes—but are there really seven to eight starters? Yes. So I wouldn’t get too wrapped up in, you know, what five take the field first.
On the message to Sun Devil Nation for the start of the season:
“To me, the adversity is behind us. It is like I told our team, like, I said we’re going to give everyone one day—get your feelings out, including me, get it out. Get it off your chest, get it out there. Let’s move on because that’s what it's about. We’re not just going to say something and get over it instantly, that is not real. We can act like that’s real but it’s not. Like give yourself a day and move on. So to Sun Devil Nation it’s “move on.” Let’s move on. Let’s show support for the team because that’s what this is about. It’s about the athletes. It’s not about me. It’s not about anybody else in the organization. It’s not about Coach (Charlie) Ragle. It’s not about Coach (Jason) Mohns. It’s not about Coach (Ra’Shaad) Samples. It’s not about somebody in the athletic organization. It’s not about somebody who works on the other side of campus. This is about the 120 kids—116 kids— that are on the football team, Support them. Come out—support them. Cheer. Be loud. Show that it matters. Show that you care. Show that we are working in the right direction to get this place where everybody wants to go to.”
On Coach Kenny Dillingham’s involvement and player involvement in the attitude change following yesterday’s announcement before practice:
“I think guys like Jordan Clark and Jaden (Rashada)—I mean just all the guys. I think we’re pretty—I think the guys put in enough work that they’re not going to let anything derail them from what they actually want, and that’s just to show people that they put in the work. They want to show that they put in the work, and I think, obviously, there’s going to be emotional days but I think the response today is a good reflection. The response yesterday with our players with the media—the response today at the practice is a good reflection of the direction we’re going. And I talk about all the time we had to face adversity, right? We went to Camp T to face adversity living in the same place, right? We’ve had tough practices to face adversity on the practice field. We just had adversity in life. It’s great. I mean, it’s not what you want, but sometimes it’s what you need, and we need to use that as fuel and we got to face it. And we’re going to face more adversity on Thursday, and I think all the trials that we are facing is good for the longevity of the football team, and we’re going to spin everything as a positive and we’re going to be the best we can be.”