On NAU’s offense preparing Arizona State for Texas Tech…
“I’m just pleased with our guys being 1-0 going into week two. Obviously we see different challenges every week, but the key for us is getting better. I feel like we got better every play and I think you can look at the stats and I think they (Texas Tech) were the top passing team in the country last year. They have a great quarterback so this will be an even bigger challenge this week. NAU did a great job and I think their quarterback and receiving core are guys that you’ll see win a lot of games. Their quarterback is really, really good at taking care of the football. He turned the ball over four or five times all last year. They’ll do well, I wish them the best. Class, class group of guys.”
On Wren’s play and other standout players…
“Couple things stood out to me as effort. Our guys got better every play. One of the things I saw was that they were getting the ball out in two seconds. When they were holding the ball they were blocking seven-on-four so they had some nice things. Usually when that happens we’ll bring more pressure and do different things, but we were disciplined on what our plan was and what we wanted to do. I think we had a good plan and we did some really good things. We got better. The key to winning is getting better every week and, from start to finish, that was a great example of getting better every snap. I think we scored the last seven consecutive series or something like that. I’m very pleased on how our guys played. But our defensive line, I thought those guys stood out and did some nice things. I thought our effort was good there. I thought DJ (Calhoun) did some nice things, I mean there were a lot of guys giving great effort and getting better every snap. Offensive line I think Quinn Bailey was a guy that stood out to me, it was interesting because I told Coach Thomsen I thought it was Christian Westerman a couple of times. They’re very similar in their stances and their mannerisms and so he’s got a ways to go to get the experience and the knowledge that Christian was at, but I thought he had his best game. I could point out a bunch of people who played extremely hard but at the end of the day, we’re 1-0, undefeated and going into next week.”
On what challenges Patrick Mahomes II provides…
“I mean it’s pretty obvious, same challenges you ask for everybody they play every week. It’s an air raid system. One, they’re very well coached and he really understands the system, he’s big, he’s hard to tackle, he has a very quick release and they spread you all over the place. Obviously the strength of their team is their offense and their ability to score points and so it’ll be a big challenge.”
On Chip Lindsey’s offensive background helping game plan against Texas Tech…
Yea, we spent a lot of time in the summer doing that. We’re obviously not going to do that this week, we don’t have that much time. We’ve competed against this system for a few years so that helps us a lot. It still boils down to matchups and personnel and all those things. Our guys will be ready.
On the evolution of the air raid offense and coach Kingsbury’s version of it…
I think he is a great coach and does a tremendous job. There’s different versions of it (the air raid offense), Dana (Holgorsen) has a different form at West Virginia, coach Leach, to me, is the foundation and traditional way of doing it. They’ve all added different wrinkles and things like that to it, but I’d say Texas Tech is more pure and very much similar to Washington State.
On coach Slocum making special teams a strength for the Sun Devils…
We’ve done a lot of good things on special teams. I think our first year we were number one in the league in punting. It’s really just having someone that just focuses on that and that’s really what he focuses on. He’s really just a great teacher. He does a great job teaching and I think it helps activate our players because he has such a knowledge, being in the NFL for 10 years, of just how important it is. As our guys leave and go to the next level when they come back that is what they tell our players, that is how you make the team. I’ll tell you what has helped, our depth. We’re in year five, we’re not in year two or three and that has helped a lot. Shawn does a great job. We had different coaches in charge of different units, so it was a little bit fragmented. I like having one guy who champions it. Also he’s (Slocum) done a good job with our staff, John Simon, Jay Norvell, Del Alexander, T.J. Rushing, the coaches around them really take pride in our special teams. It helps when you get the effort from guys like Tim White and guys that are busting their tail.
On his opinion of the targeting call…
“I will leave the decision to the officials on those calls, it is important to really look at the safety of the players. He [Marcus Ball] did not launch at the head, but at the same time, if he hit with the crown of his helmet that is also considered targeting. It’s all for safety, so I had no problem with that call because I think they are trying to protect the players. I agree with protecting our guys in any way that we can, so if there is any doubt in a call, I would side with the safety precautions.”
On Tim White’s contribution to the team…
“I think Tim epitomizes what we want in a player. He is a very selfless guy. I try to talk to him on the sidelines and tell him that it is sometimes okay to go out of bounds and to go down, but he won’t do it. He is a tenacious, physical, competitor who is one of the hardest working guys on the team. This team means something to him. I think you can see his character and his discipline. When I walk around and talk to players in the dining hall and in the locker room, I tell them that if they want to follow somebody, they need to follow Tim White. He’s a guy that really embodies what we are about and I like that he was elected captain for last week’s game. Tim is a guy that doesn’t say a word but leads by everything he does every single day.”
On Zane approaching records…
“When I was talking to players before the game on Friday night, I was discussing our game plan and I made a joke saying, ‘Zane, I know you’re sixteen from the national record but I hope you don’t make one field goal’. So, I guess he got the last laugh on that deal. I am really proud of him. He is another guy that doesn’t say much but works really hard. It is pretty incredible where he is at, being only twelve away after week one. I still wish those four field goals were touchdowns, but I was very pleased.”
On reflecting on film and Manny’s performance…
“One of the best things that Manny did was his ability to communicate. The conversation he would have between the series, listening to instructions and then making the proper adjustments. We could have thrown the ball a whole lot more than we did, but we didn’t. Obviously, there were some things we wanted to establish and do, but one thing we did was win the game. We wanted to run the football, and I think [Manny] made some good decisions when he did run the ball. I think for his first game, he learned a lot and I think he did a solid job. His poise was what I was most impressed with. The way that he communicated with Chip and Brady was really impressive. We have to get better at every single area and so does everybody else, but I feel really good with where we are at. We never had too much panic or any negativity, and I really liked Manny’s leadership. He has a lot of tools and obviously as we move to week two, week three and so on, the key is to improve in every single area. The good news is that we are 1-0 and Manny is an undefeated quarterback right now.”
“I’m just pleased with our guys being 1-0 going into week two. Obviously we see different challenges every week, but the key for us is getting better. I feel like we got better every play and I think you can look at the stats and I think they (Texas Tech) were the top passing team in the country last year. They have a great quarterback so this will be an even bigger challenge this week. NAU did a great job and I think their quarterback and receiving core are guys that you’ll see win a lot of games. Their quarterback is really, really good at taking care of the football. He turned the ball over four or five times all last year. They’ll do well, I wish them the best. Class, class group of guys.”
On Wren’s play and other standout players…
“Couple things stood out to me as effort. Our guys got better every play. One of the things I saw was that they were getting the ball out in two seconds. When they were holding the ball they were blocking seven-on-four so they had some nice things. Usually when that happens we’ll bring more pressure and do different things, but we were disciplined on what our plan was and what we wanted to do. I think we had a good plan and we did some really good things. We got better. The key to winning is getting better every week and, from start to finish, that was a great example of getting better every snap. I think we scored the last seven consecutive series or something like that. I’m very pleased on how our guys played. But our defensive line, I thought those guys stood out and did some nice things. I thought our effort was good there. I thought DJ (Calhoun) did some nice things, I mean there were a lot of guys giving great effort and getting better every snap. Offensive line I think Quinn Bailey was a guy that stood out to me, it was interesting because I told Coach Thomsen I thought it was Christian Westerman a couple of times. They’re very similar in their stances and their mannerisms and so he’s got a ways to go to get the experience and the knowledge that Christian was at, but I thought he had his best game. I could point out a bunch of people who played extremely hard but at the end of the day, we’re 1-0, undefeated and going into next week.”
On what challenges Patrick Mahomes II provides…
“I mean it’s pretty obvious, same challenges you ask for everybody they play every week. It’s an air raid system. One, they’re very well coached and he really understands the system, he’s big, he’s hard to tackle, he has a very quick release and they spread you all over the place. Obviously the strength of their team is their offense and their ability to score points and so it’ll be a big challenge.”
On Chip Lindsey’s offensive background helping game plan against Texas Tech…
Yea, we spent a lot of time in the summer doing that. We’re obviously not going to do that this week, we don’t have that much time. We’ve competed against this system for a few years so that helps us a lot. It still boils down to matchups and personnel and all those things. Our guys will be ready.
On the evolution of the air raid offense and coach Kingsbury’s version of it…
I think he is a great coach and does a tremendous job. There’s different versions of it (the air raid offense), Dana (Holgorsen) has a different form at West Virginia, coach Leach, to me, is the foundation and traditional way of doing it. They’ve all added different wrinkles and things like that to it, but I’d say Texas Tech is more pure and very much similar to Washington State.
On coach Slocum making special teams a strength for the Sun Devils…
We’ve done a lot of good things on special teams. I think our first year we were number one in the league in punting. It’s really just having someone that just focuses on that and that’s really what he focuses on. He’s really just a great teacher. He does a great job teaching and I think it helps activate our players because he has such a knowledge, being in the NFL for 10 years, of just how important it is. As our guys leave and go to the next level when they come back that is what they tell our players, that is how you make the team. I’ll tell you what has helped, our depth. We’re in year five, we’re not in year two or three and that has helped a lot. Shawn does a great job. We had different coaches in charge of different units, so it was a little bit fragmented. I like having one guy who champions it. Also he’s (Slocum) done a good job with our staff, John Simon, Jay Norvell, Del Alexander, T.J. Rushing, the coaches around them really take pride in our special teams. It helps when you get the effort from guys like Tim White and guys that are busting their tail.
On his opinion of the targeting call…
“I will leave the decision to the officials on those calls, it is important to really look at the safety of the players. He [Marcus Ball] did not launch at the head, but at the same time, if he hit with the crown of his helmet that is also considered targeting. It’s all for safety, so I had no problem with that call because I think they are trying to protect the players. I agree with protecting our guys in any way that we can, so if there is any doubt in a call, I would side with the safety precautions.”
On Tim White’s contribution to the team…
“I think Tim epitomizes what we want in a player. He is a very selfless guy. I try to talk to him on the sidelines and tell him that it is sometimes okay to go out of bounds and to go down, but he won’t do it. He is a tenacious, physical, competitor who is one of the hardest working guys on the team. This team means something to him. I think you can see his character and his discipline. When I walk around and talk to players in the dining hall and in the locker room, I tell them that if they want to follow somebody, they need to follow Tim White. He’s a guy that really embodies what we are about and I like that he was elected captain for last week’s game. Tim is a guy that doesn’t say a word but leads by everything he does every single day.”
On Zane approaching records…
“When I was talking to players before the game on Friday night, I was discussing our game plan and I made a joke saying, ‘Zane, I know you’re sixteen from the national record but I hope you don’t make one field goal’. So, I guess he got the last laugh on that deal. I am really proud of him. He is another guy that doesn’t say much but works really hard. It is pretty incredible where he is at, being only twelve away after week one. I still wish those four field goals were touchdowns, but I was very pleased.”
On reflecting on film and Manny’s performance…
“One of the best things that Manny did was his ability to communicate. The conversation he would have between the series, listening to instructions and then making the proper adjustments. We could have thrown the ball a whole lot more than we did, but we didn’t. Obviously, there were some things we wanted to establish and do, but one thing we did was win the game. We wanted to run the football, and I think [Manny] made some good decisions when he did run the ball. I think for his first game, he learned a lot and I think he did a solid job. His poise was what I was most impressed with. The way that he communicated with Chip and Brady was really impressive. We have to get better at every single area and so does everybody else, but I feel really good with where we are at. We never had too much panic or any negativity, and I really liked Manny’s leadership. He has a lot of tools and obviously as we move to week two, week three and so on, the key is to improve in every single area. The good news is that we are 1-0 and Manny is an undefeated quarterback right now.”