Michael Matus, Redshirt Senior Defensive End
On this group of defensive lineman:
"Honestly, I am confident in the guys that we have here. Obviously those guys (that left) are on to bigger and better things and I wish everybody the best, but I think Coach Rod does a really phenomenal job with coaching everybody and it's just the next person up. It's the next guy up. When you're on the field you're a starter just like Herm says so I am confident in the guys that we have and I know we can accomplish what we need to this year. I think it'll be a good year."
On differences in the defense this year:
"It's hard to say, just because we only had a couple of weeks at spring ball and feeling everything out. Generally, everything is pretty much very similar as far as the scheme and schematics, it's more so the people that are playing the positions. It's getting used to new players, some of the other guys are gone... now it's more so just changing the pieces and not actually changing the scheme per say. It's more so establishing a relationship with the guys you're playing next to and building that trust up again-- not that we didn't have trust (before). When you're playing with new guys you have to learn to play with new people, and that's really what it is. It's not more of a change in the defense."
On his role in expediting the newcomers:
"As a veteran and as an older guy on the team, and a lot of the veterans that are here as well, it is our job to instill where we're trying to go this year. Not only that but to allow for the new guys to buy in and to learn these good habits that we've started... not only that but grow and help us because everybody that has come in in the past year, they're here to help us win. It's their job to know that and it's our job to hold them up to the standard that we've set so far."
On the team chemistry, and there being more than last season:
"Everybody has a chip on their shoulder. We were third in the Pac-12 last year and I think this team is tired of being third in the Pac-12. That's me. That's why I have a chip on my shoulder as well. We lost a couple key games and we don't want to do that again, so the guys that are coming in, they are only going to help us they're not going to hurt us. This is probably the closest team that I've seen... this is going to be my fifth year... this is probably the closest team I've seen in the past five years and I'm excited."
On this year's leaders and them orchestrating chemistry:
"It's a double edge sword. It's not just the guys that are in leadership positions, it's the guys that are also following because they have to accept their role as well. In a d line room, I can only say so much and if people don't want to follow what I say nothing is going to happen. It's really a collective of the team that decided to say 'hey, let's stop messing around and let's go try to win a Rose Bowl.'"
On if the interior of the defensive line has more to prove:
"Realistically I think the guys that are playing interior-- Omar, Nesta, BJ-- these are guys that are taking snaps. They might not have been a starter and there were some good guys ahead of them but it doesn't mean that they're any less of a player than the guys that were before them. I just think they haven't had their opportunity to shine. After all, I played here for almost two and a half years and I didn't have my opportunity until a couple of years ago, so it's really just an opportunity to go out there and shine. I don't think it's a lapse in technique or talent or ability. I just think it's just their time now and they're going to get an opportunity they haven't had before and I'm with them. They've got my back and I've got theirs."
On the depth of his group:
"I'm excited. I think you guys have seen, ever since Coach Rod has stepped in as our d line coach, he's willing to play everybody. Herm is the same way. When I first got here eight of the 11 starters were true freshman. They're not afraid to play young kids. If you can go out there and ball, go ball. Like Herm says, when you're out there you're a starter. Having a rotation keeps people fresh. No one person needs to be taking 50 snaps a game because then, when you get to December you can't play in the Rose Bowl so what's the point? People are just getting hurt. We have all these guys on the roster anyway and they can all play so why not play them?"
On last year's freshman that got their feet wet:
"I think they're doing a phenomenal job. That first year playing on the field is always a bit nerveracking. You get to play in front of a big crowd, travel around, and you're playing college football. Some of these guys are 25 years old and have kids at home so it's a little bit of a different game. I do think that these guys are coming along, they're doing fantastic work. Everybody had a really good spring and I'm really proud of these young guys and now it's just holding them up to the standard throughout the season, not just for the first couple games."
On areas on the team that might be stronger than others:
"It's easy to point the finger and say some groups are better than the other, but as a collective if one group fails the while group fails. Realistically I don't think anybody is less important than anybody else or less athletic or talented. I think it's important for people to accept their roles and play them to the best of their ability. I don't think there is any lapse of talent or performance. It's just putting the people in the right spots and allowing them to make a play."
On the benefit of working with Coach Rodriguez for multiple years:
"Now, it has gotten to a point where it's perfection. For the first year or year and a half that he was here... it's learning the technique. It's getting the hang of working with each other, learning the vocabulary, learning how he wants to coach and his style and our style of play and matching that correctly. Now that we've been here for a couple of years we have gotten some time under our belt and we've gotten a lot of snaps under our belt, so now it's perfecting our craft and it's being a master every play."
On improvements to bring into this season:
"I think as a group collectively a lot of it revolved around stopping the run. That was a lot of what AP (Antonio Pierce) talked about. It's a lot what Donnie is going to talk about, that we have to stop the run. I'm very happy to say as a group our run game defense is definitely a lot better than it was before, so I'm happy about that. Now we just get to have some fun and go pass rush, so that's really what we're going to refine as we go along throughout the season."
On his impression of the running back group in spring practice:
"I'm excited. These guys brought some juice. I'm really, really excited. We've got Tevin (White) coming in and X (XAZAVIAN VALLADAY) coming in, and Danny (Daniyel Ngata) is back and he's looking strong. It's going to come to a point, now it's just like the defensive line. You're going to be able to get to rotate somebody in and it's not like you're taking Ngata out and putting X in and acting like it's a one and a two and a three. You're putting a starter in each time. All three of those guys can go anywhere and start and yet we have them all on the same team. There's no lapse in skill, and that's phenomenal. Now you can rotate these guys in and you have less injury and you have guys that aren't taking as many hits and I think it's going to be great."
On sensing that the team hears the outside noise:
"No. We're just getting ready for fall camp. Realistically, we can't control any of that. That's all external stuff. There's no reason to focus on it anyway."
On if he's the "Russell Wilson" of this team after seeing the Instagram recently:
"Oh God, no. I don't make enough money to do that. It was just funny, it was kind of in the moment and I was just having a little fun."
Special message from @MichaelMatus91 ????#ForksUp | #O2V pic.twitter.com/iCb92NWgaj
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) July 11, 2022
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Timarcus Davis, Redshirt Fifth Year Defensive Back
On being the most senior player in the secondary:
"It's changed a lot [from last year]. Total role change, for me personally and for the group all together it's just a lot of new faces and you miss some of the faces that were leaders. Not that anyone told me; I guess I was pushed to be the leader of the group but I thought to myself that I was going to be the leader and you need a leader. Nothing against anyone that came before me, but you watch those people and learn from them. I learned a lot from them and while I was learning knew that I would eventually get this opportunity. When I was learning from those guys I was like 'okay, if I did lead, I would do it like this, do it like that,' I was always constantly being prepared without knowing it and it feels good. I've never been a follower, I've always been a leader. Even In a position where I have to be a follower, I still have a leader mindset. I don't feel uncomfortable or anything like that."
On leadership style:
"I motivate everyone to be a leader too. I want everyone to be a leader. If I mess up, I want them to say something to me; I just want it to be where everyone is comfortable and everyone can break out the huddle; everyone can call the play; everybody can be the person to lead. It doesn't always have to be me to say 'hey, everyone come together, we're not doing this right, we need to get our attitude together,' it can be some of the youngest guys to the oldest guys. I want this to be an all encompassing thing. We all have to be prepared to do the same thing.
On watching the safety group:
"I feel like as a cornerback what you look for in your counterparts and guys you're playing with is security; you don't want to look up and say 'damn, he's always getting caught on.' I don't feel that way, especially with my safeties. If I have to play underneath, I know they're going to be over the top. If I'm outside, they're inside and vice-versa. I feel good about that. I feel like I can play aggressive and know that those guys have my back."
On defense being different from last year:
"I would expect us to be able to acknowledge adversity and be able to manage it well. Football is a big momentum game and defensively you're on the field for long drives and for them, to see success and watch you be successful it's like 'hold on.' I think this year we'll be able to say 'here comes adversity, we're not surprised. We knew this was coming.' I think we're going to handle that way better than in the past.
On the experience of the dbs and handling adversity this season:
"For sure. For sure, it's funny, we all have experience. I have played football since I could read and talk and do all that. The experience, we play football, we all have been doing it for a long time. The experience with adversity in particular, it just takes experience, that's all. And say if it's a young guy in that situation, you just have to, as a veteran or a leader on the team, pull him aside and say 'hey, calm down, just play football, we're in the backyard right now.'"
While there have been several significant departures since the end of the 2021 season, key returning players on the Sun Devil squad realize that there are still some elements that are in their favor. More here from @HamAnalysishttps://t.co/sPxT2fNMzW
— DevilsDigest.com (@DevilsDigest) July 14, 2022
On the wide receiver core:
"It's good. I like to get experience with new route combinations, see how guys move. I felt like it was good. It's always a little different with offense because they have the timing aspect of it all. The timing is going to get better, the routes are going to look a little different, the ball is going to come a little better."
On what the defensive backfield newcomers bring to the table:
Chris [Edmonds] and Khoury [Bethley] are adjusted to the team now. They're one of the guys now. If one of y'all walked in the room, you would think they had been here for three years. The new guys, it's true, they're brand spanking new, and they'll get a lot better once we get into camp and spend a lot more time with each other. Right now, they're just new. They're trying to make sure they check every box. When you're new, you don't want to step on anybody's toes or act outlandish or anything so I think they're just trying to get adjusted and gel with the team still. We've got guys from Texas and everywhere else getting used to this heat; I think they're just taking it in just like any new person would and being a sponge."
On his journey at ASU:
"Yeah, it's crazy, I didn't know I was going to be in college that long. [If you had told me I'd be here after six years], I would have been like 'damn, I must not be a good player if you're in college that long', that's what I would have said. But now, understanding that with injuries, and thank God I didn't really suffer anything too serious with injuries, but it's just life. Football is what I love, this is why I love football, it's circumstantial. Life is circumstantial, you have to read and react and that's just life and that's my story. I ended up transferring and sitting out a year, COVID happened, nobody could've predicted that. If it didn't, last year would have been my last year. It's a blessing that I have another year to help lead these guys and show some younger guys what not to do and what to do. Maybe he gets to leave college a little earlier and make millions of dollars, I think that would be pretty cool. Looking back on it, it's a helluva ride and I loved it. It's a great experience and it's taught me a lot about being on my own moving away from home. It's taught me a lot about how to be a man, how to live on your own. If I call my mama she's not down the street anymore. She taught me how to wash my clothes, but you have to do all those small things. You gotta do it all, man. She's not calling me and waking me up every morning. It's all the little things. I just really do appreciate the fact that I have the willingness to come out here and be by myself. College football is crazy. I've seen it change, I've seen it change from when there was not a portal, to now players getting paid millions of dollars. I didn't quite get to see all of that money but it's just been crazy man. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything else in the world. Maybe one day I'll write a book about it or something."
Timarcus Davis reflected on his 6-year college career and although he admitted it has been longer than he wanted, he said he wouldn't "trade it for anything in the world."
— DevilsDigest.com (@DevilsDigest) July 13, 2022
"This is why I love football. It's circumstantial, life is circumstantial. You just read and react."
On seeing his teammates drafted and having one more year to impress scouts:
"Seeing them [Jack Jones and Chase Lucas] do it and be in the league I'm like 'hell yeah, I think I can do it. I think I can really do this, I know I can really do this.' I love those guys, I say 'what's up' to Jack in the hallway. A big part of me is glad that they're gone because now I finally get to play and have some fun out there with my boys."
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Ben Scott, Redshirt Junior Offensive Line
On Emory Jones:
"The chemistry is going a lot better than I anticipated, to be honest. We've been having some player-led walkthroughs going on and we've been getting the snaps down. Him, Paul [Tyson] and Trenton [Bourguet] are all still rotating. They're all asking me to go down and get some snaps in and I'm over there like "man, it's too much for me." But, you know, a while back we all went to Top Golf and it was fun getting that chemistry going between all of us and I think it'll be good going into the season."
On Joey Ramos:
"It helps us a lot in depth, especially because Joey is a really versatile guy like myself and he can play all three positions. Right now, we really have 7-8 guys who could start for us or rotate in so our depth is really good right now on the offensive line. We're just trying to see where everyone fits in. Like I said, we've got 7-8 guys to fill in those spots and spring ball went good and we were looking solid. But now, with Joey here, we don't know what the line is gonna like because you don't know if he's going to fit in there or move someone else around or how it's going to work."
On if Ramos could see snaps at center:
"I doubt I will be moving back to right tackle. I think center is the best position for me at the moment and that's the best for my future. I think Joey right now will be playing either guard or tackle, Des [Holmes] will be playing playing either guard or tackle, Chris [Martinez] at guard one of them at tackle or LD [LaDarius Henderson] ]and Emmit [Bohle] on any side you know, they're all rotating so you never know what the line is going to look like, we've got a lot of ball to play before the season starts so a lot of time to figure that out."
On Glen Thomas with grasp on the offensive playbook:
"We all are getting more and more into the playbook everyday. Just the little stuff, we know what each and every play is but just the angle you have to take on that certain play or like if you see a certain formation or coverage and you have to call a different protection, you know what I mean? Especially as a center like myself, there's a lot of different coverages that I'll have to change my call. I need a lot of my fellow offensive linemen to call out other things that I may miss, like if they're in a certain coverage coming off the edge sometimes. If the D-Tackle is in my way and I'm already in my stance; just the communication factor, getting more comfortable in the playbook and seeing how the plays build off each other will really help us out as we learn the playbook and study more and more everyday."
On developing his voice as a leader:
"I don't see myself as a soft-spoken guy anymore for sure. I feel like our communication is really good on O-Line especially like echoing calls and calling out where we have to go. I think I'm still not going to be that ra-ra, motivate, get on dudes for not going hard enough. I'll motivate guys here and there and I try to evolve my leadership skills by being more of a vocal leader but right now, there's so many guys who want to be vocal leaders and want that attention. I want to be more of a visual leader; seeing me get that extra work in and telling guys 'you guys wanna go workout', do that kind of stuff, but I think building connections with everyone and everyone getting on the same page would really benefit us the most."
On the running game:
"I think our running game is phenomenal; I think we have four running backs that could rotate in through the season. We have X [Xazvian Valladay], Tevin [White], Daniel [Ngata] and George [Hart III]. Blocking wise, we block it like we don't know who's back there because we really don't. We don't know if they're rotating in or not. We're just trying to block it as best as we can and hope that if you have a lineman up there, he can hit hole because it's wide open. I think we came out of spring running the ball really well. The defense put up a good fight in the run game, they take a lot of pride in the run game and we got some good plays on them almost every practice. It was good to see them working play action off of that; that'll always benefit the offensive here and there so it'll be good for us."
Scott on losing three starters:
"We definitely have a lot to prove. I think it helps that we brought in a lot of guys from other schools so they already have that mentality that they have to prove themselves and earn that spot. The guys that are here like myself, we have to prove that this is still our spot. I have to prove that I will be the best center in the pack, which I believe I will be. I feel like our O-line mentality is to go out there and be the most dominant O-line. That's something that you guys will see this fall."
On the biggest differences playing center to other positions:
"I've been training a lot. It's a lot different than tackle, especially during the spring, I was really working on little techniques here and there and not building bad habits; getting my leverage right. Especially playing out of an even stance; getting out of my stance on outside zone and sweep plays will benefit me the most so that I can use my speed because I feel like I'm a lot more athletic than a majority of noose tackles. Just a lot of that and playing to my strengths which gets overlooked a lot because a lot of guys want to do everything textbook right, but I think playing to my strengths will help me out a lot in the long run."
On if he watches NFL centers like Dohnovan West to assimilate to the role:
"I don't really watch Dohnovan [West] too much because he has a very distinct playing style and not too many guys can't replicate it. He was very quick and liked to use his quickness, which I will do from time-to-time but he has a different play style for sure. I like to watch Cory Lindsay, the [Los Angeles] Chargers center, Brian Jenson from the [Tampa Bay] Buccaneers and Creed Humphrey from the [Kansas City] Chiefs. I like to watch those guys just to look at what their strengths are individually and trying to see how my film compares to theirs; how they would treat certain fronts and looks and how their steps are, pretty much how that works with them."
On how Emory Jones shapes the offense on the field and off the field:
"I haven't really seen too much, but he's for sure working at it. He already is learning the playbook in the walkthroughs. He's getting better and better everyday just like everyone else. You never know what might happen but he's coming in here to prove that he'll be a starter and you know, we didn't bring him in here to be a backup. We want him to compete for that starting position and he's working at it and getting better and better everyday. We already went out today and took some snaps and took some throws with the receivers; just getting that down and the playbook down, the chemistry with the rude receivers and me especially with the snap because that starts its all, that'll be crucial for us."
On leadership characteristics of Emory Jones:
"He's a cool guy, he messes with the team very well. He's always here, motivating us and always brings a positive attitude out here. He's for sure leading the guys when he asked us today to go outside and go train; trying to get a little more work, that's a good quality to have is that leadership role."
Ben Scott is up for the final interview of the afternoon. He said that the chemistry between him and Emory Jones "is going a lot better" than anticipated.
— DevilsDigest.com (@DevilsDigest) July 13, 2022