Senior Kicker Zane Gonzalez:
On whether breaking the record has set in yet…
“It’s starting to a little bit just through all the stuff on Twitter. It’s only six games into the season, so we still have half of the season left to go and hopefully the Pac-12 Championship game and a bowl game.”
On when he first realized he was close to breaking the record…
“Not until probably going into fall camp this year. I didn’t really think about it too much but then my dad mentioned it to me and from there it spread out to all [of the media]. Averaging 16 field goals in a season after being here for four years, I’ve kicked over 20 each year. It’s something I knew I would accomplish but, for me, it’s about a better percentage rather than kicks made.”
On whether kicking is mental or physical…
“I would say, for kicking, it’s mostly mental. There are a lot of mental things, being mentally stable, mentally confident. Obviously, keep your body right and keep your legs fresh, taking ice baths whenever you can and stretching out at least twice a day. It gets old but it’s definitely worth it.”
On how he keeps it up…
“I’m a big faith guy, so staying close to my religion and stuff like that. It gives me confidence to perform to the best of my abilities.”
On coming in with quiet expectations…
It’s awesome, as a team. Going in, nobody really gave us a chance. We had a new quarterback and a young team. We knew all summer and spring that we had a lot of potential and, going into the season 5-1, we still don’t quite get the respect that I feel we deserve or the ranking. I guess it’s a chip on our shoulder. With the quarterback situation, it’s the next man up. Even this weekend, our defense stepped up and helped out huge. I think that was the best our defense has played since I’ve here, honestly, after watching that game. It was super impressive.
On being a leader on and off the field…
“I’ve been a captain every week being a senior. I definitely am on the sideline, whether it’s the offense doing good or the defense struggling or vice versa. I’ll go up after each series and give them a hit on the shoulder in the locker room to try and get them motivated. You’ll see me over there a lot talking to the O-line, talking to all the quarterbacks and the receivers, trying to get them as motivated as I can. First of all, it keeps me lose on the sideline so I’m not just taking a knee the whole time. It also helps the team out and gets their mind right.”
Junior Linebacker Marcus Ball:
On going into a big game against Colorado…
“Going into the game, Colorado is a team with a tremendous amount of heart and they make great plays. They utilize a bunch of guys in the backfield, they have a good couple of receivers and quarterbacks also so to us, it's that mid-point of the season where you get refocused because it's time to turn it up. Sitting here at 5-1, that's something Coach Graham has been preaching. It’s a re-commitment to doing those small things right because those little things are going to be game-time things that decide a win or loss. That's what we did today. Going forward, we have a tremendous group of guys with a lot of heart in our locker room that go to battle every day. We're just refocusing to get those little things right so we can come out victorious with a Pac-12 Championship.”
On liking to hit people…
“Oh yeah, I love to hit people. It's just in my nature. It's funny, because I played quarterback in high school and that's what I thought I wanted to do but I was always that quarterback that handed the ball to my running back and ran down the field trying to block for him. That's what I like to do. I'm a hitter, but I've got to keep it under control sometimes. Everybody knows I played spur in the past and got an opportunity at bandit, which was a great opportunity that coach Graham gave me this past week. I'm just trying to train my focus to safety, safety, safety because you have to take on a different mentality for safety. It's not just all about getting those big hits that I like to do, it's about getting it down.”
On the best thing about hitting…
“I'm one of those guys who doesn't celebrate much. I think it's cool when you hit a guy and you look at him and he just knows that you just lit him up. He knows that every time 31 is coming, I'm coming to light him up again, but I won't say anything to him. I just look at him for a few seconds and move on to the next play because I'm coming again.”
On how his injury made him work harder when he could play…
“That's exactly what I did. You take for granted this time here. A lot of people obviously have talked to me about their experiences at ASU prior to when I was getting here and during my freshman year. You take it for granted because there are a lot of people that want to be in our shoes, that want to be on that field. When I was hurt, I took for granted that I was playing division one football and that's a great opportunity. So, I appreciated it a lot more when I was hurt and unfortunately it took that experience for me to do so. I appreciate it a lot more because it was that urgency it took to want to get back on the field again. I went to work, I re-focused up and I tried to learn as much as I could from guys like Alden Darby and Taylor Kelly. I sat in rooms with Taylor Kelly trying to learn how quarterbacks think. When I was hurt, that's little stuff I did to refocus as far as the knowledge of the game. It's definitely something that lots of guys take for granted.”
On how the targeting penalty he earned affected his game…
“That was the first targeting we ever got here so that sucks that I got the first one. Coach Graham did an awesome job of teaching me and coaching me up after I got the targeting. You might get a lot of coaches saying, ‘You guys are targeting,’ and it’s all negativity, but he actually coached me up and was positive. He taught me, ‘You can still hit as hard, but just lower your hat. Keep it to the side and lower your pads and you can come right up through him.’ I’m a big guy with a big frame and I like to do everything. After I got the targeting, I didn’t really want to change up how hard I hit or be scared to go in because if you’re scared to go in and make a tackle, nine times out of 10 you’re going to miss. I didn’t change up my mentality, I just changed up my technique of how I hit. Coach Graham helped me out a lot throughout the way.”
On his previous experience with bandit safety…
“My freshman year here in 2013, I came here playing free. I always kind of knew both. I didn’t really play a whole bunch of snaps. Obviously, I didn’t play a lot my freshman year. I didn’t really play a bunch of snaps at bandit, I played a lot at free my freshman year. I’ve played spur for a while here at Arizona State and coach Graham has always told me to always be able to learn and be open and diverse to learning the bandit safety spot. It’s always something I’ve taken on and tried to just learn that a little bit while playing spur. He gave me an opportunity last week and it worked out.”
On his thoughts on Colorado’s quarterback…
“He puts the ball on the money. That’s the one thing we were watching. We watched the big play tape of him, last night actually, and he puts the ball on the money. He does a real good job of utilizing running backs out of the backfield. They do a real good job of doing that. They get the ball to their playmakers and he does a real good job at goal line. He’s not going to throw the ball to us, obviously. One thing I see in their quarterback is that he puts the ball on the money and he can run it a little bit. We’re going to have to get him.”
On Zane Gonzalez's role as a leader…
“Zane (Gonzalez) is an awesome guy. He’s one of those quiet leaders. He leads by example. He doesn’t really talk a whole bunch but when he talks, we listen. He’s a guy that does everything you ask him to do. If you tell him to step up and make this big kick to win the game, we expect him to make it and he expects himself to make it. He’s one of those guys who’s just a quiet leader and just does everything the coaches ask him to do. He’s there for his players mentally all the time. He’s just a great guy.”
On tackling Ballage and Richards in practice…
“That’s funny that that’s a question. [Demario Richards] is actually the hardest guy I’ve ever had to tackle. He’s low, he’s so low, he’s like a bowling ball. He likes to run through people and Kalen does as well. They’re tough runners and that’s why I love those guys, they’re tough runners. You got to get your pads behind you and you have to brace up for the hit. You have to deliver the blow. That’s how my mentality is, you want to be the guy delivering the blow. Coach [Shawn] Slocum says this all the time. The next time you see coach Slocum say, ‘Are you the hammer or the nail?’ That’s what he says because if you’re not the hammer you will get nailed.”
On whether breaking the record has set in yet…
“It’s starting to a little bit just through all the stuff on Twitter. It’s only six games into the season, so we still have half of the season left to go and hopefully the Pac-12 Championship game and a bowl game.”
On when he first realized he was close to breaking the record…
“Not until probably going into fall camp this year. I didn’t really think about it too much but then my dad mentioned it to me and from there it spread out to all [of the media]. Averaging 16 field goals in a season after being here for four years, I’ve kicked over 20 each year. It’s something I knew I would accomplish but, for me, it’s about a better percentage rather than kicks made.”
On whether kicking is mental or physical…
“I would say, for kicking, it’s mostly mental. There are a lot of mental things, being mentally stable, mentally confident. Obviously, keep your body right and keep your legs fresh, taking ice baths whenever you can and stretching out at least twice a day. It gets old but it’s definitely worth it.”
On how he keeps it up…
“I’m a big faith guy, so staying close to my religion and stuff like that. It gives me confidence to perform to the best of my abilities.”
On coming in with quiet expectations…
It’s awesome, as a team. Going in, nobody really gave us a chance. We had a new quarterback and a young team. We knew all summer and spring that we had a lot of potential and, going into the season 5-1, we still don’t quite get the respect that I feel we deserve or the ranking. I guess it’s a chip on our shoulder. With the quarterback situation, it’s the next man up. Even this weekend, our defense stepped up and helped out huge. I think that was the best our defense has played since I’ve here, honestly, after watching that game. It was super impressive.
On being a leader on and off the field…
“I’ve been a captain every week being a senior. I definitely am on the sideline, whether it’s the offense doing good or the defense struggling or vice versa. I’ll go up after each series and give them a hit on the shoulder in the locker room to try and get them motivated. You’ll see me over there a lot talking to the O-line, talking to all the quarterbacks and the receivers, trying to get them as motivated as I can. First of all, it keeps me lose on the sideline so I’m not just taking a knee the whole time. It also helps the team out and gets their mind right.”
Junior Linebacker Marcus Ball:
On going into a big game against Colorado…
“Going into the game, Colorado is a team with a tremendous amount of heart and they make great plays. They utilize a bunch of guys in the backfield, they have a good couple of receivers and quarterbacks also so to us, it's that mid-point of the season where you get refocused because it's time to turn it up. Sitting here at 5-1, that's something Coach Graham has been preaching. It’s a re-commitment to doing those small things right because those little things are going to be game-time things that decide a win or loss. That's what we did today. Going forward, we have a tremendous group of guys with a lot of heart in our locker room that go to battle every day. We're just refocusing to get those little things right so we can come out victorious with a Pac-12 Championship.”
On liking to hit people…
“Oh yeah, I love to hit people. It's just in my nature. It's funny, because I played quarterback in high school and that's what I thought I wanted to do but I was always that quarterback that handed the ball to my running back and ran down the field trying to block for him. That's what I like to do. I'm a hitter, but I've got to keep it under control sometimes. Everybody knows I played spur in the past and got an opportunity at bandit, which was a great opportunity that coach Graham gave me this past week. I'm just trying to train my focus to safety, safety, safety because you have to take on a different mentality for safety. It's not just all about getting those big hits that I like to do, it's about getting it down.”
On the best thing about hitting…
“I'm one of those guys who doesn't celebrate much. I think it's cool when you hit a guy and you look at him and he just knows that you just lit him up. He knows that every time 31 is coming, I'm coming to light him up again, but I won't say anything to him. I just look at him for a few seconds and move on to the next play because I'm coming again.”
On how his injury made him work harder when he could play…
“That's exactly what I did. You take for granted this time here. A lot of people obviously have talked to me about their experiences at ASU prior to when I was getting here and during my freshman year. You take it for granted because there are a lot of people that want to be in our shoes, that want to be on that field. When I was hurt, I took for granted that I was playing division one football and that's a great opportunity. So, I appreciated it a lot more when I was hurt and unfortunately it took that experience for me to do so. I appreciate it a lot more because it was that urgency it took to want to get back on the field again. I went to work, I re-focused up and I tried to learn as much as I could from guys like Alden Darby and Taylor Kelly. I sat in rooms with Taylor Kelly trying to learn how quarterbacks think. When I was hurt, that's little stuff I did to refocus as far as the knowledge of the game. It's definitely something that lots of guys take for granted.”
On how the targeting penalty he earned affected his game…
“That was the first targeting we ever got here so that sucks that I got the first one. Coach Graham did an awesome job of teaching me and coaching me up after I got the targeting. You might get a lot of coaches saying, ‘You guys are targeting,’ and it’s all negativity, but he actually coached me up and was positive. He taught me, ‘You can still hit as hard, but just lower your hat. Keep it to the side and lower your pads and you can come right up through him.’ I’m a big guy with a big frame and I like to do everything. After I got the targeting, I didn’t really want to change up how hard I hit or be scared to go in because if you’re scared to go in and make a tackle, nine times out of 10 you’re going to miss. I didn’t change up my mentality, I just changed up my technique of how I hit. Coach Graham helped me out a lot throughout the way.”
On his previous experience with bandit safety…
“My freshman year here in 2013, I came here playing free. I always kind of knew both. I didn’t really play a whole bunch of snaps. Obviously, I didn’t play a lot my freshman year. I didn’t really play a bunch of snaps at bandit, I played a lot at free my freshman year. I’ve played spur for a while here at Arizona State and coach Graham has always told me to always be able to learn and be open and diverse to learning the bandit safety spot. It’s always something I’ve taken on and tried to just learn that a little bit while playing spur. He gave me an opportunity last week and it worked out.”
On his thoughts on Colorado’s quarterback…
“He puts the ball on the money. That’s the one thing we were watching. We watched the big play tape of him, last night actually, and he puts the ball on the money. He does a real good job of utilizing running backs out of the backfield. They do a real good job of doing that. They get the ball to their playmakers and he does a real good job at goal line. He’s not going to throw the ball to us, obviously. One thing I see in their quarterback is that he puts the ball on the money and he can run it a little bit. We’re going to have to get him.”
On Zane Gonzalez's role as a leader…
“Zane (Gonzalez) is an awesome guy. He’s one of those quiet leaders. He leads by example. He doesn’t really talk a whole bunch but when he talks, we listen. He’s a guy that does everything you ask him to do. If you tell him to step up and make this big kick to win the game, we expect him to make it and he expects himself to make it. He’s one of those guys who’s just a quiet leader and just does everything the coaches ask him to do. He’s there for his players mentally all the time. He’s just a great guy.”
On tackling Ballage and Richards in practice…
“That’s funny that that’s a question. [Demario Richards] is actually the hardest guy I’ve ever had to tackle. He’s low, he’s so low, he’s like a bowling ball. He likes to run through people and Kalen does as well. They’re tough runners and that’s why I love those guys, they’re tough runners. You got to get your pads behind you and you have to brace up for the hit. You have to deliver the blow. That’s how my mentality is, you want to be the guy delivering the blow. Coach [Shawn] Slocum says this all the time. The next time you see coach Slocum say, ‘Are you the hammer or the nail?’ That’s what he says because if you’re not the hammer you will get nailed.”